# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/41 "2012-01-31T02:03:41Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > 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. And “royal” titles don’t seem to have been as associated with hereditary monarchy as they are in our galaxy. Natalie Portman, after all, was elected queen for a term. ---
**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, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/42 "2012-01-31T02:04:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Chewbacca seemed like comic relief to me. “I know it smells bad!” Is that line supposed to be funny? They’re about to dive into a dumpster. I’d expect it to smell bad, and it’s not a stretch that the big, hairy space alien has a keener sense of smell than a human. Chewbacca doesn’t strike me as a comic relief character. There’s some humor around him, but it all derives from how the other characters react to this menacing fur monster standing around, not from anything Chewbacca actually says or does. “Get this walking carpet out of my way,” is Leia being funny, not Chebacca. > [@](#): > > The cantina full of silly aliens. Silly how? (Heh. I feel like Joe Pesci. “Silly how? Do I amuse you? Am I some kind of alien space clown to you?”) I don’t get a “silly” vibe off the cantina scene aliens, I get a “dangerous lowlifes” vibe. They look pretty weird, sure, but not in a silly way. ---
**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, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/43 "2012-01-31T02:05:09Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > 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 The **Sith** Empire (in the Expanded Universe) rose and fell repeatedly over the millennia. It’s the Sith Empire which is referred to in SWTOR. About 1000 years before the time of the movies, the Sith (practitioners of the Dark Side of the Force) were nearly wiped out, and (IIRC) the two remaining Sith went into hiding. They then pursued a strategy of having only two Sith alive at any one time, until one finally arose (Darth Sidious, a.k.a. Senator / Chancellor / Emperor Palpatine) who was capable of exacting the Siths’ revenge against the Galactic Republic. Sidious then established the **Galactic** Empire, which is the “Empire” referred to in the movies. ---
**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, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/44 "2012-01-31T04:12:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t get a “silly” vibe off the cantina scene aliens, I get a “dangerous lowlifes” vibe. Wretched, perhaps? Scum, you might say. Villainous, even. ---
**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, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/45 "2012-01-31T04:20:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Silly how? (Heh. I feel like Joe Pesci. “Silly how? Do I amuse you? Am I some kind of alien space clown to you?”) I don’t get a “silly” vibe off the cantina scene aliens, I get a “dangerous lowlifes” vibe. They look pretty weird, sure, but not in a silly way. Nose flutes. Look, Han shot first, I know. I’ve fallen into a den of fan boys. I’ll buy everyone a drink and just back on out… ---
**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, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/46 "2012-01-31T04:26:54Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Nose flutes. You mean [these guys?](http://walyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/star-wars-cantina-band.jpg) ---
**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, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/47 "2012-01-31T04:33:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You mean [these guys?](http://walyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/star-wars-cantina-band.jpg) (Like Han, draws Broomstick Mauser under the table and sets it to “Emasculate”.) Why, yes, thank you. Drinks are on me, guys. I left the coffee pot on back on Altair IV. Gotta go. It’s been real. ---
**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, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/48 "2012-01-31T04:40:34Z")
[Han’s sidearm.](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/DL-44_heavy_blaster_pistol) [Broomstick Mauser.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_C96) …Backs slowly towards the door… ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227/49 "2012-01-31T14:50:53Z")
> [@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? But he has. At least, I have them. [This](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Two-Disc-Widescreen-Theatrical/dp/B000FQJAIW/ref=pd_cp_mov_3)is the exact copy of Star Wars that I have on DVD - my husband bought it for me for Christmas several years ago. Yes, it does have the disasterous “enhanced” edition on it from 1997, but it also has the original theatrical 1977 release on it (although in 4:3, not in widescreen). That’s the one I’ll watch; I’ll never watch the enhanced one. Similar DVDs are available for Empire and Return. You can also get the original theatrical versions (and enhanced versions) in a [bundle](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Trilogy-Widescreen-Theatrical/dp/B001EN71DG/ref=pd_cp_mov_1)- it’s hella expensive, but it’s available. No, the original theatrical versions are not restored; they’re transfers from videodisk masters, but they are the ones you saw back in the 80s. And the “enhanced versions” and episodes 1-3 are available in blu-ray, [here](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Complete-Episodes-Blu-ray/dp/B003ZSJ212/dp/B000PMLFRA) and [here](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Complete-Episodes-Blu-ray/dp/B003ZSJ212/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328020671&sr=8-2). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-what-were-the-rebels-rebelling-against/611227.md?page=2)