Question: It's obviously simple to build a robot that can understand and speak English. Even droids working as short order cooks can speak English, as far back as Episode 2. So why can't R2 talk? He's a friggin' mechanic, he needs to be able to speak with the humans he works for. I know his primary function isn't communication but if 90% of the droids in Star Wars have a speech function surely R2 could have one.
Question: Obi-Wan can obviously understand Wookies, since he books passage on the Falcon through Chewie. So why does he never talk to Chewbacca again? It's like they forgot Ben can understand him.
Answer: Just because we don't see him talk to Chewbacca, it doesn't mean that he doesn't off-camera during the trip. The conversations that he has are with either Luke or Han - he could talk to Chewie but, from the storytelling point of view, it would just be extraneous material.
Question: After escaping in the pod, Threepio says, "That's funny; the damage doesn't look as bad out here." But they're too far away to see the ship they were in; all they can see is the Imperial Star Destroyer that "swallowed" their ship up. Was this a humorous character-mistake by Lucas to show how erroneous Threepio can often be? Or could Threepio actually see the small ship the rebels were in (hardly looks possible, given the shot shown when he says it)?
Chosen answer: Well, he is an android, and I doubt the designers would be satisfied at giving him just normal human vision. He probably has some sort of optical enhancements, which would be pretty necessary for any sort of technical work, and he does say that he's done that in the past.
Question: Do the clones in AOTC and the storm troopers in the last 3 have anything to do with each other? The armor is little different between the two, and the stormtroopers are definitely more clumsy, but it's something I've wondered about... I know that by the time episode IV comes around, the clones are probably very old, considering the age progression, but I wonder if the empire still has them made. Maybe to be seen in episode III...
Answer: They are, to all intents and purposes, the same army, just with a twenty-odd year gap. The clones form the Republic Army - as it's now reasonably clear that the Republic becomes the Empire, the stormtroopers that we see in the original films are therefore the same army, just under a slightly different regime. The armour variation seems like a plausible alteration over the time period. The stormtroopers are, however, not clones (not as a rule, anyway) - they're conventionally recruited and trained soldiers, which probably accounts for their lesser effectiveness. But, yeah, to sum up, they're the same army, just twenty-odd years apart.
Question: Can anyone explain why Obi-Wan holds up his lightsaber and allows Vader to kill him. Is it something to do with why he comes back as a 'ghost', and so he can help Luke?
Answer: Obi-Wan sacrificed himself because he knew he wouldn't make it back to the Falcon. Vader and the Stormtroopers would have seen to that and the disabling of the Tractor Beam would have been discovered at any time. He also knew Luke would never leave without him, so he prepared himself for death, which why he and Yoda disappeared.
Answer: It does seem to be something along those lines, yes. There's obviously some reason why Obi-wan and Yoda simply vanished at the point of death, while none of the Jedi portrayed in the prequel trilogy films have apparently done so - this will hopefully be explained in the remaining film. A theory put forward in the books is that a Jedi at the point of death can choose to attach himself to another nearby Force sensitive, providing them with some of their strength and, as we see, guidance. If this does turn out to be correct, then it seems that Obi-wan realised that he himself would be unable to defeat Vader, but that Luke might be able to. As such, he chose to sacrifice himself to give Luke an extra edge in his adventures ahead.
Question: Is Han Solo brain-dead, or does he have the biggest cojones in the galaxy? From what we see of Greedo trying to kill him, there really isn't much explanation for why he is found screwing around in a bar on the home planet of the mobster who has it in for him. He couldn't have possibly known that the special edition scene with Jabba could go so well in his favor. I can't think of an explanation.
Answer: Han is still under the impression that he can pay Jabba off, and, as his meeting with Jabba implies, the Hutt is still willing to cut him a little slack, so he's not actually wrong. As such, he needs work - the cantina is one of the best places to find opportunities to get money - as, indeed, he does, by meeting Obi-wan and Luke.
Question: When Obi-Wan tells Luke about Darth Vader murdering his father, Luke doesn't seem to have heard of Vader before. But he knows about the rebellion and wants to go to the Imperial Academy (so he can defect later). Shouldn't he know who Vader is?
Answer: Not necessarily. The Empire is infamous, but that doesn't mean everyone will know who their higher-ups are. I know who the Ku Klux Klan are, but I couldn't tell you who their leaders are.
This. Or possibly, Luke knows who Vader is but just doesn't comment while Obi-wan is talking.
Answer: For most of his early life, Luke lived a simple, rustic life. His aunt and uncle knew his parentage and no doubt suppressed information about the Empire from him. Luke is naive and still has a limited and generalized knowledge of the rebellion, most of which was gleaned from talking to friends. He has little awareness of who the key players are.
Answer: Remember that Luke was hidden on Tatooine as a baby, and Obiwan also went into hiding there, presumably as a protector to keep Luke's very existence a secret from Darth Vader. It could be that Obiwan remotely exercised Jedi mind-tricks on Luke throughout his young life to block any curiosity about Vader.
Question: Why was the original trilogy always titled episodes 4, 5 and 6, when the prequel trilogy wasn't even planned?
Answer: The original wasn't. It was just "Star Wars" when I saw it in the theater. In fact Lucas wasn't planning on any sequels when he made the first. After the first made it as a big success and drafts of a sequel were started, the second was first numbered as 2, but Lucas decided on a series with prequels, so the first became number 4, and so on. For a long time after 4-6 came out, people doubted if 7-9, let alone 1-3 would every be made. It was 16 years between the release of #6 and #1.
Answer: It is true "Star Wars" was not originally called episode IV, but Lucas always had the idea of doing a sequels. His original script became too big for one film, so he took the first third of the script (Act 1) and turned it into "Star Wars." However, since the film gave no context or background information to the audience (we're basically just thrown into the action), Lucas took the opportunity when "Star Wars" was a success to plan on creating prequels.
Https://drbeat.li/album/Bücher/The_Secret_History_of_Star_Wars.pdf (pdf of "The Secret History of Star Wars"). And here is a quote from Lucas "The Star Wars series started out as a movie that ended up being so big that I took each act and cut it into its own movie...It was like a big script. It was way too big to make into a movie. So I took the first third of it, which is basically the first act, and I turned that into what was the original Star Wars."
Question: When Luke finds R2-D2 after R2 runs away from Luke's home, and then R2 starts beeping something and C-3PO says, "There are several creatures headed from the southeast!" Why then does Luke go to take a closer look instead of simply getting the droids in his speeder and getting out of there?
Answer: Luke is focused on finding Obi Wan and delivering Princess Leia's recorded message, which has intrigued him. Also, Luke is young, adventurous, and rather rash; he's curious to know what he's up against and whether or not it's necessary to flee or stay and continue his mission. He has a Jedi Knight's nature, and they do not run at the first sign of danger.
Question: As someone else pointed out, Obi-wan states that Anakin wanted Luke to have his lightsaber when Luke was old enough. But Anakin violated the Jedi Order's rules by marrying and having children, so he (before he became Darth Vader) couldn't have expected Luke to join the Order himself someday and become a Jedi. Surely the Council would not have accepted Luke?
Answer: The Jedi are discouraged from marrying and having relationships, but not from procreating. Based on council's views, Luke would actually be an ideal Jedi subject; He comes from a lineage strong in the force, but has no ties to his parents.
Not exactly. Jedi are allowed to have casual sex occasionally, but they are not supposed to deliberately reproduce. Most of them would become attached to their children and the partners who they conceive with. Also, what would pregnant female Jedi do at the Temple? They would need to rest and take special health/safety precautions during pregnancy, so they couldn't participate in many missions and battles. And they would need to give up their newborn babies.
Question: Why did Owen and Beru ever tell Luke that they are his aunt and uncle? They apparently want him to live a simple farmer's life, stay away from Ben Kenobi, and not learn about Jedi or get involved in the Rebellion. Would it not be easier to pretend that they are his parents?
Answer: Any answer would be speculation and it's hard to know exactly how much George Lucas had planned ahead for these characters. Not to mention things like Obi-Wan never knew Anakin was alive when they were separating Luke and Leia, Darth Vader hadn't been created yet, and he doesn't find out Anakin is Darth Vader until years later. An in-universe answer would basically be there's no way for the Lars to explain they now have a baby when Beru was never pregnant, so everyone would know Luke isn't their son (which could eventually be told to Luke as he got older). So really the only options would be to raise him as an adopted child or as their nephew. The Organas on the other hand always wanted a daughter and so Bail agreed to secretly adopt Leia.
Answer: Considering Kenobi lived on Tatooine and it was known that Anakin became Vader, there was always a chance that Luke would learn the truth and finding out he was lied to about his past could have been devastating to him and the family dynamic.
Question: What does Luke think happened to his mother before he meets Obi-Wan and learns that his father was a Jedi? Has this been mentioned anywhere?
Answer: It's never mentioned in the original movies what Luke believed about his mother's demise. His foster aunt and uncle probably never knew her identity, and Obi-Wan likely provided little information other than Luke's name. They apparently learned at some point that Vader was the father. Lars and Beru probably told Luke that his mother died from natural causes shortly after his birth.
According to the recent series about Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan didn't even know, right away, that Anakin became Darth Vader. He thinks that he left Anakin to die after their fight on Mustafar, and Vader is literally a separate person. Only ten years later does he find out that Anakin became Vader. If you think this change is weird and unnecessary, you're not the only one.
It is rather weird, though it kind of explains why Obi-Wan, believing Anakin was dead, would reveal Luke's real name to Lars and Beru. Even so, it would have been wiser to use a false surname. Of course, it also makes little sense that Obi-Wan, after learning about Vader, wouldn't tell Lars and Beru to change Luke's last name to protect him and themselves. It sounds like a typical plot point revision after people notice inconsistencies in the storyline.
Good point. But I thought Force users could sense when someone close to them dies. Anakin could feel his mother's pain, and later, Vader says he felt that Padme was still alive.
Just more plot inconsistencies, though Obi-Wan, the one who inflicted the pain, would have been sensing as well as witnessing Anakin's agony in the moment, leading to him assume Anakin would quickly die. He could have dismissed any later Force disturbances he felt regarding Anakin, believing him dead.
Question: Did the feud between Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker begin during the filming of this movie?
Answer: Kenny Baker stated that there was never an actual feud between them, though they were never good friends. Baker said Daniels never seemed to get along well with anyone on the Star Wars set. Daniels has since said that he didn't want to respond to Baker's comments.
Question: If you have the film on iTunes, or Blu ray, it has descriptive audio. Turn on the descriptive audio, and go to the beginning of the credits. It says" this has been described by miles [somebody]." How do you spell his last name?
Answer: It's Miles Neff.
Answer: R2's job is astromech droid and in-flight mechanic, which means that he's supposed to be locked into a fighter most of the time. When that is the case, he can communicate with the pilot through the computer (as seen in Empire Strikes Back, I believe). Since the builders didn't anticipate how much wandering around he would be doing, they didn't see a need to build in a speech function and instead spent that space on extra tools and repair programming. How many astromechs do you see wandering around the Star Wars universe and interacting with people?
Phoenix