Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
posely let them escape and are tracking the
Falcon
with some kind of
homing device.
So naturally, where do our heroes travel next? Straight to the Rebel
base—the very last place they should want to go if Leia believes the Empire
is tracking them!
If you really stop to think about it, you realize that her behavior here
makes no sense. Up to this point in the film, Princess Leia has been estab-
lished to be a smart and capable figure—someone who would certainly be
far too intelligent to knowingly lead the Death Star right to her allies' door-
step.
But what happens to the story if she were to act in character? Let's ima-
gine …
Our heroes have just escaped from the Death Star and jumped into hy-
perspace. Realizing the
Falcon
is being tracked, Leia makes contact with
the Rebels and they arrange to transfer her and R2 to another ship for
transport to the Rebel base. Han and Chewbacca, after being paid their re-
ward by the Rebels, take off at high speed in another direction, leading the
Death Star away from the Rebel base and buying some time to find and
destroy the tracking device on the
Falcon
. With the plans safely in their
hands and the Death Star now wandering the galaxy on a wild goose
chase, the Rebels have plenty of time to study the schematics and devise a
strategy for taking down the giant space station. Eventually they find the
weakness, and they plot to attack the Death Star at some future time and
place.
In this scenario the story doesn't exactly fall apart, but the movie is
lengthened and its pacing is seriously damaged. The momentum carried
forward from the dramatic rescue of Leia should lead us almost directly
toward the climax—the battle against the Death Star. But with these addi-
tional steps, tension takes a huge hit. The time pressure on the Rebels is
almost eliminated, and their situation seems much less desperate. The
story rhythm driving us toward the final confrontation is interrupted,
slowed, and weakened.
So Leia conveniently “forgets” that going directly to the Rebel base is a
terrible idea, and she is never called out on it. Not by anyone in the story,
nor by legions of moviegoers and fans who have had over three decades
to think about it!
When we look closely at how the distraction was handled in this ex-
ample, there are two items of note:
