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How do!

It’s a movie thread!

About Star Wars!

Again!

Erm….yay? Hopefully yay, as I’m aiming for informative discussion about what made a beloved scene of mine so appealing in the first place. And yes, what it did that its prequels and sequels didn’t. Now that’s not to argue “therefore the prequels and sequels are crap”. There’s merits to all three trilogies, including for me the Battle of Exegol. But this scene does it better in my book. And I’ve been pondering why. Because I like to think about the way I think. Especially when it’s a film I honestly can’t remember not knowing what happens, making thinking about thinking even more fun. At least to me.

First up? The scene. Feel free to watch it, enjoy it and then bail if you want. I’ve plumped for a super cut because it’s just the space battle I want to dissect and discuss.




Now, for my observations. These are chronological, and if I remember I’ll add time stamps. But I probably won’t.

One

Our opening and establishing. First, the music is superb. It’s filled with tension, and shows us this is a desperate situation. But that flyby. A fleet massed, and a clear scale set between the various ships. From the tiny A-Wing to the massive Mon Cal Cruisers, and ships of sizes in between.

Two

The fleet arrives. We get a bit of the Skywalker leitmotif, a bit of music we’ve come by that point to associate with heroism, hope and derring do. But when the trap is sprung? The music changes to a more strident and urgent take on the battle’s main theme. We see our plucky heroes react quickly, and again get a sense that the capital ships are ponderous beasts. Not exactly sluggish and unresponsive, but still degrees slower in reaction and turn to the fighters. Again this reinforces the scale of everything, including variation of just how quick each scale of ship can turn.

Three

Oh man that literal swarm of TIE fighters. And our cavalry raid, what should’ve been a quick in, out, leg it attack ala A New Hope is now a far more dangerous situation. There’s not just dozens of enemy fighters, but a strong shot of dozens of Star Destroyers - ships we already know to be powerful.

Four

Squadron Tactics! Wingmen being wingmen. Quick, decisive action taken to try and gain a better footing in what is now a pretty chaotic brawl. And yep, again we see the scale of the ships reinforced. Importantly? We also see the Rebel Pilots being, individually, more skilled than their Imperial counterparts. They’re flying closer to the capital ships, and from what we see doing more damage than they’re taking.

Five

At precisely 2:59, my favourite gun shot of all Star Wars. Where we’ve seen tracking fire and volume before? Just a quick and accurate “blat” from the Falcon.

Six

Lando’s ongoing battlefield awareness is *chef’s kiss*. The situation is desperate, but he’s keeping a cool head, clearly monitoring for further threats.

Seven

A brief evil moustache twirling interlude! Hold here, something cool is about to happen….kaboom and Brown Trouser’s all round. Time again for decisive action. Run, or make a fight of it? And it turns purely on Lando’s faith in Han.

Eight

Solid counter tactics, if high risk ones. Close to point blank range, and hope your ground forces can pull off a miracle. And we’ve a quick recapping of the stakes being played for. And the theme keeps going, without sounding repetitive, matching the action on screen perfectly (thanks, John Williams!)

Nine

A kicking for the Rebels. We see numerous craft shot down in the chaos. Granted nobody we know the name of, but again it’s maintaining the stakes, and what we’re used to from Star Wars despite its reputation for plot armour.

Ten

Capital ship on capital ship red hot broadside action! Hurrah! But in keeping with my praising of setting up the scale of ships? We again see just how badly outgunned the Rebel fleet is. The Nebulon B is game, but the Star Destroyer has a clear advantage. But not the position of the Nebulon B. It’s coming in quite low - arguably low enough those massive deck guns may not be able to depress low enough to weigh in. See. Scaling is important!

Eleven

Shield down? Remember why you’re here, and why you’ve been getting a bloodied nose up to this point and GO GO GO baby! Some gorgeous model work here, especially the twisting dive into the innard of the Deathstar.

Twelve

A beautiful, sense making stakes upping compared to the Trench Run. Some more exposition from Lando on how they’re going to find the main reactor, and that this is a Bloody Stupid Place To Fly Around In At High Speeds, with a neat bow put on Wedge’s observation as the lesser skilled TIE pilot promptly stacks it

Thirteen

Robbed of their mobility in the tight environs, we lose a Rebel (who is the spitting image of my old Scout Leader, but I digress). And we get more plan of action, on the fly, from Lando. This guy knows his stuff (adding to Han’s chat with him re Battle of Tanab).

Fourteen

More fleet tactics! Can we take out the lynchpin of the Imperial Fleet? Because that would sure slacken things off for us somewhat. And watch closely, because we see a Star Destroyer detonate too.

Fifteen

Action taken, impact explained. Golf Ball lost. Bridge Deflector down. Always wondered what those golf balls were. Vulnerability acknowledged, order given to mitigate the risk. But as the line says? Too late. And that A-Wing, whilst damaged, was not entirely out of control. That ship was aimed.

Sixteen

I adore the way the tight tunnel opens up into the main chamber (stop that. Dirty.). Even better? We see the Rebels really go for it. No mucking around, assign target, kick it as hard as you can. In, out, don’t shake it all about.

Seventeen

One. Last. Ounce. Of. Tension. The flames rushing ahead of the Falcon, eventually enveloping it. And the flames emerge first. Then, like a bullet from a gun. Lando and Co are free and clear. Job done.

Observations end.

Now end to end? That’s an impressive 8:45 of ongoing action and indeed reaction. And all of it thrilling. What makes ROTJ even more impressive is that this is going on among two other scenes as the play out - yet none detract from each other, as each has its own flavour of risk, reward and heroism.

As stated during my observations, the music is such a key element here. John Williams is a long standing master of his art, and this for me is some of his finest work. But the overall special effects really work. The sense of scale isn’t really played with as well anywhere else in Star Wars. I mean, we always know Big Ship Big and Small Fighter Small. But here it’s used beautifully and draws me in, and I dare say drew you in too.

We see some of this brilliance in Rogue One, which has its own very, very cool moments (call up a Hammerhead Corvette….) which were new. And to be commended for not just going CGI. But Endor edges it out for me.

My one complaint, like with Rogue One, is that I’d like to have seen more capital ship action, especially from those Mon Cal Cruisers, which over Endor were mostly just handy dandy targets for the Deathstar. Just a glimpse or two of massive broadsides being exchanged, especially at close range. But I accept that may have been a limitation of the effects, similar to how we don’t see B-Wings getting stuck in (if memory serves B-Wing footage was created, but found lacking).

Exegol lacks much of this. The lighting just isn’t as clear. And the grid layout of the Final Order Fleet makes the shots feel repetitive, like we’re just seeing the same ship attacked again and again. Most disappointing for me was that massive fleet of ships of all sizes arriving to make a stand…..then promptly not doing anything until they get zapped, then not doing anything after.

The prequels, outside of Clone Wars really suffers in its space battles. The opening of RotS has some groovy glimpses, but we spend too much time with Obi and Anakin just being “really cool”. I’d have preferred a longer opening battle with our heroes arriving after a couple of minutes, give us some crunchy CGI ship wrecking brawl.

But yeah, this is my dissection of the Battle Over Endor, and why it’s my favourite space battle in all of Star Wars. And I am of course wondering what your comments, likes and dislikes might be.

While we don’t get to see a broadside, we do see a Star destroyer blow up behind Akbar’s head at one point, I’d always assumed as a result of Mon Cal cruiser firepower. Best we could get with the tech at the time, I guess.


Space battles are a lot like action scenes in movies, to me. The best ones feel like they have meaning for the characters, let us feel the stakes throughout, advance the story, and demonstrate the differing qualities of the participants. (The old Rob Roy fight being an example.) But I also want the movie to show me where the fight is happening, as in the environment and its relationship to the story, the layout, as in where are all the combatants in relation to each other and any terrain, the moves/tactics/choreography, seeing what the characters are doing to defeat each other, and what makes the fight stylish or unique.

ROTJ and Star Wars both achieved a lot of those aims. Rogue One, too. The Prequels and Sequels, not so much.

Addendum to my first observation?

Having a GR-45 Transport in the foreground as well as another example of scaling between the ships, adds visual depth to the scene. Which really helps enhance the realism, especially given CGI was properly in its infancy then, mostly to the best of my knowledge being used for composition].

If you haven’t seen Babylon 5, I recommend it at least in part for the space battles. The storytelling in general is mostly excellent, with the result that most of the big space battles are also excellent. Severed Dreams has the best in the series with at least two big “Oh sh-t!” moments.

A fine analysis. I concur that the Endor space battle is very well done, and that broadsides is the only thing missing. It was always something that stood out to me since watching Star Wars for the first time:

We get to see these immense, beautiful big ships, but they shoot very little. I would have been thrilled to see more action from those lumbering things.

Here's the big question for you, though, Doc - can you find the shoe?

Nope, and I never have 🤣🤣

But that they can do such silliness and it not be immediately noticeable (or in my case, noticeable at all) surely speaks to how much they piled into it.