Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (As Painted By Classic Artists)
January 2010
The Facebook Trap: Uncovering Infidelity Is Just A Fake Account Away
The Star Wars Story Book: Classic Children's Audiobook Accompanied By Action Figure
Infidelity: Why We Will Never See Star Wars Episodes VII-IX
Steampunk R2D2 Probably Couldn't Take Too Many Blaster Hits
The Official iPad Site is Now Live
Oragami Yoda: Beware of the Force Paper Cut!
Giant Floating Darth Vader Helmet Hot-Air Balloon
How R2D2 and Chewbacca Were Secretly Running The Whole Show (B.A.M.F.s)
I stumbled upon (no, not using StumbleUpon) this great, uh, article (?)… story (?)… about how if you look at Star Wars IV: A New Hope through the eyes of R2 and Chewie, based on what we learned about them in episodes I, II and III, it actually turns out that they were the ones behind the scenes running the whole show. Actually if you google “R2 and Chewie,” that article is the top hit.
Lets break it down, I’ll try to summarize as much about R2/Chewie as possible.
R2 manages to not have his memory deleted (like 3PO does) at the end of Episode III and becomes the perfect poker-faced spy. When Episode IV starts, Leia doesn’t have the secret plans, R2 does. She just sends along a message to Obi Wan.
Things go awry when the Empire gets in the way, so R2 gets in the escape pod knowing he can get down to Tatooine and Obi Wan. Originally the plan was to pick him up on the way to Alderaan, possibly with Luke in tow, who Obi Wan has been watching over for 20 years - its in the book, folks. 3PO is the one hesitating to get into the escape pod, but R2 knows they’ve gotta do it to get to Obi Wan.
They land, and R2 purposefully gets captured by the Jawas and negotiates with them to take them to Obi Wan. The Jawas only agree to take them to the Skywalker farm, because there’s Sandpeople near Kenobi. R2/3PO are purchased by Luke & Owen/Beru Lars, and as soon as he can R2 heads off toward Kenobi’s. Upon discovering R2/3PO/Luke being attacked, Kenobi calls R2 “my little friend”, which he is, they’ve known eachother since Episode I. He says “I don’t seem to remember ever owning any droid” as a signal to R2 to shut up around Luke.
Before bailing to Tatooine, but after being intercepted by the Empire, R2 dispatched a signal to his fellow super spy Chewbacca that said something along the lines of “Uhh, we might need a ride to Alderaan, can you pick us up at Mos Eisley?” Meanwhile, Chewbacca gets the message and makes a “mistake” forcing Han to dump his cargo and high-tail it to Tatooine, which gets them there on time to pickup R2/3PO/ObiWan/Luke.
Chewbacca really runs the whole smuggling thing, not Han. Han’s just a pilot, and in fact the Falcon’s not his ship, its really Chewies (thats why it makes a cameo in Episode III). Chewie sets up the deals and Han haggles the price, giving Chewie free reign to pick where they go, which lets him deliver Rebellion intelligence anywhere in the galaxy at ease under his cover. This is exactly what happens in Mos Eisley, Chewie and R2 and Obi Wan know what’s going on, but Han, Luke and 3PO are along for the ride.
Think about that scene in Mos Eisley. After the bartender throws the droids out, the next shot we see is Obi Wan next to Chewbacca. That was fast, eh?
So they all head to Alderaan, its not there, they get sneak onto the Death Star, and when R2 finds out Leia is there Chewie helps convince Han to go along with Luke’s rescue plan. Then as they escape, Obi Wan is forced to sacrifice himself as a distraction, leaving Chewie and R2 (and Yoda) the only characters alive that know about Luke, Leia and Vader’s family tree. Chewie sees Luke and Leia feel drawn to each other, and realizes thats just wrong, and so he convinces Han to take interest in her.
When they get to Yavin, Chewie agrees to bail with Han because if Yavin is destroyed he’d be the only one who could try to salvage the Rebellion and find Yoda. Apparently Yoda has been communicating with Obi Wan through the ghost of Qui Gon Jin, but since Obi Wan’s dead now, there only link to Yoda is Luke (who Ben can ghost-chat with). And since Bail Organa got blowed up by the Death Star on Alderaan, things are looking pretty grim. R2 has the Death Star plans they need to take thing down, not Leia. Then Han changes his mind, Chewie is thrilled to go back and fight, and they save the day.
If you notice in the medal scene, Chewie is not medaled, he turned it down because he got one from Yoda like 20 years ago, but he can’t really mention that, now can he? So now the leaders are all gone or out of contact (Yoda) and Leia, the daughter of Vader, is in charge.
Pretty cool huh?
Who knew R2 and Chewie were such BAMFs. And that was the short version. Read the whole thing here.
WANT: Old School iPod Dock
My mom is actually in the market for a nice iPod dock. This one could suit her tastes.
Sharing My Google Reader Bundles
Just created half a dozen Google Reader Bundles, and here they are for your subscription enjoyment!
Fun (14 Feeds)
Startups (9 Feeds)
Site Blogs (20 Feeds)
Augmented Reality (23 Feeds)
Web (5 Feeds)
Tech Blogs (14 Feeds)
Here Comes The Future: Stylish HMDs
Vuzix Wrap 920AR unveiled at CES. Only problem, those two giant cameras sticking out of the eyes.
December 2009
The Empire Strikes Back Works Strangely Well As A Comedy
