#star wars: return of the jedi: death star battle

[everygame]

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle (Atari 2600)

Developed/Published by: James Wickstead Design Associates / Parker Brothers Released: 12/9/1983 Completed: 19/11/2024 Completion: Blew up the Death Star. A bunch of times.

Well, we’ve reached the end of Parker Brothers run with the Star Wars license for video games, and while it hasn’t exactly been diminishing returns (the unreleased Ewok Adventure was better than Jedi Arena, at least) it hasn’t been exactly edifying. If I want to be completely fair here, they weren’t in the best situation: the video games industry in North America was imploding and they were stuck making games for the creaky hardware that was at the center of it. 

You’d hope they’d have made the best of it–and I really do think The Empire Strikes Back is a fully formed piece of work. But if Ewok Adventure was half-baked, we’re talking raw dough here.

In Death Star Battle, you control the Millennium Falcon as it attempts to destroy the Death Star II before it’s fully constructed–first by getting past the Death Star’s shield, and then by, er, shooting bits off it off until you can reach the core and shoot that. And then you do it all again.

It’s a bit weird. There are two screens, which feels… wrong (come on guys, I know memory was at a premium, but rule of three at least) and in both screens you effectively only play in the bottom two-thirds of the screen. On the first screen, the rest is taken up with the shield and the Death Star in the distance, and you have to try and time it to pop through one of the holes (?) that show up in the shield randomly to get to the second screen while avoiding TIE Interceptors and (most dangerously) the shield’s “outermost energy band” which appears and disappears and kills you because… well, it would be too easy to get through the shield otherwise.

Look at that perspective! One nice touch is that you can actually see the Death Star being constructed as you play.

On the second screen the Death Star itself takes up a big chunk of real estate, and it feels like you should be able to move all the way around it–but you can’t. This seems to be because if you could move around it the “death ray” which moves back and forth (hey, a bit like the lasers in Gridrunner!) would have to aim in more than one direction, so you’re still stuck on the bottom two-thirds even if there’s no visual reason why.

Overall this game is simple, but it could be, I don’t know… fine. What stops it reaching the bare minimum is that you have no fine control over the Millennium Falcon at all, as it slides around like Nien Numb is drunk on (checks Wookipedia) "Kowakian Rum" after a night listening to hot jizz [“you couldn’t resist, could you”--Star Wars Ed.] While a touch of inertia isn’t a horrible idea–after all, this is a post-Asteroids space game, we expect a little–this is a game where you need to be able to accurately shoot in all directions to try and pick your way to the Death Star core, and you just… can’t. Instead you end up doing the herky-jerky dancing that represent the very worst kind of control system as you desperately move left a bit and then right a bit overshooting endlessly–and never mind if you want to hold on a diagonal! It’s not so much frustrating–you’d have to care a lot more about this game than I think it’s possible to–but it’s certainly annoying.

To be honest though, if you could move accurately the game would be a piece of piss. The difficulty switches tell the story: the left difficulty switch allows you to set the game so that you either collide with TIE Fighters or not, and the right difficulty switch allows you to set the Death Star’s death ray to either only move to the extent of the Death Star or across the entire screen.

If you set it so that you collide with TIE Fighters, the game is essentially impossible. There’s not enough screen space to avoid them, and you can’t control well enough to anyway! But then this means that the first screen is trivial–you just wait until the first hole in the shield appears and pop through it immediately. And then on the second screen, if you don’t set it so the Death Star’s death ray can reach across the entire screen, you can literally just set the Millennium Falcon up in a corner away from it and shoot your way to the core (well, after the half hour it takes you to get into position.)

It’s actively not possible to get the game settings where it provides an interesting challenge throughout (again, wrestling with controls is not an interesting challenge.) Yet the graphics and sound are (comparatively) decent, with a hyperspace animation and everything, so there's a sense here that the effort on this game was largely expended there.

Considering that, I got a bit interested in who made Death Star Battle, because there’s a dearth of good information on it online–Ewok Adventure is, if anything, better memorialised.

In his interview with Digital Press about Ewok Adventure, Larry Gelberg described that after Parker Brothers signed the rights for Return of the Jedi he and Ray “Raymo” Miller “came up with 3-4 game concepts” after seeing concept art and production stills: “Raymo came up with the Breakout-style Death Star Battle game.”

(It’s interesting that he describes it as “Breakout-style” considering the finished game has little to no relation to breakout other than I suppose the Death Star is destructible. It speaks to how unrefined the final design was.)

Unusually, although Parker Brothers did Ewok Adventure in house, as they did with their earlier Star Wars games, Death Star Battle was in fact outsourced to James Wickstead Design Associates (JWDA) a fascinatingly unhallowed developer who you may only have heard of due to Kevin Bunch’s detailed article for the Video Game History Foundation on the lost Atari 2600 game Tarzan.

As Bunch noted, JWDA already had a relationship with Parker Brothers as toy designers, and so it seemed likely that they’ve have been considered a safe pair of hands for Ray Miller’s concept if the rest of Parker Brothers was at capacity.

Indeed, in an interview with Atari Compendium, JWDA’s Todd Marshall said of Death Star Battle “we had a lot of freedom and leeway to redesign things until the 'client' was happy with it” so it seems likely they were largely left to their own devices.

However, the best piece of information I have to go on, and you’ll never believe this, is original research. It looks like Todd Marshall provided JWDA engineer Henry Will IV’s notebooks to Atari Compendium (which is… interesting, because Henry Will IV is still kicking, so why did he have them?) and while you have to parse some difficult handwriting at points, you can follow the entire development of Death Star Battle from the 1st of February 1983, where Will writes “Discovered that: Parker has asked us to do VCS Star Wars.”

History is made.

He even says “1% royalty & fees - no cap” which is crazy, because I thought only Gen Z said that. He was saying it in 1983!!!

A much more dedicated historian than I might want to pour over the notebooks for more details, though even at a glance just learning that Will was by and large solely responsible for Death Star Battle is something–and he even notes on the 12th of September 1983 that the game is available in “Bradlees” for $31.77 giving us the earliest confirmed release date for the game. Wow! Etc.

Of course, the problem now is that I can put a face to the game–it’s Ray Miller’s concept, sure, but Henry Will IV’s fault. Sorry Henry but this is fucking rubbish.

Will I ever play it again? No thank you.

Final Thought: Look, to be fair to the guy, he had like seven months to make this while working on several other things, and for the Atari 2600 as I said the game honestly looks pretty good, with strong perspective and animation on the Death Star’s shield and pleasingly iconic sprites. But it cries out for a dedicated designer; it manages to have even less of an unified design concept than Ewok Adventure, and above all it makes me wonder why after The Empire Strikes Back Sam Kjellman didn’t design any more Star Wars games–he was good at it!

(Kjellman wouldn’t design another game until… Outback Joey for Sega Genesis??? One of the rarest games on the system, that used a heart rate sensor???)

Anyway, I think discovering that this was a JWDA joint gives some clarity as to why it was published over Ewok Adventure. This has arguably even more horrible controls than Ewok Adventure, but it’s about a more exciting part of the movie and Parker Brothers almost certainly put more money into outsourcing this than on Ewok Adventure in-house, which I suspect made it somewhat easier to throw away what their programmer made. So perhaps less of a punishment for Gelberg’s hubris than he thought, and simply some sunk-cost fallacy at work.

Every Game I’ve Finished 14>24 is OUT NOW! You can pick it up in paperback, kindle, or epub/pdf. You can also support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up digital copies of exp., a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[star-wars-forever]

[pedroam-bang]

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi (1983)

[alphamecha-mkii]

[vintagepromotions]

Advertisement for Return of the Jedi Death Star Battle video game on the Atari 2600 (1983).

[sonofdorn-vii]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Wedge Antilles Summary:

Wedge Antilles is flying into battle, with no company but his thoughts.

A short fic with my favourite Star Wars character :D

[swtechspecs]

Superlaser, Death Star II

Source: The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology (Del Rey, 1997)

[pinyeti]

EPISODE 6: RETURN OF THE JEDI

Is it just me or have they just not explained the Death Star properly?

I cant take Darthy seriously anymore, he’s just a bag of organs 

Whats quirrel doing here

OMG ELEPHANT SNAKE IS BACK

Isnt this that old caterpillar from Alice n wonfderlad

WOW LUKE REALLY SUITED UP FOR HIS MESSAGE- DID HE JUST SELL???? GOLDENFACE AN R2-oh right Hans in the carbon - way to go to the dark side Luke, triangular droid trade YOU ARE YOUR FATHERS SON LUKE 

So much of Star Wars is just running into the problem with a glowstick and hoping it dies

Wow hansolo has been imprisoned, thrown into garbage, tortured, thrown into carbon, imprisoned AGAIN all cuz he has can’t shut my mouth disease

What even is their relationship with Luke btw, are they his adopted fWOAH WOAH WOAH WHEN DID LUKE TURN INTO A MAN??? Last I saw he was a child who couldn’t get a plane out of a lake AND THEY LEFT THE LAST MOVIE WITH ALL OF THTEM BEING TOGETHER wow the text in the beginning is more important than I thought 

No seriously why is Luke dressed like a pastor whats going on

WOAH GOLD BIKINI LIEA - OKAY STORY TIME I USED TO WATCH PRINCESS RAP BATTLES AS A CHILD AND THE ONE I SAW WITH LEIA IN IT SHE SAID “I wore a gold bikini and the whole world lost its shit” ANF NOW I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

Ok yoda we get it you’re 900 no ones talking about your wrinkles anyway with pastor Luke in the room, projecting much?

Is yoda suidicdal???

WDYM LUKE IS REaDY???? HE DIDNT DO ANYTHING TO BE READY EXCEPT FLY FACEFIRST INTO A MILITARY BASE HIS TRAINING ARC IS SO SHIT

 Whos the other Skywalker?? lukes not even a Skywalker isnt his name Luke vader where’s skywalkers real son OH darthy’s deadname is skywalker

BABY WONKENOBIII IS BACKCKCKC-OMGWHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WDYM LEIAS LUKES SISTER WDYM HE SUSPECTED THIS AFTER MAKING OUT WITH HER FIFTY BILLION TIMES??? WHAT THE HELL

??? HELLO>>??? WHAT TH EHELL??? WHAT IN THE GAME OF THRONES IS GOING ON??????? How is Leia a princess then?? HahahahaHAHAHA SO YODA KNEW …… ABOUT THEIR LITTLE TRIANGLE

Nice the gang is back together, waiting for chewbakka to be revealed as darthy’s next offspring

YES YES GOLDENFACE GETTING THE RESPECT HE DESEREVEVVES I LOVE GOLDENFACEEE

I cant believe these are the idiots the emperors trying to kill

"yes I could sense you were my brother when my tongue was down your throat"

Oh yes Luke hands himself over- haha darthy sensitive over dead name 

Luke youre so stupid- but since jedis cant die is he gonna go to wherever yoda and obi wan is 

Lando is growing on me, also squid guy

This movie is gonna end with emperor and Luke dead isnt it

Is the emperor a jedi too how else does he have power or something something Sith

Id make a horrible jedi- im made of hatred

Hansolo my pathetic little idiot

I JUST REALIZED WHO LUKE EP6 REMINDS ME OF - TROY BOLTON

IS HE BEGGING DARTHY TO KILL HIM WTF

You’re telling me this big of an empire cant take down 6 idiots lead by a happy go lucky guy, never heard of this before

OHMYGOSSDDHD. LYKE YOU IDIOT NOW HE KNOWS ABOUT LEIA

Hahahah a hand for a HAND- wait what…. Why does he have a robo hand too whats going on 

Luke stop acting like you didnt hear about jedis 5 secs ago

Aw does darthy have a heart among his organs

OHMYGOD DARTHY IS A GOOD GUY????? ????? What A VILLAIN TTURNS GOOD ITS BEEN AGES SINCE I SAW A VILLAIN COME OVER TO THE GOOD SIDE

OMG DARHTY FACE REVEAL

Oh damn hes not as ugly as I thought he’d be

Kinda cute even - bro how did he even get this weak why’s he dying rn 

He has such kind eyes

Yeah ok I am so lost I NEED DARTH VADER BACKSTORY RIGH FUCKIN NOW

Is the empire this easy to penetrate? No but they did it with the power of lOVE and FRIENDSHIP 

Love lando 

YES HAN THATS THE REACTION I HAD AN HOUR AGO ACTUALLY WTF

Yes Luke its so sad your daddy that blew up an entire planet in ONE second without a single thought died IM NOT FORGIVING HIM THIS EASY

No way thats it??? They took down the empire just like that???? What??

Damn no one in this world can dance

OHMYGOD ANAKIN???? HOW CAN HE SEE THEM NOW??? IS IT CUZ HES BETTER AT WEILDING THE FORCE

ok fine anakin is cute

(3/9)

[mariacallous]

Star Wars fans have lived with Mon Mothma for a long time without ever really knowing her. The ethereal Rebel leader has been a regal but enigmatic figure for four decades, but all of that is about to change with episode four of Andor, the Disney+ series about Diego Luna’s devoted spy that also chronicles the strengthening of resistance in the galaxy far, far away.

Genevieve O’Reilly portrays Mon Mothma on the show, which will finally delve into the intense personal story behind this politician from the planet Chandrila. “In her public role, there is a requirement to be calm, there is a requirement to project serenity because the cost is so high, the danger is so extreme,” O’Reilly tells Vanity Fair. “Mon Mothma can't step into the drama that is often surrounding her. But I think what Andor allows is to see the private alongside the public. You can reveal so much when you take that public mask off.”

Even casual fans of the franchise will remember Mon Mothma’s striking first appearance in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, with actress Caroline Blakiston playing the caftan-clad, priestess-like figure who advises Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Lando Calrissian about the Empire’s construction of a new Death Star. “Many Bothans died to bring us this information,” she intones gravely.

Star Wars faithful still don’t know what a Bothan is, even after all this time, but they’ve caught glimpses of Mothma here and there. O’Reilly first played her as a younger woman in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, which revealed that Mothma was a novice galactic senator back when Darth Vader was forged and Emperor Palpatine took over the galaxy. Her speaking lines exist only in a deleted scene, but her appearance as a silent background figure in the finished film was unmistakable.

Fans were left to connect the dots between how an upstart politician became the leader of a guerrilla space resistance until 2016. That’s when O’Reilly reprised Mothma for a more substantial role in the stand-alone prequel Rogue One, serving as a kind of M to Diego Luna’s galactic version of 007, Cassian Andor. The new series is set five years before that, when the two were still unknown to each other, living distant parallel lives—the powerless refugee, and the frustrated powerbroker, both trapped in a corrosive system they hope to change.

The patience of Star Wars fans is about to pay off. The so-called Mother of the Rebellion is now coming into sharper focus.

“This woman has been a part of this universe for so long—and with great respect to George Lucas who created her as a female leader of the Rebel Alliance back in the early ‘80s. That was, I'm sure, as ambitious then as it sounds now,” O’Reilly says. “ I have always really loved the opportunity to step into this woman's shoes. There is something in Caroline's original portrayal of her. I always go back and watch that scene just to remind me how they originated it. I think there is a pain at the center of that.”

For her, it all comes back to the Bothans, those unknown spies who gave their lives for the information she relays. It’s information that she knows will necessitate a battle that will certainly cost even more lives.

“She has that very famous line that people will say to me: ‘Many Bothans died…’,” O’Reilly says. “I always wondered what that was. I always wondered what she was carrying, what her own personal sacrifice was, what the cost to this woman was—and continues to be.”

Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy (The Bourne movies, Michael Clayton) predicted in May that Mon Mothma will become a trending topic when episode four airs. That day is now upon us.

“She's this figurehead of liberal democracy that will fail, and ultimately, she'll go to the Rebel Alliance. We stick to the timeline and the major events. But as you can see, we're saying, ‘You don't really know what's going on with her,’” Gilroy says. “Nobody has really known what's going on with her. She's had a much harder time than we knew.”

The revelations about Mothma are more intimate than Star Wars storytelling usually gets. Andor shows her not only struggling to hold together the nascent rebellion, but it also bears witness to her tumultuous and combative marriage to a husband named Perrin (Alastair Mackenzie). Fans have seen Han and Leia trade barbs, but they’ve never seen anything like these two.

“Just wait, just wait,” Gilroy says. “Their marriage is as complex as any marriage I've ever written in any show I've ever done, or any movie I've ever written. Their relationship, how they negotiate it, where it ends up, the shifting power dynamics of it… It's as complicated as anything I've ever worked on.”

Part of the problem is that Mothma's husband Perrin is all too comfortable living in the luxury of the Empire. “She's the boss. She’s the senator. And he's an epicurean,” Gilroy says. “He just wants to live life, man. ‘Why can't we have fun? Why does everything have to be boring? Why we have to do all this political shit? Who cares about this revolution? The revolution's a pain in the ass, man. Let's have fun!’”

It would be a spoiler to reveal how that relationship plays out, but Gilroy and O’Reilly are willing to describe the origin of this mismatched couple in advance. “They were married at 16. That is a very big thing in Chandrila,” Gilroy says. “She has a daughter. It was somewhat of an arranged marriage.”

If that seems shocking, it’s worth noting that 16 was also the age when Mothma became a senator. That sort of thing happens in the Star Wars universe; Padme Amidala, Natalie Portman’s character in the prequels, was also “elected” queen of the planet Naboo when she was a child.

O’Reilly says Andor confronts what it’s like to live with so much responsibility for so long. In some ways, she says she and her character have grown up together. 

“I have played her since I was very young and Mon Mothma was one of my first roles,” she says. “What is it to live within that orthodoxy? And what is it within that familial culture where the woman has the more powerful public role? What does that do to the balance of power within a home? How difficult or easy is that to navigate? And what if your husband has lent into the very voices that you are trying to oppose?”

For O'Reilly, it’s not just a story of good vs. evil. It’s about the many sides of a conflict that can exist sometimes within a single person. 

“There is a public space and then there is a private space. And with Mon Mothma, we are definitely walking that tightrope in Andor,” O”Reilly says. “What can I reveal in a private space? What is the cost to her? How dangerous is it? How dangerous is it to have a voice—or to risk having a voice—in this very volatile political climate? How costly is it to speak up against autocracy? How is it to navigate not only a public space but also your private home when your voice is very different, when you are a woman speaking in a very male-dominated, arguably aggressive world?”

O’Reilly’s hope is that Star Wars fans will realize that Mon Mothma is not such a mystery after all. There are versions of her all around us.

“You don't have to look too far, no matter which profession you work in, to see women who are trying to effect change from within,” she says. “I looked to different female leaders around the world and sadly we don't really have enough of them still. Often they are lonely voices, or voices that others are trying to silence. I see a correlation with those voices and with Mon's voice. For me, I didn't have to look too far to see the women that I believe can be reflected in Mon's fight. I recognized her. I recognized her fights. I want to stand up for her as a character because I think we can all recognize her.”

[unexpectedreylo]

So, It Wasn't Planned After All

https://x.com/RichEisenShow/status/1734703529552699725?s=20

While Adam Driver is making the rounds to promote "Ferrari," he drops by the Rich Eisen Show and when asked about Ben Solo during the True or False segment, Adam spills the tea.

He doesn't get asked much about Star Wars so this is the first time I think he's talked about his character arc since TROS was unleashed upon us 4 years ago. And he drops the bomb that the Ben Solo thing wasn't planned from the beginning. That's right, Bendemption happened late in the game. He says that JJ Abrams told him the idea was Vader In Reverse (starts out vulnerable, ends entrenched in the dark side) and he kept that concept in mind throughout the time he filmed the ST, until they changed it with the last film. Adam has alluded to the concept of Vader In Reverse before but this is the first time he's gone into greater detail about it, including the revelation that the decision to turn Kylo from the dark side came during the third film.

This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who read the Duel of the Fates script and it explains why Ben hardly says a word during his scenes on Exegol. Abrams and Co. conceived of Kylo Ren as an evil bastard whose destiny was to get eviller; killing Han Solo was meant to be what sent him down the path of no return. Then two things happened: TLJ and Driver's commitment to humanizing Kylo Ren. People loved Kylo and Rey together (hence Reylo exploding in popularity) and they fell in love with Adam. They empathized with Kylo. So they changed course with TROS, a little. Kylo returns to the light as Ben but he is quickly dispatched once the big battle is over. I believe Ben's death was for two reasons: one, they were less invested and focused in Ben's part of the story than we were and two, there was always the intent to end the Skywalker line so Star Wars could focus on new characters. Remember, Rey essentially turned Skywalker into a title that could be transferred to anyone.

That the story changed over the course of the trilogy isn't that big a deal. There was no Chosen One prophecy until the prequels. Leia wasn't Luke's sister until Lucas wrote ROTJ. Han wasn't guaranteed to get out of carbonite because nobody was sure if Harrison Ford was going to come back. Instead of a tyrannical, ruthless bastard like Lee Pace's emperor in Apple TV's Foundation show, Kylo Ren gave us quivering lips, teary eyes, and mooning over the heroine who is supposed to be his enemy. When Rian Johnson introduced the bond between Rey and Kylo, Abrams and Terrio explained it as a dyad and made it prominent in the film. The kiss got put in because Reylo was so popular. Okay, fine.

The problem was they never should have made the Jedi Killer from early drafts Han and Leia's only child. As an old Star Wars fan who saw every film since 1977 and followed the Skywalker clan for over 40 years, I didn't want to see Anakin Skywalker's grandson end up even more evil than he was. What a huge bummer that would've been, even worse than if Rey was killed off. (For the record, I hated the whole Darth Jacen thing so much in the legends books I stopped reading them.) Abrams and Terrio probably realized it was going to be a problem returning to the idea that Ben was too evil to save; TROS already comes off as a tragic ending rather than a happy, triumphant one. And it goes against the whole message of Star Wars. So it ends up being Vader 2.0 and fans hoping Ben would survive were disappointed. I wasn't fond of the idea of exile or something as Ben's fate prior to TROS, but now I think that probably would've been the best outcome. It would've left a lot of possibilities to explore in future SW stories without having to come up with a convoluted explanation for bringing him back.

As much as they fumbled the ball, I'm glad they at least spared us Evil Kylo 4 Ever and Adam's turn as Ben was great even without anything to say besides "Ow." Adam sounded a little disappointed to me but maybe I'm just reading into it too much. In any case he has also stated in recent interviews he would be open to returning to Star Wars, so I guess we can still be hopeful even if he doesn't appear in the upcoming film. (Just don't wait 30 years, okay?)

[star-wars-forever]

[pedroam-bang]

John Conrad Berkey - Return Of The Jedi: Death Star Battle (1983)

[will80sbyers]

Do you still have the list of movies that inspired ST4? I had a picture of it but I lost it and I haven't been able to find it since. Please and thank you in advance.

Yep!

Long post warning lol

300

2001: A Space Odyssey

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

12 Monkeys

28 Days Later

13th Warrior

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Altered States

Amelie

American Sniper

Analyze This

Annihilation

Aristocats

Armageddon

Assassins Creed

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Arrival

Almost Famous

Batman Begins

Batman V. Superman

Basket Case

Battle at Big Rock

Beauty and the Beast

Beetlejuice

Behind Enemy Lines

Beverly Hills Cop

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

Billy Madison

Black Cauldron

Black Swan

Boondock Saints

Borat

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Burn After Reading

Broken Arrow

Blade Runner

C.H.U.D

Con Air

Cast Away

Congo

Constantine

Children of Men

Cabin in the Woods

Crank

Casablanca

Carrie

Crimson Tide

Clueless

Dukes of Hazzard

Don’t Breathe

Death to Smoochy

Doom

Dark Knight

Dogma

Deep Blue Sea

Dreamcatcher

Drop Dead Fred

Die Hard

Die Hard 2

Die Hard 3

Don’s Plum

Dances with Wolves

Dumb and Dumber

Edward Scissorhands

Enter the Void

Ex Machina

Event Horizon

Emma (2020)

Forrest Gump

Fargo

Fisher King

Full Metal Jacket

Ferris Bueller

Fallen

Fugitive

Ghost

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Ghostbusters

Good Fellas

Girl Interrupted

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Get Out

Good Will Hunting

Hackers

High Fidelity

Hellraiser 1

Hellraiser 2

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Hidden

High School Musical

Hurt Locker

Heat

Hunger Games

Highlander

Hell or High Water

Home Alone

I am Legend

It’s a Wonderful Life

In Cold Blood

Inception

I am a Fugitive from Chain Gang

Inside Out

Island of Doctor Moreau

It Follows

Interview with a Vampire

Inner Space

Into the Spiderverse

Independence Day

Jupiter Ascending

John Carter of Mars

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

James Bond (All Movies)

Julie

Karate Kid

Knives Out

Kingsmen

Little Miss Sunshine

Labyrinth

Long Kiss Goodnight

Lost Boys

Leon: The Professional

Let the Right One In

Little Women (1994)

Mad Max: Fury Road

Magnolia

Men in Black

Mimic

Matrix

Misery

My Cousin Vinny

Mystic River

Minority Report

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Neverending Story

Never Been Kissed

No Country for Old Men

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

North by Northwest

Open Water

Orange County

Oceans 8

Oceans 11

Oceans 12

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Ordinary People

Paddington 2

Platoon

Pulp Fiction

Papillon

Pan’s Labyrinth

Pineapple Express

Peter Pan

Princess Bride

Paradise Lost

Primal Fear

Prisoners

Peter Jackson’s King Kong

Reservoir Dogs

Ravenous

Rushmore

Road Warrior

Rogue One

Reality Bites

Raider of the Lost Ark

Red Dragon

Robocop

Shooter

Sky High

Swingers

Sword in the Stone

Step Up 2

Spy Kids

Saving Private Ryan

Shape of Water

Swept Away

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Superbad

Society

Swordfish

Stoker

Splice

Silence of the Lambs

Source Code

Sicario

Se7en

Starship Troopers

Scrooged

Splash

Silver Bullet

Speed

The Visit

The Italian Job

The Mask of Zorro

True Lies

The Blair Witch Project

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Tangled

The Craft

The Guest

The Devil’s Advocate

The Graduate

The Prestige

The Rock

Titanic

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Fly

Tombstone

The Mummy

The Guardian

The Goofy Movie

The Peanut Butter Solution

Toy Story 4

The Ring

The Crazies

The Mist

The Revenant

The Perfect Storm

The Shining

Terminator 2

The Truman Show

Temple of Doom

The Cell

To Kill a Mockingbird

Timeline

The Good Son

The Orphan

The Birdcage

The Green Mile

The Raid

The Cider House Rules

The Lighthouse

The Book of Henry

The A-Team

The Crow

The Terminal

Thor Ragnarok

Twister

The Descent

The Birds

Total Recall

The Natural

The Fifth Element

True Romance

Terminator: Dark Fate

The Hobbit Trilogy

Unforgiven

Unbreakable

Unleashed

Very Bad Things

Wayne’s World

What Women Want

War Dogs

Wedding Crashers

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Welcome to Marwen

Wet Hot American Summer

What Lies Beneath

What Dreams May Come

War Games

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[tennessoui]

#a new hope is a world war 2 movie and rogue one is the only one to understand that ANH was Lucas' response to the Vietnam War, actually.

huh, I've always thought later movies had more in common with the Vietnam war, like the battle scenes in return of the jedi are very very reminiscent of the vietnam war. though absolutely I don't think the symbolism or connections can't mix movie to movie

but in my opinion, a new hope is a very clear-cut homage to world war II and specifically the air battles and dog fights of that specific war - there are several moments in the run on the death star where we learn the pilot's name and feel a connection/bond to this character, only for them to go down a few moments later, which matches how air artillery pilots were revered during wwii in a way that i don't think carried through to the vietnam war--people knew their names and a few reached celebrity status. and i think i read somewhere that lucas actually watched real dog fight footage from wwii while filming anh which i think is really cool! (i just did a quick google, and this is true)

it also makes sense that anh takes a lot of influence from wwii, given that there were a lot of world war two movies released in the 70s (though I suppose there's been a lot of world war two movies that have been released every decade since the end of wwii!) - i guess to capitalize on the fact that there was a new audience raring for wwii stories who weren't directly in the fight? or because of the vietnam war, many people wanted to watch a war movie that felt more like their parents'a and grandparents' war experiences where it was good vs evil instead of...you know. the vietnam war.

but all together, it's really the emphasis on dogfights and individual heroes for me that makes anh feel more wwii than vietnam war, and i'm sure there are a thousand people who can say this in a much more moving and eloquent fashion, but i stand by my tag! rogue one is the only movie made later (after the first 3) that really understands the roots of anh

[book-of-baba-fett]

Clone X OC Week Day 3: Conflict

Captain Rex x Jedi!OC Talia Riva from Illicit Affairs

Whenever you have a Clone x Jedi relationship, conflict is inevitable. The clones' creation was in preparation for conflict, Jedi train their whole lives how to handle conflict in different ways. The war itself is a setting of conflict, so when I wrote Rex and Talia I always looked at different ways for it to play out. There were a lot of action sequences, but there were also arguments that come up naturally in relationships or even internal conflicts. Talia as a character consistently struggled with her identity among the Jedi, how she never felt like she was good enough especially in comparison to Anakin. For today’s addition to @clonexocweek, I wanted to include  a little snippet from a chapter of Illicit Affairs, where Rex’s proximity to Anakin and Talia on a mission brought this to a head:

Segment Rating is Mature, but overall fic is Explicit 18+

The Theseus System was located on the borders of the Mid and Outer Rim. Much of the system was uninhabitable, but it was home to Vakarus, a gas giant vital to much of the Galaxy’s Tibanna supply. Most commercial ventures preferred to trade with the mining colony on Bespin to fuel their hyperdrives, but in war time the control of such a substance could mean life or death for many star systems. The base on Vakarus was under Republic control due to pre-existing treaties, but the Republic had lost contact with the station a week ago. All signs pointed to a Separatist occupation, which left a hole in the Republic’s resources, which set them back in the war. The matter of taking Vakarus back wasn’t as simple as a simple siege; not only did they not want to risk damaging any of the mining facilities, but the planet’s orbital atmosphere also provided an unfitting atmosphere for attack. Vakarrus was surrounded by an asteroid belt, some of which operated as fueling stations or refineries to boost the business from the planet. These larger asteroids orbited the planet in enough of a frequency that they could be safely plotted between, creating a reliable path to the planet for smaller vessels, but taking a Republic Star Destroyer through the mass field wasn’t possible. With Separatists controlling the system, they had wasted little time setting up their defenses around the planet, including on these asteroid stations orbiting the planet.

Rex had been studying the map for a better half of the morning, memorized which stations were most heavily fortified and knew this would be a heavy battle for the Republic Navy, which was already decimated much at this point in the war. Ground troops wouldn’t see much of the action here, until the final siege of the base, but Rex still took it upon himself to be involved in the planning. That left the job of navigating the field, retaking the stations and coordinating the squadrons to Talia and Anakin.

“Our plan of attack is straightforward,” Talia announced to the briefing room as her eyes darted over the holographic map. Rex watched as she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and returned her gaze to Anakin, who stood at the opposite end of the table. “We follow the nav path through the stations, bombers targeting out the Separatist anti-spacecraft artillery first then fighters following the path the take care of the Separatist forces. We take a methodical approach, station by station before we reach the mining facilities on Vakarus.”

Anakin’s eyes narrowed at the path lit up at Talia’s motions, “That could take days, time we don’t have on our hands.”

Talia frowned at him, but kept her composure, “It will take more time, yes, but we can’t risk a harsher assault and worse damage to the stations. And our destroyers can’t navigate through that asteroid field without blasting the stations.”

“Yes, we can’t risk damage to the stations, but if we take an alternative route,” Anakin started, pulling up a wider graph on the planet. With a wave of his hands, he highlighted one of the larger asteroids on the far side of the planet. “Our scouts reported the main Separatist stronghold, outside of the planet’s defenses, is on the asteroid IX-10. I’m suggesting I lead a squadron to the asteroid, if we knock out their defenses and comm systems we can clear a path straight to Vakarus for the rest of the fleet.”

“It’s ambitious but too risky,” Talia answered bluntly with a shake of her head, “You’re an amazing pilot and I’m sure you’ll get through unscathed, but your squadron will face heavy losses just navigating that part of the field. It’s not just the asteroids, the orbital pull of the planet is too strong, and there’s the debris of previous ships who have tried and failed. The shields of our basic fighters would be breached with a simple nudge.”

“And your path will cause just as many, if not more losses, by the time it takes you to reach Vakarus,” Anakin insisted. “Once the first station is attacked, the Separatist forces will be on high alert, reinforcing each station in the path. If we cut off the comms from IX-10, we’ll also cut off their ability to reinforce the stations.”

Talia exhaled loudly, planting both hands on the table as she leaned over, “Only if enough of your ships even make it there to take it out; this plan works best if we have the full force of our fighters coordinating the attack-“

“And the best way we do that is by splitting the field,” Anakin cut Talia off, his arms crossing as he stood his ground. “Besides, if we take IX-10, then we have a straight shot to the facilities on Vakarus. Your squadron should arrive just in time to back us up.”

Talia’s eyes flashed as she pushed herself off the table. She paced around, her tongue in cheek as she took in the charts. Her eyes darted to Rex with an expectant look, who now shifted uncomfortably in his boots. “Captain Rex, what do you think?”

Rex’s grip fumbled slightly on the helmet under his arms, his eyes leaving Talia’s face to example the map one last time in hopes it would help him find the proper words.

“The idea to approach the system station by station is a sound one, Sir” Rex started, each word level. Talia’s mouth opened as if she were about to confirm her correctness with Anakin, when Rex continued, “But General Skywalker is right, we stand the best chance by focusing on the station at IX-10 first. Plus, we’ll have the element of surprise if you attack the first depot, they won’t be expecting fighters to the main hub that quickly if they think we’re only attacking via the main route.”

Anakin nodded at his Captain then glanced smugly back at Talia. Rex returned the nod, before glancing back at Talia, who was avoiding his gaze and pursing her lips as she read the maps in front of her.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way then,” Talia said tensely, reorganizing the fighter rotations on the map to portray the dual assault, then she turned on her heels and exited the war room.

“D3, see what you can reroute to boost our shield regenerators,” Talia addressed the little droid buzzing around her starfighter as she sat in the cockpit. She had just gotten off a comm with Captain Storm, informing him that she would rendezvous back with the 412th before the cruisers made the lightspeed jump that would bring them into the Theseus system. Something she wouldn’t have had to do if they were coordinating the attack together as planned. Storm had caught the frustration in her tone when he commented positively on the plan, but Storm knew better than to press her on it now. At least before the battle; she was sure he would question her later.

The hangar was crowded with clones prepping their stations; engineers fueling up the fighters as Anakin and Rex briefed a group of pilots. Small squads for ground support were loading up dropships, and munitions were being carted around. Talia’s starfighter was just finishing fueling, and she was going through her own final checkups before departing. The perks of being on a different ship than her command was that she could usually maneuver in the hangar without being interrupted. Her fingers tapping along the control panel, she was impatient to leave this cruiser already. She just needed D3 to finish up and she could get out of here.

“General, do you have a moment?” Damn, she really should have closed the cockpit. Rex slowly stepped up to the side of the fighter, his eyes darting around them before returning to her, an imploring look on his tired face. With a sigh, Talia pushed herself up to step out of the fighter. Rex offered his hand to help her down, but she purposefully ignored it, calling on the force to guide her more gently as she jumped down.

“Yes, Captain?” She addressed him with a bit more rudeness than originally intended. At his furrowed brow, she turned to examine her ship, grabbing a rag and pretending to try and wipe off a blaster burn that had been there since the start of the war.

“You’re upset.”

Talia almost snorted. With all his keen skills of perception, that was all he could come up with. Still, she tried to hold in some of her bitterness.

“No, why would I be,” she answered a little lighter, turning around to face him again, her back leaning against the fighter. Rex always had this look as if he was trying to read every emotion on her face as he glanced at her, his honey eyes slightly narrowed at her still tight tone. He exhaled and glanced over his shoulder once more before continuing.

“I’ve served with General Skywalker for a long time, I know his plans can be risky but they always accomplish our goal,” Rex addressed simply, his tone softer than it would usually be talking about battle plans with her. “Besides, this way, there will end up being less heat on you and your men, making it a little safer-“

“I don’t need you diverting troops just for my safety.” Talia’s clipped tone came back as she couldn’t hold her glare.

“That’s not what I meant.” Rex held his hand up as he backtracked, “I just mean that while your squadron will have a harder run at the first depot, you’ll have less losses overall once the hub falls.”

“Yes, I know you agree with Anakin’s perfect plan.”

“I never said it was perfect, I agree it has its faults, but I trust General Skywalker with my life,” Rex retorted, his own words a bit short. ”And putting me on the spot between you two isn’t fair.”

“I wasn’t putting you on the spot, I was just asking for an opinion on strategy!”

“Which is fine, but you’re getting upset just because I don’t agree with you!”

“It’s not- that’s not it,” Talia sighed, trying to soften her gaze but she was still tense, her stomach gutted. “It wasn’t fair of me; I know, his plan makes sense in the larger scheme.”

Rex frowned, about to take a step closer but halted. “Then what’s-?”

“He just always has to show me up, doesn’t he?” Talia declared irately, pushing off the fighter. Before Rex could question her further, she snapped at him, “Do you know what it’s like, no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are at something; there’s always someone better? That’s how it’s always been with Anakin. He showed up to the Temple, and in his first month mastered things that I took years to learn. He even already had a master, something I had to wait another three years for. No matter how hard I train, no matter how many battles I win, Anakin is always one step ahead of me proving he can do it better.”

She had to turn her head to the side, avoiding his eyes as she fought off the frustrated tears that prickled in the corner of her eyes.

“No one thinks that-“ Rex started, his voice soft and measured just to be interrupted this time by a huff of sarcastic laughter that Talia couldn’t hold in.

“You just picked his plan over mine; you know it’s better! And I know the Council thinks of it that way,” she continued ranting. “I mean, how could they not when they have their ‘Chosen One” to compare everything to. General Skywalker, leader of the Republic’s finest troops, compared to Talia who lost all her men on a recovery mission.”

“Talia,” Rex said lowly, eyes round in concern as he approached as much as he dared. “No one blames you for that; it was out of your control.”

Talia wiped her eyes with the back of her forearm before any tears could fall. She tried to turn away, but Rex gripped her forearm, only to drop it as a group of pilots patrolled by. With one last glance over his shoulder when they passed, Rex breathed in, stepping closer to Talia, and speaking even lower than before.

“Look, Talia. I love you. I’ve seen you do unimaginable things, and have seen how much your men respect and trust you. General Skywalker’s skills don’t take away from your own.”

Talia opened her mouth to spew off more arguments running through her brain when Rex took his chance to cut her off, his voice still calm and measured as he attempted to reassure her, “And just because I agree with him on this, doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re a great leader too.”

The kneading feeling in her gut subsiding a bit, Talia looked into his face again, into the calming honey of his eyes as he gazed back at her, the true image of support and admiration. She was about to express her thanks when footsteps approaching caused her to step back.

“You ready for this, Captain?” A clone with a standard crew cut, but an elaborate design of a nebula on his chest plate called out as he approached; Talia recognized him as Broadside, one of the pilots from Anakin’s Shadow Squadron. Fives strode by his side, his eyes rolling until they landed on Rex and Talia. Fives glanced at Talia, raising a brow, to which she just softly shook her head signaling not to worry about it.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Rex exhaled slowly, a slight irritation clipping his tone as he turned to face his brothers. Fives walked to his side, and nudged him in the side with his elbow.

“Told you before, Broadside, Rex can handle anything you karbakarse can,” Fives emphasized with a slap on his Captain’s back. “A few asteroids won’t change that.”

“Wait, you’re piloting on this mission?” Talia’s head snapped to Rex, her eyes narrowed as her heart skipped a beat.

Rex opened his mouth to explain but he was beaten to the punch by Broadside, “Just a fun competition between vode, and Rex here stepped up to the plate.”

“You’re piloting?” Talia repeated, not even masking her frustration. Broadside didn’t seem to notice, but Fives’ eyes were darting between Talia and a now tight-jawed Rex.

“I can handle it,” Rex answered stiffly, his face clearly saying to not press it more at the moment. But Talia didn’t care to, she didn’t have the energy to say all the words running through her mind at how reckless this was, on any mission save one this dangerous. Was it worth putting himself in danger just for some bet between brothers? With how Fives and Broadside were teasing each other, it seemed the concern was only in her mind, but that didn’t ease her irritation. Without another word, she turned back to her ship, and climbed back into the cockpit.

Rex turned to her, his mouth opening as another tired expression overtook his face, but she closed the cockpit before he could get them out. The men stepped back as she was signaled ready for takeoff, and she couldn’t fly off that ship fast enough.

When Talia was in the black void of space, she realized Rex had said he loved her.

[swtechspecs]

CoMar Combat Systems SLD-26 Planetary Shield Generator

Source: The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology (Del Rey, 1997)