311 votes
Accepted

Why does the Death Star have a trash compactor?

The Death Star is 160 km across, or 80 km radius. It is a mixture of air and metal and other substances. If we assume it is roughly as dense as water (as it looks roughly as dense as a ocean going ...
Yakk's user avatar
  • 5,333
145 votes
Accepted

Why did Luke use his left hand to shoot?

Luke is pretty consistently shown to be ambidextrous (having the ability to use both hands without favouring one) throughout the original trilogy film series. In A New Hope he totes a gun and shoots ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
140 votes
Accepted

Why does the Star Wars universe use such a primitive technology as data-tapes?

Because it's the backup and backups are better on tape. The fewer moving parts an object has, the more robust it is. Additionally, the long term degradation of electronic memory cells is a problem. So ...
amflare's user avatar
  • 32.5k
115 votes
Accepted

Why didn't Luke use his lightsaber during his mission on the first Death Star?

Luke's a farmer, not a swordsman. He had never held a lightsaber in his entire life until that day. However, he has used rifles before; when he went out looking for R2-D2 on Tatooine, he carried a ...
DaaaahWhoosh's user avatar
  • 11.8k
107 votes

Why didn't the Imperials block the exhaust port on the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin?

The relative difficulty of getting to the exhaust port - location and defenses - was the entire reason for the trench run. It was easier to do with a small craft than a more powerful vessel. ...
T.J.L.'s user avatar
  • 5,425
99 votes

Why does Greedo say "Maclunkey" in the Mos Eisley Cantina?

The Complete Wermo's Huttese Transcript http://www.completewermosguide.com/hutttranscript.html This Huttese website lists Sebulba's lines from the Episode I script, as well as a mention of a ...
pk_'s user avatar
  • 1,580
88 votes
Accepted

Was there a Biggs Darklighter scene on Tatooine in "A New Hope"?

There was an interactive DVD-ROM released on PC in 1998 called Star Wars - Behind the Magic that this, and a few of other deleted scenes, appeared on. If you ever owned that, it's possible that this ...
PaulG's user avatar
  • 696
83 votes
Accepted

Did Luke really not know about Mos Eisley spaceport in the original “Star Wars” (1977) film?

Luke is clearly aware that Mos Eisley exists He refers to the outpost in Obi-Wan's hut, shortly after viewing Leia's message: Luke: Look, I can take you as far as ...
Jason Baker's user avatar
80 votes
Accepted

What made the Tusken Raiders unable / unwilling to shoot down Luke's Landspeeder?

The rifleman was, according to the short story Rites, acting on the orders of his chieftain. When it came time to take the shot, he counselled them against wasting it and scaring off their potential ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
79 votes

Was the original Star Wars film originally called "The Star Wars"?

Yes, this is correct One of Lucas' earliest drafts of the script, penned in 1974, sold at auction in 2013; that script bore the title "The Star Wars" (click to embiggen): And fan-made scans of the ...
Jason Baker's user avatar
78 votes

What did Darth Vader mean by “There’ll be no one to stop us this time.” Who had “stopped” Vader—or the Empire—previously?

You are overthinking this. He just means Leia, who he has correctly inferred stopped him from getting the plans when he captured the ship. Vader evidently did not reckon on the possibility of a ...
Buzz's user avatar
  • 95.2k
76 votes
Accepted

Can Greedo regenerate?

Many Bothans have died to bring me the information that this Rodian is called Thuku For the record, Jabba has at least a half-dozen Rodians in his employ, all of whom seem to dress similarly, but not ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
75 votes
Accepted

Who is this character on the Star Wars: A New Hope poster?

It may not be anyone... consider this other Russian poster for Star Wars. This is quite literally a "space cowboy". I mean one could argue it is supposed to be a depiction of Han Solo, but how could ...
Skooba's user avatar
  • 59.5k
74 votes
Accepted

Why didn't the Empire target Yavin Prime?

This was addressed in an "Ask the Jedi Council" feature on the StarWars.com website. According to LucasFilm's (former) Head of Fan Relations/Director of Content Management Steve Sansweet, ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
74 votes

Why did Luke use his left hand to shoot?

During the Detention Centre shootout, Luke is taking cover on the right-hand side of the corridor (from his perspective) and the alcove he's using for cover would make it harder to fire his blaster ...
SpaceWolf1701's user avatar
73 votes

Why did Obi-Wan have to sneak around the Death Star?

The goal is stealth. Even if he somehow manages to use force-persuasion on everyone he encounters, this still doesn't factor in the possibility of his being seen by a droid, a security monitor or ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
72 votes

Did Vader actually die in the original Star Wars movie, now known as A New Hope?

Vader's death wasn't canonically confirmed in the film, nor in the original novelisation which was released several weeks before the film came out (and which, in turn is based on the final draft ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
70 votes
Accepted

Why didn't Obi-Wan refer to Darth Vader as Anakin during the Death Star duel?

It's a fairly major plot point that he didn't want Luke to know that Vader was his father. Based on ROTJ, Obi-Wan considered Anakin to be dead. This was likely to help him fight with everything he had ...
Machavity's user avatar
  • 51.4k
69 votes
Accepted

How did the Rebels find the design flaw to the first Death Star?

The Rebels had a slight advantage: they already knew what they were looking for; Galen's message, relayed by Jyn, explained both what to do, and what the result would be: "What kind of trap?&...
Jason Baker's user avatar
69 votes

Why does the Death Star have a trash compactor?

The Death Star was 160km across. Trash from the centre has to be moved through at least 80 kilometres of station before it can be vented into space, so the more compact it is the better, if you don’t ...
Mike Scott's user avatar
  • 61.9k
68 votes

Why was Vader surprised that Obi-Wan's body disappeared?

At the end of Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda talks to Obi-Wan Kenobi about meeting an old friend, his old master, Qui-Gon Jinn, who we know became a force ghost. 02:04:50 - Yoda: One who has ...
Ghoti and Chips's user avatar
68 votes
Accepted

What did Darth Vader mean by “There’ll be no one to stop us this time.” Who had “stopped” Vader—or the Empire—previously?

My assumption was always that he meant the senate; his later conversation with Tarkin is that the senate had been dissolved, giving total power to the Moffs. Given that Leia and her (adopted) father ...
Nathan's user avatar
  • 584
67 votes

Is it important for the plot that Leia is Luke's sister?

The reason Luke and Leia's siblinghood was important to the plot was because A New Hope set Luke, Leia, and Han up as a Love Triangle. This caused Luke and Han to be rivals for Leia's affection. One ...
Digital Chris's user avatar
67 votes
Accepted

How does the Death Star gravity work?

From the old West End Games D6 Roleplaying Game (Second Edition) supplement Death Star Technical Companion, Chapter Two: Technical Specifications, p. 16, right column: Gravity within the battle ...
BMWurm's user avatar
  • 10.1k
65 votes

Why was Luke surprised that Obi-Wan had fought in the Clone Wars?

Imagine you grew up a farm boy in some podunk town in Backwater, Nebraska, where nothing ever happens. All your life you have never been further than 20 miles from the place you were born, and in that ...
J Doe's user avatar
  • 5,794
64 votes
Accepted

In episode IV, did the inhabitants of Alderaan realize what was about to happen?

According to the (canon) short story Eclipse, the inhabitants were largely in the dark about the nature of their impending demise. The "planet killer" was a closely guarded secret. A few individuals ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
63 votes
Accepted

Is it important for the plot that Leia is Luke's sister?

The first thing that comes to mind as to why this was important was the end of ROTJ. VADER You cannot hide forever, Luke. LUKE I will not fight you. VADER Give yourself to the dark side. It is the ...
Mayshar's user avatar
  • 1,117
61 votes
Accepted

What is Darth Vader holding on the cover of the original Star Wars novelization?

In the original John Berkey painting, it appears that Vader is holding his lightsaber, stylized in a similar manner to Luke's lightsaber. (In fact, it almost looks like a solid metal blade with light ...
recognizer's user avatar
  • 8,422
59 votes
Accepted

Why are there no Imperial KX-series Security Droids in the original trilogy?

Most of the answers here so far have not focused much specifically on the class of droid that K-2SO belongs to, the KX-series Security Droid (also known as "Imperial enforcer droids"), which is what ...
Spar10 Leonidas's user avatar
58 votes

Why does the Star Wars universe use such a primitive technology as data-tapes?

The out-of-universe answer is that the original films were written in the 70's, and SF&F usually has some basis in truth. The idea of flash drive equivalents probably didn't even occur to Lucas ...
Orgmo's user avatar
  • 708

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