Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!WMartin@Office-3 From: WMartin%Office-3@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies.sw Subject: RotJ Nitpicking Message-ID: <2354@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Jun-83 15:05:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2354 Posted: Mon Jun 20 15:05:00 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jun-83 04:37:43 EDT Lines: 82 From: WMartin at Office-3 (Will Martin) Did anyone else notice (or could it have been due to the particular print/projector) very jerky movement of the figures walking about on the deck of Jabba's sand cruiser in the first scene of the craft skimming over the surface of Tatooine? There was a bipedal figure walking on the deck, and the movement was really obviously jerky. I could swear I saw a misspelling in one of the subtitles in Jabba's chamber. Did anyone else notice "wookee" spelled "wookeie"? [OK, I just realized I really don't know if it is "wookee" or "wookie"; however, the subtitle was neither of these -- there was an extra letter in there somewhere.] Why did C3PO not speak to Jabba in "Jabbaese"? There was too much English and not enough foreign tongues with subtitle; also the foreign tongue sounded an awful lot like a "pig-Latin"-type version of English, especially that spoken by the right-pseudopod-being (I can't call him a "right-hand-man, can I?) while Luke was mind-controlling him. (C3PO should have been more effective and sure of himself when translating and speaking the various alien tongues; after all, that is his primary purpose and he should be confident and professional about it.) Re the Death Star: if this thing was under construction, why didn't we see any sign of that, aside from the partially-completed appearance? I expected the sort of surrounding craft that were seen in the construction/overhaul hanger scene in Star Trek - TWOK. At least, there should have been a hazy cloud of specks around it in some of the scenes at the beginning, representing construction craft. You see lots of fighters during hanger-approach shots, but I didn't notice anything that could be engineering machinery. Somehow, I can't see this thing all being built from the inside out... How did Lando get to be a trusted henchman of the evil Jabba? As far as I could see, he just appeared there, already installed. A line or two of explication wouldn't have been all that difficult, and would have helped. After all, he could have unfrozen Han himself earlier and avoided all that fuss. Jabba is in this for the money; he would have sold Han if the price was right. Afer all, that's why he wanted him in the first place. Sure, torture, rape(?), and pillage are fun, but money is what counts.... Speaking of torture, how do red-hot irons on a droid's feet do anything but damage expensive hardware? If you want to torture a droid, merely sending the right electrical impulses into its brain by connecting a few wires can do it a lot more effectively and efficiently than any mechanical devices or working on external sensor circuits. Nonetheless, that brief scene in Jabba's equipment room was one of the best shots in the movie. Strategy and tactics: (Good grief!) Oh, well, maybe just a few points... Why steal the Imperial shuttle, get the password to approach the Death Star, and then just use it to land somewhere out in the woods on Endor? They could have sneaked in on any rebel ship, if they weren't going to go into the Death Star or onto the base landing pad. Why go through the security screen in the first place? What is the purpose of big ships? Since any little X-wing can go into hyperspace, and the big ships don't seem to be able to defend themselves with anything but fighters, and they don't seem to DO anything, why have them? (Either Imperial or rebel; neither side's big ships did anything but stand around, except the one that skrunched into the Death Star.) Anything larger than the Falcon seems to be mainly for the purpose of "gliding majestically", rather than any effective activity. Lastly: What kind of name is "Anakin", anyway? "Luke" is pretty obvious ("Lucas" > "Luke"), and I recall lots of speculation years ago on "Obi-Wan" in SFL, but "Anakin"? "Yoda" is pretty obviously derived from the Eastern psychic master business of "yoga" or a "yogi", but what are the Jedi/psychic connotations of "Anakin"? Will Martin