Quick Questions:
1) How did Han and Luke have their regular clothes AND shoes underneath the Stormtrooper armor, when they got out of the trash compactor?
Watch Avengers: Infinity War. When Tony pulls the "ripcords" on his tracksuit and it snugs in tight so the armor can deploy over it. A bit like that -- the undersuit goes on baggy than snugs down over the wearer... and anything they're wearing. The boots are a problem, though. Maybe Chewie had them folded up in his satchel.
2) When Vader sensed Obi-wan's presence while standing near the Millennium Flacon in the Death Star hangar bay, why would he not just run up the ramp and go on a saber hacking spree? I mean, regardless of what the Imperial officer told him.
More like psychometry. He could feel Obi-Wan had been in that ship, but for whatever reason he couldn't tell whether he was currently. Since the initial search revealed no one aboard, he must have felt it was a residual thing until things started happening. He also wasn't sure, hence ordering the deep scan.
3) Was Vader "surprised" when Obi-wan vanished in front of him as his cloak fell to the ground? Up until that point, Vader had never seen a Jedi just "vanish" at death, correct? Seems to me old Papa-Palps would have some 'splainin to do.
Yes. Also plays into the dialogue immediately before -- in particular, the full version of it, later trimmed. "If my blade finds it's mark, you will cease to exist. But if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." At the time, Anakin and Vader were separate people. Vader had bailed on his training out of impatience and the promise of power. He hadn't been read in on the high-level mysteries that most Jedi couldn't do -- focusing and preparing oneself when death was nigh to cross over physically, not just one's energy being. George later abandoned this, but at the time, Obi-Wan was intended to cross back over to help Luke in his final trial. Note he goes from disembodied voice to distant static figure to close active figure to walking around, pushing vines aside, and sitting on the log next to Luke.
4) Why were the no troopers waiting at the trash compactor exit? Wouldn't they know the ONLY way out was through the door at the bottom?
That might have been when the order was given to let them escape -- but make it look convincing.
5) In the S.E. when Luke runs into Biggs while getting ready to board his X-wing, how is this the FIRST time they are reuniting? I mean, weren't they just in the briefing room together with the other Rebel pilots?
Already answered well.
6) Knowing that the Death Star could destroy the moon on which the Rebels were stationed, why was the Yavin IV Rebel base not evacuating during the Death Star battle?
Prior to the final edit, the Rebels got the plans, analyzed them, headed out to blow up the
Death Star, and succeeded. It is unclear who came up with the idea of having the station track the
Falcon to the Rebel base to destroy it, and add the "ticking clock" element. I feel, from what I've read, that it was Marcia. George went to ILM to tackle the additional insert and VFX shots needed, while she and Paul rejiggered the sequence and recorded new dialogue... that unfortunately clashes with George's desire to avoid terrestrial time-measurements. In the rest of the film, it's "moments", "generations", and so forth. But the added off-screen dialogue -- both at the base and on the
Death Star -- keeps giving the countdown in minutes. I feel George would've been on top of that, had he written the new lines. I could be wrong, though.
7) How did the Rebels have time for an awards ceremony on Yavin IV? Unless the movements of the Death Star were kept secret from the rest of the Imperial fleet, I imagine a TON of Star Destroyers would have "hyperspaced" to the Yavin system at that point. And even if no one else in the Empire was aware of what was going on, you can bet the Emperor knew and would have sensed the Death Star destruction.
As was said elsewhere, there weren't intended to be any more movies made. George pulled the space station and its destruction from the end of the Luke arc, so what we saw was the final triumph of the good guys over the evil Empire, but without the intervening travails. They could have an award ceremony because there was no evacuation because the Empire had been toppled -- except not, of course. The new take is that only Tarkin had known where the Rebel base was, once he tracked the
Falcon there (or, at least, Bail/Leia's Alderaanian cell), and he hadn't communicated it so as to be able to claim all the credit when he destroyed them. Not sure if anyone realized Vader had made it out, or that his craft had hyperdrive. So they felt they had time to celebrate the victory in the face of the tremendous loss they had just suffered. And then relocate after, just to be safe.
