"Send all the Cruisers? Send all the Cruisers?"

...says a voice in his earpiece...

"You're a lowly STORMTROOPER. Who do you think you are?   
S O D   O F F !"

Film Notes

The original 1977 version - I loved this too

One of the fondest memories that Niall F and I shared of our single viewing of the film back then was this bit. Perhaps we'd seen it again on the Academy Awards show? Anyway - it was class. Even this original version of the shot.

You know, they do stuff like this constantly in the PT - and more (x10) - but this still takes my breath away. The Falcon shoots away and the troopers whirl around, awkwardly trying to catch sight of it through their clunky helmets.

Was it exciting - or am I wearing nostalgia tinted specs?

Can you tell me if this is mostly nostalgia on my part - or was there really some magic ingredient that just makes it unbelievably exciting? Seriously, you can let me and all of the readership know what you think in the comment section below. I like to think that the sequences were edited pretty tightly. George and the editors say that they used every scrap of the limited footage that they had but I think they still knew how to keep the visuals rushing along with energy and rhythm.

Art Notes

"Was this trip really nessersery?"

There's a residue of carbon paper on the trooper - top left. I wonder what I was up to there? Because that trooper looks a bit too good for 1978! I wonder if it was transferred from the Marvel comic, and then gone over in biro? It looks like I also went back to it around 1981 and added a bit of blue-colouring pencil. Just to smooth the transition from the previous page. Thankfully I didn't remove the page and dump it. I must have still thought it looked acceptable! Oh, God when I think how many pages must have gone to the bin.

"...you'll find "YERSELF" floating home!" Er..?

If you want to know why Solo says "YERSELF" and why it's in quotation marks - don't ask the page's creator. Your guess is as good as mine. Feel free to make suggestions below.

Postscript: Many thanks to Rod at Blue Milk Special, the excellent Star Wars parody webcomic, for promoting my site today!

Comments  

 

+1 # RE: Blast Off! (16) — Neil 2011-03-14 22:23

It's all brilliant - but my favourite bit has got to be Chewie's blatant disregard for the delicate instruments in the cockpit :)

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0 # RE: RE: Blast Off! (16) — John I.White 2011-03-15 15:30

"SLAP"

How does he do all that delicate precision work with big hairy paws? Hey - don't apes do lots of slapping when they're irritated?

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+1 # RE: Blast Off! (16) — Casey C 2011-03-14 23:43

No, it was totally exciting! I still get some goosebumps every time I see that scene while I bounce in glee that they've escaped - like I somehow think the movie might change between viewings

Maybe you just had a love for being hickish back then? (re: YERSELF)

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0 # RE: RE: Blast Off! (16) — John I.White 2011-03-15 15:32

Hi Casey,
Me too - I see the troopers walk toward the booth int he cantina and still worry that Luke and Ben won't get away unnoticed.

Hickish? Or cockney!

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+1 # RE: Blast Off! (16) — Dylan 2011-03-15 04:20

I like how Chewie slaps the console.

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0 # RE: RE: Blast Off! (16) — John I.White 2011-03-15 15:33

"Ooh - ooh! Ah ah!"

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+1 # RE: Blast Off! (16) — Matt 2011-03-15 07:51

I imagine you wrote "yerself" because Han Solo is supposed to be a scoundrel type character. Shady types are often depicted as lower class/less educated, so I figure that's where the odd spelling comes from. You were probably just going with what you were exposed to.

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0 # RE: RE: Blast Off! (16) — John I.White 2011-03-15 15:34

I bet you're right Matt. "Oi! Leeeeeeeeave it aat mate!"

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