Star Wars Minute 110: No Sign of Any...

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Date

November 1st, 2013

Summary

Three X-wing fighters move in formation down the Death Star trench.

Guests

Joe Dator

Notes

Film

• Starts with Red Leader commencing his attack run and ends with, we presume, Red Leader blowing up the Death Star.

Podcast

• The last three minutes of the movie have been very similar. That's why we have the deep interpersonal stories between the pilots.
• Who's making the attack run in this minute? Red Leader, Red 10 and Red 12.
• When Red 10 blows up the pilot shown in the cockpit shot is NOT Red 10 (who we saw in an earlier minute). However the pilot that is shown is wearing the same helmet that Jansen wears in ESB. They must have the same helmet distributor.
• Is a targeting computer that folds out and blocks your entire forward view the best solution? Modern GPS systems and Google Glass are better than this system.
• Referenced: Google Glass.
• Who is Red Leader asking to hold off the TIE fighters behind them, and what are they supposed to do given that a) they are all flying in exactly the same direction and b) they don't have any rear facing guns? Perhaps some X-wings behind the TIE fighters, although there's no evidence of that; or he's just talking to himself, his own Force ghost or his R2 unit.
• One of Alex's favorite lines in in this minute - "Al-most there". Great performance from the actor that plays Red Leader.
• Darth Vader's targeting computer has a lot of 70s style knobs on it.
• Scuffy as C-3PO's imagined nickname.
• Stormtroopers - with guns drawn (why?) - stumble around and fall-down on the Death Star; has Red Leader's attack hit the mark? We'll find out in the next minute.
• Referenced: Star Trek 'dance'.
• Proton torpedoes are seen in this minute. Good to see different technology to laser blasters. The torpedoes fire from just below the cockpit on the X-wings.
• Luke says "There's no sign of any...". Another example of Luke not finishing a sentence. He is the hero interrupted.
• Star Wars is low-fi and dirty. Joe points out that this gives the movie realism. Even the props feel real and like actual tactile things. One of the annoying things about the Prequels is that it didn't take this 'feel' into account at all - they just made everything as new and shiny as possible.
• Proton torpedoes appear to be a combination of still photographs and animation cells; they have a very unique, other-worldly look.

ExpandJoe discusses his Star Wars memories:

He was 10 years old when he saw the original release in June 1977. He had heard all  of the buzz and then went to see it.
Joe was an especially dorky 10-year-old.
  In his class there was a kid that wore a full Star Trek uniform to school.
  Even that kid beat him up once (in a one-sided slap fight).
Joe was the perfect, and willing, target audience for Star Wars and has vivid memories of the first time he saw it.

 He was waiting on line with an older kid (their mothers were friends).
 The kid was 16 and was too cool for Star Wars.
 In the 70s, young kids were constantly being terrorized by teenagers. (Referenced: "Dazed and Confused", Kiss, Led Zeppelin.)
 The older kid looked at lobby cards and said they were the stupidest thing he'd ever seen.
 He made snarky comments like "the big one <Chewbacca> is made of poop".
 Joe just wished that the older kid would leave him alone.
Star Wars looked fascinating - there was the gold guy and a big gorilla (probably from Planet of the Apes).
Joe imagines / remembers the minutes before seeing Star Wars for the first time and not knowing what it was.

In that summer Joe was also terrorized by teenagers in another setting.
 He was on vacation and saw a place that sold T-shirts.
 He wanted a T-shirt with C-3PO and R2-D2 on it, so his Mum gave him some money and he walked in.
 Of course, the whole place was run by teenagers (the bane of his existence).
 Joe pointed at T-shirt with an iron-on Star Wars decal.
 It was C-3PO and R2-D2 standing in the hallway of a spaceship with the words Star Wars curved around them.
 He asked a teenager for the "T-shirt with C-3PO and R2-D2 on it".
 The teenager laughed and made him say it again and again, and then got a bunch of other teenagers to come over and hear him say it.
 They all thought that it was hilarious that he new the robots' names.

Joe looks at the cool people walking around Comic-con now, calling themselves nerds, and thinks:
 They don't know the true pain or the real torture of being a genuine dork.
The point of the story is, never ever be a teenager and never try to be cool. Being cool is the death of imagination.
 (Ben should have said this to Luke during the trench run.)

• Thanks to, and from, Joe for the week. Joe's happy that he was here for the last scene of the movie (based on the fact that Red Leader's attack is successful). Also Han doesn't come back but he did discuss coming back with Jabba on Naboo at some stage.

Meta Minute

• 18:44 podcast episode length.
• Joe published the above memories in an article for the New Yorker.

Quotes

• Alex: Al-most there Joe: We should be able to see it by now.
• Pete: We haven't met Jansen yet; I don't know any Jansen.
• Pete: Switch to targeting...computer.
• Joe: Who's scuffy looking?

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2013/11/01/minute-110-no-sign-of-any/

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