StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Mine is the Battle of Endor, hands down. Best kick-ass space battle that even 20 years later outdoes every major Star Trek battle (with the exception of 'Sacfrifice of Angels and First Contact), and of course, the Luke vs. Vader Rematch/redemption.

Endor. I mean, come on, it mixes a space battle, a ground battle, and a duel, and does all three in great detail. Does anything compare to it?

Endor, while the ground battle was meh, the space battle is unmatched, IMO. And the duel of Luke and Vader is truely awe inspiring.

The battle of Hoth is a close second. The vision of Imperial Walkers, coupled with increadible music, advancing on the Rebel troops was powerful as was the Luke-Vader duel in Bespin.

Endor, it had a brilliant space battle.

Though it just beat the battle of Geonosis, as it had a Jedi massacre.

of the choices...Endor.

I liked though the duel of Bespin better...Vader just has some of the best lines there.

Kuja wrote:Endor. I mean, come on, it mixes a space battle, a ground battle, and a duel, and does all three in great detail. Does anything compare to it?

Technically, the Battle of Naboo had all three too.

The Battle of Endor was the best of times and the worst of times. While there is the great drama of Luke and Vader at the Battle of Endor, that's not really part of the battle, and the most powerful part happens when Luke is down and helpless. The battle itself starts on a fantastic note; one of the most memorable in all of cinema. However, it degenerates from there and there are some outright stupidities later on. The Ewok turnaround on the surface (even if it's basically caused by Chewbacca hijacking an AT-ST) and the subsequent idiocy of the base commander in opening the door wide-open and rushing out like a dork is very difficult to excuse. Similarly, the notion of the Rebel fleet actually destroying the Imperial flagship despite being vastly outgunned is just mind-boggling; why didn't the Imperial fleet concentrate fire on Home One and take it out early? Why didn't Jerjerrod hit it first? Argh.

The Battle of Hoth, on the other hand, is simply magnificent. Perhaps the greatest part is when the Rebels are in full retreat, the AT-ATs are relentlessly crashing forward, and we hear "Imperial troops have entered the base! Imperial troops have entered the- *bzzzzt*".

I like the battle of Hoth because even though it is an overwhelming Imperial Victory enough of the Rebels managed to escape that they were able to squeek it into a near Stalemate. The Bespin Battle is truthfully part of the Hoth Battle because until Han and Co finally Escape the Battle of Hoth is not truely over. The Movie of Empire Strikes Back is proof that the GOOD GUYS DO NOT ALWAYS WIN.

Hoth...reminds me of those old great WW2 movies. It had a nice gritty, desperation to it.

And as DW said...Endor was good, but the obvious stupid actions on the part of the Imperials on the planet as well as some of their space tactics leaves much to be desired.

1) Endor - it has its flaws (particularly the ground battle), and the naval tactics might be questionable (at best), but it's the greatest naval spectacle seen, and that's what I like the most. Swoosh! Zoom! Ratta-tat-tat! Me likey.

2) Geonosis - Lots o' guys blowin' shit up. Oh yeah. There are a whole lot of things I'd change, but this is good enough.

3) Naboo - Space battle is truncated, but it's got its share of cool things (esp. Dofine's death), and the ground battle has got its fair share of cool things too. While Jar Jar is pretty silly, the battle is cool nevertheless...the Gungan officers on Kaadu actually make me like the Gungans (even though the idea of live mounts w/SW tech is dumb, I can live with it)...that scene where Captain Tarpals signals the retreat, and waits for the cavalry to pass him before turning is very good-looking.

4) Hoth - Very kickass, but it would be nice to see more action. The effects technology keeps this battle from placing; it would be nice to see the troops engaging each other, even if it's kept as a one-sided slaughter. As it is, the best parts are the dialogue (the line Mike mentioned, plus anything and everything Veers says), and the best shot (perhaps one of the best shots in the entire canon) is where the AT-ATs are advancing, and the rebels are retreating across the plain, and that one guy gets shot. To quote Ambrosia, "Nice, nice, very nice."

5) Yavin - It's good, don't get me wrong. But it's still last place. I like more melodrama; it would have been cool to see an Endor-style battle, but with fewer ships. And they could call a retreat, and we'd see reb transports escaping, and it'd be awesome. But it's good as is, too...just not better than any of the other battles.

Hoth, for the same reasons as Mike- the "begin retreat!" being called as you see the troopers run for their lives and the three AT-ATs standing over them and blasting away was awesome.

Hoth fucking owned if for no other reason than it's the only time in SW we really get to see the most awesome vehicle ever invented, the psychologically decimating AT-AT!
Followed closely by the battle of Yavin 4. IT's kind of neat, 20 years ago when I first saw it, I just thought it was a cool spacebattle, but now I see there was so much more to it. Luke is just beginning to realize he can be a jedi, he is using the force to assist him in destroying the death star. Man, the first time I saw that tie fighter on the left get vaped by Han, Me and Vader both said, at exactly the same time, "What?!" then Han comes screaming out of the sun, just like a real fighter pilot would do. just awesome.
Hey...wonder why Vader's TIE took so little damage? Did he have some kind of supplemental shielding? what kind of TIE was it? It had the bomber style wings, but only one cockpit. it wasn't an interceptor, was it? I thought they had forward-tapered pointy wings?

Yavin ranks at the top for me for two reasons: dialog and it's a space battle. The dialog gives the characters, well, character so seeing some of the pilots get blown away hurts a bit (Endor and Naboo didn't have this).

Second is Hoth... it loses points for not being in space, though. Having an AT-AT fall down without a huge explosion made the it seem that much tougher to take out.

Third is Endor. The fighting seems toned down compared to Yavin and Endor, in terms of the amount of fire being pumped out (no spectacular strafing runs or multiple volleys of fire from TIEs), so it doesn't feel as spectacular, and the pilots are more faceless.

Up next is Geonosis.

And last, and definitely least, is Naboo. The only thing good about that was the lightsaber battle (and it was excellent), but that was only a small part of what was a pretty boring battle. (Though it was nice having mounts of dirt explode... almost made up for hand blasters that didn't do anything but scorch the Naboo palace walls... almost.)

The Battle of Hoth, for all reasons mentioned.

But I also think the best "battle" of the films is the Duel at Cloud City.

Endor. The ground battle was okay, but the space battle was the best bit of space combat I have seen in my entire life. But most of all, the Emperor's Throne Room duel, which was followed by my favorite scene in any movie (my avatar).

Yavin. There's still nothing to match that race through the trenches, in my opinion.

Chardok wrote: Hey...wonder why Vader's TIE took so little damage? Did he have some kind of supplemental shielding? what kind of TIE was it? It had the bomber style wings, but only one cockpit. it wasn't an interceptor, was it? I thought they had forward-tapered pointy wings?

I believe it was some sort of prototype of the TIE Advanced, with shields and a hyperdrive.

Vader's fighter was the TIE Advanced X1.

Hoth. Endor dissapointed me for the fact that the Star Destroyers sat there doing pertty much nothing. I'd have prefered to see the ships shooting each other, menuvering and actually doing shit.

Also on Hoth we see what is supposed to happen. The Imperials comming in with an overwhelming force and kicking rebel ass.

Darth Wong wrote:. Similarly, the notion of the Rebel fleet actually destroying the Imperial flagship despite being vastly outgunned is just mind-boggling; why didn't the Imperial fleet concentrate fire on Home One and take it out early? Why didn't Jerjerrod hit it first? Argh.

Maybe all that ramming meant Jerjerrod didn't which one was the flagship?
Maybe the rebels were using a system where home one first send its orders to a different ship who then sent them fleet-wide so it was more difficult to determine which was the flagship.

Crazedwraith wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:. Similarly, the notion of the Rebel fleet actually destroying the Imperial flagship despite being vastly outgunned is just mind-boggling; why didn't the Imperial fleet concentrate fire on Home One and take it out early? Why didn't Jerjerrod hit it first? Argh.

Maybe all that ramming meant Jerjerrod didn't which one was the flagship?
Maybe the rebels were using a system where home one first send its orders to a different ship who then sent them fleet-wide so it was more difficult to determine which was the flagship.

Well when one ship is 3Km+ and the next biggest one weighs in somewhere between 1600 and 2000m it ought to give you a pretty good indication.

Anyway I prefer the Battle of Yavin. Certainly the trench run, the loss of Biggs, Wege's absolute heartfelt sorrow at leaving Luke, the death scene of Red Leader and pops, all of these were so excellently done. Above and beyond this NO other battle had such perfect music. Hoth was close but the use of the snaps (the same ones used in some Christmas tunes) occasionally breaks t for me. With Yavin I can listen to the music and actually picture the whole battle.

Yavin first, then Hoth. Waaaay behind those two is Endor, then Geonosis, then waaay behind those two is Naboo.

CmdrWilkens wrote:

Well when one ship is 3Km+ and the next biggest one weighs in somewhere between 1600 and 2000m it ought to give you a pretty good indication.

Weren't there at least two Home One type ships and possibly three at Endor?

Geonosis. Hoth was cool, but it was a limited engagement. GeonosisWe got to see both sides open up fully, with air support, heavy armor, and artillary. The speed of the advance was just stunning. There were no miracle shots, not nifty tricks, not incompetent blunders that cost the day. We just saw both sides open a can of whoop ass on each other, and it was just a small treat of what was to come.

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:

CmdrWilkens wrote:

Well when one ship is 3Km+ and the next biggest one weighs in somewhere between 1600 and 2000m it ought to give you a pretty good indication.

Weren't there at least two Home One type ships and possibly three at Endor?

Quoting Dr Saxton " to date there is only debatable evidence for the existence of one sister ship."