Random Stuff You Didn't Notice About Star Wars Until You'd Already Seen it a Bunch

Things have been kind of quiet. Or at least here, they have been. I think maybe we could use a random, light-hearted discussion. I think it's safe to say that most of us who read here have watched these movies multiple times. For some of us it has been a lifelong thing. For others the movies didn't even come out until they were a little older. For some maybe they didn't even discover it until they were older, or until much recently. One of the most fascinating things to me is that no matter how many times I've seen these movies, I often still notice new things for the first time. Or maybe I just forget that I've seen them, because also it's totally possible I've done this topic before and I just forgot. I've been watching these movies since as far back as I can remember watching movies, and still, sometimes, I'm surprised to notice certain things. And some of you will probably be surprised/appalled at some of the stuff that I didn't notice until more recent viewings. These things include:

-The fact that the lower half of one of Threepio's legs is silver, not gold. Ok, this one I didn't exactly only discover recently. But still probably didn't notice until a good 15 years into my Star Wars watching. I don't remember exactly why I noticed it for the first time, but I do remember my brother and my cousins thinking it was crazy that I had never noticed that.

-Leia spins Han around to talk to Jabba because he is facing the wrong way. How could I not notice a Han and Leia thing? I don't know. Seriously, I didn't notice that not only did she spin him around, but she ducked under his arm. It's so adorable and subtle and funny, and I watched that movie for years before noticing. Again, not super recently did I first notice this, but more recently than I'd have thought.

-Han grabs Leia's hand as he tries to shoot Vader. This is another one of those subtle things, and in fairness his non-shooting hand is mostly hidden and it is so subtle it kind of makes sense for me to not have noticed that at first. Of course now I think it is just another one of those wonderful, subtle little things, that even though Han is focused on killing Darth Vader, he still makes the conscious decision to reach back and grab Leia's hand. (ok, wrist, but whatever)

-Leia in the background talking to random Rebels when Han is talking to Lando just before Mon Mothma's briefing in ROTJ. This isn't really that big of a deal, but this one I only first noticed REALLY recently. Like within the last two years, probably. Han and Lando are talking, and Leia is hanging behind them talking to some other guys. It's just kind of funny to me to see her basically appearing more like a background extra.

-Luke in ESB when he jumps down off a ledge during the Vader fight, bounces back into the frame since clearly Mark jumped down onto a trampoline. That one I didn't even notice until I was reading bloopers. And really, how did that go unnoticed for so long? It's not even subtle, he bounces right on back up into the frame. And yet of all the ridiculous things they "fixed" on subsequent re-releases, that moment remains.

-Harrison mouths Carrie's lines along with her when she says, "Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited." This is another one I don't think I noticed on my own until someone told me about it. Also another one that I have known about for a while, but still probably watched the movie over and over for about 15 years before seeing it, and now I can't unsee it.

-Leia's blood on Han's fingertips when he puts his hand up after briefly tending to Leia's wound in ROTJ. I know, this is really minor. For movies that do contain a fair bit of violence, they are very much lacking in blood. There is blood in ANH when Obi Wan cuts that walrus man's arm off. Luke bleeds a bit after the Wampa attack and also after his fight with Vader. (Although, weirdly, not from where his hand was cut off.) Of course Han never bleeds. Like I said, very small thing but for some reason it took me a lot of views to notice that.

-Chewie makes a Tarzan noise when he swings on the vine with the Ewoks to the AT-ST in ROTJ. Another one that was pointed out to me by my brother and cousins, a while ago but still after we had watched the movies dozens of times. It's not even subtle, but for some reason I didn't notice. It's pretty dumb and really doesn't make sense, but whatever.

That's all I can think of for now. What about you guys, anything you didn't notice until much later? Big or small, doesn't really matter. I'm sure there are others because I feel like very time I watch I notice some little thing, maybe a brief line or action from Threepio, or something in the background. Stuff that should've been totally obvious but somehow you missed.

Universal Fanfic Truth: Luke Wants to Tell Everyone About Vader - Guest Post By Erma

Hi everyone. Zyra kindly offered that I could write a post on a question I brought to her. There is that delightful post on the blog about Universal Han and Leia Fanfic Truths, but my question didn't quite fit there. So here we are.

It hit me the other day that one "universal truth" in Star Wars fanfic is that Luke wants to share the news about Vader's return to the light with the whole galaxy, whereas Leia thinks sharing would be an awful idea. This sets up a tension between the two of them that affects all three of them, Han included. But. Why do we assume this, especially on the part of Luke?

From the movies, we know that Luke didn't tell Leia about his parentage until after he learned she was his sister, some many months after finding out in Bespin. Even when he did tell her, he wasn't suggesting that she come and help him; in fact, it seemed clear that he felt Leia still needed to help the Rebellion win the war, perhaps the old fashioned way (by fighting, not trying to redeem the bad guys). It's not even clear that Luke intended to ever tell Leia; she was the one that sought him out, after all (though arguments could be made that he knew she would follow him out to that bridge). Nor did Luke reach out to Han. So from what we see in the movie, it seems pretty clear that even though Luke felt personally compelled to try and save his father, he was pretty clear that not everyone would share his conviction, and that it might be best to keep the truth secret.

It's interesting (to me, anyways) that so many of us have felt that Luke would then later want to tell all. Why? And, what if that wasn't the case? How would it affect the dynamic with Leia and Han?

For example. what if Leia's desire to keep Vader/Anakin a secret was in part a reaction to Luke's wanting to tell everyone? After all, we often see stories with Luke wanting to have a conversation with Leia, which often has the effect of pushing Leia to avoid it. So if Luke instead wanted to continue keeping Vader/Anakin a secret, might Leia have responded differently? Would she have sought support, or a kind of absolution? Might she have felt honor bound to reveal their parentage to someone in the Rebellion leadership? (Rieekan, Mon Mothma?) How would this have impacted the dynamic with Han? If Leia wanted to tell others, would Han have cared? Etc, etc.

Anyways, I'm bringing this here because it's fun to explore assumptions, and because LoveThis! asking about my assumptions in the earlier post about the new Princess Leia book inspired me. I thought it might be interesting to unpack this particular set of assumptions with you all.

Full disclosure. This particular universal truth came to me while pondering writing my own version of Leia telling Han about Vader. Now, that story is so unformed that it probably won't get written in the next few years, if at all, so I'm not posing these questions as a way to do research or anything. At the same time, it would be silly to think that any discussion here wouldn't influence the story, should it ever get written, so I just want to be open. Note: if the story ever does get written, I'll just make sure to credit this conversation! :)