Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope : Post deleted

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Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Gravity generators work differently in the gun wells, which is why Luke and Han are able to get in their seats so easily, and look back at each other from time to time. Indeed, in 1977 it probably took a few rewatches to realize they were upside down from each other.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

I don't remember it ever being an issue. They climbed into a ladder well and got to their guns, one on top, one on the bottom. Like @MisterTerrySilver says it was a callback to WWII bomber guns. The movie clearly showed the guns sticking out of the top and bottom of the Falcon, just like turret guns do on a B17. So again nothing confusing. It was just a cool scene.

In fact, to continue with the WWII callback theme, recall that back in the mid-1970s the war was only 30 years old and was a staple of TV and movies. Everybody in America was familiar with these kinds of scenes of fighter planes swarming around the slower airship. Star Wars was just the same thing in outer space, with awesome fx.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Truther,
You don't make sense or didn't understand the OP... fighter planes are horizontal and everything works like gravity does here on earth.

In STAR WARS its weird because they face down and up and the gravity seems strange.

REALLY doesn't make sense in THE FORCE AWAKENS because they're fighting gravity of a planet

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

I understood the OP perfectly. What I'm saying is no, nobody cared. There was nothing confusing about the scene and back in 1977 nobody who saw the movie had a problem with it.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


What I'm saying is no, nobody cared.

i think this is the most correct answer, as i can't say i've heard anyone complain or nitpick this set up. We'd all seen "2001 a space odyssey" so we all knew how gravity works in space and looks on film. It wasn't the dark ages like the OP seems to think.

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


It wasn't the dark ages like the OP seems to think.


Seriously. This was a movie made in the 1970s for 1970s audiences. Of course we understood it. The whole notion that Star Wars would be more confusing to a 1977 audience than a 2016 one is bass-ackwards if you think about it.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Obviously some people cared...there's something "off" about it. Still a cool scene nonetheless.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

I agree with you that it's absolutely a WWII film thing. One glance at Lucas' other film interests (including the many, many influences of Star Wars) will reveal that he's working off of dogfight films for his space battles.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


I agree with you that it's absolutely a WWII film thing. One glance at Lucas' other film interests (including the many, many influences of Star Wars) will reveal that he's working off of dogfight films for his space battles.


In fact didn't Lucas splice in WWII dogfight footage when he screened his rough cut for the studio? Because he hadn't finished the special effects for the Death Star battle yet.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

You might be right about that. I do seem to recall hearing something along those lines.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


I understood the OP perfectly. What I'm saying is no, nobody cared. There was nothing confusing about the scene and back in 1977 nobody who saw the movie had a problem with it.
I concur. The problem today is that there are too many people over analyzing / scrutinizing everything.

_
Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

I'm glad you brought this up, Mr. Terry. Because watching Finn handle the gun in TFA reminded me of the confusion of this as well.

Yeah, I think both are horizontal with the ship and both are laying down with their backs to each other.
How in the hell they get into those seats so easily is a good question indeed.

I guess when they are shooting at the Tie Fighters, they have to rely on the orange and yellow graph on the screen since they can't see them.
But yet, in the movies, it looks like they can. Like when Luke blows up his first ship. He is looking right at it when he shouldn't see it at all.
And when we see the guns compared to how they are sitting, the guns look perpendicular instead of parallel with the ship.
From that angle, the guns would be shooting straight up or down into space and won't hit the targets at all.

I think for filming it they had to cut corners and not have it look as it really would have which therefore creates confusion.

Damn, I'm good.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Bump so that others can see this and maybe answer my confusion.

Damn, I'm good.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


And when we see the guns compared to how they are sitting, the guns look perpendicular instead of parallel with the ship.

Regardless of how it looks, Luke is facing downwards relative to the deck of the ship, and Han is laying on his back, shooting up. when they look at each other, they are looking vertical down the ladder shaft. It's weird, but not as weird as when you try to marry the internal set with the external one. a lot of the schematics try to put the hold/crew-area across on the port side, which would result in the port side of the cargo bay being only a few feet high!

eg, this is wrong:
https://mffanrodders.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/mf7.jpg
It might look correct per the film, but it doesn't account for the height of the hull on the left side.


"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Yeah, we were absolute morons back in 77.

Thank goodness we have arrogant jerks like you to point it out to us.

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Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Complete and total nonsense.

There may have been a few older folks who were still unfamiliar with electronic interface, but those were people who had a hard time understanding the then new fangled TV remote. They understood it the same way they understood radio; i.e. they didn't understand the science, but knew someone did, and it worked like a radio by sending something invisible through the air to make something else work.

Star Wars was made for the burgeoning sci-fi crowd who were weened on classic Trek, 2001, Voyage, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and other shows. The western was getting tiring (even for someone like me who rode horses and fired six shooters (really didn't like doing either)), and people wanted improvement both technically and socially, and without all of the altering of basic values.

That's what Star Wars was all about. And those same people, me included, were also raised on the space race. We knew about spacial orientations and loss of gravity in orbit and what that did.

You really are condescending.

By your logic we should have tried to get Neil Armstrong to the moon via a horse and wagon.

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Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Because I was there on opening day, dude. And saw the films several times after that.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Its an interesting question, I do wonder if the real answer lies in the lack of seeing the movie outside of the cinema. It's easy to point out weird stuff like this with the luxury of watching the movie at your own time.

betamax/vhs was not until the early 80s, the first airing of the film on tv was also in the early 80s.

The only way outside of the cinema was 8mm and it turns out that scene does exist on 8mm, see link:

https://youtu.be/n86-uNmmLyY?t=25m20s

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Yes.

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Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Yes we could but we just couldn't understand why they never were used again in any of the sequels. Funny they finally used them again in The Force Awakens. I would bet they did that because we never got to see them again after the first movie. My only complaint ever about the Falcon was that it always had problems. I wanted to see it appear in The Force Awakens and have it be all repaired and in tip top shape. Lol but that's me.

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?


couldn't understand why they never were used again in any of the sequels.

they would have been useful in the Battle of Endor, and they should have had enough people to man those guns at that time (especially since it was the squadron leader).

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

Re: Could people make sense of the Falcon guns in 1977?

Another vote for nobody really cared. It worked. The scene is iconic. It was a thrill.

It was some years before appreciation of Star Wars mutated into something akin to already hardcore trekitude. People didn't immediately start challenging the propriety of things in Star Wars, anxious that it might turn out to be a made up fantasy instead of a "realistic" believable pre existing universe that's being faithfully written about and depicted.

"Who can't use the Force now?! I can still use the Force!" - Yarael Poof
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