# Star Wars: what were the rebels rebelling against? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227 "2012-01-30T21:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/21 "2012-01-31T00:16:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Aliens were largely comic relief in the III, IV and V, were they not? Your selection of movies confuses me. Those are the films from 2005, 1977, and 1980 respectively. Did you mean IV, V, and VI? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/22 "2012-01-31T00:32:16Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > I figured the lack of aliens in the Death Star was due to 1977 effects. The costumes sitting in a cantina was one thing. Having them do complex battle scenes just wasn’t in the cards. Other than Chewbacca, they probably didn’t have the budget to do other convincing aliens. I’ve read that Lucas’s original plans for Star Wars was for there to be a land battle, between primitive Wookiees and high-tech Stormtroopers, on Yavin IV while the Rebel fighters attacked the Death Star, and that one big reason why it got cut was that he couldn’t afford a large number of Wookiee costumes. (I also suspect that this is a big reason why, in the trash compactor scene, Chewie never goes into the water – he was under an order to not get the suit wet. 😃 ) When the time came to produce Return of the Jedi (with another battle above a Death Star), he had the budget to do the land battle. But, by then, Lucas felt that he’d established Chewbacca (and, by extension, Wookiees) as a technologically-savvy species, and so, he created the Ewoks (short instead of tall, fuzzy instead of hairy). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/23 "2012-01-31T00:35:18Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > But, by then, Lucas felt that he’d established Chewbacca (and, by extension, Wookiees) as a technologically-savvy species, and so, he created the Ewoks (short instead of tall, fuzzy instead of hairy). Meaning: We’ve sold the shit out of the Wookie toys. Now we have to come up with something different to separate the mooks from their money. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/24 "2012-01-31T00:42:06Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Your selection of movies confuses me. Those are the films from 2005, 1977, and 1980 respectively. Did you mean IV, V, and VI? Er, yes. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/25 "2012-01-31T00:49:35Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Meaning: We’ve sold the shit out of the Wookie toys. Now we have to come up with something different to separate the mooks from their money. I don’t buy this. If “Making more money,” were the driving reason for the decisions George Lucas makes, why hasn’t he released the original trilogy on DVD and Blu-Ray? If the last two decades have proven anything, it’s that George Lucas is more than willing to ignore enormous pots of money if it means staying true to his artistic \ “vision.” I’m pretty sure we got Ewoks because George legitimately thought they’d be a good idea. (Also, as a kid, I would have fucking _killed_ for a wider range of Wookie action figures. This was not a necessary change in order to get my parent’s money. If anything, it would have been funneled into the respective pockets of Lucas and Hasbro at a vastly increased rate.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/26 "2012-01-31T00:52:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Er, yes. > > Thanks. > 🙂 In that case, no. There weren’t any funny aliens in the movies until Return of the Jedi. Yoda came off as one initially in _Empire_, of course, but that was a deliberate ruse. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/27 "2012-01-31T00:53:01Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > And rampant Ewok oppression. By or of? :-p ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/28 "2012-01-31T00:53:09Z")
Releasing the “original” versions would be acknowledging that he fucked everybody over with the “remastered” versions. George has his head too far up his ass to ever admit that he is oh so very wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/29 "2012-01-31T01:00:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t buy this. If “Making more money,” were the driving reason for the decisions George Lucas makes, why hasn’t he released the original trilogy on DVD and Blu-Ray? They have been released on DVD. A fairly halfassed nonanamorphic version, but they’re there. Not even a bloody “Episode IV” on the first movie, just Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/30 "2012-01-31T01:00:32Z")
In a [deleted scene from star wars IV](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zkvkgwMW0w#t=5m18s): Biggs visits Luke from the academy and tells him that he’s joining the rebellion and he so goes through a few reasons as to why Luke should join him. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/31 "2012-01-31T01:03:42Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > They have been released on DVD. A fairly halfassed nonanamorphic version, but they’re there. Not even a bloody “Episode IV” on the first movie, just Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars. Wasn’t that basically just a special feature on one of the “Enhanced Edition” collectors sets, though? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/32 "2012-01-31T01:04:45Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > They have been released on DVD. A fairly halfassed nonanamorphic version, but they’re there. Not even a bloody “Episode IV” on the first movie, just Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars. And they didn’t sell very well, which I think justifies a lot of his reluctance about them. The truth is, the fanboys are a small percentage of potential sales, and most other people don’t give a monkey’s about the Special Edition changes or how lame the Prequels may be. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/33 "2012-01-31T01:10:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But even going back to nothing but just the first movie, the Rebellion knows that the Empire has no qualms about killing civilians, and that they are building or have built a superweapon that can destroy a planet. Connecting the dots from there isn’t too hard. One of the things that’s amusing me about the SWTOR game that’s just come out now is that (a) the empire’s apparently been around a lot longer than (I’d have thought canonical) movies would claim, and (b) for at least 5000 years they (and the republic) have been inventing planet-killer weapons about every ten minutes. (The Jedi Knight story has you encountering about six of them, and I’m only about half done). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/34 "2012-01-31T01:15:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The Empire is a violently oppressive totalitarian government. Early in the first movie, there’s a line about “the Emperor dissolving the Imperial Senate.” In other words, the Empire has only just recently crushed the last remnants of democratic rule in the galaxy. To cement their hold, they’ve built a gun that’s big enough to blow up a planet. And they’re willing to blow up a planet full of people, just to demonstrate to the rest of the galaxy that they’re totally willing to blow up a planet full of people. As you note, the planet exploding all happens after the Rebellion has already started, but you can probably infer that they were doing some pretty heinous stuff in the run up to the events of the first movie. It’s not like they were totally chill up until the Rebellion started, and then they suddenly went into murder mode. Or to use a real world analogy, it’s like a story where Britain responds to the IRA by nuking Belfast, and the Queen has dissolved Parliament while a character announces her intention to keep the local provinces in line with threats of nuclear annihilation. It’s probably safe to assume this version of Britain isn’t very nice or very democratic. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/35 "2012-01-31T01:35:27Z")
Every movie tyranny deserves a rebellion. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/36 "2012-01-31T01:37:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Or to use a real world analogy, it’s like a story where Britain responds to the IRA by nuking Belfast, and the Queen has dissolved Parliament while a character announces her intention to keep the local provinces in line with threats of nuclear annihilation. It’s probably safe to assume this version of Britain isn’t very nice or very democratic. Or, even more on point, they’re Space Nazis. You don’t need an excuse to shoot Space Nazis. That’s what they’re there for. ---
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/37 "2012-01-31T01:39:55Z")
That is one line I never understood. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) says early on in the movie that she wants to “restore the republic”. But republics do not have royalty or princes or princesses! So if Leia was such an avid republican (note the lower case “r”) why did she not call herself simply Leia or Ms Leia? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/38 "2012-01-31T01:47:28Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > That is one line I never understood. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) says early on in the movie that she wants to “restore the republic”. But republics do not have royalty or princes or princesses! So if Leia was such an avid republican (note the lower case “r”) why did she not call herself simply Leia or Ms Leia? It seems like while the Senate was a republic, every planet got to have their own government. So an individual planet might have royalty, but still send Senators. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/39 "2012-01-31T01:48:46Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In that case, no. There weren’t any funny aliens in the movies until Return of the Jedi. Yoda came off as one initially in _Empire_, of course, but that was a deliberate ruse. Chewbacca seemed like comic relief to me. “I know it smells bad!” The cantina full of silly aliens. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/40 "2012-01-31T01:50:26Z")
Leia was Princess of a planet, not of the whole Republic. Much like Queen Amidala. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227.md?page=3)