# Star Wars questions (wait-- they haven't all been answered again and again?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606 "2010-07-05T14:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/21 "2010-07-06T14:22:44Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Wasn’t the whole “the son of Anakin Skywalker must not be allowed to live!” “yes master” scene in episode 4? Nope. Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back). Vader and the Emperor discuss this via hologram while the rest of the fleet is still hunting the _Falcon_ in the asteroid field. Plus, unless things were changed in the re-issued versions, the Emperor only refers to, “the son of Skywalker.” We don’t learn the name Annakin until Ben & Luke’s conversation on Dagobah in Episode VI. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/22 "2010-07-06T14:27:40Z")
I thought we learned Anakin’s name when Obiwan tells Luke about his father when he gives him his lightsaber in Episode IV. edit: looking at again, I guess I was wrong. I can’t believe I got a Star Wars thing wrong; I am so embarrassed ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/23 "2010-07-06T14:58:34Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > The latter, have the boy child in the lap of royalty and put the girl on a brutal harsh desert planet? I think you overestimate the audiences openmindedness. > > Besides, once you start down that path, forever will it dominate your plot devices. On the other hand, wouldn’t it have been cool if Episode IV had been about Leia Skywalker rescuing Prince Luke Organa from the imperial forces? Leia might even have made a better heroine than Luke was a hero if the genders were flipped. (Although, I don’t want to think about Mark Hammill in that gold bikini… **shudder** ) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/24 "2010-07-06T15:08:00Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > On the other hand, wouldn’t it have been cool if Episode IV had been about Leia Skywalker rescuing Prince Luke Organa from the imperial forces? Leia might even have made a better heroine than Luke was a hero if the genders were flipped. > > (Although, I don’t want to think about Mark Hammill in that gold bikini… **shudder** ) Rocky Horror had [already done something similar](http://www.rockymusic.org/img/rhpsphotoscolor/RHPS-CRH45-RockyDavidStatueL.jpg), so they knew to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/25 "2010-07-06T15:33:09Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > On the other hand, wouldn’t it have been cool if Episode IV had been about Leia Skywalker rescuing Prince Luke Organa from the imperial forces? Leia might even have made a better heroine than Luke was a hero if the genders were flipped. > > (Although, I don’t want to think about Mark Hammill in that gold bikini… **shudder** ) She’d be _really_ short for a stormtrooper. And she’d probably have slugged him when he kissed her “for luck” right before swinging over bottomless pit #1. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/26 "2010-07-06T15:41:09Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > Nope. Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back). Vader and the Emperor discuss this via hologram while the rest of the fleet is still hunting the _Falcon_ in the asteroid field. > > Plus, unless things were changed in the re-issued versions, the Emperor only refers to, “the son of Skywalker.” We don’t learn the name Annakin until Ben & Luke’s conversation on Dagobah in Episode VI. Oh, things were changed. In his latest and greatest re-edits of the OT, Lucas added a bunch of dialogue to that scene and re-filmed Palpatine’s side in its entirety with Ian McDiarmid. In what should not be a surprise to anyone at this point, the new dialogue is expository and dull, and utterly kills the menacing atmosphere of the original scene. Way to go, George! Yet again! ---
**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:** [July 6, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/27 "2010-07-06T15:50:58Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Chewbacca knows, but he doesn’t kiss and tell. Wow. Gives new squickiness to “I’d rather kiss a wookie!” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/28 "2010-07-06T15:51:42Z")
> [@jrepka](#): > > That ain’t the half of it. They put Luke with Anakin’s relatives, on his home planet, under his own name (Skywalker – kind of jumps out at you from the phone book, doesn’t it?). And Anakin’s former partner living next door under his own name (OK, he changed his first name from Obiwan Kenobi to “Old Ben” Kenobi). That’s not in plain sight, that’s putting him in a day-glow sequined jumpsuit with a neon sign above the front door reading “Darth: look here!” Well, the thing is, the galaxy is big. Like, BIG big. Like, way bigger than a \*blue whale, \*even. Full of planets, too. And it’s not like Darthy is spending his idle time scouring the Universe for his possibly alive offspring. Plus, he hates sand. He really hates it. It’s coarse and gets everywhere and stuff. Add to that the he doesn’t exactly have fond memories of the place… Tatooine is probably the last place he’d want to scour, were he really in a scouring mood. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/29 "2010-07-06T17:11:22Z")
so new questions: - wouldn’t being “short for a stormtrooper” be a rather LARGE tipoff considering they’re clones? - was uncle owen force-inclined, or is he not related to anakin by blood? - can anakin just getting the impression that padme is dead be enough to explain away him not knowing his kids are alive? yeah he was char broiled alive, but he is still super in tune with the force. i think the birthing of GOAT jedi twins would have made enough waves in the force for darth to pick up on. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/30 "2010-07-06T17:20:34Z")
[Clone troopers](http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/clonetroopers/) were clones. [Stormtroopers](http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/stormtroopers/index.html) started as distinct individuals but had their individuality stripped from them through extensive indoctrination and training. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/31 "2010-07-06T17:28:10Z")
Oh, and like it or not, George Lucas is the one who gets to decide how the force works and how sensitive to it each character in the Star Wars universe is, so no, clearly the birthing of the goats did not make enough waves in the force for Darth to pick up on. [Clone troopers](http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/clonetroopers/) were clones. [Stormtroopers](http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/stormtroopers/index.html) started as distinct individuals but had their individuality stripped from them through extensive indoctrination and training. As for the disparity of how each child was dealt with, that’s one thing that actually makes sense in a way. Obi-Wan: The best place to hide someone is in plain sight. Yoda: No, you idiot. The best place to hide someone is, you know, hidden. Obi-Wan: OK, since we have two kids to work with, let’s try both and see which one works better. The winner gets a Coke. Yoda: OK, but to be fair we both have to go into seclusion and be strictly hands-off. No cheating. Obi-Wan: Uh, riiiight… ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/32 "2010-07-06T17:28:55Z")
A couple of geeky things. – It made sense to split the twins up. At the time of Episode 3, it’s basically Yoda, Bail Organa and Obi Wan. Yoda ain’t raisin’ no kids, so one has to go with Bail, the other goes with Obi Wan. As soon as Bail says “we want a girl,” the boy goes with Obi Wan, and we’re off to the races. – Both Leia and Luke are kind of hidden in plain sight. Leia is the adopted daughter of a well-known Senator, and Luke is sent to live on Tatooine. You know, where his dad grew up. Gee, great hiding spot there. That said, Tatooine _does_ make sense, insofar as it’s the last place Darth Vader probably wants to visit given all the bad things that happened there. However, given the events of the first movie-- Leia and droids are fleeing there-- one would think Vader would have been a bit more curious _why_ they were heading to Tatooine. (Obviously, given all the retconning that occurred, this sort of thing was never an issue when we all _first_ saw Star Wars). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/33 "2010-07-06T17:30:21Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > so new questions: > > - wouldn’t being “short for a stormtrooper” be a rather LARGE tipoff considering they’re clones? > - was uncle owen force-inclined, or is he not related to anakin by blood? > - can anakin just getting the impression that padme is dead be enough to explain away him not knowing his kids are alive? yeah he was char broiled alive, but he is still super in tune with the force. i think the birthing of GOAT jedi twins would have made enough waves in the force for darth to pick up on. 1. Owen was the son of Cliegg Lars, who bought and married Shmi Skywalker after his first wife died. Shmi is not Owen’s biological mother, so he and Anakin are step-brothers, and aren’t blood relatives. 2. There’s a lot of EU stuff that Darth Vader was much LESS powerful in the force than Anakin had been. He lost a lot of midichlorians when his arms & legs were roasted off (seriously), so he didn’t have the same capabilities and power as before. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/34 "2010-07-06T19:11:14Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Is there some reference I’m missing to girls in the desert in the 70s? Or just saying that would be considered to be ‘too cruel’ or some such by the cultural standards of the time?? The desert sun, heat and dryness are hell on a girl’s skin. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/35 "2010-07-06T19:30:55Z")
I always did like Leia better thank Luke. She could take care of herself. Luke was just some punk ass kid who later became a punk ass kid who could use the force. I didn’t like Han much either, although I can see why a lot of people do. Having a movie where Leia and Chewy teaming up to take down Jabba would be kind of interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/36 "2010-07-06T19:46:16Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > 1. There’s a lot of EU stuff that Darth Vader was much LESS powerful in the force than Anakin had been. He lost a lot of midichlorians when his arms & legs were roasted off (seriously), so he didn’t have the same capabilities and power as before. Not to mention the fact that if he ever used force lightning(and maybe a few other party tricks) he’d short himself out. On the other hand, maybe it came in handy when his battery ran low. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/37 "2010-07-06T20:10:55Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > 1. Owen was the son of Cliegg Lars, who bought and married Shmi Skywalker after his first wife died. Shmi is not Owen’s biological mother, so he and Anakin are step-brothers, and aren’t blood relatives. That’s the current canon, as seen in the prequels, but the old canon, given only by a brief reference in the novelization of Jedi, Owen wasn’t related to Anakin or Luke at all. He was Ben’s brother. How a Kenobi and a Lars could be brothers was not addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/38 "2010-07-06T20:51:56Z")
> [@Mogle](#): > > WAG: The whole Luke and Leia being twins was a retcon, Lucas didn’t come up with it until he made RotJ. Luke and Leia have been pretty intimately connected from the start, if you think like a deconstructionist. Lucas has never been shy about acknowledging the sources for the plot and archetypal characters of _Star Wars_, and the three primary sources for his pastiche are Kurosawa’s _The Hidden Fortress_, _The Wizard of Oz_, and _Dambusters_. If you consider _The Wizard of Oz_, it’s easy to see that the character of Luke transliterated fairly directly from Dorothy Gale: A wistful, orphan stuck on a farm in a flat, colourless, dreadfully-dull wasteland, where wistful dreaming of colourful adventures in far-off places is discouraged by well-meaning but unimaginative aunt & uncle who wish that their ward would get their head out of the clouds and concentrate on the chores at hand. Depressed, our protagonist follows a small, curious little thing out into the wasteland. There is a conversation with a hermit who turns out to have some knowledge of aforementioned far-off, exotic places - and then disaster strikes at the homestead, forcing them into their adventure. Later, another page from _The Wizard of Oz_ is taken, when our protagonists rescue Leia from the Death Star, analogous with the rescue from the Wicked Witch of the West’s castle. (If this seems tenuous to you, compare the scenes where our heroes gain entry to the prison area by beating up some of the guards off-camera and reappearing next wearing their ill-fitting uniforms.) _Et voila_, Dorothy has been split into two separate characters: Luke and Leia. Twins, sorta. If you want to go _really_ deconstructionist on it, consider that (in the earliest scripts with a Death Star rescue) Solo was rescuing… Anakin Starkiller. Of course, you can simulate the end result of years of studying Derrida and Deconstructionism by insufflating .05 grams of methamphetamine before discussing a creative work, so take that for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![snoopygal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@snoopygal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoopygal)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/39 "2010-07-08T14:10:29Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Luke and Leia have been pretty intimately connected from the start, if you think like a deconstructionist. > > Lucas has never been shy about acknowledging the sources for the plot and archetypal characters of _Star Wars_, and the three primary sources for his pastiche are Kurosawa’s _The Hidden Fortress_, _The Wizard of Oz_, and _Dambusters_. > > If you consider _The Wizard of Oz_, it’s easy to see that the character of Luke transliterated fairly directly from Dorothy Gale: A wistful, orphan stuck on a farm in a flat, colourless, dreadfully-dull wasteland, where wistful dreaming of colourful adventures in far-off places is discouraged by well-meaning but unimaginative aunt & uncle who wish that their ward would get their head out of the clouds and concentrate on the chores at hand. Depressed, our protagonist follows a small, curious little thing out into the wasteland. There is a conversation with a hermit who turns out to have some knowledge of aforementioned far-off, exotic places - and then disaster strikes at the homestead, forcing them into their adventure. > > Later, another page from _The Wizard of Oz_ is taken, when our protagonists rescue Leia from the Death Star, analogous with the rescue from the Wicked Witch of the West’s castle. (If this seems tenuous to you, compare the scenes where our heroes gain entry to the prison area by beating up some of the guards off-camera and reappearing next wearing their ill-fitting uniforms.) _Et voila_, Dorothy has been split into two separate characters: Luke and Leia. Twins, sorta. > > If you want to go _really_ deconstructionist on it, consider that (in the earliest scripts with a Death Star rescue) Solo was rescuing… Anakin Starkiller. > > Of course, you can simulate the end result of years of studying Derrida and Deconstructionism by insufflating .05 grams of methamphetamine before discussing a creative work, so take that for what it’s worth. I think you mean ‘analysis’ rather than ‘deconstruction’. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606/40 "2010-07-08T15:49:56Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > If you want to go really deconstructionist on it, consider that (in the earliest scripts with a Death Star rescue) Solo was rescuing… Anakin Starkiller. Wait a minute, Anakin Starkiller? Is that any relation to John Sheridan?😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-questions-wait-they-havent-all-been-answered-again-and-again/545606.md?page=3)