SPOILER ALERT! Inconsistancies&UnansweredQuestions

[Brie]

I thought I'd start this as a new topic because there could be spoilers.

Okay, off the top of my head for a minor inconsistancy how about the fact that the Jedi Council suspects Palpatine of misdeeds and needs Anakin to spy on him, although later Obi-Wan and Yoda are able to watch Anakin pledge is loyalty to Palpatine. If they could record things and watch them back, then why do they need Anakin to spy?

Unanswered questions; 2 come to mind. In Jedi Leia tells Luke she has some memory of her mother. "She was very beautiful and very sad." But Padme dies right after Leia is born. How good is her memory? Also, I know why C-3PO doesn't recognize anyone in the classic trilogy, but why wouldn't Ben recognize R2-D2? That droid saved his butt more than once.

[Brie]

By mentioning these things I'm in no way putting down the movie. I loved it, we're going for a third time tomorrow. And minor little inconsistencies are a part of the Star Wars universe. I remember when I first saw Ep 1, I was shocked that Yoda and Anakin ever even met, because it's never even implied in the classic movies. For a slightly bigger problem, in A New Hope Leia's name is pronouced Lee-a, but in Empire and Jedi it's pronounced Lay-a. Even Han's name is pronounced differently once Lando comes in.

Hey, there are even problems in the BSG universe, but I won't get started there!

[Captain Hawke]

"Okay, off the top of my head for a minor inconsistancy how about the fact that the Jedi Council suspects Palpatine of misdeeds and needs Anakin to spy on him, although later Obi-Wan and Yoda are able to watch Anakin pledge is loyalty to Palpatine. If they could record things and watch them back, then why do they need Anakin to spy?"

It was a political thing. The Jedi needed Anakin to spy on Palapatine to see which way Anakin would go and keep tabs on Palpatine. But mainly to keep an eye on Anakin. Palapatine needed Anakin to spy on the Jedi to bring him more to the dark side and have Anakin corrupt the Jedi.

"Unanswered questions; 2 come to mind. In Jedi Leia tells Luke she has some memory of her mother. "She was very beautiful and very sad." But Padme dies right after Leia is born. How good is her memory?"
This is absolutely true, no lie.....I have memories of being in the womb but have no memory of my mother. I was adopted when I was 6 months old. How good was my memory? Not very from what I've been told.

"Also, I know why C-3PO doesn't recognize anyone in the classic trilogy, but why wouldn't Ben recognize R2-D2? That droid saved his butt more than once."
Think of building a PC... Unless you put on a mark or something, you try to remember a piece of machinery that you built 20 years ago. Astromech droids and Threepio protocol droids were considered antiques in by the time Episode IV came into play. The droids were on their way out already by the end of Episode III.

Anything else?

[JustinB]

Just quickly about C-3PO. In the last scene with C-3PO and Bail Organa, Bail Organa gives 3PO and R2D2 TO CAPTAIN ANTILLES. He then orders Captain Antilles to have the Protocol Droid's Memory erased.

So that is why C-3PO doesn't recognize anyone..Maybe as for R2D2 most R2 astronomic droids look alike except for colour schemes.

As for the spying issue, maybe the recordings(not sure though) only record whats happening but theres no sound. As with where I work at times, I watch security camera but theres no sound. So no matter what Palpatine did, you could not or would not hear what is spoken.

My theory anyway.

[Logan]

K, on the R2 issue. Perhaps Ben was just acting as if he didn't recognize the droid, because once he saw the message from Leia, wouldn't he have put it together? Thats the theory I was working with anyway. He didn't tell luke everything at the beginning anyway.

When leia was referring to her mother, i thought she meant her adoptive mother. that would have been the mother she remembered from childhood, as she didn't know she was adopted.
Just my thoughts...

[Brie]

captainhawke said:

"It was a political thing. The Jedi needed Anakin to spy on Palapatine to see which way Anakin would go and keep tabs on Palpatine. But mainly to keep an eye on Anakin. Palapatine needed Anakin to spy on the Jedi to bring him more to the dark side and have Anakin corrupt the Jedi."

I realize that it was political and that Anakin was being tested by both sides, but if they suspected Palpatine of misdeeds and had the ability to spy on him, wouldn’t they have done it? That’s my point. In Clones Obi-Wan already doesn’t trust Palpatine. The recording was thrown in as a way for Obi-Wan and Yoda to see Anakin’s turning. It was a plot device, and not all that effective in my opinion. It should have been used elsewhere as well to make it seem not so out of the blue. I have one other thought about this, but I need to see the movie again first to see if I’m remembering correctly.

captainhawke said:

"Think of building a PC... Unless you put on a mark or something, you try to remember a piece of machinery that you built 20 years ago. Astromech droids and Threepio protocol droids were considered antiques in by the time Episode IV came into play. The droids were on their way out already by the end of Episode III."

Good point about them possibly being outdated, but Ben goes to live by himself until Luke grows up. That would tell me even more that he should recognize R2, especially when Luke refers to the droid. Even if he doesn’t think it’s the exact same droid there would be some glimmer of “he reminds me of"...especially once they start talking about Luke’s father. I know that the real answer here is that A New Hope was made so much earlier, and so there was no reason for Alec Guiness to act any differently. But it is a question that isn't addressed in the new movie.

[Col. Charybdis]

Actually, if you watch Ben Kenobi very carefully when Luke first tells him that R2 wants to find him and he's "never seen such devotion in a droid before", Ben looks very strange like he sort of knows something is up. I've always taken that as the point where he remembers R2.

Also, remember that Obi-Wan didn't take much to droids for the most part besides using them just when he had to...

[Captain Hawke]

logan said:

K, on the R2 issue. Perhaps Ben was just acting as if he didn't recognize the droid, because once he saw the message from Leia, wouldn't he have put it together? Thats the theory I was working with anyway. He didn't tell luke everything at the beginning anyway.

Ben did recognize Leia when the message was played. In the radioplay Ben says "She had grown up into a beautiful woman." Justin hit it on the head when he said that all R2 units were similar except color schemes. Except Artoo does remember everything about what has happend. (unless there was a memory wipe we weren't privvy to between Episodes III & IV.. I.E. "Droids" If you believe that's official story line.... ) Inwardly you can see Ben thinking to himself (through Sir Alec's actions) that there was something very familliar about this R2 unit.

"I realize that it was political and that Anakin was being tested by both sides, but if they suspected Palpatine of misdeeds and had the ability to spy on him, wouldn’t they have done it? That’s my point. "

That's why the Jedi assigned Anakin to watch Palapatine. His assignment was two-fold for the Jedi. As I said, #1 was to keep an eye on Anakin to see the way he turns. And #2 to spy on Palapatine without the need for recordings.


"As for the spying issue, maybe the recordings(not sure though) only record whats happening but theres no sound. As with where I work at times, I watch security camera but theres no sound. So no matter what Palpatine did, you could not or would not hear what is spoken."

Oh, but there was sound. When Anakin reported the extermination of the jedi temple was completed.

I like this thread... Keep it coming.....

[Brie]

I always took Ben's look as he was trying to figure out why R2 knew him, like he was trying to figure it out, the opposite of remembering him. I guess it's open to interpretation.

In Jedi Luke asks Leia about her "real" mother, most people will mean birth mother when they say that. (Amy did a great job with that in her Abby thread!)

I would go back & mention the recording of Anakin again, but I don't have time. Our movie starts in 40 minutes. Guess what movie we're going to see...

[Brie]

I've decided to ignore the recording problem (or not a problem, depending on your point of view) and chalk it up to Palpatine's maniputations. He wanted them to see it, so they did, right? Although wouldn't it be on the tape before Anakin killed the younglings? (Thank you, George, for not showing that scene!)

Another observation, we've seen the movie three times now, and the theatre scene and the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin just keep getting better and better. And I'll admit, the love story isn't as flat as it was my first viewing. The scene when Padme tells Anakin that she's pregnant is actually pretty well done. But I can still do without the "you think I'm beautiful because you love me..." felgercarb.

My daughter has a question. This is a serious question, it's bugged her since we first saw it. How come, after Anakin is so badly burned and barely recognizable as human, he still has eyelashes? You can see them when the Darth Vader suit is first being put on. I told her because Hayden Christensen probably didn't want his eyelashed plucked out for the scene, everything else can be covered by make-up, but she wants a better answer than that. Any suggestions?