Many Bothans Died...

I always figured that it was another one of those evocative little throwaway lines that we always got in the OT, like Threepio's "sent to the spice mines of Kessel" line in ANH, Han's line about "the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell" in ESB, etc.

Back in the day, before every last reference had to be wrung out into its own EU novel, these were the kinds of little touches that helped to make the world of Star Wars seem even more extensive and exotic than what we saw onscreen.

I don't know that I ever really tried to work out exactly what a Bothan was (by the time ROTJ came out, I was getting to be more and more focused on figuring out how to get girls than on Star Wars) but I think I always figured that they were either an underground resistance cell that managed to steal copies of the new Death Star plans much as the first Death Star plans had been stolen, or that (as you mention) they were the inhabitants of the planet where the plans were kept and they helped the Rebels to break in and swipe the plans.

What was interesting was, I never really thought of them as a specific race. They could have been human, they could have been nonhuman... I never really imagined what they were so much as what they had done.

 

In the action figure line one of the prune face aliens was named Orrimarko, from the world Dressel.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dressellian

 

That's about how I saw them too.

 

I had always taken them as either a group specializing in intrigue, or a particular species that did likewise. In any case, I never had much doubt that they were working with the Rebellion given the look of utter loss Mon Mothma displayed as she said the words.

In all honesty I never gave it much thought after that until I was "introduced" to them in some graphic novel. I feel like that was the graphic novel version of Shadows of the Empire, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

Recently I looked at my collection of figures I purchased in the 90s. You can't imagine how many of the "no names" I found that I have sitting in there. Don't think I have this guy though.

 

My guess is they were either meant to be Force-sensitive beings who were masters of the 'get in, get out' approach, or they happened upon the Death Star plans by chance and in the process of getting the plans to the Rebels they happened to lose a great number.

 

It was by the Emperor's design that the second Death Star plans fell into the alliance's hands, and the info that He would be there. It was to trap the Rebels to ultimately destroy them and lure Luke to be Vader's replacement. The Bothans were just another pawn in the Emperor's plan, the information they received was by design but many died to make it look like it wasn't.

 

I wish Bothans had been shown specifically in the PT so that Kibbles could deny their existence since it didn't happen in the original original original version of Star Wars.

It would be entertaining...if they had done so, I can see this playing out:

Kibbles: "Yeah but when Mon Mothma talked about the Bothans, we didn't see ANY of the aliens that portrayed them in the PT, so I'll just choose to ignore it as cannon because the PT is an abomination and I enjoy life by hating it and pretending that nothing but the original, original original versions is what Star Wars actually is."

"How do you feel about Naboo, Kibbles?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, because that was part of the PT and I choose to ignore it. It's my prerogative."

Think I nailed it.


P.S.-Good luck enjoying the ST. I'll be shocked if you and those that think like you do. Nothing personal, but man every post you make it some outlandish diatribe that wants to pretend nothing but the original movies exists, and you go out of your way to "prove it."

 

LOL For someone who doesn't "like to discuss the PT" you do an awful lot of discussing and bashing the PT.

 

To be fair, I also can't help but notice that Shawshank seems to have developed a bit of a tendency to openly bait Kibble about the fact that she doesn't like the PT. This isn't the first discussion in which this has occurred.

 

I always pictured the Bothans as an alien species, peaceful and wise. The intensity of Mon Mothra's pain seemed proportional to the tragedy she was reporting, so the Bothans must have been non-combatants for her to seem so stunned at their deaths.

The scene set the tone for the coming battle. It gave us even more reason to root for the rebels by reminding us just how ruthless the Empire was.

 

Y'know, now that you mention it, I remember having that same feeling when I first saw ROTJ long ago... that these were peaceful non-combatants who were killed for the sake of delivering the information about the new Death Star and the Emperor's presence on it.

Good call!

 

I hope these "Bothans" will be explored more in the ST I didn't catch the ones they showed in ROTJ. I will have to look again

 

With race's like Ackbar's and Nien Nunb taking part in the rebellion in Jedi, I was picturing some kind of fishy looking aliens when Mothma mentions the Bothans that died to get them this critical information. Nothing else to base that off of, but that's what was in my 9 year old head in 1983.

 

Ahem...

1. Only after getting horribly frustrated when trying to have a conversation with someone that literally disregards anything that isn't the very original unaltered versions of the OT...pretty hard to not get annoyed.

2. Um...sometimes whiskey logs into my account and posts for me... Chalk it up to earning a few PUIs on the board

 

LOL! Yeah, recreational intoxicants do have a knack of taking over just a wee bit when we're not keeping a close eye on 'em, don't they?