New and old vehicles in Rogue One

Yes, that's the problem. TPM seems some sort of Naboo spin-off. I wonder why they didn't make something like the U-Wing in the prequels.

 

I love the U-Wing! It completely fits in to the story and time period.

 

The U-wing the the new empire fighters looks so cool that I just asked myself: why didnt they used for TFA?

 

They may not quite have had the exterior design ready yet. I know it was in that leaked concept art but TFA was moving along by the time we first saw that.

I wasn't a huge fan of the troop transports in that scene in TFA. They were okay, a call back to the shape of the B-Wings.

But the U-Wing is so right. I want to see more of it. Funny how that one ship can get me hyped up for the film I was feeling lukewarm about.

 

Nice catch! See, I thought that was a great design too. It was very basic and utilitarian, and didn't have that overly flashy "Looks cool just for the sake of looking cool" thing that so many other PT vehicle designs had. The Juggernaut looked like something from an earlier era compared to the OT designs, whereas a lot of the other ships and vehicles just didn't.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 6, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 6, 2016 ---

That's my assumption. It's actually the forward "forklift" position that I'm not sure about. If it wouldn't block the forward guns, I'd say perhaps the "fork" bit could carry a small vehicle or extra troop module (magnetize the inner edge of the "U" and suspend the module between the arms).

But I suspect the forward position is probably just there to look cool and to give the ship a letter shape.

 

I get that too. If it had to be explained, you could say 1) it's a big galaxy, lots of different manufacturers and designs, and 2) Most of the OT movies were in the outlying worlds, who were neglected after the Empire took over except to strip them of their resources. So in essence, they were the ghetto with older, less flashy looking vehicles.

 

I respectfully disagree. The galaxy would have many different worlds with varying cultures and evolutionary backgrounds. For example, because Naboo is a beautiful paradise, it would stand to reason that the people living there might be a little OCD . In all seriousness though, there's more ships that add to the continuity than not in the prequel trilogy. The Jedi Starfighters, V-Wings, ARC-170s, Republic Cruisers and Republic Attack Cruisers to name a few.

Also, the expansionist Empire was more focused on quantity over quality, and the OT vehicles reflect that. Grey and Black are more natural colours when it comes to metal, so they'd help reduce manufacturing costs. Also, because many of the populaces under The Empire would be oppressed, they'd be less likely to paint vehicles, as that can be a viewed as a sign of pride. The majority of the Republic worlds were happy under their governments and so were the Rebellion recruits, so they'd be more likely to paint their vehicles.

 

Yeah, the "Empire lowered their quality" thing is the argument I've heard for years now, along with McCallum's claim circa 2003 that we'd see some galactic catastrophe that explained away the fact that the PT era tech looked more advanced than what we saw in the OT.

I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now. I'm not just talking about the flashy tech we saw on Naboo, either. Damned near everything looked like it was a generation or two more developed than the OT tech, and no amount of after-the-fact justification changes that.

And don't get me started on designs like the ARC-170. It was a perfect example of the flash over function that I saw all over the PT. It had little S-foils, but the LFL designer team didn't bother to mount weapons on them - which was the whole point of "locking S-foils in attack position" in the OT. To create a broader fire spread. But hey, as long as it got a momentary reaction from the audience for looking vaguely X-wing-ish, I guess that's all that matters.

Sorry man, I just don't buy it. Way too much flash over substance there, IMHO.

I reckon we'll agree to disagree on this one.

 

I loathe the ARC-170. It was such a blatant call-back of a design, overtly evoking the X-Wings but with none of the sleek panache. It looked like they based it off a 5 year old's drawing of an X-Wing that they made after hearing a rough description.

I did like Naboo though, I thought it was a decent glimpse at how rich and prosperous the GFFA was at one time.

 

I liked the ARC-170....But what other design was there to be used?

 

I actually liked the basic idea of basing an X-wing type ship on a WWII-era Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo plane, but between the fact that it looked like a later development of an X-wing rather than an earlier one, and (even moreso) the fact that it completely missed the point of S-foils, the bleedin' thing just irritated the hell out of me.

 

Our current military has a bunch of different versions of different combat vehicles;humvees and blackhawks for instance.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 10, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 10, 2016 ---

I get that you don't buy it but I will say in a lot of the new books they do stress the amount of resources the Empire uses and how they are depleting and maxing worlds out.

 

That IS what they based it on. Holy crap.

Hats off to you sir. I'm now going to fall into a spiraling image search of old aircraft.

 

Ah, a fellow vintage aviation nut, are ya?

Yeah, the ARC-170 was an interesting concept, executed poorly. (Actually, that's how I feel about a lot of the PT in general...)

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 10, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 10, 2016 ---

After-the-fact justifications and retconning are all well and good, but IMHO it'd have been far better for Lucas to have focused more on visual and story continuity from the get-go so that we could have avoided all this.

 

I like the designes but their inclusion makes it seem odd that there isn't a single u-wing or tie striker anywhere to be found in the OT. Not even in the back of a random hanger. Plus those death troopers might have been valuable on Endor. Kinda smells like retcon to me.