Question: When Luke has an argument with Owen and Beru and storms out, Beru says to Owen "He's too much like his father", to which Owen says "I know. That's what I'm afraid of". But if Luke is like Anakin (as Owen and Beru fear), then what caused Luke to not go to the dark side like his father did, if Luke had all this frustration of wanting more control in this movie like his father did when he was younger?
TonyPH
6th Apr 2012
Star Wars (1977)
3rd Sep 2004
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Does anybody know why in fact there is a large monster swimming around in the death star's trash compactor? Makes the scene more exciting, yes, but its existence on the space station just seems out of place.
Answer: The creature, a dianoga, stowed into the trash compactor and built a lair as it was being built and installed on the Death Star. Dianogas love habitats like swamps or sewers and are found to commonly inhabit such places.
The main question is why was it on a space station? I can't imagine that there have been other people thrown in the trash compactor so why would it be there.
It would not surprise me at all if someone had written an entire book explaining how the creature got there.
24th Nov 2019
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Has there ever been any sort of canonical discussion about the morality of droid treatment in any Star Wars titles? They're intelligent/sentient, are treated well by most people, even like friends/pets by some. And yet they also seem to casually get their minds wiped, or if they're destroyed many people shrug rather than mourn. Tools to some, valued comrades to others, it's just a bit all over the place. Idle thought really.
Answer: Lucas has gone on record as to the treatment of droids in Star Wars being a thought-provoking allegory for the way people treat minorities. I've never heard him specifically talk about how it's almost never commented-upon in-universe, but intentionally or not, I'm of the opinion that it's more compelling this way. Why doesn't anybody do anything about the way droids are treated? Well, go around asking people why they don't do anything about the way other people are treated and you'll quickly find out.
Answer: Not in the films, but several of the books removed from canon by Disney mentioned a "droids' rights movement" that decried memory wipes and other dismissals of sentience. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Droid_rights_ (movement).
Solo, which is canon, features a subplot about droid's rights. So not everything has been scrubbed regarding this topic.
Chosen answer: Nobody in the Star Wars universe, except on rare occasions, has shown sympathy towards a droid or any AI. Even though these robots learn, they don't really evolve beyond their programming so they aren't considered "alive" (unlike in other fiction like Wall-E), not even by the most sentimental of people. Organic beings develop attachments to droids, but mostly towards their usefulness, not because they like their personality, not even Luke Skywalker towards R2 or Poe towards BB-8. If they are destroyed, too bad. Memory wiping doesn't remove the droid's original programming either, and their way of talking and manners stay.
In Episode 2, Obi-Wan makes the offhanded comment "Well, if droids could think there'd be none of us here", implying that droids do not actually possess artificial intelligence. R2-D2 seems to be a particularly unusual droid in that he is uncommonly resilient and steadfast, which makes his allies quite fond of him. Poe and BB-8 appear to have a bond that goes beyond simply being attached to the droid's usefulness, but like you say that appears to be a unique case.
Just because he said that doesn't mean they didn't have AI. They think for themselves, so they have AI. Just not as advanced as in other fiction.
The point is raised again later in the film when the cloners state that unlike droids, clones can think for themselves.
27th Oct 2017
Star Wars (1977)
Question: Who has higher authority, Vader, or Admiral Tarkin? It seems like they have equal authority over the galactic empire. Shouldn't Vader have authority over Tarkin? Vader is supposed to be the Emperor's second in command.
Answer: Vader and Tarkin are assigned to totally different jobs. I think of it sort of like if the head of the CIA were visiting a huge army base. Vader appears to be focused on thwarting the rebels (at this point mostly through intelligence gathering and identifying spies) while Tarkin supervises the construction of the Death Star, and since Vader's current mission is about the Death Star plans their assignments intertwine for the time being and it's like two departments working together. Vader may well have more favor with the Emperor, but he'll defer to Tarkin while he's in his jurisdiction, so to speak.
Answer: Vader isn't second in command of the Empire; he's the Emperor's apprentice, albeit a very powerful one. Vader isn't in the "chain of command" so to speak. He's more of a tool the Emperor uses.
Answer: Tarkin is the commander of the death star and thus the supreme leader of the Empire's armed forces. Vader is more of a specialist, high in rank but not in charge of the military by himself, but probably successor of the emperor unlike Tarkin. You could see it as Tarkin being Heinrich Himmler and Vader being Joseph Goebbels in terms of hierarchy.
6th Jul 2005
Star Wars (1977)
Question: There's a HUGE rumor that's been going around since Return of the Jedi came out: There's actually three more scripts (besides the prequels). Is there, in fact, a Star Wars: Episode VII, Episode VIII, and Episode IX? If so, what are they about?
Answer: While planning Star Wars, Lucas had a vague notion of doing a long series of movies inspired by old serials, then dropped that idea in favor of just one. When Star Wars became a phenomenon and sequels became feasible, Lucas revisited the idea. He thought of three trilogies along with some stand-alone "in-between" stories for a total of 12 films. By the time of The Empire Strikes Back's release, this was pared down to the 9 mainline films, going by interviews with Lucas and the cast at the time. By Return of the Jedi, Lucas had decided to end the saga there, with the option that he could revisit the first three at some later point. It's unclear if Lucas ever had any specific story ideas for the proposed sequel trilogy, and they never had any scripts. Producer Gary Kurtz suggested in an interview they would've been about Luke's twin sister (not Leia), though many fans are skeptical about just how much he would know about them. Of course since this question was asked a sequel trilogy was written and released.
Answer: This was long a long-standing rumour, but George Lucas always denied it. He allowed various authors to cover the history of that time period in book form - if he'd had any serious intention of doing films set in that timeframe, he wouldn't have done that. Since that time of course Disney took over the franchise and has announced new films, but entirely separate from the previous "expanded universe" of the novels, and not involving any ideas George Lucas may have had in the past.
Answer: I'm not sure how old this question is but it is a sequel trilogy. Episode VII : The Force Awakens is about a scavenger and former stormtrooper teaming up the Resistance to attempt to defeat the new First Order and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). Episode VIII : The Last Jedi is about Rey finding Luke Skywalker who is in exile hoping that he would be left alone, and he tells the story of how he tried to murder his nephew who in retaliation, turned to the dark side. Episode IX : Rise of Skywalker is about the return of Emperor Palpatine and recovering Sith Wayfinders that will lead them to Exegol and kill him, with Billy Dee Williams returning as Lando Calrissian.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Luke, despite his typically youthful frustrations, has been raised in a loving family environment. Compared to his father, who was separated from his mother at an early age, leaving her in slavery, raised by the strict Jedi Order, ended up in a secret marriage that he was unable to acknowledge and had a Sith Lord working on manipulating him from the age of ten onwards, Luke's frustrations are nothing.
Tailkinker ★