Date
October 9th, 2013.
Summary
The Imperial TIE fighters move towards the Millennium Falcon, one each veering off to the left and right of the pirateship.
Guests
Songe Riddle
Notes
Film
- Starts with our heroes battling the TIE fighters and ends with Han Solo blowing up the first TIE fighter.
Podcast
- Leia's a bit late with her warning.
- Leia also provides a play-by-play of the battle.
- The second time we say spaceships battling in space; the first time we see inside a TIE fighter and see a TIE fighter pilot.
- The TIE fighter sound effect is fantastic. An elephant combined with a car on a wet road. Credit to Ben Burtt.
- The four TIE fighters are just sentry ships / guard patrols. Again, they're clearly letting them escape.
- The musical score - called "Here They Come" - is perfect for this sequence.
- The targeting computer display graphic looks like an actual TIE fighter. How this came about.
- Referenced: Swamp-Thing and Man-Thing.
- Chewbacca is amusing in this sequence. He looks like Ray Charles - leaning forward and his head is rocking; like he is playing bluesy piano.
- Listener project: Edit in tinkling piano music over the Chewbacca at the controls of the Falcon scene in this sequence.
- Chewbacca's moustache is very visible in this scene; Chewbacca's grooming changes over the various movies.
- Referenced: Dum Dum Dugan; Lockjaw.
- Does Chewbacca groom himself / clean his fur like a dog or cat? He must have some grooming tools and maybe Han helps him; braids Chewbacca's hair. What does a totally bald Wookiee look like? Listener project: Create a picture of a totally bald Wookiee.
Luke complains that the TIE fighters are coming in too fast; there's nothing that anyone can do about that. Luke making excuses again.
One of Alex's favorite Han Solo lines: "Hear me baby, hold together!"
R2-D2 does his thing - he can hack into computers; project video; and extinguish fires. How often does R2-D2's fire extinguishers need to be refilled? Or perhaps the powder is something else - the ashes of dead characters up until this point.
Han is a good fighter and does prefer a straight fight. He is in his element here.
How long has Han Solo been a smuggler? Question deferred to EU information.
The Millennium Falcon doesn't seem to move in this sequence. The Falcon looks stationary and the TIE fighters are flying past. This is a limitation of the special effect capability at the time. We do see the Falcon moving during battles in later movies and Songe makes the point that we never see the Falcon flying at high speed while shooting at other ships as there always has to be someone in the turret to shoot the guns.
Leia appears to be capable of piloting spaceships, including the Millennium Falcon in various scenes. Although her skills clearly aren't up to par with Han and Chewbacca.
Pete makes the point that having the Falcon stationary is a design choice based on the World War II movies that Lucas used as inspiration for this sequence (i.e. fighter planes buzzing warships etc.).
TIE fighter pilots appear to be better than your average Stormtrooper; they at least have a system of attack and appear competent. Also, they don't just run away when fired upon.
Where are the droids going when they go for a walk? Getting a better view; trying to hide; going up to the cabin to complain about the danger and suggesting surrender.
TIE fighters can't land on their wings; they're too heavy. This discourages pilots from landing and surrendering - the only place they can land is into an Imperial docking station. The pilots enter from the top or sides and do not have in-built life support systems.
Referenced: iPod.
The guns on the Millennium Falcon are great; they have real weight and substance - there's a mechanical action to them. They are blasters as opposed to phasers.
Referenced: Battlestar Galactica.
Meta Minute
- 19:13 podcast episode length.
Quotes
- Alex: How did they get the elephant into the car?
- Pete: We're putting a lot of demands on the listeners recently.
- Alex: I wanna see a nude Wookiee!
- Pete: He's back to crying at the chess table.
- Songe: We're doomed!
- Alex: That's the TIE fighter trivia of the day.
Link
http://www.starwarsminute.com/2013/10/09/minute-93-here-they-come/
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