Brief but to the point: in wars people die.
That’s quite beautiful.
Brilliant! Okay, yeah, it’s a little clichéd – we’ve seen similar stuff in any number of war movies – but it’s beautifully depicted, elegantly executed, and, like many clichés, it works because it’s universal.
It’s also a vaguely ironic turn-around on the Japanese kamikaze idea. If one pilot’s sacrifice really could bring down one of the enemy’s capital ships…it isn’t entirely a foolish thing to volunteer to do.
No comic strip yet for those two Imperial officers.
I’m don’t think there’s a single character that appears on screen in any Star Wars movie that doesn’t have a comic or short story or something explaining their background, somewhere out there in the enormous pile of Extended Universe Star Wars stuff.
I don’t know if cats exist in the SW galaxy, but the cherry on top of the sundae would have been their pet cat staring at the door waiting for his people to come home.
For some reason it reminded me of an anime I’d watched a looong time ago. Finally found it again : part two of The Cockpit, which explores the motivations and psychology of an Ohka pilot. The Ohka, or Cherry Blossom, was a purpose-built, rocket-powered kamikaze plane of WW2. Basically a piloted cruise missile.
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It’s also a vaguely ironic turn-around on the Japanese kamikaze idea. If one pilot’s sacrifice really could bring down one of the enemy’s capital ships…it isn’t entirely a foolish thing to volunteer to do.
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All the more ironic that, generally speaking, while the Star Wars films (and dogfights in particular) parallel WW2 movies and tactics ; the Empire vs. Rebels tech revolves around the Empire being the Japanese.
The Empire’s workhorse, the TIE Fighter, is a bare-bones, fragile but supremely nimble craft ; similar to the Japanese Zero. The Y-Wing is a sturdy but obsolete craft, similar to what the USN torpedo bombers were at the onset of the war - like the TBD Devastator. X-Wings are sturdier, more heavily armed but still can’t outmanoeuver a TIE and thus rely on high speed frontal passes - like Wildcats. Finally, the A-Wing that appears at the end of the war is super fast, super manoeuvrable, can run rings around a TIE and is also sturdier and better armed - like a Corsair or Hellcat.