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Also, it makes the military guys feel better if they see the chain of command at work. Cannoli Send a noteboard - 25/08/2011 01:53:02 AM
If Tarkin had deciced to take the Death Star to say the capital and try to blow up the Emperor the officers may have gone along with it but that's when Vader's role would have kicked in and no more Tarkin.


Yes. If you think about it, their command functions more closely resemble that of a Soviet commanding officer (Tarkin) and a commissar or political officer (Vader). Also, I maintain that the "weak point" in the original Death Star served a similar purpose, especially for the scenario you describe. From the attitudes of the Death Star's command staff, deciding that as the men who control "the Ultimate Power in the Universe", THEY should be running the Empire and not the geezer in the bathrobe, whose only claim to rule (now that he has undermined his Senate-granted authority by disbanding said Senate) is his theoretical possession of a power they do not even believe in. From there, it is a matter of flying the Death Star to Coruscant and ordering the administration to ignore bathrobe-boy if they don't want to get blown up. The hole you could blow up the Death Star by shooting, was claimed by the actual pilot to be an impossible-to-hit shot and only the guy who had never flown an X-wing disagreed with him. We later see that the leader of the team tasked with hitting the weak spot fails to make his shot. When Luke is going for it, ObiWan comes back from the grave to tell him to switch off the computer and use the Force, which Luke has never done in his life, in a life-or-death situation. Plainly the Force was required or the computer would have been a better bet. Otherwise, it looks like Obi-Wan is endangering the mission and the survival of the entire rebellion just to get Luke some more practice.

Therefore, if the weak spot was made so that only the Force could hit it, it seems highly likely that the Emperor or Vader had it deliberately installed as a fail-safe just in case their Force-agnostic military command (and you don't put anyone but your most trusted and loyal commanders in charge of weapons like a Death Star) decides to turn their toy against the Sith Lords. TIE fighters are supposedly short-range fighters that could not be out in space alone, but Vader has a special one that allows him to get back to the Imperial Fleet or territory after the Death Star blows. Why give him such a fighter based out of an "indestructible" battle station? Unless the plan was for him to use it if he had to destroy the Death Star...

Also note how Vader takes the threat of the rebel fighters seriously, while Tarkin scoffs at the possibility of them doing any harm. Almost like he knew they could do it, but Tarkin was kept in the dark.
Cannoli
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
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I like that take. *NM* - 24/08/2011 05:18:21 PM 479 Views
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Also, it makes the military guys feel better if they see the chain of command at work. - 25/08/2011 01:53:02 AM 1037 Views
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