# Luke Skywalker, badass? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 4, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576 "2023-05-04T18:57:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/21 "2023-05-07T21:40:35Z")
Personally, I’ve always thought that Luke was strickley a Disney level badass. His entire ‘plan’ for the Jabba mission boils down to an idiot ball wrapped in plot armor. Now, to be fair, I haven’t read any of the books, so if someone else wrote a story with a better plan that we didn’t see on screen, I don’t count it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/22 "2023-05-07T21:46:37Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Personally, I’ve always thought that Luke was strickley a Disney level badass. His entire ‘plan’ for the Jabba mission boils down to an idiot ball wrapped in plot armor. I think there is amble evidence that Luke does not really think through things. He just does whatever seems good at the time, or whatever his hallucination of Obi Wan Kenobi tells him to do, and even if you buy into the idea that all of that isn’t just a bad acid trip it is pretty clear that Kenobi is at best an unreliable source of information and suspect wisdom. In fact, I would lay strong odds on the Wookie actually having the highest intelligence scores of the bunch, but of course we don’t know because we can only infer his statements from others responses. I bet the all-Wookie conversation in _The Star Wars Holiday Special_ was actually a deep metaphysical debate over the meaning of existence that would make Heidigger weep in jealousy. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/23 "2023-05-08T12:27:10Z")
The Jabba Escape Plan really only makes sense if you assume Luke was able to use the Force to see the future. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/24 "2023-05-08T12:47:29Z")
Well, Luke Skywalker is essential Off-Brand Paul Atreides. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/25 "2023-05-08T19:38:25Z")
Well Yoda said the future is hard to read because it’s always in motion, and Paul Atreides said there were too many swiftly compressed decisions in a fight for a clear path to show itself. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/26 "2023-05-08T19:46:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, Luke Skywalker is essential Off-Brand Paul Atreides. > > Stranger Ridiculous! What’s next? Ewoks are off-brand Fuzzies? Harry Potter is off-brand _Earthsea_? 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/27 "2023-05-08T19:58:15Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > [@outlierrn](#): > > > > Personally, I’ve always thought that Luke was strickley a Disney level badass. His entire ‘plan’ for the Jabba mission boils down to an idiot ball wrapped in plot armor. > > I think there is amble evidence that Luke does not really think through things. He just does whatever seems good at the time, or whatever his hallucination of Obi Wan Kenobi tells him to do, and even if you buy into the idea that all of that isn’t just a bad acid trip it is pretty clear that Kenobi is at best an unreliable source of information and suspect wisdom. It’s almost as if Luke spends the films always looking away - to the future, to the horizon. His mind never seems to be on where he was or what he was doing. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/28 "2023-05-08T21:28:23Z")
But he’s ready for anything/sarcasm voice. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/29 "2023-05-08T21:33:37Z")
Don’t give the anti-vaxxers ideas! > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I think there is amble evidence that Luke does not really think through things. He just does whatever seems good at the time, or whatever his hallucination of Obi Wan Kenobi tells him to do _That_ is what I envied about those who control The Force. Ah, if life was always only that easy… ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/30 "2024-08-29T19:10:23Z")
This made me laugh out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/31 "2024-08-29T20:14:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Ford pretty much played a string of bumbling idiots Even Bob Falfa! Can’t drive a car without crashing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/32 "2024-08-29T20:28:54Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Ewoks are off-brand Fuzzies? Everybody knows that Ewoks are just Wookies who permanently shrunk in the wash. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/33 "2024-08-29T20:47:42Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Even Bob Falfa! Can’t drive a car without crashing. Unbeknownst to all but the most dedicated cinophile, Harrison Ford and Chevy Chase have had a long if uncelebrated combination for film roles due to their similar build and acting styles. Chase beat out Ford for _Oh Heavenly Dog_ after being trounced for the role of Han Solo for _Star Wars_ (where the accidental fumble-shooting of Greedo was quickly rewritten as Solo ‘shooting first’), but Ford returned by clinching the lead in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ even though he was a third string favorite after Chase and then Tom Selleck. The competition continued _Deal of the Century_ with Ford tied up in scheduling conflicts with both _Return of the Jedi_ and _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_, and then Chase lost out on _Witness_ (originally a National Lampoon property before Peter Weir took over and stripped out all of the wacky humor) and instead got stuck with _European Vacation_. The competition over _Three Amigos_ was intense until Ford bowed out to make his passion project of the adaptation of Paul Theroux’s _The Mosquito Coast_ (originally a _Vacation_-franchise sequel). Coming into the ‘Nineties, there were numerous vigorous challenges including _Nothing But Trouble_, _Memoirs of an Invisible Man_, _Cops and Robbersons_, and _Man of the House_, the roles for which Chase won handily while it appeared that Ford’s star was on the decline, but clutching the eponymous role of the surprisingly successful _The Fugitive_ propelled Ford back into the limelight, even though it was retooled from an obscure _SNL_ skit that parodied the ‘Sixties television show to a more-or-less straight adaptation of the premise. Since then, it has been difficult to distinguish between the two in terms of the roles or successes of their films, to the extent that Ford once stepped in as a body double for a few episodes of _Community_ where Chase was off in Eastern Africa doing charitable works, and Chase served as Ford’s CGI stand-in for many scenes in _Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_, _Cowboys & Aliens_, and _The Call of the Wild_. At this point, they are basically one and the same actor. Brought to you by Film Faks: your brief, barely researched summary of cinema history generated by ShatGPT. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/34 "2024-08-29T22:31:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Oh, Princess Leia was bad-ass from the beginning. In the original Star Wars movie, she uses a pistol and a carbine multiple times, tries tricking the Imperials under (off-screen) torture, leads the Rebel Alliance, and stood up to both Vader and Tarkin. Not to mention switching effortlessly back and forth between a British accent and an American one. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/35 "2024-08-29T22:39:43Z")
The ending of Rogue One actually makes Leia in ANH even more badass. It’s been maybe half an hour since the Battle of Scarif and Vader has personally chased her from there to Tattooine, and when he captures her she has the absolute chutzpah to stare him down and say “Tapes? What tapes? We’re on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576/36 "2024-09-01T23:21:51Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > “But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters.” The first Star Wars movie had a huge impact on my kids (ok, on me too). To the point where if one of them complained about something, the others (myself included) could whine about going into _Tahhh-sheeee STAAAAY-tionnn…_ And the whining would usually stop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luke-skywalker-badass/983576.md?page=1)