What was Lucas thinking with the Porkins character in Star Wars?

[TBG]

@MrAtoz

I like how, in the final scene in that video, Red Leader tells Luke, “I met your father once, when I was just a boy.”

I wonder if that was before or after his father slaughtered a bunch of innocent children?

Before, because after would have meant meeting Vader, and he wouldn’t know that Vader was Luke’s father, only Ben, Yoda, and what… Bail Organa, maybe… knew that. Oh and Artoo. Artoo knows all. Including apparently what happens to major characters lightyears away…

[Alfishius]

@muldoonthief

Why wouldn’t he be carrying torpedoes? He’s flying a Y-wing, a fighter-bomber designed to carry torpedoes. And if I was defending my only base from complete destruction, and the only weapon that could take out the attacker was a proton torpedo, I think I’d put them on every ship capable of carrying them.

Bingo.

[Bryan_Ekers]

So, was Porkins buddies with the ice-cream-maker guy from Empire?

[AncientHumanoid]

@Lorne_Armstrong

Three things I never understood about the end of Star Wars:

1. Why is there a rebel pilot from Texas? Is there a Texas in outer space?

2. Who is the Y-Wing pilot who survives the battle? I have never figured that out.

3. Why does Luke appear to have an orgasm after the torpedo enters the port?

Well… there’s an asteroid the size of Texas that a bunch of oil workers are on.

[ExTank]

@Lorne_Armstrong

Three things I never understood about the end of Star Wars:

1. Why is there a rebel pilot from Texas? Is there a Texas in outer space?

2. Who is the Y-Wing pilot who survives the battle? I have never figured that out.

3. Why does Luke appear to have an orgasm after the torpedo enters the port?

1. Texas is everywhere. You cannot escape it.

2. Fanwank/LucasFilm crap aside, there’s strong on-screen evidence that more people/pilots survived the battle; just count the orange flight suited pilot figures after Luke gets back from that mission.

3. :Sterling Archer: “Are we still doing ‘phrasing’?”

[Push_You_Down]

@Lorne_Armstrong

2. Who is the Y-Wing pilot who survives the battle? I have never figured that out.

Keyan Farlander

That guy.

[Biffster]

How is it that Luke knew exactly how to fly an Xwing fighter when he’d never had any training pin his life? And why would the rebel forces have trusted him to fly one?
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[Sweetums]

@Biffster

How is it that Luke knew exactly how to fly an Xwing fighter when he’d never had any training pin his life? And why would the rebel forces have trusted him to fly one?
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The typical explanation is that Luke grew up flying a plane called a “Skyhopper” that was manufactured by the same company, and had very similar controls.

[running_coach]

@Biffster

How is it that Luke knew exactly how to fly an Xwing fighter when he’d never had any training pin his life? And why would the rebel forces have trusted him to fly one?
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@Sweetums

The typical explanation is that Luke grew up flying a plane called a “Skyhopper” that was manufactured by the same company, and had very similar controls.

He used to target womp rats.
That’s saying something.

[Skywatcher]

@Lemur866

Here you go.

Weird. This is markedly different from what I saw at a drive-in in '77. It was night on Tatooine when Luke saw the battle, for one.

[dropzone]

@Declan

In otherwords he was an experienced pro and bugged out when the situation called for it.

Isn’t that what the AF teaches you, that they spent more teaching you than the aircraft cost?

@Pine_Fresh_Scent

A friend of mine was refueling his F-15 over Afghanistan, but didn’t know there was an AF General watching from the observation window of the tanker. My friend’s commander later got a call from the general’s staff about my friend not wearing his flight gloves, having his sleeves rolled up, oxygen mask down and his chin strap undone. I guess it’s good no one knew about the MP3 player spliced into the comm system.

My point is some aircrew button every button and truly “dress for egress”, while other are more willing to risk burns and other ejection injuries in the name of comfort. So the undone straps in SW don’t bother me. I think it has more to do with wardrobe issues than real world precedent, though.

The general suspected because he had had his Walkman plugged in. AFs are notoriously slack.

@terentii

If you were in college back in the '70s, you obviously hung out with the wrong crowd… :dubious:

Indeed. We SF fans were of a type.

[ExTank]

@Push_You_Down

Keyan Farlander | Wookieepedia | Fandom

That guy.

That bio is a perfect example of why I hate the EU.

[Acsenray]

@ExTank

That bio is a perfect example of why I hate the EU.

I have no idea.

[Hoops]

@running_coach

He used to target womp rats.
That’s saying something.

As womp rats to wanton boys are we to th’ gods; They bullseye us in T-16s for their sport.

[Alfishius]

@ExTank

That bio is a perfect example of why I hate the EU.

Yeh the EU is crap. Including the Thrawn stuff. Hope none of that EVER sees the screen.

[TBG]

@Alfishius

Yeh the EU is crap. Including the Thrawn stuff. Hope none of that EVER sees the screen.

Thrawn is on the screen (canonically) in the current season of Rebels.

[silenus]

Ha-ha!

[Half_Mile_Ride]

Porkins was just made to be the comical-relief character in the movie, what a shame the actor died so soon after doing the movie.

[Intergalactic_Gladiator]

@Half_Mile_Ride

Porkins was just made to be the comical-relief character in the movie, what a shame the actor died so soon after doing the movie.

William Hootkins had steady work until he died in 2005:

William Hootkins

It would have been neat if they could have added him in the battle at the end of Rogue One and given him a badass moment in it. Gareth Edwards inserted unused pilot footage that he found at Lucasfilm, I wonder if there was any more of Porkins filmed.

[TBG]

@Intergalactic_Gladiator

William Hootkins had steady work until he died in 2005:

William Hootkins - Wikipedia

William Hootkins? That’s only marginally an improvement on Jek Porkins. Though knowing Lucas, he’d be some sort of owl creature.