Star Words: Episode V, Part 47

[matril]

Lots of powerful moments after Luke takes his leap of faith, as it were. Leia's face when she senses Luke's call for help and knows just where to find him. Luke and Vader's connection, across the reaches of space. The almost comical despair when the hyperdrive fails yet again, and Lando echoing Han's "It's not my fault!"

The funniest line, however, comes from the reliably hysterical Threepio. To be fair, he's gone through quite an ordeal. Stumbling across evidence of the impending betrayal and getting blasted apart. Enduring a rather sloppy repair, forced to hang from a net on Chewie's back. Finally getting fixed properly by Artoo, only to be interrupted when the droid ambles off, beeping something about the broken hyperdrive.

"I'm standing here in pieces, and you're having delusions of grandeur!"

I just love Threepio. His frantic reactions are pretty much the same as I would have in these situations, let's be honest. (Same with Jar Jar). I don't usually face adversity with stoicism and fortitude; I whine and shriek and flail. And feel very much put-upon when people aren't sympathetic to my complaints.

About Threepio's half-restored leg, by the way -- I read Anthony Daniel's memoir this year (well, I skipped the bits about the Disney Space Movies) and thoroughly enjoyed his explanations for how they pulled off the portrayal of a dismantled C-3PO. It was a surprisingly low-tech. This bit, for example, involved Daniels simple bending his un-costumed lower leg so the calf was hidden behind the thigh. Simply but effective.

Next time, the final line for Episode V....

Comments

[matril]

Yeah, most of Daniels' complaints were about the original films, when he endured a lot of uncomfortable and even dangerous conditions because no one really knew how to make the suit work safely. And yes, the promotional materials seemed to completely erase his role, as if Threepio was a real, fully-functional robot. That had changed by the time the prequels rolled around.