I went back and checked, it sounds like "No, I'm all ri-aaaaaah!" The word "no" is definitely there.
"Eject!" was scripted. There's no sign that Porkins had been given a first name in the '76-'77 period.
I find 'A New Hope' hard to watch nowadays
- Thread starter ED-209
- Start date
I went back and checked, it sounds like "No, I'm all ri-aaaaaah!" The word "no" is definitely there.
"Eject!" was scripted. There's no sign that Porkins had been given a first name in the '76-'77 period.
Weird. I cannot recall hearing "Eject!" even before I knew he had a first name...
But, that's what you get when you crib Dambusters for Act 3.
And 633 Squadron. At least they updated it from "Bail out!"
That's where Leia's adopted dad got his name!
The Marvel comic called him "Tono" I think?
I alwasy heard the eject line, but I never really thought about it enough to realize he was telling him to shoot himself out into open space. The he said "eject, pull up", I had thought he was just telling him to get out of the trench.
The name makes more sense than saying "Eject!" in space...good grief. Can't believe I misheard it this whole time.
to me it's no big deal. the original film is a scrappy space adventure that looks like a pulp comic book from the 40s.
People have a problem with this but not a problem with Leia flying in space. And by the end of the film she's ready to hit the gym
People have a problem with this but not a problem with Leia flying in space. And by the end of the film she's ready to hit the gym
"Eject!" makes perfect sense. It's what I've always heard since 1977. (Ejecting was also something you could do in the PC X-Wing video game when your fighter was about to be destroyed.) The goofy part was always that the Rebel flight suits didn't look more like spacesuits.
Wow, you're right! I forgot about that. When I was a kid I only had the first half of the over-size Marvel book (compiling the first three issues); I didn't have money for the other one (one dollar!) or my mom didn't buy it for me or something like that, and then I couldn't find it at the store anymore. I didn't get the second volume till I was an adult, so it didn't imprint on my brain like the first half.
Well, it would be a very odd way to say that.
Yeah, but more face-concealing helmets have always been a bit of a problem for movies (why do so many pilots pull off their oxygen masks when something dramatic is happening?!). The highly individualized helmet decoration would help a lot for audience identification in Star Wars, but establishing who was who might be more problematic.
But I say again: A little box of pilot compartment, canopy and some life-support separates from the rest of the ship, problem solved.
Going back to the original topic: "Eject!" is part of one of the things that makes Star Wars more unique than the subsequent films. Star Wars is a mish mash of many different pulp sources (that only coincidentally resemble Joseph Campbell). The reason Biggs says "eject!" is because someone in The Dam Busters said "eject". (EDIT: Just saw someone else noted pretty much the same thing. But I'm rolling.)
Also on the original topic, I did think when we had our Marathon last year (this year?) that in 1977 Luke and Leia swinging across the chasm was one of THE iconic shots of the movie. It was on posters, it's on wallpaper, it was on lobby cards. It was a reason to buy the Death Star play set. Even the music hits some of the most energetic writing that Williams did for the whole film and that's saying something! And... they swing from one side to the other side. Heh.
But I'll take the Death Star X-wing battle (original edition only, please) over pretty much any space fight done before or since.
Also on the original topic, I did think when we had our Marathon last year (this year?) that in 1977 Luke and Leia swinging across the chasm was one of THE iconic shots of the movie. It was on posters, it's on wallpaper, it was on lobby cards. It was a reason to buy the Death Star play set. Even the music hits some of the most energetic writing that Williams did for the whole film and that's saying something! And... they swing from one side to the other side. Heh.
But I'll take the Death Star X-wing battle (original edition only, please) over pretty much any space fight done before or since.
I love the swinging scene.. it feels like it it popped out of the 40s.. it's innocent and fun and would never play for an audience today in a new film.
Yeah, but the dialogue in Star Wars has always gotten a bit odd at times, and it made more sense than telling him to shoot himself into open space.
I don't have a copy of The Dam Busters, but I don't recall that anyone recommends bailing out. On the bomb runs, they were almost certainly too low for a parachute to work. And nobody says it in 633 Squadron, I checked. Again with the altitude, I'd guess.
It may be a big-screen thing. I remember having a real gut-feeling sense of depth from that chasm. A great painting by Harrison Ellenshaw.
Agreed. I have heard people say it's too long. It's 12 minutes from the fighters lining up off Yavin to the Death Star blowing up. That doesn't seem that long to me, and it has a definite narrative flow to it: Rebels seem to take the Imperials by surprise, TIE fighters show up and rebel losses start to mount, Gold Leader target run, Red Leader target run, Luke target run. All the while rebel numbers go down and the tension goes up.
It has a narrative flow. Yes. I care about pretty much every guy in those ships. Six years later there's not really a pilot in Return of the Jedi that even registers. (I suppose the Battle of Hoth kind of splits the difference.)
I think part of that is that in Star Wars Lucas follows a template from other movies.
Another part of it is that Luke is the least significant of the pilots and so you can get into these other characters. These are all the guys that Luke wants to be like. He's also good but he's not THE BEST right out of the gate. (I never thought about how NOT a POV character Luke is in that battle.)
And finally, alone among all of the other Star Wars movies the last act has our undivided attention. It's ALL the Death Star Battle. And other than Leia and 3PO observing, it's all Luke and R2.
So this thread is convincing me that Star Wars is a gorram masterpiece. (Has everyone seeing this? Remember Marcia!)
The battle in Jedi is different - it's more of a high stakes play for the entire rebel fleet, the Yavin battle is more intimate almost. It's probably a by product of the technical constraints and the budget more than anything else, forcing them to focus on the pilots. Either way it worked well and the Yavin battle has tension whilst the Endor battle has spectacle. I love both.
Star Wars is a masterpiece. Of that I have no doubt.
What kind of a name is porkins anyway? Sounds a bit unflattering for a man of his stature.
It's only unflattering if they changed the name after Hootkins was cast. Or cast him because of the name. In the comic Biggs calls him "Piggy". Now that's unflattering.
