ESB question that has stumped everybody including Steven Sansweet

Funky

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I bring this question up every few years looking for an answer and I STILL haven't found a reasonable answer.
In Empire, when Han is being dipped in carbonite, Chewie freaks, starts throwing troopers everywhere, Boba raises his rifle to fry our favorite wookie and Vader stops him.

Why?

I had the opportunity to catch Steven Sansweet at a convention in 2001 and asked him the same question. He just stared at me and blinked. He looked around and noticed about 15 other people had heard the question and were staring at him for an answer.
His response? "Hmmm, that's a stumper. Let me think on it and I'll get back to you." To be fair, he DID! He found ME walking around a couple of hours later and approached me with the (his) answer: Vader remembered C-3PO from his childhood. Vader wasn't stopping Boba Fett from shooting CHEWBACCA, Vader was afraid he would hit C-3PO. This proves that George Lucas had planned as far back as Empire that he had always intended to have Vader (Anakin) build 3po from the ground up and have a self made friend (ala The Phantom Menace).

Personally, I call BS. I can't even believe that was his answer! :confused
Maybe he's changed his standpoint since then but that was the day I lost all respect for the man.

Regardless, why do YOU think Vader stopped Boba Fett from firing at Chewbacca?
 
A few possibilities:

1. Shooting a blaster in the chamber could have caused an explosion somehow and wiped out everyone.

2. Vader needed Luke's friends alive in order to continue to use them as pawns in nabbing Luke (my personal belief). They were worth more alive than dead.

3. Vader had a thing for Wookies ;)
 
I have actually given some thought to this one. Here are my theories, in order of plausibility.

1) IT GOES AGAINST VADER'S PLAN. The whole plan by Vader was to have his friends feel pain and thus send a message of pain to Luke so he would be drawn to show up (and be trapped). Chewie would feel some of the most pain of all the friends because he was so close to Han. Vader was counting on that. If he killed Chewbacca, Luke might sense it, but pain is more likely to cause Luke to swing into action.

2). IT'S DANGEROUS. The carbonite chamber released gasses into the air that a blaster could ignite and threaten them all.

3). IT'S PART OF THE MYTHOLOGY. A good Greek myth is NOT without heroes being protected by there protected "moira" or "destinies." The idea that heroes have special unsaid protective shield arounds them and somehow they will be protected by the God's in the last minute due to some unseen supernatural force. Think James Bond, think Indiana Jones, two good examples of this. I also think this serves as a good excuse for the "Trooper Bad Aim" problem. Here, Vader acted out of impulses, unknown to him, because the heroes were to be protected by fate.

4) IT FORESHADOWS: There is some good in him! I can feel it! This serves as a foreshadowing that Vader has a soft side. He might sense the pain in Leia, and even though he may not understand it himself, he acts out of compassion.

EDIT: Was typing at the same time as yodaman, I think we see eye to eye.
 
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Steve isn´t fan relations officer or whatever his position was anymore.
Maybe George found out about Steve telling fans total bs stories about ESB ? :p

I think in 2001 Steve thought that he can´t let that poor fanboy go home without at least an attempt at an answer ;)
 
I always thought that it was because if Han Solo had died, Vader would need other test subjects to ensure that the carbonation freezing could sustain life.

They were all expendable to Vader except Luke, so he probably wanted every chance he could get to make sure that the freezing process would be successful before he put the Emperor's prize in it.

Vader had already tortured Han, so he knew Luke was on his way and only had a limited amount of time before Luke showed up at Cloud City so Vader could trap him. Which explains why he had Leia and Chewie in there to begin with. If it failed with Han Solo, Vader had other test subjects right there, ready for multiple attempts. You know, to save time.
 
Or simply that Fett was acting out of turn. It's not like Vader has control issues or anything.
Laffo.
 
I myself am partial to the "he needs them alive to draw Luke in" theory, although the forshadowing of good still in him is an interesting spin as well.
 
That's a BS answer alright.

I go with the "Vader's Plan" bit. He wants Luke to be freaked out and come running, and it's easier to do that if everyone's in JEOPARDY, rather than just dead. Plus, remember, "No disintegrations!" He wanted them alive.


"Wanted to save 3PO" pshh. What a bunch of crap.
 
I am just a simpleton and go for the reasoning that it would have caused unneeded commotion or worse yet an opportunity for heroics and chaos ensuing.

We see it all the time in real life, where I think even the most veteran of people would rather opt for a controlled situation rather than the possibility of an uncontrolled situation.
 
Wow...I always assumed Vader was just letting Chewbacca throw a fit after losing his best best friend. Wasn't worth wasting blaster ammo. Could almost be considered an act of humanity. That's how I always interpreted the scene.

I also took it as Vader staying in control of every situation. Only HE gives the order to kill, or kills himself. 100% Pure Vader.
 
Well, the way I always explained away Stormtrooper-Aim Syndrome was that they were ordered to miss.

This makes the most sense when you compare two sequences from ANH. In the Tantive IV, at the very beginning of the film, the Stormtroopers (supposedly the 501st, who we encounter again on Hoth) have deadly accuracy, and take fewer casualties than the Rebels they're routing. The Rebels are forced into retreat, and soon, the Stormtroopers have cleared out enough of a secure zone that Vader enters. They needed to kill the Rebels, so they did.

However, the Stormtroopers on the Death Star miss our heroes repeatedly. This doesn't make a lot of sense until you see the scene where Tarkin asks Vader about whether the tracking device is secure on board the ship. Vader let them go - and dead heroes don't find hidden bases too easily. So, the Stormtroopers were to put on a show that they didn't want the good guys to leave - but they do, without any casualties.

On Hoth, again, we encounter the 501st, who again send the Rebels fleeing. Most of our party never encounters a bad guy, at least not where the bad guy can shoot at them. The lesser good guys - the unnamed Hoth troopers who die in droves on the battlefield - get shot up like there's no tomorrow, and the Snowtroopers sure don't miss this time.

The good guys don't come in direct contact with Vader until Bespin, where Vader apparently told Lando that Leia would stay with him, Luke would go with Vader, and Han would be a test subject. This, again makes sense - Vader needed to test the chamber, and he no longer had a use for Han. When he's alerted to an X-Wing class fighter approaching, he chooses to take Leia with him, to continue using her as bait.

So why does Vader stop Fett? The Rebel fleet had gotten away, and Chewbacca was clearly a Rebel, who would probably return to the fleet if he got away without the others. Think about it: according to Vader's plan, both Luke and Leia (his Jedi son for the Emperor, and a Rebel Leader for interrogation and eventual execution) would be leaving Bespin with him, while Han would go with Fett. This would leave Chewbacca to either try to regroup with the Rebel fleet, and lead Vader to the amassed Rebel fleet we see at the end of ESB, or to go after Fett, and occupy Fett enough to keep the bounty hunter out of Vader's proverbial hair. Either way, Chewbacca could still eliminate one of Vader's problems.

Then, Vader tells Lando he's taking Leia with him. This is Vader's first real mistake - because he makes Lando his enemy. Lando helps Leia escape, and the scene is set for ROTJ - when our heroes suddenly don't have Vader's protection, and Leia gets shot.

I don't know. The ANH argument is stronger than the ESB, but I think it still makes sense. A bit, anyway.
 
Yeah, it's interesting to think about. I pretty much accept the ANH as a legitimate argument, but the ESB is quite a bit weaker.
 
I would never have expected Sansweet to actually know the answer, He's really just another fanboy with a big collection and some nice connections.

On set, you have everyone reacting to Han's position. Chewie, being Han's best friend would be reacting the most. So you have him swinging and punching and Lucas figures he wants a bit of added fear in the audience with the idea of a close quarter kill, but the actual killing of Chewie would distract from the scene/Han's plight, so he just had Vader stop it. Just because Vader's the only one that could. Then, of course, Han yells at Chewie and alls right with the world.

Anything else is just speculation or revisionist thinking! Remember this was back in 1979, there was no deep thought about Threepio's history, or what the Carbonite process really was. Vader was just a bad father and Threepio was a robot. The ideas of Prequels were just that. Ideas. No clear set story.
 
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