Luke In A Tube
I was just watching The Empire Strikes Back, in particular the confrontation between Luke and Vader, a high point of the series.
There's been a lot of discussion regarding just what Vader is planning. Does he want to help the Emperor by fetching Luke, or overthrow the Emperor with Luke at his side. And what is the Emperor's plan? Does he want to use Luke along with Vader, or replace Vader with Luke? (The prequels may also change their motivations).
But what I wondered this time is just what is Luke thinking when he drops away. Something like "I'll fall about a mile then go into a tube, slide along for a way, then--in a bit of a surprise--drop down a different tube out the bottom of Cloud City, where I'll use the force to call someone." If not, what did he expect to happen? His death, or escape? Or is all he's thinking "I must get away from Vader, no matter what the consequences."
posted by LAGuy @ 1:33 AM
3 Comments:
I'm sort of surprised this scene is such a mystery to you: given the choice between being corrupted, falling to the dark side, and death, Luke chooses suicide. His survival is an accident.
Incidentally, forget Greedo shooting first: this scene was the one the Special Edition really messed up. They dubbed a girlish scream on Luke as he fell, turning his heroic self-sacrifice to preserve his ideals into a wimpy moment of weakened fingers and unheroic hysteria.
Aren't both of you guys forgetting that the guy is a Jedi and that the force was strong with him? If he can lift jets from the muck, can't he direct himself into a harmless tube? I admit, that takes away some of the heroism of choosing death, but isn't that the sort of leap we viewers have to bridge all the time?
SWMBCg, etc.
I think the worst change in Empire is when Luke is hanging upside down in the cave on Hoth. In the original, you know the Wampa is around, but you don't know how close. He could come by and kill Luke any second. In the Special Edition, we get a full shot of the Wampa. Oh, there is he is, way over there, eating--nothing to worry about, plenty of time to escape.
By the way, note in the first film, both Luke and Obi-Wan avoid falling into the abyss in the Death Star. In the second, Luke falls but survives. Only the Emperor, in Return Of The Jedi, can't take the drop.
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