Official Captain Phasma TLJ Thread

I think I have figured it out.
I wasn't satisfied with the main two theories:
A) She miraculously escaped from the thrash compactor.
B) She wasn't placed in the trash compactor because we don't see that on screen.
No, I don't think A & B are the answers..
There is another, more elegant solution, and with this solution the thrash compactor wasn't a joke. It was a masterful ambiguous ending, and we have clues from previous episodes to solve this puzzle.
I have made a short video with my apprentice Sebas Ren, explaining how this theory work, step by step. I welcome your comments.

If you want to skip the video and get to the bottom of this theory, here's the quick summary:
Captain Phasma survives the events of TFA thanks to Han Solo. You heard that right. His decision to place her in the trash compactor saved Phasma's live. Phasma didn't escape and that's why she survived.
What do we know about thrash compactors in Star Wars? Episode 4 tells us their walls are very resistant, at least laser-proof. 36 years later in a much bigger location, the thrash compactor could be far stronger.
But the planet exploded? So what? Not everything turns into dust after an explosion, even a planet's explosion. Remember Alderaan? When the Falcon arrives, they found lots of rocks floating around. That's debris from an explosion. The stronger material remains, the weaker turns into dust. A thrash compactor would be a candidate to remain in one piece after an explosion: it's strong and it's compact. Perfect hiding place.
But she must have been crushed by the trash compactor? Again, in ANH, we saw that the walls are not always in motion. They must follow a predictable schedule or need manual activation. And after the planet's explosion, without source of energy, the walls must have stopped collapsing. Phasma is saved by the bell.
But after the explosion there is no oxygen? Since this hiding place is compact, the air shouldn't go out easily. And it should have sufficient air to wait for a rescue. Also, Phasma was in full armor, which must have extra reserves of oxygen and would also protect her body from contusions.
Remember how Indiana Jones survived a nuclear explosion in Indy 4? He places himself inside a refrigerator.
We know the story in Episode VIII will pick right after the end of TFA. Therefore, my prediction would be that Phasma's first scene will be still inside the trash compactor, which is floating in space along with debris of what was once Starkiller base, and she is being rescued by perhaps General Hux.

 

Good post!

 

I still think somehow Captain Phasma is the first character we see in episode 8.

After the crawl, we see a small ship entering Starkiller's atmosphere where everything goes chaotic (We sort of rewind in Episode 7 but from another character's perspective).

Troopers have received a transmission from Phasma on the surface and they rescue her.
While leaving the planet, somehow, they track the Millenium Falcon.

Phasma manages to locate the Rebel base while Kylo and Hux goes into meeting with Snoke.

 

Except that the whole Starkiller explosion essentially ignites the remnants of the planet into a new star (to obviously honor Han Solo's sacrifice and returning him to "stardust" as Galen Erso would say...)

In other words, the walls of the trash compactor may be able to withstand laser bolts, but not the heat of nuclear fusion within a star.

 

Looks like Phasma is turning into a big fat joke LOL.... what a waste.

 

Correction: After the crawl, we see the trash compactor floating in space! This is the "traditional" SW opening of a ship crossing over the field of view...

 

But it didn't explode, it turned into a sun, which is kind of epic. Which is why I cried when I read the Han Solo comic when Loo Re Anno says to him. "Are you not sticking your neck out, Pilot Solo? Why are you here, if not to become something more? Something as great and sublime as the stars themselves?" Because in a sense, he turned into one of the stars in the galaxy. Captain Phasma probably had a comm, got one of her lackeys to get her out immediately, and got out almost immediately. It's hilarious and funny to think that the sun spit her out into space though, as if it didn't like the taste of the trash compactor. They could still do that, though I don't think it likely that a real star would not damage a sealed trash compactor, but heck, those ships were so close to it as they left, and nothing happened to them. Plus, it's freaking Star Wars and nothing makes sense scientifically anyway. I sure hope they do something fun with her. Brienne of Tarth is awesome.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 17, 2017, Original Post Date: Jan 17, 2017 ---

It still would be funny.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 17, 2017 ---

 

Ooh, I like this. Phasma was so regulatory and proper, it'd be cool to see her get a little mangled from this and come back at Finn with a vengeance.

Still, speaking of Harrison Ford... it's a little "hide in the fridge from the atom bomb"-y. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

Nice to hear feedback on the trash compactor survival theory.
OK, I get the "not exploding" and turning-into-star part. Some folks call it "implosion" or whatever. And I absolutely agree with your last sentence: "it's freaking Star Wars and nothing makes sense scientifically anyway". The whole concept of an ice planet literally eating out stars without increasing its mass, gravity and temperature must have been hilarious for astrophysicists. It's clear certain laws of science can be bent in the far far away galaxy.

Going back to the trash compactor survival case... The sun doesn't need to spit it out. That would imply that the sun had eaten it already. If we look at the destruction scene, most of the planet's surface gets expelled out before the planet is transformed into a sun.

In the short scene, we don't see expelled debris coming back immediately. That wouldn't be exactly how gravity works after a big explosion in space. It depends on many factors, like altitude, escape velocity for example. On the surface of our planet, Earth, the escape velocity is about 11 km/s, which is approximately 33 times the speed of sound and several times the one of a rifle bullet (up to 1.7 km/s). So, if we fire this bullet upwards on the surface, it won't go into space. The higher the altitude, the weaker the escape velocity. At 9,000 km altitude in "space", Earth's escape velocity is around 7 km/s.

Even if the escape velocity turns out higher than the trash compactor speed at the time of explosion, the sun won't swallow it immediately. Things take time in astronomy. Gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental interactions of nature. If you flip a coin, the coin would be in the ground in less than a second. In the bullet example, first, the its speed has to be slow down from 1.7 Km/s to 0 Km/s, and then it will start its free fall from which ever altitude it is. The whole process make take over a minute. In the case of the trash compactor, we saw multiple big explosions in the surface. Again, depending on the altitude/distance it had reached away from the center of the mass, it could take it hours or days or weeks, before it reaches back the surface of the new sun and eventually being swallowed.

 

If you take into account he reality of the speed of the energy and the science behind it. The core of the planet would have had to turn up to over ten million degrees in a matter of seconds, so phasma might have survived for seconds until some sort of implosion due to the extreme heat unless she was rescued quickly

 

Even if the trash compactor had survive the explosion, Phasma would have been baked alive. Explosions create heat, guys.

She escaped before the explosion. Finis. She probably just used her comm to get an underling to let her out, and then evacuated.

 

I agree that explosions create heat. However, some explosions (particularly supersonic explosions, which travel faster than the speed of sound) also create shockwaves.

The shockwave also brings a an increase in temperature but by no means this temperature is comparable to the one at the heart of the explosion. Inside a trash compactor and with full armor, Phasma should be safe enough to survive the shockwave, in a movie of course. If Indiana Jones survived a nuclear explosion/shockwave inside a fridge, why not Phasma?

 

Okay, am I the only one who thinks that General Hux rescued her out of the trash compactor (before SKB exploded!) ?? I mean he did put a tracking device on Ren. And with Phasma also being a member of the High Command, I don't think this theory is far-fetched.

 

Yeah this is why. Her turn to go through the New Hope deja vu.

 

Now, that is the question, isn't it? @Darth Walt we not talking about Indiana Jones here- it's Kindom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones, that movie stopped make any sense whatsoever the moment Elvis' song was over.

 

So, based on this... all of the following Indiana Jones would make scientific sense, wouldn't they?

• A Nazi emblem being magically burned/erased without any physical trigger
• Angels of death and bolts of energy coming out from the ark, capable of killing everybody around and melting faces. But, hey, just closing your eyes saves you from all of this!
• Magic stones that promises fortune and glory
• Retrieving a human's heart using only bare hands, leaving the opening fully healed and the individual alive and conscious.
• A 700 year old Templar Knight
• Holy water healing a mortal wound in seconds.

I just picked two examples for each of the three previous Indy films. My intention is not to discredit Indiana Jones or religious beliefs. I loved his movies, despite the magic and the superstition behind them. Before being too harsh on the 4th film, we need to remind ourselves that we were 20 years younger in the previous three movies. Most of us were kids or teenagers, which is the reason why we didn't have problems with any of the six bullet points mentioned above.

(Hope we're not penalized for going off-topic with this Indy talk). The same applies to Star Wars too. After all, it's all Lucasfilm. Things don't need to make absolute perfect/scientific sense to make it to the final cut movie.

 

I have one question - why would anyone assume that Phsma was rescued after the Starkiller Base blew up?

 

because she's so shiny and chrome!!! : D

of course it makes no sense. but do we really care? why waste a character with so much potential?
i'm happy to see her come back in TLJ and do something worthy of her Nabooian armor! hahaha

 

Oh, I love Fury Road!