Spoilers Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Grading & Discussion

[Solariabsg25]

Yeah, according to the novelization it was a big deal (and a security nightmare) having the whole Alliance council in one place. Remember, most of these people are Imperial Senators so ducking the ISB without arousing suspicion *and* getting them all to Yavin without blowing it's location is no small thing.

So that indeed may be the only reason for at least Raddus's ship to be in orbit and presumably the Tantive IV (& III?) were only there because Bail & Leia were there. Plus of course we have no idea if all the

All that said, the novelization also mentions that the Tantive IV had been docked with the 'Profundity' for repairs for some time, which one would think supports the notion that that ship at least is stationed there long-term and where the flagship goes, the fleet usually follows.

Another possible thing to take into account is in the 'Princess Leia' comic, Akbar shows up after the battle and says all the Alliance fleets (plural!) will assist in the evacuation. Just the fact that Akbar was elsewhere for the events at Scarif suggest that the Alliance had other fleets and that what we saw in Rogue One was just the Yavin fleet. The recent SWR trailer just so happens to feature a shot of what's probably 'Home One' with the fleet as early as 2 years prior to RO/ANH, so that seems to track.



Well technically it was just 30 fighters. The YT-1300 turned up later of it's own accord.



I've actually counted this before and that panning shot of the fighters passing Yavin does indeed have a total of 30 ships. 22 X-Wings and 8 Y-Wings.

Spoiler

Now strictly speaking, in real world aviation a fighter squadron can have between 12 and 24 craft, so on that front it's not unreasonable to presume that all 22 X-Wings are red squadron. That said, the highest numbered callsign mentioned is "Red 11" (Red 12 is mentioned in the script IIRC), so it's still possible those other 10 or 11 X-Wings are in a third squadron.
Another possibility is that there wasn't a pilot experienced enough to lead the survivors of Blue Squadron so they were absorbed into Red Squardon, who were also down several pilots (like red 5! )

It's worth keeping in mind that we mostly only saw the battle from Luke's perspective, so there's a lot that we didn't see--like what happened to those other four Y-Wings for example--so just because we never saw or heard about "Red 22", doesn't mean they weren't there.

It could also retcon the wardrobe error when some of helmets being used by the rebel pilots in the Yavin IV hanger have blue Rebel Alliance markings. Given the fact that Wedge had to pull out from the battle, it's possible that some Blue Squadron X-Wings, or maybe some other Y-Wings, may have been damaged and forced to withdraw earlier in the battle.

 

[Ithekro]

One explanation given by some of the games was that Blue and Green Squadrons were doing attacks on the Superlaser in an effort to distract the Empire from Gold Squadron's attack on the exhaust port, which Red Squadron was also covering Gold Squadron closer to the intended target, but also trying to draw fire from the Death Star itself.

It seems that Darth Vader noticed several of the Y-wings had broken off from the main group and decided to go after them personally, likely because that would be something he would have done back in the Clone Wars.

 

[Reverend]

In other news, looks like now we know the real reason so many shots from Rogue One's trailers never made it into the movie: They were never meant to be. Apparently Gareth Edwards just likes to shoot random stuff between takes just because it's pretty.

I don't have a link handy but I read somewhere the other day that most of the reshoots were actually to insert extra character building material. Originally the movie went straight from Jyn's flashback to her already being in custody on Yavin 4, which is also where Cassian is introduced. So all of that business with murdering the asset & breaking Jyn out of the work camp was all new material, which explains why the first half of the movie seems to jump around a bit.

This may also account for why the beach battle was simplified and why we never got the bit where they're running across the beach. If they added an extra 15 mins to the front of the movie, they may have felt the ending was now too long so they compressed it by making the bunker and the transmitter the same place.

It seems the narrative that this was somehow a troubled production is looking less and less credible. Unconventional sure and very light on it's feet but I'm not getting the impression that there was any serious drama behind the camera.

It could also retcon the wardrobe error when some of helmets being used by the rebel pilots in the Yavin IV hanger have blue Rebel Alliance markings. Given the fact that Wedge had to pull out from the battle, it's possible that some Blue Squadron X-Wings, or maybe some other Y-Wings, may have been damaged and forced to withdraw earlier in the battle.

I'm pretty sure it's official that those four ships were the only ones to make it out.
Incidentally, I recently found out it's "Yavin 4" not "Yavin IV". According to Pablo the naming convention style-guide they came up with has planet designations down as Roman numerals and for moons it's Arabic numerals.

One explanation given by some of the games was that Blue and Green Squadrons were doing attacks on the Superlaser in an effort to distract the Empire from Gold Squadron's attack on the exhaust port, which Red Squadron was also covering Gold Squadron closer to the intended target, but also trying to draw fire from the Death Star itself.

It seems that Darth Vader noticed several of the Y-wings had broken off from the main group and decided to go after them personally, likely because that would be something he would have done back in the Clone Wars.

The explanation that the rest of the fighters we didn't see were off on a feint towards the superlaser always seemed a bit implausible to me. They're already *vastly* outnumbered so dividing their numbers isn't going to draw anything away, it just makes it that much easier for the Imperials to pick them off.

From what we saw of the battle it seems as though both Red & Gold Squadrons were clearing the area around the target shaft of all the deflection towers, gun emplacements and keeping the attention of the TIE fighters fixed on the main group, allowing small flights the make their runs on the shaft relatively unmolested. A move that yes, Vader saw right through, even though he didn't necessarily understand exactly what they were up to.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

That report about the reshoots also dispels the idea that it was done to lighten the tone of the movie. It's not uncommon to add pickup shots (and plan time for it in a production) if there's something that doesn't quite work. The concern was how extensive it was, but it seems this was exactly that - an attempt to polish the movie to address any shortcomings.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

Speaking Of Jedha, was it crashed X-wing on the ground where they took on the Stormtroopers?

Yes it was, and by its colour scheme it belonged to Saw's group (when they evacuate after the DS fired at Jedha City, you can see, that a similarly coloured X-Wing is parked outside of Saw's place).

 

[JD]

This. Absolutely this. I know they couldn't show Leia any earlier because she was the Wow Finish. But still...

I'm kind of amazed how few scenes we've gotten of them together over the years. Leia is one of the franchise's biggest character, and Bail's become pretty important, so you'd there'd be more stories out there exploring their relationship.

 

[LJones41]

I'm kind of amazed how few scenes we've gotten of them together over the years. Leia is one of the franchise's biggest character, and Bail's become pretty important, so you'd there'd be more stories out there exploring their relationship.

It's never too late.

 

[Reverend]

I'm kind of amazed how few scenes we've gotten of them together over the years. Leia is one of the franchise's biggest character, and Bail's become pretty important, so you'd there'd be more stories out there exploring their relationship.

We did get a look into that relationship in the 'Ahsoka' novel, though granted Leia was just a toddler at the time.
Still, Bail still shows up on Rebels occasionally and I doubt we've seen the last of Leia there either, so it seems like just just a matter of time before they both appear together.

Also keep in mind it's still relatively early days for the new canon material. There'll be plenty of opportunities to tell those stories down the line in novels, comics in animated form and perhaps even one day in live action too.

 

[Marc]

Yes it was, and by its colour scheme it belonged to Saw's group (when they evacuate after the DS fired at Jedha City, you can see, that a similarly coloured X-Wing is parked outside of Saw's place).

So not only did Saw go rogue (no pun intended) he took Alliance equipment with him. That must have pissed a few people off big time.

 

[Reverend]

Considering most Alliance equipment is probably stolen anyway, they can hardly take the moral high ground.
Besides, for all we know Saw could have been instrumental in the operation that got the Alliance all those T-65s in the first place.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

Do we have a new-canon background for the X-wing? IMHO all there is is the old-canon stuff, that has neither be confirmed nor replaced, although i do not have the R1 encyclopedia (or any other books connected to R1) at the moment, so i'm not aware of anything new defined therein.

 

[Reverend]

Do we have a new-canon background for the X-wing? IMHO all there is is the old-canon stuff, that has neither be confirmed nor replaced, although i do not have the R1 encyclopedia (or any other books connected to R1) at the moment, so i'm not aware of anything new defined therein.

That story has yet to be told, though I'm sure it'll be addressed in 'Rebels' sooner or later.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

... or we'll get a R1 prequel around Cassian Andor's first mission for the Rebel Alliance as another standalone.

 

[Set Harth]

So not only did Saw go rogue (no pun intended) he took Alliance equipment with him. That must have pissed a few people off big time.

He should have took some decent legs while he was at it.

 

[fireproof78]

In other news, looks like now we know the real reason so many shots from Rogue One's trailers never made it into the movie: They were never meant to be. Apparently Gareth Edwards just likes to shoot random stuff between takes just because it's pretty.

I don't have a link handy but I read somewhere the other day that most of the reshoots were actually to insert extra character building material. Originally the movie went straight from Jyn's flashback to her already being in custody on Yavin 4, which is also where Cassian is introduced. So all of that business with murdering the asset & breaking Jyn out of the work camp was all new material, which explains why the first half of the movie seems to jump around a bit.

This may also account for why the beach battle was simplified and why we never got the bit where they're running across the beach. If they added an extra 15 mins to the front of the movie, they may have felt the ending was now too long so they compressed it by making the bunker and the transmitter the same place.

It seems the narrative that this was somehow a troubled production is looking less and less credible. Unconventional sure and very light on it's feet but I'm not getting the impression that there was any serious drama behind the camera.

This actually makes a lot of sense because it was something that I picked up on in watching the film. As much as I enjoyed it, it felt a bit choppy at the start with a lot of locations to take in from the beginning.
Personally, I think that it could have done better to reduce a couple of locations, and possibly keeping the ending a little bit longer.

But, that information sheds light on something that I think I picked up on in the theater. But, it was a brief distraction as the story rolled forward.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

So not only did Saw go rogue (no pun intended) he took Alliance equipment with him. That must have pissed a few people off big time.

Considering most Alliance equipment is probably stolen anyway, they can hardly take the moral high ground.
Besides, for all we know Saw could have been instrumental in the operation that got the Alliance all those T-65s in the first place.

Most likely the rebels got the plans somehow and then disseminated them to as many of their cells as possible and the ships were then cobbled together in small off the grid workshops by the cells that used them. Seems more likely than the rebels building a huge central assembly line somewhere - especially with the rebellion being fractured into only loosely connected groups right until R1.

That the ships are an older design previously used by another entity seems unlikely to me, the impression i get recently is, that TPTB want to "simplify" the Star Wars world by having each ship only associated with one side.

The corellian corvette for example seems to have vanished, it is now called an alderaanian cruiser. So, probably no more ships of that type in imperial navy or pirate services in EU stuff going forward. (ETA: in the old EU THE definitive "can pop up on either side" ship)

Similarily the Nebulon-B seems to have lost it's former imperial connection. And since Profoundity in R1 seems to merge some of it's design element with OT mon calamari cruisers, i fully expect it to be described as another rebel build ship in the future.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

There have been various tales about the theft of the Death Star plans for decades now. Several conflicting ones in fact going as far back as the Star Wars Radio Drama over three decades ago before the release of Return of the Jedi.

The difference is that none of those stories were added to the official film story, so such minor tales were disregarded. Far different than Rogue One, a story that did need to be told now force-fit--it must be considered as part of the Skywalker saga.

 

[DonIago]

Did the prequels "need" to be told?

 

[Set Harth]

"Episode V"

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Considering most Alliance equipment is probably stolen anyway, they can hardly take the moral high ground.

Stolen from who, though? The only people we see with X/Y/A-wings are the rebels. These ships don't really follow the former Republic / Imperial design lineage, either. Most of the fighters from the prequel trilogy are obviously (at least to me) designs from which the TIEs evolved.