Star Words: Episode V, Part 11

[matril]

It's quite interesting that the big battle scene of Episode V takes place near the beginning of the film rather than at its climax. Recalling the thrilling Death Star showdown of the previous film, we could easily expect something similar for the sequel. Instead, we've hardly had the chance to adjust to the Rebel's new base on Hoth when they're driven out of it.

It's not a total loss, at least. In spite of the Imperial arrogance about "our first catch of the day," the first transport manages to escape the fleet. The goal isn't to hold the Rebel base against an invasion. That would be a hopeless cause. At this point, they can only hope to flee with as little loss as possible.

Part of that strategy involves holding off the surface attack as long as possible. For Luke and the rest of the snowspeeder pilots, that means a mission that's pretty much just as suicidal as the run on the Death Star.

Which makes Luke's brief exchange with his gunner all-the-more poignant.

"Feeling all right, sir?"
"Just like new, Dak. How about you?"
"Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
"I know what you mean."

One movie ago, Luke was that brash young recruit, ready to face every ship in the Imperial fleet and a giant battlestation on top of that. He's already a little older and wiser. Oh, it's true that he did take on the Empire, and actually won! but he lost a lot of friends and compatriots on the way. And that battle was just the first of many. There's this tremendously wistful quality to Luke's response, as if he's foreseeing the hard lessons coming up for Dak. And of course we know that Dak won't even survive the evacuation of Hoth. Not everyone gets to be the triumphant hero. But everyone has dreams.

Next time, a few words on the Falcon...

Comments

[krpalmer]

I'd been anticipating this exchange, but not really thinking about "Dak reprising how Luke started out to show where Luke's got to now" (I fear it might have been easier to start thinking about "the secondary characters who perish so that the main characters might be shaken up even within their plot armour" and the extent to which everything and everyone in Star Wars gets glossed and elaborated on in the secondary literature, and whether something more significant might get lost in the process...) "The big battle is early in the movie" has been pointed out to me before, but perhaps I'm more than willing to latch onto what small victories the Rebels manage in it. (As all-too-easy as it is to bring up The Last Jedi to disparage it, that movie could seem overeager to cut its secondary protagonists down.)

[matril]

I feel like this film is characterized largely by "we lost the battle but there's still a chance to win the war" moments. It's a good tone for the second act of a story. And I do not feel that a story automatically becomes stronger the more characters it kills off, though many a writer nowadays seems to believe this.