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Star Wars mythology question

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Star Wars mythology question

Old 02-06-03, 01:00 AM
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Star Wars mythology question

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I was just thinking about it. What is the reason for the life debt that Chewbacca owes Han Solo? I'm sure Han probably saved his life at one point, and that is the reason but I haven't read all the backstories to find out why. Or am I wrong about the life debt and they were just buddies?
Old 02-06-03, 01:17 AM
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When Han was in the Imperial Navy he rescued Chewbacca from imprisonment and slave labor. Han was court-martialed for the act.

Btw, I didn't know any of that but simply searched on Google just now. Which you could have done
Old 02-06-03, 01:39 AM
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The "life debt" thing isn't in the movies, and as far as I'm concerned it's not canon.
Old 02-06-03, 02:26 AM
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Originally posted by Groucho
The "life debt" thing isn't in the movies, and as far as I'm concerned it's not canon.
It is covered in the Heir to the Empire book series. And those books are generally considered canon.
Old 02-06-03, 03:13 AM
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Actually, anything not on film is not considered Canon.

http://www.starwars.com/databank/cha...ansolo/eu.html

Despite promising skills, Solo was drummed out of the service when he defied orders and rescued a Wookiee slave, Chewbacca. Solo freed Chewbacca from his captors, and from that day on Chewbacca served as Han's protector and friend.
It's Under Expanded Universe on the site so thus, It would fall under the Non-canon files.
Old 02-06-03, 11:36 AM
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Expanding on the question: Why is Chewbacca so cool?

I mean he is a really cool character, but he's just a guy in a suit. He never says anything cool (you can't even understand him). We know nothing about him, he has no backstory, and no arc of development through the trilogy. And yet he is the coolest. I guess less is more. The more you find out about Luke the less you like him, but you never learn a thing about Chewbacca and he's a bad ass from beginning to end.
Old 02-06-03, 11:45 AM
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Generally, the less you know about a character the "cooler" they are. Hence, the Boba Fett mystique (which has faded quite a bit after Episode 2).
Old 02-06-03, 11:46 AM
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Originally posted by Pants
Expanding on the question: Why is Chewbacca so cool?

I mean he is a really cool character, but he's just a guy in a suit. He never says anything cool (you can't even understand him). We know nothing about him, he has no backstory, and no arc of development through the trilogy. And yet he is the coolest. I guess less is more. The more you find out about Luke the less you like him, but you never learn a thing about Chewbacca and he's a bad ass from beginning to end.
I thought we found out several interesting things about Chewbacca in the dreadful X-Mas special.

Chewie is cooler than Boba?
Old 02-06-03, 01:12 PM
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Originally posted by Pants
Expanding on the question: Why is Chewbacca so cool?
Maybe it's because he doesn't continually step in poo.
Old 02-06-03, 01:41 PM
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Originally posted by Fanboy
Maybe it's because he doesn't continually step in poo.
Old 02-06-03, 04:57 PM
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The question I've always had is "Why is Boba Fett considered to be so cool?" What does he really do? He catches Han...big deal (besides, he's subsequently rescued). Then he gets unceremoniously eaten by a giant sandgina. What a stud.
Old 02-06-03, 05:06 PM
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Originally posted by Numanoid
The question I've always had is "Why is Boba Fett considered to be so cool?"
It's all about the clothes.
Old 02-06-03, 05:16 PM
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The question I've always had is "Why is Boba Fett considered to be so cool?"
Bottom line, everything he does is COOL. Cool outfit. Cool gun. Cool ship. He freezes a guy in a big block of carbonite...that's pretty cool. Then the Carbonite block "floats" on its own...that's cool. He has his own theme music. Coolest of all...he knows that Han attached the Falcon to the side of the Star Destroy when no one else does.

Last edited by Pants; 02-06-03 at 05:21 PM.
Old 02-06-03, 06:14 PM
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The question I've always had is "Why is Boba Fett considered to be so cool?"
He was never portrayed in the films to be some badass dude. Star Wars geeks are the ones that have made him out to be that. The fact is he's nothing more than a plot device to bridge the gap between Han and Jabba. Lucas never portrayed him to be some badass, pivotal character. The fact is he only every fought once. Even then all he did was shoot a couple of laser blasts. Couple that with a total of maybe 5-10 minutes of onscreen time and you clearly see fanboys have made him out to be far more than he ever was intended to be. So they bitch and moan about the way he died, which I thought was funny. Lucas did the right thing by not wasting 10 minutes of the film giving him a death fitting in fanboy's opinions.

He freezes a guy in a big block of carbonite...that's pretty cool. Then the Carbonite block "floats" on its own...that's cool.
Both of which he had absolutely nothing to do with. For the record, Darth Vader froze Han in carbonite, not Boba Fett.

Expanding on the question: Why is Chewbacca so cool?
Well, there is much more evidence in the films to suggest Chewie is cool than there is to suggest Boba is.

you can't even understand him
Actually you can understand Chewie. All you've got to do is listen to Han's replies to Chewie and you know exactly what he said. I thought everyone knew that.

Last edited by Terrell; 02-06-03 at 06:21 PM.
Old 02-06-03, 06:17 PM
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Originally posted by Numanoid
The question I've always had is "Why is Boba Fett considered to be so cool?" What does he really do? He catches Han...big deal (besides, he's subsequently rescued). Then he gets unceremoniously eaten by a giant sandgina. What a stud.
There's nothing wrong with Boba Fett, although it looks like Jango was the truly cool one.

Boba Fett's mystique comes from the fact he was the first official "new" character introduced when ESB was coming out. You could mail away proof of purchases from the figures and get a free Boba Fett figure. he was faceless, mysterious, and sounded like a real badass.
Old 02-06-03, 06:18 PM
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Lucas never portrayed him to be some badass, pivotal character.
By giving him his own unique musical theme, I think he gets singled out as something "more"
Old 02-06-03, 06:21 PM
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By giving him his own unique musical theme, I think he gets singled out as something "more"
Maybe! But honestly, there is nothing in any of the Star Wars films to suggest he's the character that fanboys think he is.
Old 02-06-03, 06:37 PM
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Originally posted by Pants
By giving him his own unique musical theme, I think he gets singled out as something "more"
all the bounty hunters had a different look. Look at them lined up infront of vader. And don't tell me Fett's musical theme made him cool.

Like stated above, he was the mail away figure so this was the first taste of ESB that everyone had before it opened thus creating a hype that wasn't fully carried out. He didn't freeze han, he really only told vader where Han was going. Vader captures Han, Hell fett couldn't even kill Luke on two different chances. once in ESB and once in ROTJ. not to mention gets killed by a blind man. Though I'm sure he got his smarts from dear ol' Clone daddy fighting a jedi with a blaster, you figure the kid would remember that Light Saber > Blaster in combat from the horrorific inprint that he had from AOTC.

Add a crap load of "Fan fiction" and expanded universe which was all pretty much proven wrong once Ep 2 came out, Fett is left with nothing. Showing that once the audiance learns more about it, they care far less.
Old 02-06-03, 07:23 PM
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Boba Fett is cool because:

1) He was leaked early on that dreadful Chirstmas Special and as an early release action figure. That gave him a certain mystique.

2) He's a bounty hunter.

3) Cool-looking costume with a rocket pack and a bunch of gadgets. (This went a long way at being cool when I was a kid.)

4) You knew very little about him -- what he looks like, what he did before.

5) He's cool because of his appearance in ESB, and in spite of his poor handling in ROTJ.
Old 02-06-03, 07:37 PM
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Boba and Jango Fett were kind of lame to me. A giant furry guy... now THAT screams cool =P
Old 02-07-03, 12:23 AM
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Originally posted by Jackskeleton
Hell fett couldn't even kill Luke on two different chances. once in ESB. . . .
Yeah - but Fett knew that Vader wanted Skywalker. You think he's going to risk the Dark Lords wrath by plugging his baby boy? Hell no! All that blaster fire was meant to discourage Farmboy from following - nothing more.
Old 02-07-03, 12:27 AM
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that maybe so in ESB, but in ROTJ, looked like sarlac food was trying really hard to kill luke with no luck.
Old 02-07-03, 01:13 AM
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Originally posted by Pants
By giving him his own unique musical theme, I think he gets singled out as something "more"
What musical theme? You mean that two-note basoon passage? I'd hardly call that a theme.
Old 02-07-03, 07:52 AM
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Come on!!! Chewie blows, and Boba rocks. Take a close look at his costume...you see those hairy strands? Wookie scalps. Chewie would be toast against Fett.

Boba Fett isn't alluded to as being a bad ass in the movies? Bullshizle. When Darth Vader decrees, "No disintegrations," to whom does he point? That's right, kids! Boba Fett, because Vader knows that this is one bad ass motha and you don't fu%$ around with his *****. Hence the command.

Jango cooler than Boba? Another laugh. It's pretty sad when it takes me longer to yank it than it does for Jango to die in a battle against Mace Windu.

Anyway, that's the support for the Fettster.

As far as Chewie goes, what vital part does he EVER play in the movies? He's just a background character at best, and his only real accomplishment is growling like he's pi$$ed all the time and doing nothing about it. Oh, yeah. And putting C3PO back together. That alone should make him subject of my eternal wrath.

But I digress.
Old 02-07-03, 11:20 AM
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All right, you have all digressed into total dorks.

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