Empire Minute 106: Bespin Fatigue

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Date

June 9th, 2014

Summary

A large pipe detaches and comes flying at Luke. He deflects it. Sparking wires pull out of the wall and begin to whip at the youth.

Guests

John Skrzypek

Notes

Film

• Starts with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker resuming the battle in the Bespin Control Room.
• Ends with a literal cliffhanger as Luke struggles to get up from a ledge that he is hanging on by his fingertips.

Podcast

• Darth Vader is still just testing Luke at the beginning of this minute.
• Although Vader has gone from protecting Luke for the Emperor to now being prepared to hurt him.
• Darth Vader starts throwing film equipment cases at Luke. Is he compelled to do this by the Dark Side or is he just tired and cranky?
  • Luke doesn't know how to levitate and throw things like Vader.
  • Is throwing things with the Force physically and mentally easier or harder than swinging a lightsaber?
  • It's like in a video game - Vader has this power so he may as well use it in the battle.
• Luke suffers fatigue - "Bespin fatigue" - pretty quickly.
• Safety tip for Vader - when using the Force to throw things, always throw them away from you.
• Was Anakin a good fighter? He is only shown having a one-on-one battle once in the Prequels and was basically destroyed by Obi-Wan.
• How old is Vader at this point?
• The hosts are jealous of the stage-hands whose job it was to throw things at Mark Hamill for this scene.
  • There was probably a line of people throwing things at him.
• There is great music in this scene.
• A gymnast stunt double was used for Luke flying out of the window.
• Luke is flailing as things hit him.
• Luke doesn't banter in this part of the battle with Darth Vader. Obi-Wan did banter so perhaps this is one of the last steps in Jedi training.
• Vader doesn't use his hand to throw things like other Force wielders - he does lower his lightsaber though.
• Is anyone on duty in the Bespin Control Room? No staff are present so security forces must have cleared the area or everyone had knocked off for the day.
  • Comical scenarios involving Cloud City staff working during the battle.
• Referenced: Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
• Luke's lightsaber turns off between camera shots.
• Luke's aim at the objects is terrible. They could re-cut the scene with comedy sound effects as things hit Luke.
• Luke seems to get fatigued very quickly.
  • He has terrible defense. This is the last thing you learn as a Jedi and he left the training too early to grasp it.
• Where is the carbon freezing chamber in relation to the control room and gantry and how far does Luke fall out of the window?
  • The tube was very long and that's why Luke was fatigued - he had been walking through it for 10 minutes.
  • The gantry is to be discussed in later podcast episodes.
  • The set design of three different areas is amazing.
• John likes tubes and round things and it's a thrill for him to see Luke going through a tube.
• It would have a been a good shot to look up from Luke's point-of-view and see Vader's head looking out the window.
• Vader often strides up to the edge of things to see what happened.
• Does Luke still think he can win? No, being hit by things has defeated him.
• John says that highlights of this sequence are the set design, color palette, use of tubes and round holes, smoke.
  • Sorry Pete - the movie-makers seemed to be afraid of using elements - like smoke - in the first couple of prequel movies.
• Pete describes a scene from the Prequels. Alex never thought he'd see the day that this happened.
• Support the Show.

Meta Minute

• 19:21 podcast episode length.
• Cold-open: 8-DAY-GREEDO call -
  • The short musical beat when Darth Vader starts throwing things at Luke is re-used (revised and extended) in the Prequels as follows:
  • When Anakin is going to the sand people village to find his mother in Episode II.
  • For the Anakin and Obi-Wan fight in Episode III.
  • This music may signify that someone is tempted by, or slipping towards, the Dark Side and shows that at least John Williams knew what he was doing in the Prequels.
• Anakin Skywalker was born in 41 BBY, and according to Wookieepedia, this battle takes place in 3 ABY, making Vader approximately 44 years old. Of course that doesn't take into account things like relativity, but we won't get into that here.

Quotes

• John: Hey, and I'm John...and I'm currently appearing on Minute 106 of Star Wars Minute. Alex: What a coincidence; so are we.
• Pete: But in Luke's defense, Luke's defense is terrible.

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2014/06/09/empire-minute-106-bespin-fatigue/

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