A New Hope

Special Edition Laserdisc Side 1 Chapters 11-12

B: <To Artoo> Hello there! <Beckoning with his finger> Come here my little friend. Don’t be afraid. Oh, don’t worry, he’ll be all right. <Luke comes to his senses> Rest easy, son. You’ve had a busy day. You’re fortunate to be all in one piece.

L: Ben? Ben Kenobi? Boy am I glad to see you!

B: The Jundland wastes are not to be traveled lightly. Tell me, young Luke. What brings you out this far?

L: This little droid. <Ben narrows his eyes and looks at Artoo, then shifts his glance to Luke> I think he’s searching for his former master. But I’ve never seen such devotion in a droid before. He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ben’s eyes grow wider and he seems startled. Camera movement emphasizes his surprise. Hearing this name from Luke has definitely grabbed his attention.

B: <With some force> Obi-Wan Kenobi! <Repeating softly, gently, and looking into the distance.> Obi-Wan. Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time.

L: I think my uncle knows him. He said he was dead.

B: Oh, he’s not dead. Not yet.

L: Oh you know him?

B: Well of course I know him. He’s me!

<At that, Artoo turns his "head" and beeps significantly.>

B: I haven’t gone by the name "Obi-Wan," since, oh, before you were born.

L: Well, then, the droid does belong to you.

B: I don’t seem to remember ever owning a droid.

<Artoo reacts with a beep.>

B: Very interesting.

<A sound is heard in the distance.>

B: I think we’d better get indoors. The sand people are easily startled, but they’ll be back. And in greater numbers.

<Artoo beeps excitedly>

L: Threepio!

<The group retrieves a broken Threepio from the desert and the scene shifts to Ben Kenobi’s place in the desert.>

L: No, my father didn’t fight in the wars, he was a navigator on a spice freighter.

B: That’s what your uncle told you. He didn’t hold with your father’s ideals. Thought he should have stayed here, and not gotten involved.

L: You fought in the clone wars?

B: Yes, I was once a Jedi knight, the same as your father. <Sits back reflectively>

L: I wish I’d known him.

B: He was the best starpilot in the galaxy. <Speaking kindly> And a cunning warrior. I understand you’ve become quite a good pilot yourself. <Luke turns his head as if to say, "aw-shucks."> And he was a good friend. Which reminds me. I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn’t allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damned idealistic crusade like your father did. <Ben lifts a lightsaber from a case.>

<Threepio closes down for a while.>

L: <Looking at what Ben’s holding> What is it?

B: Your father’s lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. An elegant weapon. For a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.

L: How did my father die?

B: <Nods his head and speaks carefully> A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. <Ben seems to be speaking simply and directly to Luke.> He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force.

L: The Force?

B: The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

<Artoo beeps>

B: Now lets see if we can’t figure out what you are, my little friend. <Turns on holographic projection of Princess Leia> And where you come from.

L: I saw part of the message he was…

B: I seem to have found it.

PL: General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the clone wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am not able to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I am afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this Artoo unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.

B: <Looking at Luke> You must learn the ways of the Force, if you are to come with me to Alderaan.

L: Alderaan! I’m not going to Alderaan. I’d better get home. It’s late. I’m in for it as it is.

B: I need your help, Luke. She needs your help. I’m getting too old for this sort of thing.

L: I can’t get involved. I’ve got work to do. It’s not that I like the Empire -- I hate it -- but there’s nothing I can do about it right now. It’s such a long way from here.

B: That’s your uncle talking.

L: <Sigh> My uncle! How am I ever going to explain this?

B: Learn about the Force, Luke.

L: Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley, or wherever you’re going.

B: You must do what you feel is right, of course.

1) Ben does not seem to recognize -- he certainly doesn’t acknowledge -- Artoo. Luke is lying unconscious, so Ben could say "Hello again, old friend," if he wanted to, and Luke would not hear. But he speaks to Artoo as though to a child (or a dog?) he needs to put at ease, not to a robot he recognizes. And Artoo seems not to recognize Ben, as he seems initially afraid of him. But later Ben says he doesn’t "seem to recall ever owning a droid." This seems very Clintonesque to me; the kind of thing a person would say if he were trying to shade the truth, and certainly the kind of thing he would say if Lucas were trying to remind the audience that memories can be erased. Ben is definitely acting cagy regarding Artoo. Is this evidence that Artoo actually has had his memory erased too, and that Ben knows it? Perhaps even that Ben was involved in the erasure?

2) If Ben was speaking accurately, he stopped going by the name of Obi-Wan BEFORE Luke was born. Of course, this dialogue could have Ben speaking in generalities, when in fact, he stopped going by that name AFTER Luke was born. But that’s not what he says.

3) Ben isn’t at all reluctant to tell Luke he once went by the name Obi-Wan. And yet when the name is first mentioned, he seems nostalgic

4) Ben blames Owen for keeping Luke in the dark. He says Owen wanted to keep Luke from following Obi-Wan on an idealistic crusade as his father did. What is the understanding between Ben and Owen? Owen has known throughout Luke’s life that Ben is waiting out there in the desert. Owen has even allowed Luke to become acquainted with Ben. Throughout his life, Luke seems to have had no sense that Owen hated or feared Ben, at least not until the dinner conversation.

5) Ben is very clear when he says that a young Jedi named Darth Vader killed Luke’s father, who was, we assume, Anakin Skywalker. He is emphatic. Vader MURDERED Anakin. I suppose it’s possible, through philosophizing, to interpret that as shading the truth, and not an out-and-out lie. But when Ben says this, Lucas isn’t directing Sir Alec to look shifty. The lines are spoken very directly and kindly and to all appearances, truthfully. Now how can this be?

I’ve already suggested that Ben’s statement could be just Paulian (or Clintonian) metaphor for putting off the old man and putting on the new. But could something else happen in the upcoming films to show that Ben is speaking truthfully to Luke, at least to the best of his knowledge?

Ben tells at least two apparent falsehoods:

1) Vader was his apprentice -- false, because his apprentice was Anakin

2) Vader killed Anakin -- false, because Anakin is still alive

I’ve tried hard to rationalize some truth into Ben’s statements, but I’m really not getting very far. His statements are so unequivocal. But here are some ideas:

After discussing with Yoda a horrible threat to the Jedi Order, Ben and Anakin realize they’ll never defeat the Emperor unless they call on the power of the Dark Side. Yoda suggests that only one of them should take the fateful step, and the other should remain behind to serve as the conscience of the forthcoming Dark Jedi.

They flip a coin and Anakin wins (or loses, as the case may be). Yoda is horrified, because he doesn’t trust Anakin, but what can he do?

Obi-Wan looks Anakin in the eyes and reminds him that taking this step will likely mean the death of Anakin Skywalker, and Anakin resolutely replies that he understands. He’s ready to sacrifice his life for the greater good.

Anakin says, "Obi-Wan, my master, I ask only one thing. When Amidala gives birth to our child, you must <choke> keep him from me <sob> so that I can do him no harm." (Anakin doesn’t suspect twins are in the works.)

Obi-Wan, with a single tear rolling from his eye replies, "I give you my solemn word, dear friend."

They embrace, and then, as the John Williams Darth Vader theme thunders in the background and Yoda covers his eyes, Anakin does a Jekyll and Hyde transformation as he feels the Dark Power course through his body. He has become a new man, he announces to Obi-Wan and Yoda that he has taken on a new name: Darth Vader.

For the next several scenes, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader work together on their plan to "end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy." But all the while, we can see the darkness in Vader’s eyes, and we realize Obi-Wan is being a fool to trust him.

And then, at the end of Episode III, Darth Vader betrays the Jedi Order, allowing most of his former compatriots to be killed. He does allow Obi-Wan to escape, however, because he knows that Obi-Wan has custody of his child and he either expects someday to turn that child to the Dark Side, or he still nurtures a dim spark of love.

Well, I really enjoyed writing all that -- but it doesn’t work, does it? Specifically it doesn’t work if a conflicting conclusion is correct -- that audiences will be in the dark about Vader’s identity until that fateful revelation in ESB.

No, I think the most likely interpretation of Ben’s lies to Luke is that in fact they really were lies. Ben’s reasoning seems about the same as, "If you don’t tell your children about sex or drugs, they’ll never find out about them." Ben just felt he’d never get the kid to become a powerful Jedi and a valuable ally if Luke knew what a mess Ben had made with Anakin.

6) We learn that the Force is an energy field that surrounds everything and penetrates (at least) humans. I’ll leave it to others who are more familiar with TPM than I to reconcile this with the concept that the more midichlorians you have swimming in your bloodstream, the more receptive you are to the Force. I don’t get it, and I’m not sure I want to any more.

7) A person Leia considers her father is on Alderaan. The conventional wisdom is that his name is Bail Organa.