Ben Mathis-Lilly brings us the crucial point that contra Spike TV's current marketing, Chewbacca was not, in fact, the original wingman. Chewie was Han Solo's co-pilot, Wedge Antilles was Luke's wingman.
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Original Wingman
16 Apr 2008 05:19 pm
Comments (26)
As a crude commenter already informed Ben, "wingman" in the SpikeTV sense has nothing to do with aviation. The ads imagine that Chewie assisted Han in picking up some honies at the cantina.
Maybe he did it in one of the Expanded Universe novels. I don't know.
Well, speaking as a criminal defense attorney, let me say that this post makes no sense!
MY brings out the Turbo Lasers of Trivia!
"Luke was, of course, ultimately unable to 'hit that' because 'that' was his sister. Luke Skywalker's genetic heritage: the original cockblock"
Yeah, but he did get one hot French kiss from his sister. And that was years before Angelina Jolie did the same with her brother at the Oscars!
And now, poor John Connor has the hots for Cameron, who's pretending to be his sister at school - not to mention that his mother will hit the roof if he starts humping a Terminator.
But John's not stupid. When "rival" Morris asks Cameron to go the prom, John tells her to say yes. He knows once Morris starts groping Cameron, he'll end up stuffed in the trunk of a car. Bye-bye, rival! Which is good, because that kid is too stupid to live.
Yeah, I assumed the "wingman" reference was to the PUA (Pick Up Artist) movement. But really, you have to assume it means both contexts. And I don't remember any evidence that Chewie was all that useful in picking up babes - didn't help Han with Leia, that's for sure.
In fact, I figure Chewie had better chances with Leia than Han did - I mean, he's a funny "furball" and you can imagine the size of his tool. It's not exactly "bestiality" since he's intelligent.
Meanwhile, John Connor has other problems. He's trying to hit on a girl at school, whom Morris has already told him is "damaged goods". And worse, every time he goes to talk to her, Cameron gives the two the evil eye "do I need to kill her now" look.
Cameron clearly intends to seduce John for her own agenda. Some chick crossing a Terminator is not a smart move, as Vic demonstrated when he snapped Jessica Peck's neck and threw her in the woods.
The ads imagine that Chewie assisted Han in picking up some honies at the cantina.
Insert "Greedo shot first" joke here.
I've been having the same thought as Matt every day for the past three weeks as I walk by this Chewie add on the subway. Wedge was in fact Luke's Wingman in Star Wars and Empire (none of that "Episode" 5 & 6 bullshit please) and Lando's wingman in Jedi.
Wedge is in fact the perfect Wingman. He watches your ass and gets the job done without garnering any great prize or praise for himself (unless you believe that being the leader of the borderline suicidal Rogue Squadron is a great prize... poor Dack he tought he could take on the whole Empire by himself and gets crushed by the foot of an AT-AT walker five minutes later in the greatest scene in movie history).
Has anyone ever figured out what the link is between Wedge and C3PO? Recall that 3PO tells Luke that his last owner was a "Captain Antilles". Even though we know from bullshit episodes 1 through 3 that they belonged to Vader and then Leia.
Has anyone ever figured out what the link is between Wedge and C3PO? Recall that 3PO tells Luke that his last owner was a "Captain Antilles".
Wedge Antilles is unrelated to 3PO's previous owner, Raymus Antilles of Alderaan.
Has anyone ever figured out what the link is between Wedge and C3PO? Recall that 3PO tells Luke that his last owner was a "Captain Antilles". Even though we know from bullshit episodes 1 through 3 that they belonged to Vader and then Leia.
Wedge was not related to the captain of the Tantive IV, 3PO's one-time owner. "Antilles" just happens to be the "Smith" of the Star Wars universe
Additionally, "Bail" appears to be the "John", or at least "Michael", of the Star Wars universe.
As a crude commenter already informed Ben, "wingman" in the SpikeTV sense has nothing to do with aviation. The ads imagine that Chewie assisted Han in picking up some honies at the cantina.
But "wingman" in that "Spike TV sense" is still an analogy to the aviation-sense of wingman. Presumably if you are going to analogize back from the "Spike TV sense" to an aviation context, it only makes sense to analogize back to an actual aviation-sense wingman and not to a co-pilot.
C3PO got his memory wiped at the end of Sith.
Has anyone ever figured out what the link is between Wedge and C3PO? Recall that 3PO tells Luke that his last owner was a "Captain Antilles". Even though we know from bullshit episodes 1 through 3 that they belonged to Vader and then Leia.
Well, the two aren't mutually exclusive. C3PO was made by Anakin and memory wiped at the end of episode three. By the beginning of episode four, he belongs to Leia. If a comprehensive chain of custody is established for the intervening 15 to 20 years, I don't think it was during the movies. Captain Antilles could easily be one os several.
He was on Bail Organa's ship at the end of Ep 3, right? So the captain of that ship was Captain Antilles, who thus presumably owned 3PO for the whole period between the end of 3 and the opening of the first movie.
I couldn't help but notice that another of the minor characters in the Wikipedia link supplied by Matthew is named "Pash Cracken." "Snicker Innuendo" and "Fanboy Porn" seem to have been omitted, however.
Thanks for all of the responses on the Antilles/3PO link. This certainly is the most important piece of information I have learned today. The best part of it is that no Bothans died to bring it to me.
On another Wingman note, Luke's boyhood buddy Biggs was also a prominent wingman (although less successful) since he and Luke used to bulls-eye womp-rats in Beggars Canyon.
I can't believe I read this entire thread.
Since the link to "A New Sith" was dropped well before I got here, I can only offer up this guy's photographic evidence suggesting that genetic heritage was in fact no cockblock at all:
http://noahbrand.blogspot.com/2007/01/unutterable-geekery-new-hope.html
Quarterican, there's absolutely no doubt based on that photo evidence that ALL three of him had an orgy - and who knows where Chewie was at the time.
Personally, I think Chewie would be insulted to be offered a human chick, but what do I know? The problem is similar to the Klingons - what human chick could handle him?
OTOH, this is not surprising. Last I heard, about 15% of siblings have had sexual contact. Anything that happens that often is quite natural.
Now for my Harrison Ford story:
Carrie Fisher did an interview one time where she explained the whole "carbonite" scene where Ford is about to be encased in carbonite. Leia bursts out with "I love you" and Han Solo says, "I know."
The reality is that Carrie Fisher was so on drugs at the time that she kept blowing her lines, pissing off Harrison Ford because of the many takes they had to do. So on THIS take, he was supposed to say, "I love you, too", but he was so irritated about the takes that he just shot back, "I know" since he'd done the "I love you, too" line a hundred times with no results.
Ain't film making grand?
Aaargh, "all three of THEM, THEM"...
Eps 1-3 were pretty poor, but they did bring one rather startling insight to Eps 4-6.
What's the overarching plot of 1-3? Forget all the nonsense about the Force. The plot is this: an ambitious senator wants to achieve ultimate power, but another part of the power structure (the Jedi order) stands in his way. What does he do? He conspires with other factions (the Trade Federation, the Technology Guild, etc) and gets a civil war going, in the course of which the Jedi are wiped out and he becomes Emperor.
Now, fast-forward to Ep 4. The key here is the conference scene with Darth Vader and the other generals. Note two points: first, the Emperor's personal emissary, Vader, isn't getting too much respect from the generals. ("Sad devotion to that ancient religion", etc.) Second, the Emperor's just abolished another potential rival to his power - the Imperial Senate.
Now, who's the Emperor got left to worry about? The Imperial Army is the only powerbase left in the Empire - there's no Senate, and no visible Technology Guild or Trade Federation - and it's not completely under his control. He's got to be worried about a coup - look how many Roman emperors were toppled by their own troops.
So what does he do? He does the same thing he did twenty years ago. He sets up a civil war. He backs the Rebels, and he compels the Army to put all its eggs into one basket - the Death Star, which represents a huge chunk of its firepower and resources, and holds most of its senior generals. Then he leaks the plans to the Rebels. With any luck, they'll destroy each other - the Rebellion will be defeated, and the Army crippled. (Stalin would have recognised this strategy.)
And it all goes well. Tarkin and the other independent-minded generals are blown to vapour around Yavin. As Eps 5 and 6 go on, the Emperor's ascendancy becomes more and more obvious. The construction boss of the second Death Star is terrified of Vader and the Emperor. ("We will redouble our efforts!") No more coups being plotted there, I think.
By the closing minutes of Ep 6, he can be excused for gloating that "everything that has happened has done so according to my design" - except that he forgot that his closest aide might also have designs on the Imperium, and dreams of setting up his own dynasty...
"The reality is that Carrie Fisher was so on drugs at the time that she kept blowing her lines, pissing off Harrison Ford because of the many takes they had to do. So on THIS take, he was supposed to say, "I love you, too", but he was so irritated about the takes that he just shot back, "I know" since he'd done the "I love you, too" line a hundred times with no results."
As I recall, supposedly Indiana Jones shooting the swordsman was also unscripted.
Ooo! ajay, very possible, I'd never thought of that. The Emperor (Darth Sidious whatever) does demonstrate a tendency to eliminate his minions once they've outlived their usefulness...very possible that he intentionally had the plans leaked and the Death Star destroyed to erase those pesky Imperial officers and that ambitious Tarkin. Ver possible indeed. Never thought of it before, but I like.
I must differ with your last paragraph however, as it is established in the films that the cycle of constant usurpation and distrust is what fuels the Sith. OF COURSE Palpatine knows Vader has designs on the Empire. He fully expects it, and it is actually his disappointment with Vader in failing to achieve his coup attempt with Luke in ESB that informs the denouement of their relationship. "You tried to overthrow me, but you failed. Now face the consequences."
Wait, what? Oh yeah...Chewbacca is too Han's wingman! And his copilot! So there!
Comments closed April 30, 2008.

More womp rat blogging!
Posted by joejoejoe | April 16, 2008 5:35 PM