"Several transmissions were beamed to THIS ship"

Welll he saw a fleeing ship too. Making the Tantive IV suspicious on having the plans.

 

He boarded the only ship to receive the transmission. Then he chased down the Rebel's trying to escape him. I think he knew he was in the corridor near the docked ship. Vader isn't stupid. Why else would he himself have attacked so ferociously? Because he knew they were trying to get away with the plans. He didn't need to see a disk. He knew that the Rebel's would try and get away in the smaller ship.

 

Reasons he would know there is another ship...

1. He's Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Hero of the Clones wars. A former Clone Wars General. Pretty much one of the smartest people in the Star Wars canon.
2. The Force
3. He saw the ship when boarding Raddus Ship.
4. Raddus or his crew told him. There had to be off screen fighting aboard the Mon Cal cruiser prior to him ending up at the docking area.

Remember his line from ANH "She must have hidden the plans in the Escape Pod...." He's smart. He's been on the trail of these plans since they were transmitted. He's not fooled or surprised. He's just a tad too late.

Pablo's Tweet validates this. Vader surmises they are trying to escape with the plans, either transmitted or physical. Doesn't matter, he just knows they are on that ship and trying to get away.

 

I just don't think this is an issue for 99.9% of the people who saw this movie. Just goes to say "you can't please everybody". And all that being said...the PHYSICAL hand off the plans is a helluva lot more interesting than LEIA sitting by some control panel waiting for a transmission to come in.

 

You could read Pablo's tweet as Vader thought they were beamed to the Tantive IV, when in fact they were beamed to the Mon Cal. Same location.

Either way, Vader knew he couldn't let anyone escape or the plans could escape with them.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 17, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 17, 2016 ---

Agreed. I envisioned her receiving the plans while in space. No conflict, just plans and a message from Bail to go get Obi-Wan. Then the Empire jumps in and attacks having traced the signal to her. I like the Rogue One version better.

 

Darth Vader was pursuing the carriers of the intercepted transmission on admiral Raddus' ship. He knows that the intercepted transmissions are on the Tantive IV. However, he does not know the exact contents of the intercepted transmissions I believe.

 

The continuity issue may have more to do with ANH rather than RO. In ANH Vader says to the Rebel Officer he chokes, "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?" Intercepted implies that the transmissions were Imperial and not transmissions between the Rebels. Shortly thereafter, Vader says to Leia, "Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you." This dialogue does not imply an interception but rather transmissions between Rebels.

 

I saw Star Wars when I was 12 and you'll be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan. That being said, I want you to know I'm not a "hater" but someone who loves the franchise and genre very, very much. So much that I can criticize it to make it the very best it can be. I have thought for a LONG time that this story would be one of the most amazing aspects of Star Wars. So.

First, just allow yourself to consider that this may just be BAD WRITING and hurried reshoots. Hear me out.

Let's start with his first line, way back in 1977 before most of you I suspect, were born.

"Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."

There is your cornerstone. Period. It's crystal clear, concrete and not in the least bit subject to the interpretation of the recipient or observer.

Not smoke signals, not telegraph, not papyrus, not a book, not a Kindle, a thumb drive, or WALKED ON carrying a gold and white credit card.

Secondly, Leia used her status as a Senator and diplomat to cover her rebellious ways. She also used that ship for said activities. It's an armed ship capable of battle as much or better than a lot of the other Rebel Ships.

Why the hell was it stowed (hidden?) inside the cruiser? Oh, so that no one would know about it. Well, a lot of people knew about it when it LEFT RIGHT IN FRONT OF DARTH VADER AND A FEW IMPERIAL SHIPS. Non-sequitur.

Finally, the film would have been much better, dramatic, and suspenseful if they would have died TRANSMITTING the data to Leia. Give Vader the killshot. Have Jyn and her father die together after reuniting. There are SO many better endings!

Fight me.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2016 ---

Ok, well that makes things even worse. RO had no plot device to show the data was Empire to Empire transmission and intercept.

 

I can see this as plausible. Vader grabs a rebel by the throat asks where are the plans. The rebel points in a direction and Vader heads that way.

I don't directly see an issue with this. They were beamed to a ship, nothing physical was taken up. At the time Raddus and Lea's ship was one. The plans were beamed to Raddus' ship then transferred to a hard copy. Vader doesn't necessarily at the time need to know which ship they were transmitted to, he just knows they were sent to this ship (which happened to be two) and then was pointed in the direction the hard copy was heading. Raddus' ship wasn't going anywhere. So technically, it still works... for me anyway unless you want to nitpick it.

 

I think also there is a slight continuity mistake, or just an ellipsis in ANH Vador dialogue. "Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you." Sounds OK, efficient, persuasive. Something like "A transmission has been received by your admiral ship I boarded and captured a while ago but you managed to escape with a floppy disk and I know you are hiding it somewhere in this tiny shuttle" would sound silly, doesn't it ? I just hope that George Lucas won't alter the lines in ANH, messing it all again, or even worse, taht he makes Vader massacre the Rebel soldiers too with his lightsaber for better continuity with his rage at the end of R1. Anyway, it was really great to see that Edwards dared to go that far and stop the prequel just before ANH, I thought it would end after the plans are sent and Vader said "Prepare a boarding party".

 

I have a question about “Rogue One”. Why was Leia and the Tantive IV so close to the war zone above Scarif? Wouldn’t it have been easier for her if the ship had maintained some distance away from the Rebel Fleet, during the battle? It’s not as if the Tantive IV had to be that close to the planet’s surface, as transmissions featured in other films have proven. Also, the transmissions still would have been traced by Anakin.

 

Have you ever known Leia to stay away from the action? She's in the thick of it.

You have to remember Admiral Raddus wasn't ordered to the Battle by Mon Mothma or the council.

He heard the report of a battle and he just said, "Screw it. I'm going."

Leia probably said the same thing.

 

So, a couple of things are at play here in response to some above comments. Please correct me if I have my facts wrong.

1. Bodhi could communicate short range on Alliance frequencies, but in order to send a message to the fleet, he needed to tie into the Imperial Comms tower. Remember, "all Rebel frequencies are blocked" so they couldn't talk to the ground troops on Scarif either.

2. When Vader says in ANH "where are those transmissions you've intercepted?" he's referring to the transmissions from the Citadel Tower to the Raddus Mon Cal Cruiser. His line makes total sense. Especially when on Yavin a Rebel tells Mon Mothma they intercepted Imperial transmissions that "Rebels on Scarif". Either way he knows they've intercepted Imperial comm.

3. Vader doesn't know WHO sent the transmission from the Citadel Tower. Just that a transmission was made from Imperial Equipment just before he arrived from Hyperspace. Tarkin wiped out Scarif so there's no evidence as to who sent the plans.

4. Tarkin figured out the Rebels were after the plans when he heard Scarif was under attack.

5. Vader doesn't know Leia is aboard the Tantive IV. However, in the past Leia being aboard any ship like that usually meant as a diplomat or on senate business. She played that card one too many times. Vader identified that ship and tracked it down. When he saw they had Leia, he knew she was a traitor.

6. Leia is his only link to finding the Rebels. " I've traced the Rebel Spies to her, now she is my only link to finding their secret base". He had nobody to interrogate since Tarkin wiped them out. The fleet was wiped out with exception of those who made the jump to Hyperspace. Leia was his last shot at finding the Rebels.

My BIG questions are: When did Leia dock with Raddus ship? We know R2 and 3PO were still on Yavin IV. Leia was not since Bail went to give her the message about Obi-Wan just prior. So neither Bail or Leia were on the Tantive when it departed for Scarif? Just R2 and 3PO? So then Leia takes another ship and meets up with the Tantive, then docks with Raddus after they get the plans? Seems a bit much.

 

Ok maybe the Tantive 4 and Raddus's ship where both getting the plans beamed at the same time. However there was a delay with Tantive getting the transmission due to the battle but the flag ship got the message quicker because it had a better "modem". Hence y the plans r given physically while Tantive 4 is still "downloading". So Vader is correct. From a certain point of...

 

Plus a digital/analog or just downloaded copy would be traceable when reading the board computer...When Vader and his Troops board the Tantive IV they dont find any plans. Having the only last surviving solid/physical copy of the plans is in my eyes the best way to ensure not to be incriminated or found out...Plus....you wont expect at first that R2 got it....