Has it ever been explained in the EU what the Stormtroopers in the original trilogy were? Clones or humanoid recruits?
A mixture of both.
Before your poor head explodes, you need to stop that train of thought right there. Making sense of the Star Wars “saga” is not only an exercise in futility, it’s also one of deep disappointment when you realise what you thought was there, what could have and should have been, you can’t enjoy any of it. Just watch the original (none of this Ep. IV bullshit, and find the copy where Han shot first…steal one if you must), and ESB, throw the rest in the bin, and be happy.
Expanded Universe…I can’t say “disagrees” with the prequel trilogy, but it seems to be in less than full agreement. In either Dark Force Rising or The Last Command, Luke becomes nauseated when he senses that a troop of Stormtroopers in a nearby ship are clones. And everyone seems to be shocked when it comes out that the remnants of the Empire are cloning again. (If a clone is grown to maturity too quickly, it will go insane. This is a plot point to remember if you’re reading the Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command).
The only way that cloned stormtroopers would shock anyone would be if cloning was generally regarded as a dead end, abandoned years before. You have to remember, as well, that the general assumption in fandom was that “The Clone Wars” were fought by the Old Republic against a clone army, right up to where the prequel trilogy blew the idea out of the water.
Speaking of that, the movies on Cinemax have the changes in them. Jabba speaking to Han in A New Hope, the updated explosions, Gredo shooting first and worst of all, infinitely worse, where they put Hayden Christensen in the trio of Jedi ‘ghosts’ appearing to Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi.
How the frack do you ever look at Darth Vader the same way again knowing it’s supposed to be Hayden in there.
I waited to see the three new Star Wars movies until the third one came out and only then because a friend had the first two on DVD and wanted to see the third n the movies. I have regretted it since. What horrible, horrible pieces of crap.
I dunno, is that any worse than it being a seventy year old Sebastian Shaw under the mask?
Actually, out of all the revisions and enhacements that Lucas made, I only did not like three: Greedo and Han shooting simultaneously, Jabba appearing in ANH and the music video in Jabba’s Palace in ROTJ.
The Greedo shooting scene was just silly. The Jabba scene that came after that was pointless. That scene merely had Han repeat to Jabba what he told Greedo just five minutes ago. It was a waste of time.
I didn’t mind the cosmetic enhacements like the enhanced explosions. But I find it incredible that Lucas and the people who did the digital remasters (Lowry Digital?) missed the green lightsaber that Luke trained with while in hyperspace in the Millenium Falcon. That saber was blue when he switched it on in Ben Kenobi’s place. It was Anakin’s blue saber.
Oh, and the prequels weren’t that bad. Yes, I’m serious.
Well, in Luke’s case, jayjay, I’m sure everyone by now knows that it was the clones who slaughtered the Jedi-they were the Emperor’s shock troops. Even those that chose to believe Palpatine that the Jedi were the enemy is still probably uneasy around clones.
For the rebels, I imagine they’d be especially apprehensive.
Ah, DataZak, I actually adored the prequels-to me, it’s all one big movie with a few breaks in between.
(And I just adore Ewan, as most people around here know by now.)
I might have to agree with these guys.
If we are going to point out the flaws in the prequel trilogy, let’s point out some of the flaws in the beloved original trilogy.
I agree with you about the prequels not being that bad. There are worse movies out there such as Tank Girl and Battlefield Earth.
Luke Skywalker was a better choice to fight the emperor and Darth Vader than either Obiwan or Yoda, because his midichlorian count was much greater than either Obiwan’s or Yoda’s. His aunt and uncle had been instructed to raise him on a midichlorian-enriched diet.
I was not commenting on the survivability of either craft, only that the op mentioned that the y wing force had been decimated , and I was not about to nitpick on 10 percent casualties for a force that had suffered almost 100 percent losses.
At the time the Y wings formed the bulk of the deep space interdiction force for the new republic ,but were being phased out in favor of the B wings. Commenting on the casualty rates for a strike group that was operating in a narrow enviroment , without proper sead or Iron hand prep, would be tacky.
Declan
I’m not going to bother rereading them or anything, but I don’t recall Luke feeling “nauseated”, he just got a sense from the clones that ‘something wasn’t right’.
-Joe
After having seen all 6 movies within a few days, I have come to the conclusion that they are all equally flawed and cheesy. The only difference is that I was 5 - 11 years old when I first saw the original films. The original fims were a bit cooler though.
You’re right. It’s been at least six years since I read them, so I got that wrong. But still…Luke’s been around stormtroopers plenty of times. You’d think that if there were a lot of clones in the stormtrooper ranks, sensing clones in a stormtrooper platoon (or whatever it was) wouldn’t engender a sense of “something wasn’t right”.
After having seen them all recently, although not in a row, I have come to the opposite conclusion: that, while occasionally hokey, the original trilogy (minus “Jedi”) is still fantastic, and the prequels still suck ass.
I stand by my original contention (and one that I have posted several times here):
The OT was hokey but fun. It also had Han Solo. Hands down the single best part of the movies. The prequels did not have Han Solo so they were shite.
Simple really.
Blasphemy!
There is no flaw in Star Wars (cheesiness, maybe). The other 4 are false, ESB is part of the truth.
Remember all, there is but one *true *Star Wars and it has no other name. “A New Hope”, forsooth!
I say unto thee - go forth and blaspheme no more!