New Feature on the OS: Episode IV Visual Guide

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2007-05-08 12:23am

Only one new scene on the Visual Guide feature today: Artoo's Mission.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2007-05-08 01:31am

Sweet. Lieutenant Hija. I remember his name from the novelization years ago.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-05-08 03:36am

Ha! A new argument against the Trekkies. R2's shell is supposed to be made of durasteel which is strengthened with neutronium, since the Enterprise' phasers didn't work on neutronium we can conclude R2 is immune to phasers!

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-05-08 04:28am

I wrote a paper on the evolution of the various script drafts for Star Wars in my final year, so I'm glad to see the notation on Deak's role (and identification in a particular production painting) in the second draft of the screenplay. Hope they add more stuff like that.

Also awesome to see more images and information that's never been revealed before.

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2007-05-08 05:08am

Interesting tidbits:

- The droids we see in the "capture" scene are Imperial in nature. I always assumed they were Rebel.

- Stormtrooper armor has a back-mounted power pack along with the "pressurized gas system" (the breathable air I'm guessing.) Guess those power cells mentioned on the legs aren't the only power source.

It does make me wonder what parts of the armor are "powered" - the comlinks and visual enhancements probably. The "energy sinks" imply some sort of active energy-dissipation system (I'll go over that in a bit.)

- E-11's top "scope" thingy is a range-finding sight.

- another mention of the belt mounted "energy sinks". It IS worth noting that the ANH novelization describes some of the storm troopers as having "shielding" of some sortt on the armor. It's also worth noting that the Mandalorian body armor that Jango and Boba wore had some sort of "active" energy dissipation system to it (from the Visual dictionaries) and we know from that same source (and others) that Clone armor was inspired by Mandalorian (Fett had an input into the armor too). I'm betting the "temperature control" body glove would have some part in that too (if nothing else, it would likely prevent the solid plates from burning the wearer.)

If that were the case, then those belt packs might make sense in that it would allow a trooper to "dispose" and "replace" them more easily when they're used up or overwhelmed.

- Vader's got "augmented strength" and it allows him to easily lift/throw a 79 kg man one-handed.

- The "ring" effect of a stun burst is labeled as a "photonic energy byproduct", which seems to suggest that there is an photonic/masless element to the weapon. It could give credence to the ICS definition of blasters/lasers, although its unlikely many hand weapons we see in the movies ARE firing massless beams (think garbage compactor.)

- stun bolts have a larger "aperture" than the "standard explosive bolts"
Blaster bolts DO exhibit explosive properties and the damage mechanism would make sense, but more often than not they do not blow large holes in people (they seem to be more heavily thermal in most cases, or that have a thermal AND explosive setting, anyohw.)

- stun bursts it would seem need to be "modified" or attuned to specific neurological systems for it to work.

- Ugh. 501st trooper mentioned as stunning Leia. Ugh.

- The "hold your fire" scene with Lt Hija is interesting. It mentions "gunnery sensor computers", which corresponds to the mention of "computerized energy batteries" in the novelization.

- The little rotating "gun thingy" we see tracking the escape pod is identified as a "ranging/targeting" laser, linked to the heavy weapons emplacements. I do find it odd, ,because I always assumed it was a gun itself (a light defense weapon.) Of course, B-wing laser cannons can act as targeting sensors on low-output settings, so its also possible the laser could double as a point defense weapon (Anyone remember when Stewie argued the targeting radar on an ISD vaporized the TESB asteroids?

)

IIRC "eletro telescopes" were implied to have long ranges in one of the essential guides. I'll have to double check.

- Artoo and Threepio are looking out at the Devatsator from a viewscreen that is providing an "aft" holocam image. I always assumed it was a window, myself, but this may prove to be an interesting technological capability in other cases.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2007-05-08 07:53am

Makes sense that they're looking at a viewscreen. There's no windows on the model apart from a possible rectangular one on the side, and nothing in the back, which would be the only place to see the Devastator.

Why the 'ugh' for the 501st? They've been canonically placed in ANH and ESB ever since Battlefront II came out and the OS updated their 'appearance' section.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2007-05-08 11:08am

VT-16 wrote:Makes sense that they're looking at a viewscreen. There's no windows on the model apart from a possible rectangular one on the side, and nothing in the back, which would be the only place to see the Devastator.

That has been known since the ICS.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2007-05-08 11:18am

Ah!

Did the ICS ever address Vader's fighter having a rearward viewscreen, since the film showed it, but the fuselage would prohibit a window like that?

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-05-08 12:06pm

Oh, that feature is lovely.

Will there be Visual Guides for EV and EVI?

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2007-05-08 12:12pm

Why did they have to identify the Imperials on the Devastator as a Captain and a Leutenant? Niether of them wear the olive-green officer uniforms, which implys they are both non-commissioned officers or enlisted. Unless they are from another branch (non-Navy) that employs black officer uniforms (like the Stormtroopers).

Post by **RogueIce** » 2007-05-08 04:33pm

Huh, so that's why R2's eye changes color?

Spearfish · Post by **Spearfish** » 2007-05-08 04:54pm

The Original Nex wrote:Why did they have to identify the Imperials on the Devastator as a Captain and a Leutenant? Niether of them wear the olive-green officer uniforms, which implys they are both non-commissioned officers or enlisted. Unless they are from another branch (non-Navy) that employs black officer uniforms (like the Stormtroopers).

Could they be Imperial Gunnery officers? I remember it being mentioned as a discrete part of the Imperial Navy, and includes the men with the all-enclosing black helmets seen manning the DS main weaponry...

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2007-05-08 05:29pm

Spearfish wrote:
The Original Nex wrote:Why did they have to identify the Imperials on the Devastator as a Captain and a Leutenant? Niether of them wear the olive-green officer uniforms, which implys they are both non-commissioned officers or enlisted. Unless they are from another branch (non-Navy) that employs black officer uniforms (like the Stormtroopers).
Could they be Imperial Gunnery officers? I remember it being mentioned as a discrete part of the Imperial Navy, and includes the men with the all-enclosing black helmets seen manning the DS main weaponry...

Why then would the Captain also wear this uniform?

Spearfish · Post by **Spearfish** » 2007-05-08 08:09pm

The Original Nex wrote:
Spearfish wrote:
The Original Nex wrote:Why did they have to identify the Imperials on the Devastator as a Captain and a Leutenant? Niether of them wear the olive-green officer uniforms, which implys they are both non-commissioned officers or enlisted. Unless they are from another branch (non-Navy) that employs black officer uniforms (like the Stormtroopers).
Could they be Imperial Gunnery officers? I remember it being mentioned as a discrete part of the Imperial Navy, and includes the men with the all-enclosing black helmets seen manning the DS main weaponry...
Why then would the Captain also wear this uniform?

He isn't the ISD's captain? Captain is a naval rank, equivalent to an Army Colonel. as well as the job title of a ship's Commanding Officer. This gun emplacement on the ISD could have a captain in charge of it, but he wouldn't be The Captain.
He is probably a Gunnery Corps captain; much the same as the way that some British battleships in the past had a turret or two crewed by men from the Royal Marines Light Aritllery (each turret would have had a captain in command - in this case equivalent to an Army captain, due to the different rank structure.)

Frankly, having the ship's CO stood in a gun turret near the hanger during a boarding op strikes me as phenomenally stupid. He belongs on the Bridge or in whatever equivalent an ISD has to an Ops Room. Besides, on a warship with a crew of what, ~37,000, there's going to be a few other officers of equivalent rank to (but suboordinate to) the CO, probably one in command of each major department, such as engineering.

Edited for some punctuation.

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2007-05-09 01:22am

He's explicitly identified as Captain Blovan, who is already established as the Captain of the Devastator. More silliness and failure to research by the friendly folks at LFL!

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2007-05-09 02:31am

Why is he there, then, when the first shot of Devastator says its commanded by Captain Wermis? Unbelievable.

Spearfish · Post by **Spearfish** » 2007-05-09 06:54am

Going by the information contained in this visual guide alone, my theory holds up. But if this guy's already established as the ship's CO... but how can he be, it says it's Wermis... make any sense...

My world is falling apart!

Post by **NecronLord** » 2007-05-09 09:04am

General Schatten wrote:Ha! A new argument against the Trekkies. R2's shell is supposed to be made of durasteel which is strengthened with neutronium, since the Enterprise' phasers didn't work on neutronium we can conclude R2 is immune to phasers!

Quiet you!

I note that the plans are composed of several blueprints. That's a nifty way of rationalising the various origin stories for the blueprints

The obvious answer is that he's a stormtrooper captain (remember the clone-manned guns in RotS?) from Vader's beloved 501st. Or that Vader hates poor Wermis (Who I think has also been established for quite some time, too. I think he may be a Marvel character.) so much that he brought in another captain just to make his life difficult.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2007-05-09 03:32pm

Yeah, "Numerous blueprints". At least that's a nice way of referencing all 5745448293 different missions that each got the DS blueprints.

Pint0 Xtreme · Post by **Pint0 Xtreme** » 2007-05-09 08:53pm

VT-16 wrote:Yeah, "Numerous blueprints". At least that's a nice way of referencing all 5745448293 different missions that each got the DS blueprints.

"Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies.
I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2007-05-10 12:23am

Stas Bush wrote:Oh, that feature is lovely.

Will there be Visual Guides for EV and EVI?

There's no word on it yet, hopefully we won't have to wait until 2010 and 2013...

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2007-05-15 12:13am

Again, only one new scene in the update: Vader Confronts the Princess.

000 · Post by **000** » 2007-05-15 12:17am

Pablo said that ANH contains a year's worth of material.

The Original Nex · Post by **The Original Nex** » 2007-05-15 12:17am

Is the Jir and Praji comment meant to hint that these officers are clones themselves, or simply that they gave genetic material to the GeNode clone project?

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2007-05-15 02:11am

Since Jir has a full name, I don't think he's a clone, unless Stormtrooper clones got full names now. Praji on the other hand...