http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/10/the_5_reasons_luke_skywalker_is_a_complete_idiot.php

QuoteWe all know Luke Skywalker as the main protagonist throughout the original Star Wars movies and onward into the novels of questionable quality. We all grew up wanting to be him—learning to use the Force, blowing up the Death Star, saving the galaxy. But the thing is, despite all his badass moments, he actually kind of sucks. Perhaps not as much as his father Anakin, but that could be due to Mark Hamill's acting ability, in that he can act. Sure with the emotional music and all the screen time Luke Skywalker seems to be the hero, but really he's an idiot who makes bad decisions and has a series of terrible ideas, and he's lucky it all kind of works out for him, his friends, and the Rebel Alliance in the end.

:respect:

I especially like:

3. His Insanely Stupid Plan To Rescue Han Solo from Jabba The Hutt

When you put it that way...

Yeah, #3 for certain. When I saw the ROTJ in 1983...:eek:...I remember ranting to my friends how stupid Luke's plan was: "Okay, we send in Lando, but we don't let him do anything, because I'll put my lightsaber in R2's head, and give the droids to Jabba. It's foolproof!"

Thanks for the link.

There is something like this about Luke where all Jedi want to die within sight of him, pretty damm funny as well. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Is there really anyone out there who saw Star Wars and thought, "Wow, Luke is such a badass"?

My son....but he is young and will soon learn the ways of the force.

*Waves hand*

"These are not the panty wastes you are looking for!"

When I first saw it, I thought luke was kind cool- right up until Han Solo showed up. All Luke had was a big glow stick, a couple of second hand appliances and a walking fossil.  Han had a sense of humor, a space ship, a gun and a giant ass kicking flunky. It was clear to me then who would be getting all the pussy.

Of course Luke is not cool. The closest he came to a love scene was sticking his tongue in his sister's mouth. He goes all "  Oh Noes" when confronted with the fact that his father is the baddest mofo in the universe. He gets sucker punched by what is essentially a wookie on steroids. And he can't even pass himself of as a Stormtrooper. Loser.

Regards,
David R

I always thought that Lando and Leia had made their own plan to rescue Han while Luke was off flipping around and whining on a swamp planet with a goblin. And only when that plan fucked up did Luke show up with his own half-arsed plan.

But he is a loser. Like his father before him. The apple never falls far from the tree, they say.

Yeah, Star Wars would have really benefited from more boring, rational decisions that are visually unexciting.

The idea had potential to be funny, but the article is garbage even by Star Wars fanboy standards.

"He's stoopid not to join the Dark Side because the Dark side is really kewl! Glorp blort furp."

Found it.

QuoteSo last night I'm watching "Return of the Jedi: Now With Fakey-Looking Computerized Creatures Instead of Fakey-Looking Rubber Creatures," which I got for Christmas, and I noticed that Lucas hasn't fixed the main non-Ewok problem with the movie: the fact that the final battle between Luke and Vader makes no sense.

Here we have Luke "Badass" Skywalker, Jedi Extraordinaire. He's mown down Stormtroopers like bowling pins on bumper night, sliced open Imperial Walkers, and given the Death Star a photon colonic once already, not to mention all the womp rats he must have massacred. He's built his own lightsaber, raided Johnny Cash's closet, and watched his Jedi master snuff it. At long last he's brought before the Grand Imperial Old Guy himself, who's sitting there giving off smarm rays, and Luke decides, for no apparent reason, that killing the Emperor -- this one guy -- would tip him over the edge into the yawning abyss of Jedi perdition. I don't get it.

There's always the "defenseless" explanation, but that doesn't cut it. He could blow up everyone in the Death Star 1.0 in one force-guided shot, but he couldn't kill one guy in Death Star 2.0? If he had left, grabbed an X-Wing and blown up the whole damn battlestation that would have been Yoda-Kosher, but taking him one-on-one is bad juju? Not to mention the fact that when Darth offs the Emperor, that turns him into a good guy.

I have a better explanation. The fact is that, throughout the three films, everyone Luke meets is completely bullshitting him about the Force. They make up all this crap about Dark and Light and Good and Evil to disguise that there's only one rule to the Force: die in front of Luke.

Let's rewind to the first movie. Obi-Wan is facing it off with the Sith Lord. They play lightsaber pattycake for a while, and then Luke shows up. Obi-Wan looks over as if to say "Oh, good. Luke's here. Now I can die," and gives the fuck up. Darth, not having noticed Luke's presence, delivers the killing blow, and Obi-Wan gets a magical ghost body.

Then in "Empire," Obi's feeling pretty good about himself and decides to let his old friend Yoda in on some of this spirit-form action. He sends Luke to Dagobah, but how to keep him there until Yoda's ready to shuffle off this mortal sequel? No prob, just make Luke Yoda's "student" and provide him "training." A couple dumb levitation tricks will keep Luke wide-eyed while nature wracks Yoda's withered old latex body. You'll notice that when Luke decides to save his friends Yoda and Ben get all mystical and start making prophesies, none of which come true. They're not seeing the future, they're just trying to get Luke to stay put.

Now we're back to "Jedi." Luckily, Luke still hasn't seen through the plan, and he shows up just in time for Yoda to kick the Muppet bucket. Score one for Yoda, he gets a magical ghost body.

Then, there's the Final Battle. Emperor Palpatine doesn't have the subtlety of the rest of the Jedi gang, so he just says "Hey. Kill me." What he doesn't realize is that Luke is the goodwill ambassador for reverse psychology, and so Luke, just to be contrary, doesn't. Palpatine gets pissed off and decides that if he can't have a magical ghost body, nobody can. Darth, seeing his only chance for a cool afterlife being fried in front of his eyes, has a great plan. He grabs the wrinkled old Imperial coot and throws him down a convenient Tunnel O' Energy, out of Luke-death range. This has the double effect of ruining the Emperor's plans ("I was getting really tired of him anyway," thinks Darth) and putting Vader on this last legs. He plays on the maudlin "father" thing to get Luke to take off the helmet, and dies in front of him. Ta-da!

So there you go. Lucas tries to make you think that the Star Wars Trilogy is a re-telling of ancient tales dragged up from the collective unconscious, with lessons for us all about good and evil, hubris and loyalty, when it's really just a story about a bunch of guys who want to die in front of Luke.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;259973I always thought that Lando and Leia had made their own plan to rescue Han while Luke was off flipping around and whining on a swamp planet with a goblin. And only when that plan fucked up did Luke show up with his own half-arsed plan.

That has always been my assumption, and I'm pretty sure that's the canon explanation.

As for the rest:

5. Luke used the Force to target the photon torpedo.  A previous scene had established that the targeting computers could not hit the exhaust vent.  Only the Force could guide the torpedo with sufficient accuracy to destroy the Death Star.  Duh.

4. Yes.  The whole point of that entire sequence is that Luke has not developed the wisdom and detachment of a Jedi yet, and that his passion and desire to be heroic will be his undoing.  Which brings us too...

2. ...where Luke finally understands what Yoda meant when he said "Hmph.  Wars not make one great."  Luke finally understands that he can not desire to destroy the Emperor, as that only makes him more like his father, a helpless pawn of his own anger and passion.  So he does the one thing he the Emperor doesn't want: he gives up.

I also assume that Luke didn't know the emperor could shoot lightning from his fingertips.

1. Feh.  Not surprised by this, since the author clearly doesn't get the whole point of Star Wars.

And yeah, I think Luke is a total badass.  Sure, he starts as a callow youth, and he makes mistakes on the way, but he experiences far more growth than Han Solo (who, it should be mentioned, only grows because of his interaction with Luke and Leia).

I mean he's pretty much kickin' ass and talking names through the entirety of RotJ.  And his whole standing on a gangplank offering Jabba the chance to surrender bit is sooooooooo classic.

Eh, So what . Big Deal.

 They were were fun films to watch on the really Big Screen.

 A couple of them were worth seeing more than once on the Big Screen.


- Ed C.

Still, I were Ben and Yoda sending Luke off to kill Vadar and the Emperor because they couldn't I'd probably have the good faith to mention the force lightning and how you can block it with a lightsabre.

But then that's just the prequels messing up again.