# Star Wars: How did the Rebels get the death star plans in ANH?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 26, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662 "2005-05-26T20:55:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/41 "2005-05-28T17:40:31Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> Well, that works for _that_ film, but not every other film in the series where R2 jacks into a random port and begins doing things.
Maybe R2D2 just learned how to hack Imperial computers after lots of experience jacking into them? It’s possible he just knows how the systems work, and thus can figure out how to do what he needs to. Also, he might be on good terms with the Imperial computer AI’s.
“Hey Impy, sup?”
“R2, that you man? How’ve you been?”
“Ah, I’m good, man. I was wondering, could you tell me where they’ve been keeping that Princess girl? I can give you a copy of the latest version of PartitionTheForce 9.0, serial cracked and everything.”
“Ah, really man? Sweet!”
---
### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/42 "2005-05-28T18:07:06Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> I’m now thinking of that scene in ROTJ (when he’s trying to open the blast doors at the shield generator bunker) in a whole different light.
[Family Guy]
British Man: “Almost got it. Almost got it. There”
British Woman: “Good show”
[/Family Guy]
---
### Author:  [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/43 "2005-05-28T23:06:23Z")
I think the movie you are referring to was called, ‘Star Wars’.
Not A N H or Episode anything; - it was called ‘Star Wars’.
Thank you.
And has been said, in the opening info -‘rebels managed to kife plans of the Death Star…’ I’m paraphrasing.
MiM
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/44 "2005-05-28T23:21:16Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> I’m now thinking of that scene in ROTJ (when he’s trying to open the blast doors at the shield generator bunker) in a whole different light.
You mean like [this](http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/FrameGrabs/1ACV09/Grabs/pic00128.jpg)? 😃
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/45 "2005-05-28T23:22:35Z")
> [@Made in Macau](#):
>
> I think the movie you are referring to was called, ‘Star Wars’.
> Not A N H or Episode anything; - it was called ‘Star Wars’.
> Thank you.
Petty nitpickery. In practice “Star Wars” refers to a series of films and their overall effect on film-making, science-fiction and society in general. For convenience, the individual films can be distinguished by their subtitles, which I suppose is better than just slapping Roman numerals on the end of the basic title.
The addition of the “A New Hope” subtitle to the first film happened very early in its existence (within the first year, if not first few months) although it was of course meaningless until the sequels. While you are technically correct, adhering to that correctness _now_ would be unecessarily confusing.
Perhaps it’s emotionally unsatisfying to know you’re right _and_ irrelevant, but such is life.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/46 "2005-05-28T23:30:15Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> The addition of the “A New Hope” subtitle to the first film happened very early in its existence (within the first year, if not first few months) although it was of course meaningless until the sequels. While you are technically correct, adhering to that correctness _now_ would be unecessarily confusing.
Man, how many times do we have to go over this? Lucasfilm states that “A New Hope” **never** appeared until the film was rereleased, in order to whet excitement for ESB which was due to come out in a year or so. During the initial run of Star Wars (which stayed in some theaters for over a year) the words “A New Hope” **never** appeared.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/47 "2005-05-28T23:52:17Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> Man, how many times do we have to go over this? Lucasfilm states that “A New Hope” **never** appeared until the film was rereleased, in order to whet excitement for ESB which was due to come out in a year or so. During the initial run of Star Wars (which stayed in some theaters for over a year) the words “A New Hope” **never** appeared.
Gosh, you caught me in a “who the fuck cares” moment. So I was wrong about the timing of the rerelease. Here’s your trophy.
In any case, “ANH” and similar phrases are helpful in resolving the ambiguity in the following sample question:
> [@](#):
>
> “In _Star Wars_, why were the droids not used to pilot the ships?”
Now, is the question about the entire Star Wars universe, which might be perfectly valid in light of the combat droids seen in the prequels (well, maybe they pilot some ships in ROTS - I’ll see it tonight), or specifically about the 1977 film?
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/48 "2005-05-29T00:17:03Z")
> [@rjung](#):
>
> If that’s the case, why not just toss the plans on whatever the Imperial equivalent of the Internet is, and tell everyone to make copies? The Empire couldn’t possibly stop sixty bazillion mirrors of DeathstarPlans.zip, especially if we’re talking peer-to-peer sharing, and the Rebels could just download a copy at their leisure and not go galvanizing all over the place like a bunch of ninnies. 🙂
because the plan was to exploit an obscure design flaw, not to help the entire galaxy create their own Death Stars.
As for droids piloting ships, I believe R2 is an “astromech” droid. Since an untrained 8 year old can fly a starfighter well enough to take off, take it into orbit, destroy a battleship and safely land, I have to think that the astromech droid does in fact do a great deal of the piloting.
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### Author:  [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/49 "2005-05-29T00:37:35Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> My guess is the officer who reported the flaw to Tarkin felt all his bravery evaporating when he got chewed out and quietly slipped into a corner (or if he was a smart, an escape pod) to sulk.
There is evidence to believe that character (General Bast) did indeed escape from the Death Star before it was destroyed.
[http://www.theforce.net/swtc/bast.html#bast](http://www.theforce.net/swtc/bast.html#bast)
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/50 "2005-05-29T05:44:24Z")
Okay, I’ve seen the movie now. My question about droid pilots was just an example, since it occurs to me that there must have been droid combat pilots in Ep 1, shooting at the Naboo pilots (and Anakin) in the space battle.
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### Author:  [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/51 "2005-05-29T07:00:20Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Petty nitpickery. In practice “Star Wars” refers to a series of films and their overall effect on film-making, science-fiction and society in general. For convenience, the individual films can be distinguished by their subtitles, which I suppose is better than just slapping Roman numerals on the end of the basic title.
>
> The addition of the “A New Hope” subtitle to the first film happened very early in its existence (within the first year, if not first few months) although it was of course meaningless until the sequels. While you are technically correct, adhering to that correctness _now_ would be unecessarily confusing.
>
> Perhaps it’s emotionally unsatisfying to know you’re right _and_ irrelevant, but such is life.
yadda yadda yadda technically correct, yadda yadda yadda
Did I hit a nerve? Or are you always so tightly wound?
Relax man, I’m just pointing out a fact; it’s relevance and my emotional satisfaction are subjective. The fact is that a thing was created with one name, was known by that name for a year, then had it’s name revised.
Personally I dont agree that it is confusing to refer to the movie by it’s name; were I to say ‘In Star Wars…’ it would be as clear as saying, ‘in The Phantom Menace’ or ‘in The Godfather’.
Would you have found it confusing if the OP had asked ’ In Star Wars, how did the rebels get the plans to the Death Star?’
I’m not trying to win here, I just remember it said,
STAR WARS
MiM
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/52 "2005-05-29T07:00:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> because the plan was to exploit an obscure design flaw, not to help the entire galaxy create their own Death Stars.
“Mom? Can I have ten trillion credits? I need it for … uh … a school project!”
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/53 "2005-05-29T09:39:42Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> No, but he does have a computerized box of crayons which he likes to rub all over his movies to “correct” things, like the “problems” with Han shooting first.
Right. Which is why we shouldn’t give him any more ideas.
But adding a Rebellion Napster to the original Star Wars film is more work than even Lucas is likely to want to try. Having Greedo shoot Han first may have decreased the believability of the scene, screwed up Solo’s character development, and made us question Lucas’ sanity, but it didn’t affect the plot. At the end of the scene, Greedo is still dead, Han is still alive, and the audience still knows that his comments about having a price on his head were no exagerration.
Putting hundreds if not thousands of copies of the Death Star plans circulating around in Rebel hands, on the other hand, would mess up the whole first half of the film. If there are copies all over the place, why would Vader be so concerned about getting his hands on this **one** copy?
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/54 "2005-05-29T11:52:45Z")
> [@flodnak](#):
>
> If there are copies all over the place, why would Vader be so concerned about getting his hands on this **one** copy?
You think he wanted his boss to find the one disk that he’d been downloading Wookie porn onto?
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/55 "2005-05-29T12:19:22Z")
> [@HPL](#):
>
> We all know that in Ep IV Leia hides the death star plans in R2 before she’s captured. My question: Who gave the plans to her? How did she get them?
>
> 1. In **Dark Forces** , Mercenary Kyle Kataran steals the plans from a small imperial outpost and (presumably) delivers them directly to the alliance.
>
> 2. In X-Wing, The rebels capture a freighter full of Imperial communication satillites(presumably without the empire realizing) that are used for relaying information for the Imperial Navy. Then they modify the sats to allow the rebels to listen in on imperial communications, and then proceed to replace a string of standred imperial comm sats in an isolated area with the rebel friendly ones.
>
> Not long after they pull this off, somebody at the imperial head office decides to send the death star plans through the rebel friendly comm, thus tipping the rebels off and setting the stage for “A new hope”
> **edited by Bosda**
They are not contradictory.
In RL, Intelligence is often assembled from many different sources.
Both sources, each possibly outdated/incomplete in some fashion, would be subjected to Intel Analysis in the hands of a senior Rebel Leader–i.e. Princess Leia. The 2 sources would be combined into a complete & informative picture.
BTW–I suspect that the Vent Flaw would have been in the transmissions, & the Rebels would have blocked that message warning about it between the Engineering Team & the Construction Team. The Vent Flaw would not get fixed, & the missing message would have tipped Vader’s security team off.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/56 "2005-05-29T16:25:04Z")
> [@Made in Macau](#):
>
> Did I hit a nerve? Or are you always so tightly wound?
No, it’s just rather condescending to try to lecture us on something we all know (the original title of the original film) as though we had embraced some fundamental error in dogma or something.
Anyhoo… in modern terms how big a data file would something like that take? A structure 120 or 160m in diameter (accounts vary) with resolution down to two meters? Yikes.
---
### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/57 "2005-05-29T16:33:09Z")
> [@Made in Macau](#):
>
> Would you have found it confusing if the OP had asked ’ In Star Wars, how did the rebels get the plans to the Death Star?’
I would have, actually. There were two Death Stars, so you could also have been talking about the second one. I’d probably just assume that the OP was someone who wasn’t familiar enough with Star Wars to distinguish between the individual movies.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/58 "2005-05-29T17:08:49Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> BTW–I suspect that the Vent Flaw would have been in the transmissions, & the Rebels would have blocked that message warning about it between the Engineering Team & the Construction Team. The Vent Flaw would not get fixed, & the missing message would have tipped Vader’s security team off.
I dunno; to me that suggests and effort to make everything excessively “tidy” (like including the same two 'droids in all six films). Any large engineering project is going to require compromises and corner-cutting and the occasional oversight. Had this been for real, I could imagine the attacking force finding _several_ promising avenues and sending different squadrons on different missions, but for the sake of movie simplicity this gets boiled down to one objective.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/59 "2005-05-29T17:31:25Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Anyhoo… in modern terms how big a data file would something like that take? A structure 120 or 160m in diameter (accounts vary) with resolution down to two meters? Yikes.
120 to 160 meters? Surely the Death Star must be _much_ bigger than that? Han mistakes it for a moon!
---
### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-how-did-the-rebels-get-the-death-star-plans-in-anh/305662/60 "2005-05-29T17:32:30Z")
> [@Made in Macau](#):
>
> Did I hit a nerve? Or are you always so tightly wound?
Coming from the guy who brought up this nonissue to start with, this is pretty amusing.
> [@](#):
>
> Would you have found it confusing if the OP had asked ’ In Star Wars, how did the rebels get the plans to the Death Star?’
Why do you care?
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