kdh@houti.UUCP (06/28/83)
Having listened with interest to the various questions and speculations going on, I watched cerrtain scenes carefully last night. So, here is my two credits worth on various subjects: 1. It was spelled "Wookiee" in both subtitles in which it appeared. I don't recall its being spelled this way in the book (I think the last "e" was missing, but I'm not sure) 2. Someone asked why the emperor (or however you spell it) didn't zap Vader when Vader picked him up. He did. If you watch carefully, much of the blue stuff (his electric personality?) arced down and around, sparking off of Vader's suit. Presumably this is what put the hitch in D.V.'s scuba system, since it was working fine a few moments before. 3. I certainly can't understand why the empire has gotten as powerful as it has. The troopers' armor is so weak that it can't stop an arrow (one of the bad guys bought one square in the back), and all their armored vehicles have this nasty tendency to incinerate if touched by anything larger than a small rock. Granted they must be using heavy duty Duracells to be able to move and shoot the way they do, which might release their energy to the world on being destroyed, but don't you think they would have come up with a less flamable means of power generation for machines which are to be used in war-like situations? (This from a person who drives a Pinto) Or are all these machines intended merely to chase around un-armed Ewoks et al? (Or is Lucas just trying to keep pyrotechnical engineers in jobs?) 4. In the tiny flaw catagory: when D.V (a.k.a. A. S.) dies, they cut from a view over Lukes shoulder looking at his father to one from up the ramp looking over the body at Luke. In the first, Vader/Skywalker still wears the under-chin part of the mask. In the second, it's not there. 5. If a light saber (one word?) has enough oomph (sizzle?) to cut off Lukes live arm (last time) and Vader's machine one, or to cut through stanchions when thrown, how come during other fights they DON'T cut through railings, pillars, and other opponents? Luke and Vader caused a lot of sparks, but cut nothing until the famous throwing scene, and, as mentioned by another, Luke's saber merely knocked Jabba's friends over the edge of the barge. Granted it wouldn't be too cool if the place started coming down around you, but does this mean that light sabers have power settings like the oft-debated phasers? (Slice, dice, shear, and stun?) 6. Speaking of thrown light sabers, didja notice that when D.V. threw his, the center of gravity (around which it rotated) was part way up the blade? I would have thought that it would rotated about the center of the handle, since the "blade" is energy, and so presumably of negligible mass (unless there's one H*LL of a lot of energy in it). 7. On the praise list, the entire sequence between the Emperor, D.V., & our hero. The whole mental struggle was superb, better than any of the physical battle scenes. I was extremely impressed with the fact that Lucas managed to convey the struggle within Vader, despite the lack of a (visible) face. Well, that's enough of my random mumblings. Besides, I have to go back and get in line again........ Kevin Hunter