144
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 ...
- 709k
105
votes
Why did Lando give up his role as Administrator of Cloud City just to side with Leia, Chewie and the Rebellion?
You have to consider the timeline, the way the deal is changed through the course of the film, and his reasons why.
When the Imperials first arrive at Bespin, he is trying to protect his interests ...
- 19.6k
99
votes
Accepted
Why did Captain Needa apologize to Darth Vader?
There are a few probable reasons:
He wanted to save his soldiers from punishment
If Vader had found out this information before Needa had come to him, he might have blamed not only Needa for the ...
- 15.2k
87
votes
Accepted
How was Luke's prosthetic hand in Episode V filmed?
You can see the original prop here. Note that the metal collar has slipped down slightly.
The actor would sit under the table and reach up through a hole, then place their hand flat onto the table. ...
- 709k
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 ...
- 8,438
71
votes
Accepted
Why does Luke draw his blaster instead of his lightsaber to deal with an apparent threat?
As originally scripted, Luke did pull out his lightsaber.
Nervously, he looks around at the foreboding jungle.
Luke: Still... there's something familiar about this place. I feel like... I don't know.....
- 39.9k
59
votes
Why didn't Vader execute Piett?
It was probably not Piett's fault, and Vader recognized that. Vader had been in personal command of the imperial forces on Bespin, while Piett remained aboard the Executor, out in orbit. There is no ...
- 99k
56
votes
How was Luke's prosthetic hand in Episode V filmed?
If you look closely at the slope of the back of Mark Hamill's hand, you can see that it seems to turn a bit more toward the vertical as it approaches the metal clamp on his wrist. In fact, Hamill is ...
- 99k
54
votes
Accepted
Did Captain Needa die in The Empire Strikes Back?
He's dead, Jim.
The script confirms his death.
Clutching desperately at his throat, Captain Needa slumps down, then
falls over on his back, at the feet of Darth Vader. Two stormtroopers
pick up the ...
- 135k
47
votes
Why did Lando give up his role as Administrator of Cloud City just to side with Leia, Chewie and the Rebellion?
One of the things that Vader was threatening was to to station a garrison, effectively turning the residents of the station into slaves and the administrators (including Lando) into puppets:
VADER: ...
- 709k
46
votes
Accepted
Why does Luke ignore Yoda's advice?
This is another example of Luke's lack of belief in himself and in the power of the Force and the potential for him to fall to the Dark Side. When faced with evil, he seeks to confront that evil with ...
- 709k
45
votes
Accepted
What happened to the Rebel soldiers on Hoth?
The film's canon novelisation indicates that Luke heard sounds of battle after the final transport (and the X-Wings carrying the remaining pilots) left the planet.
Given that Luke's ship was the ...
- 709k
44
votes
Why didn't the Imperial fleet detect the Millennium Falcon on the back of the star destroyer?
There appears to be six elements to Han's plan that prevent the detection of the Falcon by the fleet.
The ship is shut down and not emitting any electromagnetic radiation that might give them away.
...
- 709k
41
votes
Why did Captain Needa apologize to Darth Vader?
Needa was well aware he was going to his death. You can see that on his face.
He went and accepted responsibility to protect his crew from Vader's reprisals. Ozzel was killed because his personal ...
- 16k
40
votes
Accepted
Would the Millennium Falcon have been carried along on the hyperspace jump if it stayed attached to the Star Destroyer?
In episode 2, Obiwan throws a tracking device onto Slave 1 (as shown in this clip on youtube), enabling him to follow it to another system. So we have a Canon example of something that is small ...
- 650
38
votes
Why does Luke draw his blaster instead of his lightsaber to deal with an apparent threat?
During Empire, Luke simply seems to be more comfortable with a blaster than with his lightsaber. He also draws it earlier on Dagobah when R2 has been pulled underwater and later when sneaking around ...
- 4,833
36
votes
What does 'E chu ta' mean?
We don't know, but it's very (very) rude.
“E chu ta!” replies the droid.
C-3PO stops, stunned. “How rude!”
(“E chu ta,” is, of course, Huttese. It is absolutely not appropriate to translate. ...
- 709k
35
votes
Accepted
Where did the torture rack in Cloud City come from?
According to the Star Wars Fact File (#34), the device is a scan grid, used in the assaying process on Cloud City.
The scan grid was normally used in the analysis of metals. A version
of the system ...
- 709k
32
votes
Why didn't Vader execute Piett?
This is addressed in the film's original junior novelisation. Vader doesn't kill mindlessly and he doesn't kill flunkies who've done nothing wrong.
Maintaining his slow stride, Vader glanced to his ...
- 709k
31
votes
Why didn't Darth Vader follow the Millennium Falcon?
The ship went into hyperspace. With the tracking beacon deactivated, Vader and Piett simply had no means of following them.
“We did it!” Lando yelled triumphantly. The Millennium Falcon had shot
...
- 709k
31
votes
Where did the torture rack in Cloud City come from?
In Legends, the device used to torture Han is a scan grid, a piece of mining equipment. Improvised torture methods are a mainstay of world history (see inventive things done with curling irons) so it'...
- 3,334
30
votes
Accepted
How did Obi-Wan not know about Leia in Episode 5?
Obi-wan did not believe Leia to be another hope.
From the script of The Return of the Jedi, we have the following exchange
BEN: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.
LUKE: Yoda ...
- 77.6k
30
votes
Why did Lando give up his role as Administrator of Cloud City just to side with Leia, Chewie and the Rebellion?
Cloud City is not "neutral" from the Empire's point of view, and Vader's increasing demands make Lando finally realize that.
In your own answer, you write that Cloud City is neutral. You may ...
- 2,115
30
votes
Why did "A Stanley Kubrick Production" not draw a fine, while "Lucasfilm Ltd." did?
A key reason* is that Kubrick was not displacing anyone else from appearing in the opening credits. Lucas's name appeared in the opening of Star Wars, in the form of a production studio credit. ...
- 99k
29
votes
Would the Millennium Falcon have been carried along on the hyperspace jump if it stayed attached to the Star Destroyer?
In Legends, it is clear that any object fixed to the side of a ship that jumps to hyperspace is carried along with it (potentially without that ship's knowledge).
For instance, there are several ...
- 13k
28
votes
Why did Captain Needa apologize to Darth Vader?
He knew that he'd have to face the music. He hoped for mercy.
Needa had known that death was the likely consequence of his failure to capture the Millennium Falcon. He had known, too, that he had to ...
- 709k
28
votes
Accepted
What planets would I be able to see in the sky I were standing on the battlefield of Hoth?
Probably two venus-sized points of light (Jhas and Ordaj) in addition to the local star (also named Hoth).
According to The Empire Strikes Back, Hoth was the sixth planet in the system which means ...
- 709k
26
votes
Did Captain Needa die in The Empire Strikes Back?
He ded
The (Disney Canon) factbook Ultimate Star Wars confirms his demise.
Lorth Needa is a ruthless officer who serves the Republic in the Clone
Wars when Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped by ...
- 709k
26
votes
Accepted
What is this piece of equipment Luke had on Dagobah?
This is a Fusion Furnace. In addition to creating heat and light, it can also be used to charge a droid.
“You ready for some power?” Luke asked Artoo, who was patiently waiting for his own form of ...
- 709k
22
votes
Why doesn't Boba Fett just point out where the Falcon is?
There's nothing in the movie which suggests Boba Fett knew where the Millenium Falcon was. Instead, he had a hunch it had never left and was hiding somewhere. He knew there was no cloaking device, Han ...
- 13.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible