Star Wars: Blogs | The Star Wars Uncle | Two observations of the opening space battle--my father stumps me.

The Star Wars Uncle

by: Z-score

date posted: Jul 06, 2005 9:03 PM | updated: Aug 31, 2005 6:37 AM

Two observations of the opening space battle--my father stumps me.

Well, this evening my father and I saw Revenge of the Sith again. We saw it together on opening night also. For me, this was my fifth viewing; for my dad it was his second.

Even though I had seen it more times than he did, he made two astute observations (naturally, I was proud). I was able to come up with my own explanation for one of them, but the other one I'll have to admit, I was stumped. Perhaps, some of you out there can suggest an answer. Here are both of his observations:

1. First observation: In the opening space battle when those missils are fired at Anakin's and Obi-Wan Kenobi's starfighters, Anakin tells Obi-Wan to, pull up. However, in such a technically advanced society wouldn't their ships automatically pull up? We have ships now that can do that.

My explanation: The Jedi don't rely on technology as much as others do when fighting, but rather rely on the Force instead since it is a better ally.

2. Second observation: Also in the space battle, when the buzz droids are attacking Obi-Wan's ship and Anakin goes to help him, one of the droids gets onto his ship. While R2-D2 is trying to disable it, Obi-Wan tells him to hit it in the eye. Well, wouldn't R2 already know where and how to disable? Wouldn't that be programmed into R2?

I had no explanation for this one. If Obi-Wan knew how to disable it, why didn't R2-D2?

I don't mean to sound like I'm ripping the movie apart. Trust me, I'm not one of those people. I'm looking for answers, and all possible explanations wil be appreciated.

As Always.

-The Star Wars Uncle

http://blogs.starwars.com/eshepp/17

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	Beautiful Soul Under the Twin Sunset
date Posted: Jul 06, 2005 9:17 PM I understood it to be that Obi-Wan had determined how to disable them after the battle started...but now that I think about it, R4 was destroyed before it had a chance to disable a buzz droid. So...good question. Maybe R2 did know, and Obi-Wan was just reaffirming the correct course of action?

	jedichris44 Battlefront III
date Posted: Jul 06, 2005 9:18 PM Obi-Wan has been fighting in the Clone Wars for years. It might be possible that this was not the first time Obi-Wan say a Buzz Droid. One of the Clones or Obi-Wan himself learned through "experience" that the center eye of the Buzz Droid is it's weakness. After all R2-D2 doesn't know everthing. (Or does he?)

Z-score
The Star Wars Uncle

date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 12:40 AM

Are you kidding? R2 knows everything.

Seriously, though, "experience" makes sense. Except that Anakin also had been fighting in the Clone Wars for years. It's possible that he never encountered Buzz Droids before, but he certainly knew what they were in the space battle since he identifies them as such.

Plus part of my father's point was that it would only make sense, militarily speaking, that someone would take the initiative to equip R2 with the proper knowledge about disabling Buzz Droids since R2 is an astro droid. Thanks for posting, jedichris44.

DarthWaderX
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Imperial Superweapons.

date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 6:15 AM

If standard buzz droid countermeasures didn't exist prior that moment, it's entirely possible that Obi-Wan and Anakin knew of them through Jedi Intelligence reports only, as opposed to personal experience. Such reports would likely offer analysis of design and potential vulnerabilities. It also makes sense from the Separatist's standpoint to seek a tactical advantage through the employment of new warfighting technology while attacking the enemy's homeworld.

Z-score
The Star Wars Uncle

date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 10:12 AM

If standard buzz droid countermeasures didn't exist prior that moment, it's entirely possible that Obi-Wan and Anakin knew of them through Jedi Intelligence reports only

That's a good explanation. That makes sense to me; and since Obi-Wan and Anakin were in the Outer Rim Sieges during the last five months before being called to Coruscant, it would seem reasonable that there wouldn't have been time to update R2 on the latest Jedi Intel.

Z-score
The Star Wars Uncle

date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 11:40 AM

I understood it to be that Obi-Wan had determined how to disable them after the battle started...but now that I think about it, R4 was destroyed before it had a chance to disable a buzz droid. So...good question. Maybe R2 did know, and Obi-Wan was just reaffirming the correct course of action?

I thought about this for a while before commenting. Maybe you are right.....there was so much going on in that space battle it's possible that R4 disabled at least one buzz droid before becoming overwhelmed by them and it's just simply easy to miss.

	djpress
date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 9:51 PM A better question to ask is why obi-wan didn't just force push the buzz droids off of his ship. It obviously wasn't a test for anakin to "save him" or anything, his life was at risk, and a flick of the wrist would've been much easier.

	Z-score The Star Wars Uncle
date Posted: Jul 07, 2005 10:04 PM That's an excellent question! I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the vacuum of space, but I doubt that's the case with the Force and anyhow they weren't truly in "space", they were in Coruscant's upper atmosphere. Hmmm.......something to think about.

	YodasFanInBrooklyn
date Posted: Jul 13, 2005 6:05 PM re: available technologies. Obviously, the Galaxy Far Far Away doesn't have lots of technologies we take for granted. Google for example. or Ultrasounds.

	Z-score The Star Wars Uncle
date Posted: Nov 30, 2005 6:44 AM Obviously, the Galaxy Far Far Away doesn't have lots of technologies we take for granted. Google for example. Maybe they have Google on the HoloNet? My apologies for the very late reply to this comment.....

	SithMonkey11
date Posted: Jan 10, 2006 12:54 PM well, the buzz droids seem fairly new to the Sepratist arsensal, as I don't think I spotted any in the clone wars series, but I have missed some episodes. Besides artoo was made a long time before episode III, so he might not have recognized the buzz droids, them being new technology and all.

	Qui-Gon Reborn The Fifth Dimension
date Posted: Aug 23, 2008 1:56 PM Like SithMonkey has said, buzz droids are new to the Seperatist aresenal, and perhaps R2 has not been programmed to respond to them yet. MTFBWY!

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