May 29th, 2005

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Two Nagging Questions About Star Wars

Having now since episodes one through six, my life is complete.

Just kidding. What I meant to say is: I have two niggling questions which I, as someone who has merely seen each movie less than five times, cannot answer. Hopefully one of you, my dear readers, is a frothing Star Wars fan:

  • In episodes four through six (the original three films), what is said about how Annakin becomes Darth Vader? Is lava mentioned?
  • Were every one of the stormtroopers in all six movies (though I don’t think there were any in episode one) clones of the same guy? If so, it’s a little odd that nobody ever remarks on that in episodes four through six, isn’t it? When Leia tells Luke that he’s ‘a little short for a stormtrooper’, does she really mean he’s ‘a little short, because every stormtrooper is exactly the same size’?

Comments: 17 Responses so far

Chris
May 30th, 2005
11:01 am

Disclaimer: I’m not really a star wars geek.

I think it’s mentioned somewhere in the mythos (either in the movies or in books) that Vader is in the suit because of burns. Not sure though.

It’s not clear from just the films whether or not all storm troopers in eps 4-6 are still Jango Fett clones. They could be, or maybe in the 20+ years between eps 3 and 4 the cloners have found better stock material. Either way, there could be height differences in clones due to different nutritional intake and such.

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Derek
May 30th, 2005
12:19 pm

The implication from the new films (not mentioned in the old) is that the stormtroopers are all clones of Jango Fett—I guess their accents all morph from New Zealand to American somewhere between III and IV. The revelation of who the clones of the “Clone Wars” are was one of the neat things about “Attack of the Clones,” I thought.

As for the lava battle, it wasn’t mentioned in the films, but I’ve known for at least 25 years that Vader is in the suit because he and Obi-Wan had a duel on a volcanic planet, and Vader was horribly disfigured by the lava. I don’t know _where_ I know that from, but it’s been something those of us who were eight when the first movie came out have been imagining for a quarter century, And honestly, the end result was better than I was expecting.

I recall reading on Kevin Smith’s blog that the duel was first mentioned in “Starlog” magazine, but it’s certainly been out there for a long time.

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Peter Stathakos
May 30th, 2005
12:21 pm

Both questions are not explicitly covered in the movies.

The back story for Anakin/Vader always involved a duel with Obi-Wan and being burned by lava.

It was also mentioned by George Lucas (on the commentary of the Attack of the Clones DVD I believe) that sometime between Episodes 3 and 4 that Stormtrooper ranks are filled out by recruits (hence the height variations) and also with clones from sources other than Jango. I believe that it had something to do with the viability of the clone DNA over time or some such thing…

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Andrea
May 30th, 2005
12:27 pm

I would also like to know where the lava backstory came from. I feel like I’ve known about the reasons for Vader’s suit and breathing since at least Return of the Jedi. Most of what I knew, I learned from my brother, since few 10-year-old girls were going to talk Star Wars. I don’t know if my brother and his friends read some of the Star Wars novels — maybe when they were older, but not when they were eight.

See this analysis of Vader’s injuries: http://www.theforce.net/swtc/injuries.html

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Norlinda
May 30th, 2005
12:34 pm

Man, it took me 3 secs to come up with the answer to the questions. I’m slipping…Blame it on the SW withdrawal.

Having watched the eps 5 and 6 too many times to count, I’m pretty sure there was no mention of how Vader ended up in the suit. But there was a scene in “The Empire Strikes Back” where we actually see Vader sitting in his egg carton chamber with his helmet off. The back of his bald head was visible, showing off lots of scarring and possibly wires. (not sure about the last bit, it’s been a while.)

I didn’t know by watching the older movies that stormtroopers were clones. You were told about the Clone Wars but not in reference to the stormtroopers.

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'nee
May 30th, 2005
3:16 pm

The lava thing was mentioned in “Splinter in the Mind’s Eye” and was a story in the Star Wars comic books published in the very late ’70s.

I had no idea what a HUGE GEEK I am until this moment. My life = over.

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Dean
May 30th, 2005
3:29 pm

I would have thought it obvious that the Storm Troopers were all clones (or, more properly speaking, ‘a clone’), and that a good part of the reason for the the rebellion’s success was that the Empire had cloned someone who lacked the genetic ability to shoot straight.

Surely that’s the one characteristic that all Storm Troopers share?

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Myles
May 30th, 2005
6:10 pm

Thanks ‘nee. There is a new hope - you can have a life and a mortgage and kids and…

I can vaguely remember the image from a late 70’s Star Wars comic book of Obi Wan standing on the edge of a lava crater and looking down at the burning form of Darth Vader. Just don’t ask me what the rest of the story was about…

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Rob
May 30th, 2005
10:17 pm

Like many other posters, I have known about Vader being burned by lava following a lightsabre battle with Obi Wan since I can remember. I also remember that there were originally 9 episodes, but I’m not sure if that’s accurate. All of this came from my friend’s dad, and I recall that he had read some books. He certainly knew alot back in the day….

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Declan
May 31st, 2005
2:40 am

The Star Wars universe extends far beyond the movies, into books and comics. Lucas seems to control all of them, declaring certain ones canon and part of the official story. The Anakin Vs Obi-Wan volcano fight was known for years but I have no idea where it came from originally. I havent read any of the books in years but last time I looked in a bookshop there seemed to be dozens set after Return of the Jedi which are officially part of the story. Lucas did ban any mention of what happened in the clone wars as thats what the prequels were about and he banned any major changes to the main characters so that he could make episodes 7 8 and 9. He recently lifted the second ban and at least one main character has been killed off in the books (it even made the news…)

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Nicole Simon
May 31st, 2005
5:05 am

Hm, I only know the films and none of the books or comics and I am quite sure that somewhere in the films the duel and ‘he felt into lava’ was mentioned.

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Jack
May 31st, 2005
10:17 am

Well, after Vader kills Kenobi in Star Wars and he’s all stepping on his empty cloak…? Well, he was going to say something like “That’s for that whole lava thing, you damn hermit bastard!”. But when it came time, he felt that would be showboating. After all, he’s got the specialized TIE Fighter, the expense account… living well, he thought, is the best revenge.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was never mentioned in the movies and was more likely mentioned in Starlog or something like that back in the late ’70s or Early ’80s.

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Steve2
May 31st, 2005
7:27 pm

Not to be a spoilsport, but isn’t it clear to anyone else that he’s making shit up as he goes along (and doing a poor job of it)?

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Todd
May 31st, 2005
9:06 pm

First off, yes Steve2 he is making it up as he goes along - that’s largely how fiction works. You try holding together 3 decades of storyline ;)

Second, I think Luke mentions the clone wars in ep iv, and my understanding from books, etc, is that the later stormtroopers were not clones.

Lastly, and your first, Darren - I don’t think much was said in the movies but the extended media had spelled out most of the where and how of losing his first big fight with Kenobi.

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Jack
June 2nd, 2005
8:04 am

from the Injuries of Darth Vader page at :”>http://www.theforce.net/swtc/injuries.html:

In an interview in Starlog in 1980, Mark Hamill recounts a background story which he had been told:

“I remember very early on asking who my parents were and being told that my father and Obi Wan met Vader on the edge of a volcano and they had a duel. My father and Darth Vader fell into the crater and my father was instantly killed. Vader crawled out horribly scarred, and at that point the Emperor landed and Obi Wan ran into the forest, never to be seen again.”

also

Aspects of the tale of the molten pit resurfaced more officially in 1983, in the novelisation of Return of the Jedi. The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke Skywalker:

“We fought … your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool, the change had been burned into him forever — he was Darth Vader, without a trace of Anakin Skywalker. Irredeemably dark. Scarred. Kept alive only by machinery and his own black will…”

Later, when Vader lay dying he recalled those painful events:

“These were memories he wanted none of, not now. Memories of molten lava, crawling up his back … no.”

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tony
June 23rd, 2006
3:46 am

The Story of Anakin/Vader is not over.
GL will make movies about the Jedi/Sith prophecy and the birth of Anakin.

The new Star Wars Live-Action Show will be starting in fall of 2008 and will run for 100 shows which means it ends in 2011. 2011 is the 45th year of Star Wars.
GL is planing to starting to release prequels to The Phantom Menace. The prequels to The Phantom Menace will not be named Star Wars. The first movie will show the Old Republic and where the Jedi/sith prophecy came from. In 2014, the second movie will come out and will be about the fall of the sith and Darth Plagueis and the origin of Darth Sidious. In 2017, the last movie and will be about the last of the sith and the death of Darth Plagueis, how and why Darth Mual turn to the darkside and the birth of Anakin Skywalker.
If you don’t think this is true….. Then you have to watch Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith again. In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, you can see the set up to the prequels to The Phantom Menace. We have seen the birth of luke skywalker and the events leading up to his birth. GL has said the star wars saga is the story of the life of Anakin Skywalker. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith brings up new questions about the events leading up to the birth of Anakin Skywalker.
Don’t forget GL has said many time that “the Star wars saga is about the life and death of Anakin Skywalker, Not Luke”. We have not seen the bigest part of Anakin Skywalker’s life which is his birth.
Just go and watch Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and listen.

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Allen
March 28th, 2007
9:40 am

simple question:

After watching eps 6 again with my son recently, i realized that the last scene where the spirits of Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-Wan, had the actor wh oplayed Anakin in eps 2-3. Who was the original actor who was the spirit of Anakin in the original Return of the Jedi???

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