@PBS Idea Channel You just missed the most basic rule of the Star Wars films while running down the list which destroys your entire theory: the Stormtroopers are NOT Clone Troopers. The Clone Troopers were an army of CLONES created from the DNA of one Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was killed after he got into an altercation with one Mace motherfuckin' Windu. For about twenty years during the war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, these clones were under the command of the Jedi who acted as generals. However, by the war's end, Darth Sidious (who was acting under the guise of Senator Palpatine) activated the clones, who were sleeper agents that had chips implanted in their brains, to execute Order 66 (the slaughter of any and all Jedi). With the CIS was defeated and the Jedi were all but extinct, Palpatine took over the Senate and instated an Empire. Afterwards, seeing that the clones had lived out their usefulness, the emperor shut down the clone factories of Kamino after a small rebellion started. Most of the surviving clones were retired and the army was basically disbanded, though a few tagged on for a while longer. In order to fill out these ranks, Darth Sidious created an outreach program on many of the newly acquired worlds which sought to inject some new blood into the troop ranks. Of course, compared to the old Clone army, these newly enlisted Stormtroopers were basically a laughing stock - undisciplined, green, and merely useful for their numbers for cannon fodder. The few clones that stayed in service at this time became disillusioned by the new status quo and quit the Galactic Empire to live out their days in anonymity.
+Deadpool3E There were some units that had higher standards, mainly the 501st under vader, but for the most part yeah stormtrooper boot is really lacking
+Geoff Nattrass Even if you dismiss all of the EU lore this is still fact that the storm troopers are not at least all clones in 4-6. Check out star wars rebels still made by the people who dismissed all of EU. They are recruits and you don't see the clones to often in the series so far.
+Geoff Nattrass Star Wars: Rebels, which is part of the current canon, shows that the Empire has set up several military academies throughout the system for the purpose of training personnel, from Stormtroopers to officers. It's also shown that the Clones have been slowly phased out - likely because of expense - and the ones that remain are all just shy of elderly. As Deadpool3E said, the bulk of the standing Imperial Army by the films are either enlisted or conscripted.
+Zero Cool well actually there is still media outside the films that is still (somehow) canon that states that almost all the stormtroopers are NOT clones. (Star Wars Rebels [animated tv series]) Considering that the original trilogy does not adress this, than it is pretty reasonable to assume that stormtroopers are still clone troopers. So either; Clones that have previously been led by the Jedi (whose loyalty most likely still lies with those former COs) are likely leading their own personal rebelion from inside the imperial army. Reasoning ranging from believing in the return of the jedi, to atonement for their sins at the end of the clone wars, to outright angry, jaded, personal revenge. Or, Non-clone conscripts are just as green and terrible as they come whose only redeeming quality is their impressive overwhelming numbers. Perhaps a bit of both?
+TheBritishGeek Some were. There were clone troopers in the ranks fo the 501st legion even during the Battle of Hoth. And then there wer the non-fett clones. And the recruits, obviously.
+TheBritishGeek "By 0 BBY, roughly one-third of the stormtroopers were clones based on the Fett template, while recruits steadily became the majority within the Stormtrooper Corps." -Wookieepedia. That specific one is referenced to Star Wars insider. Of course that says 1/3 were FETT clones, not counting the non Fett clones made after the Clone Wars. So there were clone Storm Troopers
+1234kalmar That is no longer canon. Look at the last two episodes of Star Wars Rebels. There the main characters meet Captain Rex, and Commanders Wolffe and Gregor. They said that the Emperor ordered all Clone Troopers to be put into retirement after the Jedi purge.
Stormtroopers miss because the concept of the inept mook is one of the central tropes of the pulp serials which inspired the Star Wars. Lucas has openly stated that he originally wanted to do Flash Gordon, but could not get the rights so went on to do his own homage to the Saturday Cinema Serials he loved so much as a child.
I read a theory once that stated that probably Kamino stopped producing clones after the Empire was formed and the jedi killed. Therefore, considering that clones have a shorter lifespan than regular humans, the Empire saw itself with a problem: the huge army under its command was dying fast and no-one was producing any replacement. As such, stormtroopers in the original movies were not the clones produced in the prequels but regular people probably drafted in a rush into the army with little training and marksmanship.
I've heard something about clones dying out at some point and being replaced by ton of people across entire galaxy. That would explain different actor being in storm trooper armor in seventh episode.
Actually, according to the battlefront series, created by LucasArts, very few stormtroopers are still clones. The clones that were left after the clone wars were integrated with the empires new forces. This included people and species from across the galaxy. The cloning facility (I forgot what planet it's on) was destroyed during the clone wars.
I thought we were going to talk about the theory that the Stormtroopers were missing intentionally because they were ordered to allow team New Hope to escape. Remember Darth had the Falcon bugged so they could track the ship to the rebel base. But if we're going to talk about feels then let us witness the opening scene. The Troopers had no qualms with shooting up a diplomatic barge from Alderaan and killing most of the crew.
Despite the error in the episode, I think the main point here is: why are Mooks so inefficient at their job? While I agree that the theory according to which they _somehow_ know that they're doing the right thing by missing is interesting, I do believe the "reality" of their failings (within whichever story is being told) is actually just a consequence of how awesome and superior and predestined (etc.) the hero is. Whatever happens, however bad a predicament the hero may find themselves in (including by their own fault), the Way The Universe Works will guarantee they escape and fulfill their destiny. _That_'s the essential narrative, after all, for a hero: surpassing every and all obstacles.
Maybe the Jedis can create a "force" field of sorts which causes the lasers to be deflected around themselves and their friends and only get shot if they lose focus.
So... Did you watch the movie? See, there's this part where Princess Leia says, "They let us go, it's the only explanation for the ease of our escape." Followed by, "They're tracking us!" Despite being dismissed by Han Solo, her fears are confirmed in the following scene when Tarkin says to Vader, "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader, this had better work." The stormtroopers missed on purpose because Vader ordered them to do so. This isn't theory, this is confirmed fact. So the next time you see hoof prints, you go ahead and think "Horse!" instead of "Zebra!"
I did my best to comment only after I finished watching the video. Without going full Expanded Universe, the Storm Troopers are regular soldiers, due to the accelerated growth the clones had, in 10 years they were ready for combat, by the time episode IV happened, the first batches of clones were already dead; also, on Wookiepedia on the Storm Troopers article you can read that most of the Troopers were regular people who decided to join the Empire ranks. And Star Wars Rebels' Troopers were really lame, even when the main characters were running straightforward they couldn't hit them even once.
I kind of believe storm trooper are missing under command, to be more specifically, Lord Vader's order. I agree on a theory that it is a part of Vader's plan that let them go in order to track down the base of rebellions
I'm not sure if this is canon still or not, but I think the only Clone Troopers that remained 100% Fett Clones in the Stormtrooper Crops were the 501st Legion and 82nd Nova Corps. Everyone else is a volunteer or conscript.
I haven't been a big follower of the Star Wars universe but found this theory interesting (HuffPost article - This Luke Skywalker Theory Destroys Everything You Thought You Knew About 'Star Wars'). It coincides well with the Stormtroopers being ordered by the Emperor to let them go as well.
Stormtroopers miss so as not to disturb the plot. You can't have sharpshooting Stormtroopers killing every main character in the original Star Wars trilogy halfway through A New Hope.
Star Wars canon in regards to Storm Troopers is so confusing. First they are clones then they're not then they are again ... I don't even care anymore lol
Maybe the problem is their helmets. If helmet's lens is not focused right, it will be hard to aim. Also the suits they wear must be very heavy, this also causes bad accuracy.
It's perspective, they are described as talented fighters but compared to what? Compare to other clones, robots or jar jar binks? It's clearly they become when bad shots when we compare them to hawk eye. Our standards are bit too high.
Stormtroopers definitely are NOT clones. The Empire had academies and recruitment centers all over the place. Maybe if they had stuck clones in those positions no one would have wanted to rebel because the empire would have had unlimited troop resource. However I always kind of assumed that the Stormtroopers (at least on the Death Star) weren't exactly the most elite soldiers. Why would you put your best fighters on the nearly indestructible, moon-sized, planet-destroying battleship? If I were in charge I would put reservists and guys who otherwise don't plan on seeing a lot of action, because all I really need is some guys to patrol and make sure stuff isn't broken. Notice when they actually have an encounter with the rebels they fire wildly
Maybe the clones are simply out of practice. With the Empire being the dominant force in the galaxy there will be few actual land battles to fight. The rebel alliance will amount to little more than a guerilla-terrorist force that cannot be fought by a conventional army. Couple this with the fact that they are aboard the Death Star, a powerful space station where it's very unlikely that they will ever get into a blaster fight... I mean what kind of maniac would sneak aboard the ultimate weapon in the galaxy and try to rescue a princess???? All in all they're out of practice. By the time they attack Hoth they've got a little more in...
i like the thepry that says that stormtropers know that luke is vaders son.. so they dont kill him for obvious reasons... nobody wants to be the one that killed your boss son, and have to face him with that fact... even tho that only would apply to him and not the other rebels.. so.. not a perfect theory
Storm troopers are not clones... there are people who graduated at top of there class and were skilled enough to join the empire or they were taken from birth to train to become a storm trooper
What no Force theory? Clearly the storm troopers have no problem shooting at the rebels in the beginning of the movie and attacking the sandcrawler on Tatooine. They are referred to their great marksmanship and are readily feared throughout the empire. It seems they're only bad at shooting the main cast which is so is everyone else (e.g. Jabba's henchmen, Boba Fett, etc.). I think that Luke, Obi-Wan, Leia, and even Han (If you believe the theory he can use the force too) use the force in order to make them miss. We know they can fall for the Jedi mind trick but what if that can be use more subtly? Not only that but Jedi's can predict one's movements which means they instinctively just move to the right place to not get hit.
I would argue that it is a matter of scale. The Empire was just too large to have a high standard for their troops. In order to keep an entire planet under control you would need a massive amount of resources which you would then need to multiply by hundreds if not thousands of planets. We would be talking about billions or maybe even trillions of people. As for the soldiers on the Deathstar, it would be a waste to keep the best of the best on an indestructible space station rather than on the front lines keeping the peace on warzone planets.
I heard that the clones aged after and therefor were still very expensive, and that training humans on occupied planets was better? (a higher possibility of disobedience and failure makes this unlikely though) that way there is a possibility that stormtroopers are "more defect" then "defect" clones, because the trained humans have more humanity then the clones. The ages clones were transformed (or upgraded) to dark troopers phase zero (phase 1 to 3 were actual droids). The dark trooper phase zero was a aged clone cyborg stuck in a lifesupport suit for the rest of his life. I'd imagine they have their pro's and cons and that you need regular troops as well. Therefor cloned stormtroopers can't be a long term strategy. (Al though during the clone wars it WAS a long term strategy :/ pumping out troopers by the thousands.....)
+NerdSync Actually none of the troopers are clones. Stormtroopers being clones was always a retcon, and now they removed it. Clones were all decomissioned. Disney gladly set things back to what it originally was. And also they were under orders not to kill them. They put the tracking device on the ship so they obviously were expecting them to escape.
The idea that they let them go because Vader ordered it fits best. Leia even says, "they let us go." It also accounts for them only sending 4 TIE fighters after them when they have legions of them. Also in Empire they beat the rebels handedly. Even Obi-wan make a comment about their accuracy early in episode 1, not to mention the battle on the blockade runner where the troopers kill the guards with expert shots for the entire fight. We also know from that battle that they have a sort range AOE stun blast on their weapons that if they really wanted to capture Luke and crew on the Death Star they could have used as they were close enough many times.
+Jodie McAdams Which exposes a new plot hole: Leia correctly figures the ship is being tracked. So what does she do? Makes a bee line for the super secret base. Nobody thinks it may be safe to lay low and hide somewhere for a few days? Have Han and Chewie search their ship for questionable new additions? Spread R2's knowledge to as many Rebel cells as they can and let the info relay back to base? At the very least, if you think the ship is being tracked, change ships.
+Dustin B true points, however by going to Yavin right away they are able to formulate a plan and execute it much more quickly. The Death Star comes to them and they are able to engage it with just fighters instead of having to amass the fleet like in Episode 6 when the Death Star 2 is protected at anchor. Also the longer the Rebels take to act on the info the more chances that the only flaw in the Death Star could be found and removed. So doing a double fake out and making the Empire think you don't know they let you go and are tracking you by going right to your base so they show up at your door (thinking they have surprise) while you're actually ready isn't the worst plan. Honestly all they had left were bad options, so I personally think she picked the bad option that gave them a decent chance to destroy that thing.
+Primarch Alpharius In the Disney Wars. In Real Star Wars, some Jango Fett Clones were serving even during the battle of Hoth, and many stormtroopers were made from new templates.
My theory is that stormtroopers are undertrained. Immediately after the empires creation, they had plenty of fighting. After this, not much rebellion. What if the empire got lazy, and barely trained their stormtroopers? We know some stormtroopers were normal humans who enlisted.
+WitherNet That's totally possible. The Empire may have over-recruited in an attempt to seem even more imposing. The Empire would save it's first-class troopers for the important missions, but the generic trooper sitting around on the Death Star was one that barely knew how to shoot properly.
+WitherNet This one has a TON of historical backing, so I'm a fan. Given the iron-fisted-ness of the Empire and the fact that the rebels are just "rebels" (implying that they are unique in their rebellion) it's likely that soldiers don't see a lot of fighting. Also, Storm Troopers likely train for on-the-ground combat, and not look-at-me-I'm-on-a-ship-with-narrow-hallways combat (even more so given the new-ness of the Death Star).
+Rorschach That would make a lot of sense, because Obi-Wan only knew of the Clone Troopers and their aiming skills right after the war, otherwise, he's been chilling out on Tatooine for 17 years. So his idea of their accuracy was flawed by anachronism. Also, maybe the Tusken Raiders are EVEN WORSE SHOTS.
+Iconoclasm_ well there's an issue with that idea, at the time of the first movie the prequels had not even been thought of, it was just Obi-Wan commenting on their marksmanship. one other thing of note, we don't know what Obi-Wan has seen or done leading up to IV, he could have had an ear out for intel on the empire, hell he could of seen their shooting first hand, we did see them on the planet in the movie so they might have come at some point before IV took place.
calvin fair Sure, but I'm talking about an in-universe explanation without going too meta. Also, I had thought that Lucas knew what he wanted the -first movies- prequels to be, but didn't have the resources to make them the way he wanted to make them.
you are going to get a hundred of these comments but I'm gonna throw it in there anyway. It has been known for a long time that the clones were discontinued by episode 4 and the army was made up of almost all conscripts. luke even talks about joining up. However after the expanded universe purge it was unclear until Rebels premiered. The TV series Star Wars Rebels confirms that the clones are no longer part of the military of the empire by the time episode four happens. That tv series is cannon. It has many scenes showing cadets, young kids training to be storm troopers. Initially the army was clones but for some reason they stopped doing it and by the time of episode 4 after 20 years have past since episode 3 there are almost no clones from the original army. There may have been some leftover but not many. Therefore never in the history of star wars have clones been stormtroopers except for episode 3 and that some of that time gap. by episode 4 and onward its 99 percent non-clones. the pre-quels created this stupid misconception and never clarified it in the films. you fell prey to it. So you're wrong in your video assuming cloning has anything to do with it. I'm sorry. however, the theory that they were ordered to let them go still makes sense knowing this information. and your idea of human nature actually fits more. but the clone thing is completely off base. you might wan't to re release this like tommy westphall cause you are just adding to the confusion over clone troopers vs stormtroopers. its not responsible to spread mis-information.
One theory I came up with is that it has to do with the weapon of choice: Plasma. And I nonetheless, there is hard evidence to support this theory. First piece of evidence: the storm troopers aren't the only ones who can't hit anything. In the very scene you cited earlier that turns into Benny Hill Luke and Leia face a group of stormtroopers in a narrow hallway, less than ten feet apart, and no one can hit anything, despite that they are firing like madmen! Second piece: the ships rely on computers to fire. They can're use line of sight, even though they have these big cockpits designed for visibility, but nonetheless it is expected that you can't hit anything without using the lock-on targeting computer. Even Luke can't use line of sight: he has to use the force. Third Piece: one of Vader's minions even almost outright says so. When the rebels first strike at the death star, the turrets begin to fire, but never once do any of the big green lasers shoot down an XWing or a YWing, and one of the minions even says it's because they are too small ships for the cannons to hit. Vader then responds by ordering fighters be sent out after them, and very quickly begin destroying rebel fighters left and right. Final Piece: look at the properties of plasma. It's a high energy form of matter that causes a great deal of damage when striking something. Just look at a tree that's been struck by lightning (or a toad tolololsorry...). When concentrated right it could be an exceedingly powerful weapon of both force, heat, and electrical damage able to kill even when not striking precisely in one of the traditional kill spots. That said, look at how lightning moves. Plasma doesn't move very consistently straight, and it could easily be that this is the explanation for blasters not firing straight in the Star Wars universe.
So, my theory for your theory : the Empire got tricked into buying these all but useless weapons for a "great deal" price. Sure, they killed the arms dealer later for his --scam-- treason. But now they're stuck with these plasma guns. And y'know, they may be an expansive evil empire owning or controlling several worlds and all. But. Credits don't fall off every passing asteroid, and they can't afford to replace that many stock weapons (and they're not about to admit they got suckered anyway). . So pass the dang things out to the troops, say not a word, and hope for the best. If anyone on their side complains, they can blame the conscripts' poor aim and obviously-not-practicing-enough-are-we. If anyone on the other side says anything, well, blame those rotten Jedi rebel holdouts force-blocking the troopers' shots, ofc.
+Jack Firebane Actually, Storm troopers are a mix of the remaining Fett clones, other clone models, and new recruits. So technically, they are, just not entirely. ;)
+Jack Firebane In the Disney Wars. In Real Star Wars, some Jango Fett Clones were serving even during the battle of Hoth, and many stormtroopers were made from new templates.
It's pretty well documented throughout the extended universe that the BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle (the standard Stormtrooper rifle) is highly inaccurate. My guess would be a diminished quality of firearm due to corner cutting in an effort to arm the large amount of stormtroopers in a short period of time. Han, Luke, and Leia are practically the only people who have ever repeatedly hit their targets with one and I'm going to chalk that up to Luke and Leia's latent force abilities.
There ARE still surviving clones in the Galactic Army like the 501st legion which were the best of the best but due to a rebellion on Kamino they stopped major cloning of soldiers.
+Ben Moody Well, don't know about Disney's canon, but in Real Star wars, there are a considerable number of clones in the imperial army, but they are made from a wider variety of templates.
Storm Troopers are not clones, they are regular citizens recruited for the Imperial Army. In fact Han Solo was a pilot before breaking Chewie out of prison. By the time A New Hope happens what few clones remain are officer ranks and/or elite guards for the emperor and the rank and file have long since dropped in quality as a result.
That is not a theory. That's the truth. Original trilogy Stormtroopers are not clones. They are just normal, individual people that joined the Empire's military.
+SirMcCheese Not a theory, it's fact now. Originally none of the Stormtroopers were clones. But then when Lucas was making the prequels he retconned the Stormtroopers to be clones. This clashed so much with the movies that they had to do more retcons to fix it. Now none of the Stormtroopers are clones again.
+ErzengelDesLichtes They didn't really need them dead either. Leia was princess of no one at that point, so she didn't really have any weight to throw against the Empire. Lando had basically proved that he could be controlled by threatening his people, so he was easily manipulated. And if Chewie had put up any real fight, he could've only threatened a handful of stormtroopers before being shot, but because he didn't really put up much of a fight, there was no need to kill him. In all honesty, all three serve as better cautionary tales while they're alive, than after their dead. Leia is the last survivor of a world which was destroyed for crossing the Empire, Lando has survived up to this point by doing everything the Empire asked of him including betraying his best friends, and Chewie is a great warrior rendered impotent by the Empire's might, who (it could be argued in propaganda) froze his friend as a warning to him. All are living proof of the might of the Empire, the dangers of crossing it, and the benefits of doing what you're told.
I think it's the collective space powers of Luke and Obi Wan (the force) that unconsciously give the good guys an edge against the Stormtroopers. If they are not clones, which everybody keeps telling me they aren't, they are just enlisted or conscripted soldiers who we've already seen are "weak minded" and easily mentally overpowered by the force. Maybe Luke is subconsciously (and or ObiWan is consciously) transmitting "Miss! miss! miss! miss!" into the minds inside all those plastic helmets. Therefore the force-having good guys are protected by a kind of a safety bubble that the troopers can't shoot through. But really, the Mook thing makes just as much sense. If looks were good at shooting or fighting or being clever, they would be the heroee or the villains.
+ProfessorPuppet I forget where I herd the theory but apparently the stormtrooper blaster rifle has a folding stock and in the rescue scene the troopers did not fold them out, meaning they are essentially trying to aim and steady assault rifles with pistol grips
by the time of episode 4 there are no more clones in the imperial army, the army by that point is made up of recruits and drafted civilians, which was established in star wars rebels and in the previous canon.
There are still clones in the army but it's no longer the main source of military force. There was a rebellion on Kamino so they stopped major cloning.
+scottdpt12 This! People look so much into this it's mind-boggling. It is called "plot armor". Why did the storm troopers miss? Because they read the script :P. If they hit all their shots, the protagonists would all be dead in the first hour hahaha.
Phlos Fysics Phan 42 Precisely, it is not a valid reason, as I said. However, it is not really a plot hole, it is simply how the movie was written. Making the storm-troopers not kill them is necessary because in the movie, the characters don't die, so they can't get them killed, so the movie can progress. The way that it was executed proves lousy writing, but not a plot hole.
+Xenophilius394 Well, don't know about Disney's canon, but in Real Star wars, there are a considerable number of clones in the imperial army, but they are made from a wider variety of templates.
My favorite Theory comes from my friend Colin. As he calls it: force luck. The idea is that those with the power of the force at their disposal have chances naturally favor them, somewhat like an innate, lesser version of the battle meditation seen in the Knights of the Old Republic series (not cannon I know, but bear with me). I'd have to speak to him about this, but this theory explains a great deal of occurrences throughout the entirety of the series, most notably why stormtroopers, whom Obi Wan directly says in the beginning of the first movie have precise aim, miss so often. One good evidence of force luck is the very scene you showed of Han chasing the troopers Benny Hill style. He, Luke, and Leia turn the corner, and all the stormtroopers miss and flee. Han chases after them, leaving Luke and Leia, and the stormtroopers regain their numbers and rally forth. My personal favorite example of force luck in the series though comes from episode 6, when Han is sneaking up behind one of the stormtroopers on Endor. As he does so he breaks away from the group, leaving Leia behind, and what happens? He steps on a stick. A freaking stick! And now his cover is blown, just as he walks away from someone who is strong with the force. Anyway, that's my favorite theory personally.
Simple answer: If you've ever played DnD, you'll know that lower-level characters can't even touch higher level characters, simply because they can't beat their target's Armor Class. Obviously, all the Storm Troopers are level 3, and can thus snipe everyone in their level range and lower, but cannot even being to go after the level 10 or above Main Characters.
Ignoring the whole "The Storm Troopers are not necessarily Clones" issue, I would be a bit more concerned about similar issues present in Separatist Battle Droids During the Clone Wars and the incursion on Naboo. Battle Droids are designed to target the enemy, and they have computer controlled aiming systems, and they lack any need to see the enemy as anything but the next thing they need to shoot, so there is no good reason at all why they should miss, outside of severe manufacturing defects... But they still miss. A lot. I like to think of it like this, the Trade Federation was a group of Capitalistic businesses, trying to get as much return out of as little investment as they could, so they wanted to spend the least amount of money possible. I am guessing droid parts are cheap, and good targeting software is expensive, and droids are themselves a commodity, so it was a better investment to make up for bad targeting systems by fielding a lot of droids that they could then turn around and sell later.
I subscribe to the Inverse Talent Quotient Theory. I'll skip the math because people poop their pants when they see math, the but theory goes like this. Good guys and Bad guys both have a pool of Talent (strength, speed, firepower, etc). The pool is divided equally or near equally among the actual combatants. When you are an unruly band of misfits numbering less than 10. Each member gets a pretty big chunk of the talent pie. When you are part of the ravening masses numbering in the dozens to thousands, that pie is very small. Its why a ragtag fleet of rebels can take down an Empire in a few short years but the Republic (with the same resources as the Empire) spent a decade or more fighting the Seperatists and even then only to a draw.
What if it was The Force? No, no, hear me out here. Luke is Vader's son, right (and Leia's his daughter)- and they're all Force Sensitive/have a bunch of midichlorians. So, they probably have similar Auras- similar ways that they resonate in the Force. So the reason that the Stormtroopers were unwilling to shoot at that particular group of Rebels (since they were fine with slaughtering Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, the rebels on the Blockade Runner, and the Eewoks) because their instincts were yelling at them as though they were firing at Lord Vader himself (and his personal retinue)?
Ok yes, as everyone on here has been repeatedly informing you, Stormtroopers are not clones. This could lead to a potential reason as to why the troopers seem to be so faulty. After the expiration of clones in the early days of the Galactic Empire, most humans were either conscripted or enlisted into the Imperial Army. Imperial propaganda was rampant in the galaxy, which was used as ways to lean misinformed youth to enlist and force drafting. We know that the Empire has a nearly endless pocket of credits to build vast armies, huge starships with cutting edge technology, and even TWO moon sized weapons to destroy entire planets. However, despite this, the Empire also was very prominent about cutting corners to achieve quick, fast, mass produced units (This is explored in the EU through books and comics). Take for example the TIE fighters, they were flimsy, had no shielding and were easy to shoot down, but they came in swarms, with the intention to overwhelm the few, more armored rebel fighters. The same goes for Stormtroopers, there was constant heavy demand for more troops to enforce Imperial law. This meant most troopers had expedited, poor training. Most troopers were barely ready for combat, which could explain all the incompetence. They relied on their numbers rather than their own sloppy training. Maybe this brought them into a state of confusion and fear when encountering rebels, which could prompt the terrible aiming we see in the films.
I'm unfamiliar with a lot of what happens in the EU between Episode III and Episode IV, but I was under the impression that there were a finite number of clone troopers, and that the other storm troopers were simply picked up from the Imperial academy. The one Luke mentions joining early in the Episode IV. If that's the case, they could be all over the place in terms of natural skill level.
one thing we do know about storm troopers is that they are extremely susceptible to the will of the force. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this could manifest itself in poor aim.
Personally as much as the theory is too tiddy for you, it makes perfect sense with Leia saying they let them escape, because why else would it have been so easy.
But Troopers weren't clones. ONLY the 501st legion remained clones under Vader's command because he refused to give up his clones from the Republic and like their undying loyalty. Clones were loyal to the Emperor to a fault, by programming placed in them before their birth. Troopers were recruited from the worlds that the empire takes in its victory, they are trained quickly, motivated by fear and most importantly, normal people. Often times taken from the outer rim territories the Empire recruited in vast numbers because they needed billions, yes billions, of troopers to serve as occupation forces. Doing little more than babysitting the worlds now under empire control they basically just dealt with whatever smaller rebellions would arise. The Emperor was sure that a clone army was too susceptible to corruption after the cloners on Kamino used a fresh batch of clones to attack their own brothers as the planet was being taken. Essentially turning them against their masters by removing their programmed loyalty to the throne. This ended badly for them in the end. From then on Clones were only produced for Vader's legion, the ones in service were slowly killed off and replaced by normal humans. I probably missed something but that ^ is why the Troopers in the movies were at least, in all likely hood, not entirely made of clones. So they would have no predisposition to betray the empire for the sake of re-establishing the Republic. But also means that the Normal Humans being recruited could have, as normal people being motivated by fear, decided that they WANT the rebels to win, but know their their experiences in the military that joining them will result in their swift and horrid deaths. These people would then reason that by letting these rebels escape by what owuld appear to be incredible luck time and time again they could help to bring down the government that is the cause of their suffering while saving themselves from the wraith of their CO's. *Braces for Impact*
Tidiest theory I ever heard is that for the Empire to employ that many troopers across a galaxy spanning civilization was to make a very cheap military. Guns, armor, tanks, walkers, and the Stormtroopers themselves are all dirt cheap and therefore inadequate soldiers
+Skyla Jade Forster (Sky) The reason why their bad at shooting and such is that its a massive galactic empire that has to recruit millions of soldiers, just look how bad alot of current day American soldiers are when they arent given proper training. Its the same thing they press troops into service without proper training and with little to no combat experience. There are a few elite units and the rest are just cannon fodder that rely on numbers to win.
Man, I love this channel... Ok, so researching Star Wars canon is HARD. I made a Star Wars related video a couple months ago and the research took me a week longer than expected. THERE IS A LOT OF MATERIAL, so don't be too hard on yourself. I am also no expert. I think the fact that most of the stormtoopers are not clones by Episode 4, if anything, VALIDATES this fan theory. The older versions were all clones of Boba Fett's father, who (as portrayed in the prequels) really cared for nothing but his son. He was also an excellent fighter, so I think the clone versions of the stormtroopers wouldn't have this problem fighting the resistance. The fact that they're mostly individual humans now who have just been trained by the Empire just makes it more plausible that perhaps, on some deep subconscious level, they feel the resistance should win. They actually have a vested interest in the outcome of the war. We know they're not terrible shots in general because, in Episode 4, Obi-Wan mentions how "precise" they were in disabling the Jawa trading vessel. If we set aside the fact that this is a fictional universe, then we have to assume there is something else going on. P.S. Nice shirt! Brings back some memories.
As much as I LOVE Star Wars and can't wait for Force Awakens, one thing that always felt off was the fact Stormtroopers are always called the ELITE fighting force of the Empire. Sort of sounds like they would be the Special Forces of the standing armies but...THEY ARE THE STANDING ARMY! Look how many they pack in the ships, I am sorry. Even with high standards, there is no way all of them are ELITE fighters. Also we know the Empires general tactics are Heavy Armor and massive numbers on the ground/in space; again both suggesting that ELITE is just propaganda tactics. (This of course stems off the fact that Stormtroopers are pretty much not clones anymore by Episode 4 but everyone is already saying this.) Though I am with the whole "They are Order to Let Them Go" Theory as there is dialogue in the film that suggests this; plus like the Force.
No mention of Obi Wan’s (paraphrased) “only imperial troops are this accurate” line? I know I’m late to the party, but in the off-chance it wasn’t mentioned in the previous 1,799 comments: Most bullets fired in the real world don’t hit their target. I’m not convinced the stormtroopers are bad shots. (Although all movies with “firearms”-whether science-fantasy or gritty cop drama-could use a healthy dose of actual fire-and-movement tactics. With, say, sword fighting you can argue that unrealistic techniques are important to help the audience follow the action. I’m not convinced that realistic gun tactics would have such issues.)
Nope. One response to the "they missed because of some subconcious yada yada yada". Order 66. Clones killed a LOT of Jedi, "They look like us" types. They were ordered. It's the Empire. Clean and simple theories work.
As a Dungeon Master I am the true evil overlord of my Campaigns. But I also am playing so that me and my players have fun! I like to see the Star Wars movies as a D&D Campaign, where each main character is a player! With this premise I see the Stormtroopers as Mooks, but Mooks are not what most people say they are! Mooks, to me, are the ultimate tool to help the players have fun. They are a dangerous but weak opponent that serve as "The Everyman" in an organization. A mook is not a "bad fighter", not at all! A random Level 0 Citizen is a BAD fighter, a tavern drunk is a bad fighter! A Goblin is a bad fighter! Mooks are noble, hard working people who serve one, and only one purpose. They walk into work, lock step, to fulfill a single goal. "Help the players have fun!" Do the players want to slaughter untold numbers of minions? Send in the mooks! Do the players want a highly trained commando squad to test their new skills? Send in the mooks! Do the players want some slap-stick silliness in their combat? Send in the mooks! The Stormtroopers could have been ordered by Vader to let the rebels escape... Or the Mooks could be doing their jobs perfectly and allowing the story to evolve and giving the players the perfect amount of resistance to give them a sense of triumph and satisfaction! Being a Mook is Noble, Worth While, and Fulfilling vocation! The unsung heroes behind the scenes! If a Mook is doing their job right, they will fight, they will die, they will lay in the mud. And after the battle is done and the smoke has lifted, they will help each other up, square their shoulders, dawn their newest costume and walk off stage. If a Mook has done their duty, the players won't even notice when their gone.
Everyone is commenting about how you thought storm troopers were clones, so I'll complain about something different. It's pronounced pal-pa-teen. Have you even seen Star Wars?...
Luke and Leia both have the... space power. Remember that Leia actually does get shot by a storm trooper. When? When she isn't paying attention properly, and is unable to instinctively use the space power (presumably). Neither of them are really trained, but neither was Anakin, who also instinctively used the space powers to his advantage while podracing. We've seen that the space powers have both telepathic and telekinetic properties, so it's easy to imagine that a little nudge-nudge from their... space powers would be enough to knock blaster shot off course just enough to avoid bein' fried. Least that was always my theory.
I like to think they're actually bitter about being the bad guys in the movie. So much so that they're actively trying to ruin the suspense of the movie by being purposely incompetent. After the success of the original series, they realized this wasn't enough. They had 20 years straddling the 4th wall to figure out how to make sure the prequels were as bad as possible, and turned out to be the most effective meta-villains of cinema history so far, and they killed the meta-hero for a large number of people: George Lucas' film-making prowess.
To be honest, it really doesn't matter, if the Stormtroopers are clones in A New Hope, they still miss basically every shot in the movie. We can still discuss that point, right? So, one of the possibilities is that they are just badly trained. The empire might be running out of funds at that point. They were wasting a lot of money on the Deathstar(s), not to mention all those Star Destroyers. Perhaps with all their firepower they just did not have enough money for adequate training anymore. Who even needs decent footsoldiers when you have enough power to destroy planets with a single shot? Han, Leia and Chewie had good training from their background and Luke, well, the force was strong with that one.
Luke's midichlorians cast a magical glimmer effect that blinds the stormtroopers, duh. Now to head to my George Lucas bunker and CGI in some wicked green particle effects to seal the deal!
Stormtroopers being ordered not to kill them isn't just a fan theory, it's practically cannon. Tarkin asks "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?" as they're leaving, and Leia even points out "They let us go. It was the only reason for the ease of our escape."
Here is a better explanation: Shitty writing. This is a movie, the heroes can't die in the second act. Writers couldn't think a way to make it work so they say: Storm Troopers miss. PEW
I think the theory that some of the stormtroopers want the rebels to win could make a lot of sense. The fact that they aren't clones means they would have even more individuality, and they would not be bred to unquestioningly follow orders. The tyrannical rule of the Empire was harsh, and many troopers might have felt the effects of that either directly or indirectly. They may have even had thoughts of joining the rebellion but were too afraid to; thus, seeing real, living rebels would give them enough mettle to rebel in their own way by missing purposefully. Also, it is very possible that many of those stormtroopers are actually rebel spies in disguise, and them knowing the importance of Leia at the time of IV and the rest of the crew in V and VI would lead them to try to cause the stormtroopers to fail. This might entail the spies putting themselves on the front row to make it harder for other troopers in the back to land a shot while sacrificing themselves.
Luke says "I can barely see in this helmet" in a new hope. This could be the reason they have bad aim, there vision is impaired by the helmets. Also it was confirmed in the movie that Darth Vader let them escape the death star because he put a tracker on the millennium falcon. It's is not a theory it is a fact.
I'm probably not the only person to bring this up, but after the Clone Wars the troopers were dismissed and replaced with ordinary soldiers who were not groomed since birth for combat.
- Storm Troopers are not all clones, the only 100% clone division of the empire is the Imperial Security Bureau. The rest of the army consists mostly of civilians recruited to the Imperial Academy. - In the movie it is stated several times that there is a tracker on the Millennium Falcon. - Part of the whole "evil empire" thing is that they regularly use stormtroopers to slaughter unarmed civilians. Very few troopers have ever missed on purpose. This can mostly be sourced to A New Hope (the movie) and Allegiance(Book) by Timothy Zahn. That book is an excellent way to gain more insight into Storm Troopers, it is one of my favourite SW novels.
A disappointingly naive look at stormtrooper fan theories. The theory that they were under orders has significant in-movie bearing. Vader and Tarkin state pretty plainly that it was a plan to get the rebel base location. Tarkin: "Are they away?" Vader: "They've just made the jump into hyperspace" Tarkin: "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk Vader, this had better work." And immediately following that is this line from Leia: "They let us go, it't the only explanation for the ease of our escape. They're tracking us." It is also important to recognize the beginning of the film, at the attacked sand-crawler, where Ben Kenobi says: "And these blast points, too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial storm troopers are so precise." The argument for their 'humanity' breaks down when examining the Lars farm, where Owen and Beru were slaughtered and burned, even though they weren't even military targets. The stormtroopers could have let them escape or imprisoned them for information, but they killed them. There is also the fact that, as has been said multiple times in the comments, stormtroopers are not clones.
+bwjclego Now, this only deals with episode IV. Episode VI, notably with the fight with the ewoks, have more serious problems, and in even episode V the stormtroopers have trouble dealing with Lando/Leia/Chewie in Cloud City. Still, at least with the ewok the argument can be made for surprise and numbers, and on Cloud City there were fewer stormtroopers, tighter corridors, longer distances, and more use of cover.
@PBS Idea Channel You just missed the most basic rule of the Star Wars films while running down the list which destroys your entire theory: the Stormtroopers are NOT Clone Troopers. The Clone Troopers were an army of CLONES created from the DNA of one Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was killed after he got into an altercation with one Mace motherfuckin' Windu. For about twenty years during the war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, these clones were under the command of the Jedi who acted as generals. However, by the war's end, Darth Sidious (who was acting under the guise of Senator Palpatine) activated the clones, who were sleeper agents that had chips implanted in their brains, to execute Order 66 (the slaughter of any and all Jedi).
With the CIS was defeated and the Jedi were all but extinct, Palpatine took over the Senate and instated an Empire. Afterwards, seeing that the clones had lived out their usefulness, the emperor shut down the clone factories of Kamino after a small rebellion started. Most of the surviving clones were retired and the army was basically disbanded, though a few tagged on for a while longer. In order to fill out these ranks, Darth Sidious created an outreach program on many of the newly acquired worlds which sought to inject some new blood into the troop ranks. Of course, compared to the old Clone army, these newly enlisted Stormtroopers were basically a laughing stock - undisciplined, green, and merely useful for their numbers for cannon fodder. The few clones that stayed in service at this time became disillusioned by the new status quo and quit the Galactic Empire to live out their days in anonymity.
This. #truth. #ihadfriendsonthatdeathstar
+Deadpool3E There were some units that had higher standards, mainly the 501st under vader, but for the most part yeah stormtrooper boot is really lacking
+Geoff Nattrass Even if you dismiss all of the EU lore this is still fact that the storm troopers are not at least all clones in 4-6. Check out star wars rebels still made by the people who dismissed all of EU. They are recruits and you don't see the clones to often in the series so far.
+Geoff Nattrass Star Wars: Rebels, which is part of the current canon, shows that the Empire has set up several military academies throughout the system for the purpose of training personnel, from Stormtroopers to officers. It's also shown that the Clones have been slowly phased out - likely because of expense - and the ones that remain are all just shy of elderly. As Deadpool3E said, the bulk of the standing Imperial Army by the films are either enlisted or conscripted.
+Zero Cool well actually there is still media outside the films that is still (somehow) canon that states that almost all the stormtroopers are NOT clones. (Star Wars Rebels [animated tv series])
Considering that the original trilogy does not adress this, than it is pretty reasonable to assume that stormtroopers are still clone troopers.
So either;
Clones that have previously been led by the Jedi (whose loyalty most likely still lies with those former COs) are likely leading their own personal rebelion from inside the imperial army. Reasoning ranging from believing in the return of the jedi, to atonement for their sins at the end of the clone wars, to outright angry, jaded, personal revenge.
Or,
Non-clone conscripts are just as green and terrible as they come whose only redeeming quality is their impressive overwhelming numbers.
Perhaps a bit of both?
well this is fine and everything but storm troopers are NOT clones, research man research!!
+TheBritishGeek Some were. There were clone troopers in the ranks fo the 501st legion even during the Battle of Hoth. And then there wer the non-fett clones. And the recruits, obviously.
+TheBritishGeek "By 0 BBY, roughly one-third of the stormtroopers were clones based on the Fett template, while recruits steadily became the majority within the Stormtrooper Corps."
-Wookieepedia.
That specific one is referenced to Star Wars insider.
Of course that says 1/3 were FETT clones, not counting the non Fett clones made after the Clone Wars. So there were clone Storm Troopers
+1234kalmar That is no longer canon. Look at the last two episodes of Star Wars Rebels. There the main characters meet Captain Rex, and Commanders Wolffe and Gregor. They said that the Emperor ordered all Clone Troopers to be put into retirement after the Jedi purge.
theYoungNation Oh, I don't care about Disney's crap, I meant the real star wars.
thewanderandhiscomp For example?
Stormtroopers miss because the concept of the inept mook is one of the central tropes of the pulp serials which inspired the Star Wars. Lucas has openly stated that he originally wanted to do Flash Gordon, but could not get the rights so went on to do his own homage to the Saturday Cinema Serials he loved so much as a child.
The notion that any one institution of government could endure for 25,000 years is perhaps the most unrealistic aspect of Star Wars.
I read a theory once that stated that probably Kamino stopped producing clones after the Empire was formed and the jedi killed. Therefore, considering that clones have a shorter lifespan than regular humans, the Empire saw itself with a problem: the huge army under its command was dying fast and no-one was producing any replacement. As such, stormtroopers in the original movies were not the clones produced in the prequels but regular people probably drafted in a rush into the army with little training and marksmanship.
I've heard something about clones dying out at some point and being replaced by ton of people across entire galaxy. That would explain different actor being in storm trooper armor in seventh episode.
Actually, according to the battlefront series, created by LucasArts, very few stormtroopers are still clones. The clones that were left after the clone wars were integrated with the empires new forces. This included people and species from across the galaxy. The cloning facility (I forgot what planet it's on) was destroyed during the clone wars.
I find it criminal that you failed to use the "are we the baddies" quote in the video. great video either way.
Storm Troopers: Joining the bad team in Battlefield 1
I thought we were going to talk about the theory that the Stormtroopers were missing intentionally because they were ordered to allow team New Hope to escape. Remember Darth had the Falcon bugged so they could track the ship to the rebel base. But if we're going to talk about feels then let us witness the opening scene. The Troopers had no qualms with shooting up a diplomatic barge from Alderaan and killing most of the crew.
Despite the error in the episode, I think the main point here is: why are Mooks so inefficient at their job? While I agree that the theory according to which they _somehow_ know that they're doing the right thing by missing is interesting, I do believe the "reality" of their failings (within whichever story is being told) is actually just a consequence of how awesome and superior and predestined (etc.) the hero is. Whatever happens, however bad a predicament the hero may find themselves in (including by their own fault), the Way The Universe Works will guarantee they escape and fulfill their destiny.
_That_'s the essential narrative, after all, for a hero: surpassing every and all obstacles.
Maybe the Jedis can create a "force" field of sorts which causes the lasers to be deflected around themselves and their friends and only get shot if they lose focus.
So... Did you watch the movie? See, there's this part where Princess Leia says, "They let us go, it's the only explanation for the ease of our escape." Followed by, "They're tracking us!" Despite being dismissed by Han Solo, her fears are confirmed in the following scene when Tarkin says to Vader, "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader, this had better work." The stormtroopers missed on purpose because Vader ordered them to do so. This isn't theory, this is confirmed fact. So the next time you see hoof prints, you go ahead and think "Horse!" instead of "Zebra!"
We don't actually know if the Stormtroopers are clones or not, thanks to Disney de-canonising our only sources on the matter
Plot armor deflects even blasters. Any physicist can tell you that much.
I did my best to comment only after I finished watching the video.
Without going full Expanded Universe, the Storm Troopers are regular soldiers, due to the accelerated growth the clones had, in 10 years they were ready for combat, by the time episode IV happened, the first batches of clones were already dead; also, on Wookiepedia on the Storm Troopers article you can read that most of the Troopers were regular people who decided to join the Empire ranks.
And Star Wars Rebels' Troopers were really lame, even when the main characters were running straightforward they couldn't hit them even once.
I kind of believe storm trooper are missing under command, to be more specifically, Lord Vader's order. I agree on a theory that it is a part of Vader's plan that let them go in order to track down the base of rebellions
I'm not sure if this is canon still or not, but I think the only Clone Troopers that remained 100% Fett Clones in the Stormtrooper Crops were the 501st Legion and 82nd Nova Corps. Everyone else is a volunteer or conscript.
I haven't been a big follower of the Star Wars universe but found this theory interesting (HuffPost article - This Luke Skywalker Theory Destroys Everything You Thought You Knew About 'Star Wars'). It coincides well with the Stormtroopers being ordered by the Emperor to let them go as well.
Stormtroopers miss so as not to disturb the plot. You can't have sharpshooting Stormtroopers killing every main character in the original Star Wars trilogy halfway through A New Hope.
They miss because the main characters have plot armor.
Star Wars canon in regards to Storm Troopers is so confusing.
First they are clones then they're not then they are again ... I don't even care anymore lol
Maybe the problem is their helmets. If helmet's lens is not focused right, it will be hard to aim. Also the suits they wear must be very heavy, this also causes bad accuracy.
It's perspective, they are described as talented fighters but compared to what? Compare to other clones, robots or jar jar binks? It's clearly they become when bad shots when we compare them to hawk eye. Our standards are bit too high.
Stormtroopers definitely are NOT clones. The Empire had academies and recruitment centers all over the place. Maybe if they had stuck clones in those positions no one would have wanted to rebel because the empire would have had unlimited troop resource. However I always kind of assumed that the Stormtroopers (at least on the Death Star) weren't exactly the most elite soldiers. Why would you put your best fighters on the nearly indestructible, moon-sized, planet-destroying battleship? If I were in charge I would put reservists and guys who otherwise don't plan on seeing a lot of action, because all I really need is some guys to patrol and make sure stuff isn't broken. Notice when they actually have an encounter with the rebels they fire wildly
Not all Storm Troopers are Clones.
Maybe the clones are simply out of practice. With the Empire being the dominant force in the galaxy there will be few actual land battles to fight. The rebel alliance will amount to little more than a guerilla-terrorist force that cannot be fought by a conventional army. Couple this with the fact that they are aboard the Death Star, a powerful space station where it's very unlikely that they will ever get into a blaster fight... I mean what kind of maniac would sneak aboard the ultimate weapon in the galaxy and try to rescue a princess???? All in all they're out of practice. By the time they attack Hoth they've got a little more in...
i like the thepry that says that stormtropers know that luke is vaders son.. so they dont kill him for obvious reasons... nobody wants to be the one that killed your boss son, and have to face him with that fact... even tho that only would apply to him and not the other rebels.. so.. not a perfect theory
Storm troopers are not clones... there are people who graduated at top of there class and were skilled enough to join the empire or they were taken from birth to train to become a storm trooper
What no Force theory? Clearly the storm troopers have no problem shooting at the rebels in the beginning of the movie and attacking the sandcrawler on Tatooine. They are referred to their great marksmanship and are readily feared throughout the empire. It seems they're only bad at shooting the main cast which is so is everyone else (e.g. Jabba's henchmen, Boba Fett, etc.). I think that Luke, Obi-Wan, Leia, and even Han (If you believe the theory he can use the force too) use the force in order to make them miss. We know they can fall for the Jedi mind trick but what if that can be use more subtly? Not only that but Jedi's can predict one's movements which means they instinctively just move to the right place to not get hit.
I would argue that it is a matter of scale. The Empire was just too large to have a high standard for their troops. In order to keep an entire planet under control you would need a massive amount of resources which you would then need to multiply by hundreds if not thousands of planets. We would be talking about billions or maybe even trillions of people. As for the soldiers on the Deathstar, it would be a waste to keep the best of the best on an indestructible space station rather than on the front lines keeping the peace on warzone planets.
I heard that the clones aged after and therefor were still very expensive, and that training humans on occupied planets was better? (a higher possibility of disobedience and failure makes this unlikely though)
that way there is a possibility that stormtroopers are "more defect" then "defect" clones, because the trained humans have more humanity then the clones.
The ages clones were transformed (or upgraded) to dark troopers phase zero (phase 1 to 3 were actual droids). The dark trooper phase zero was a aged clone cyborg stuck in a lifesupport suit for the rest of his life.
I'd imagine they have their pro's and cons and that you need regular troops as well. Therefor cloned stormtroopers can't be a long term strategy. (Al though during the clone wars it WAS a long term strategy :/ pumping out troopers by the thousands.....)
Anyone else think of the Box Trolls?
i look at title and made a prediction for the entire video. two seconds in..."yup, guessed it". Are these becoming easier to predict or is it just me.
storm troopers are not clone troopers, after the clone wars the majority of clones where decommissioned
Luke, when in the Stormtrooper disguise, literally says that it is hard to see out their helmets. THEY CAN'T SEE WHAT THEY'RE SHOOTING AT.
I was gonna comment this, but I wanted to check. I thought he'd bring it up, but he didn't...
I'm sure many people will point this out, but not all stormtroopers are clones. Most-at least by the time of the original trilogy-are simply recruits.
+NerdSync Actually none of the troopers are clones. Stormtroopers being clones was always a retcon, and now they removed it. Clones were all decomissioned. Disney gladly set things back to what it originally was.
And also they were under orders not to kill them. They put the tracking device on the ship so they obviously were expecting them to escape.
+Kekkersboy
The 501st was still full of clones.
+Hive Lord Disney says they are not anymore
Fair enough.
Hive Lord As of now the 501st clone battalion was decomissioned. Now the're human recruits.
My theory is Space Vodka.
+Mr. Creazil Patrolling the Death Star would make you wish for a bottle of whiskey.
Pan galactic gargle blasters? oh god, i have a year of catching up
The idea that they let them go because Vader ordered it fits best. Leia even says, "they let us go." It also accounts for them only sending 4 TIE fighters after them when they have legions of them. Also in Empire they beat the rebels handedly. Even Obi-wan make a comment about their accuracy early in episode 1, not to mention the battle on the blockade runner where the troopers kill the guards with expert shots for the entire fight. We also know from that battle that they have a sort range AOE stun blast on their weapons that if they really wanted to capture Luke and crew on the Death Star they could have used as they were close enough many times.
I meant episode 4 not 1 hit he wrong button.
+Jodie McAdams Which exposes a new plot hole: Leia correctly figures the ship is being tracked. So what does she do? Makes a bee line for the super secret base.
Nobody thinks it may be safe to lay low and hide somewhere for a few days? Have Han and Chewie search their ship for questionable new additions? Spread R2's knowledge to as many Rebel cells as they can and let the info relay back to base?
At the very least, if you think the ship is being tracked, change ships.
+Dustin B true points, however by going to Yavin right away they are able to formulate a plan and execute it much more quickly. The Death Star comes to them and they are able to engage it with just fighters instead of having to amass the fleet like in Episode 6 when the Death Star 2 is protected at anchor. Also the longer the Rebels take to act on the info the more chances that the only flaw in the Death Star could be found and removed. So doing a double fake out and making the Empire think you don't know they let you go and are tracking you by going right to your base so they show up at your door (thinking they have surprise) while you're actually ready isn't the worst plan.
Honestly all they had left were bad options, so I personally think she picked the bad option that gave them a decent chance to destroy that thing.
storm troopers aren't clones!
There are still clones that are troopers dude
+Noah Peterson Nope they were all disbanded before the events of episode 4
+Primarch Alpharius In the Disney Wars. In Real Star Wars, some Jango Fett Clones were serving even during the battle of Hoth, and many stormtroopers were made from new templates.
+MattyBlue99 One wouldn't even need to research, watching the EP7 trailer would do.
1234kalmar
yeah i would like it that way...
I'm a big fan of battlefront but now times have changed.
My theory is that stormtroopers are undertrained. Immediately after the empires creation, they had plenty of fighting. After this, not much rebellion. What if the empire got lazy, and barely trained their stormtroopers? We know some stormtroopers were normal humans who enlisted.
+WitherNet That's totally possible. The Empire may have over-recruited in an attempt to seem even more imposing. The Empire would save it's first-class troopers for the important missions, but the generic trooper sitting around on the Death Star was one that barely knew how to shoot properly.
+WitherNet This one has a TON of historical backing, so I'm a fan. Given the iron-fisted-ness of the Empire and the fact that the rebels are just "rebels" (implying that they are unique in their rebellion) it's likely that soldiers don't see a lot of fighting. Also, Storm Troopers likely train for on-the-ground combat, and not look-at-me-I'm-on-a-ship-with-narrow-hallways combat (even more so given the new-ness of the Death Star).
+Rorschach That would make a lot of sense, because Obi-Wan only knew of the Clone Troopers and their aiming skills right after the war, otherwise, he's been chilling out on Tatooine for 17 years. So his idea of their accuracy was flawed by anachronism. Also, maybe the Tusken Raiders are EVEN WORSE SHOTS.
+Iconoclasm_ well there's an issue with that idea, at the time of the first movie the prequels had not even been thought of, it was just Obi-Wan commenting on their marksmanship. one other thing of note, we don't know what Obi-Wan has seen or done leading up to IV, he could have had an ear out for intel on the empire, hell he could of seen their shooting first hand, we did see them on the planet in the movie so they might have come at some point before IV took place.
calvin fair Sure, but I'm talking about an in-universe explanation without going too meta. Also, I had thought that Lucas knew what he wanted the -first movies- prequels to be, but didn't have the resources to make them the way he wanted to make them.
you are going to get a hundred of these comments but I'm gonna throw it in there anyway. It has been known for a long time that the clones were discontinued by episode 4 and the army was made up of almost all conscripts. luke even talks about joining up. However after the expanded universe purge it was unclear until Rebels premiered. The TV series Star Wars Rebels confirms that the clones are no longer part of the military of the empire by the time episode four happens. That tv series is cannon. It has many scenes showing cadets, young kids training to be storm troopers. Initially the army was clones but for some reason they stopped doing it and by the time of episode 4 after 20 years have past since episode 3 there are almost no clones from the original army. There may have been some leftover but not many.
Therefore never in the history of star wars have clones been stormtroopers except for episode 3 and that some of that time gap. by episode 4 and onward its 99 percent non-clones. the pre-quels created this stupid misconception and never clarified it in the films. you fell prey to it.
So you're wrong in your video assuming cloning has anything to do with it. I'm sorry.
however, the theory that they were ordered to let them go still makes sense knowing this information. and your idea of human nature actually fits more. but the clone thing is completely off base. you might wan't to re release this like tommy westphall cause you are just adding to the confusion over clone troopers vs stormtroopers. its not responsible to spread mis-information.
I was wondering about that. Thanks. :b
+treant deu In the show are all the kids training to be storm troopers humanoid, because i always, i dont have time to finish this comment
Yes this is explained way back in the Star Wars battlefront 2 campaign
***** yeah they are all humanoid.
Originally (maybe still) it was cannon that Han was a Storm Trooper sometime before he became a smuggler.
One theory I came up with is that it has to do with the weapon of choice: Plasma. And I nonetheless, there is hard evidence to support this theory.
First piece of evidence: the storm troopers aren't the only ones who can't hit anything. In the very scene you cited earlier that turns into Benny Hill Luke and Leia face a group of stormtroopers in a narrow hallway, less than ten feet apart, and no one can hit anything, despite that they are firing like madmen!
Second piece: the ships rely on computers to fire. They can're use line of sight, even though they have these big cockpits designed for visibility, but nonetheless it is expected that you can't hit anything without using the lock-on targeting computer. Even Luke can't use line of sight: he has to use the force.
Third Piece: one of Vader's minions even almost outright says so. When the rebels first strike at the death star, the turrets begin to fire, but never once do any of the big green lasers shoot down an XWing or a YWing, and one of the minions even says it's because they are too small ships for the cannons to hit. Vader then responds by ordering fighters be sent out after them, and very quickly begin destroying rebel fighters left and right.
Final Piece: look at the properties of plasma. It's a high energy form of matter that causes a great deal of damage when striking something. Just look at a tree that's been struck by lightning (or a toad tolololsorry...). When concentrated right it could be an exceedingly powerful weapon of both force, heat, and electrical damage able to kill even when not striking precisely in one of the traditional kill spots. That said, look at how lightning moves. Plasma doesn't move very consistently straight, and it could easily be that this is the explanation for blasters not firing straight in the Star Wars universe.
So, my theory for your theory : the Empire got tricked into buying these all but useless weapons for a "great deal" price. Sure, they killed the arms dealer later for his --scam-- treason. But now they're stuck with these plasma guns.
And y'know, they may be an expansive evil empire owning or controlling several worlds and all. But. Credits don't fall off every passing asteroid, and they can't afford to replace that many stock weapons (and they're not about to admit they got suckered anyway).
.
So pass the dang things out to the troops, say not a word, and hope for the best. If anyone on their side complains, they can blame the conscripts' poor aim and obviously-not-practicing-enough-are-we. If anyone on the other side says anything, well, blame those rotten Jedi rebel holdouts force-blocking the troopers' shots, ofc.
Clone Trooper are NOT Storm Troopers!
+Jack Firebane Actually, Storm troopers are a mix of the remaining Fett clones, other clone models, and new recruits.
So technically, they are, just not entirely. ;)
+Garet Rooks 501st legion are clones, the rest are recruited soldiers.
There are still clones that are still troopers
+Jack Firebane In the Disney Wars. In Real Star Wars, some Jango Fett Clones were serving even during the battle of Hoth, and many stormtroopers were made from new templates.
***** That was not specified.
It's pretty well documented throughout the extended universe that the BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle (the standard Stormtrooper rifle) is highly inaccurate. My guess would be a diminished quality of firearm due to corner cutting in an effort to arm the large amount of stormtroopers in a short period of time. Han, Luke, and Leia are practically the only people who have ever repeatedly hit their targets with one and I'm going to chalk that up to Luke and Leia's latent force abilities.
By the time of A New Hope the stormtroopers were comprised of recruits not clones. Clones have accelerated lifespans brah.
There ARE still surviving clones in the Galactic Army like the 501st legion which were the best of the best but due to a rebellion on Kamino they stopped major cloning of soldiers.
+Noah Peterson No longer canon.
+Ben Moody Well, don't know about Disney's canon, but in Real Star wars, there are a considerable number of clones in the imperial army, but they are made from a wider variety of templates.
Doesn't matter, I reject Disney's reality and substitute the correct reality
Oh... well that explains everything.
o_o
Storm Troopers are not clones, they are regular citizens recruited for the Imperial Army. In fact Han Solo was a pilot before breaking Chewie out of prison. By the time A New Hope happens what few clones remain are officer ranks and/or elite guards for the emperor and the rank and file have long since dropped in quality as a result.
Well there is the theory that they stopped cloning and started recruiting and training non-clones.
+SirMcCheese also they stopped using the same dna strand for cloning and instead went to making clones from a large variation of different dna strands
That's what I always thought.
+King Sunday Seeing how Rebels is considered canon they have established that Storm Troopers are civilians who under-go academy training.
That is not a theory. That's the truth. Original trilogy Stormtroopers are not clones. They are just normal, individual people that joined the Empire's military.
+SirMcCheese Not a theory, it's fact now. Originally none of the Stormtroopers were clones. But then when Lucas was making the prequels he retconned the Stormtroopers to be clones. This clashed so much with the movies that they had to do more retcons to fix it.
Now none of the Stormtroopers are clones again.
Um... the "theory" at 4:40 is not actually a theory. It's a well established and documented plot point of the movie's script. Have you watched it? :-P
The "under orders to let them go to track them to Yavin IV" only works for Episode 4. What about on Cloud City and Endor?
+ErzengelDesLichtes Cloud City was a Trap for Luke. It's pretty clear in the movie that it was a trap.
+Leif Peterson And so after the trap is sprung and Vader has Luke engaged in battle, they needed Leia, Lando, and Chewie alive because.... ?
+ErzengelDesLichtes They didn't really need them dead either. Leia was princess of no one at that point, so she didn't really have any weight to throw against the Empire. Lando had basically proved that he could be controlled by threatening his people, so he was easily manipulated. And if Chewie had put up any real fight, he could've only threatened a handful of stormtroopers before being shot, but because he didn't really put up much of a fight, there was no need to kill him.
In all honesty, all three serve as better cautionary tales while they're alive, than after their dead. Leia is the last survivor of a world which was destroyed for crossing the Empire, Lando has survived up to this point by doing everything the Empire asked of him including betraying his best friends, and Chewie is a great warrior rendered impotent by the Empire's might, who (it could be argued in propaganda) froze his friend as a warning to him. All are living proof of the might of the Empire, the dangers of crossing it, and the benefits of doing what you're told.
stormtrooper vs redshirt: stormtrooper misses every shot, redshirt dies anyways
I think it's the collective space powers of Luke and Obi Wan (the force) that unconsciously give the good guys an edge against the Stormtroopers. If they are not clones, which everybody keeps telling me they aren't, they are just enlisted or conscripted soldiers who we've already seen are "weak minded" and easily mentally overpowered by the force. Maybe Luke is subconsciously (and or ObiWan is consciously) transmitting "Miss! miss! miss! miss!" into the minds inside all those plastic helmets. Therefore the force-having good guys are protected by a kind of a safety bubble that the troopers can't shoot through. But really, the Mook thing makes just as much sense. If looks were good at shooting or fighting or being clever, they would be the heroee or the villains.
+ProfessorPuppet Or Luke and ObiWan are just force turning the storm troopers' guns slightly...
+ProfessorPuppet I forget where I herd the theory but apparently the stormtrooper blaster rifle has a folding stock and in the rescue scene the troopers did not fold them out, meaning they are essentially trying to aim and steady assault rifles with pistol grips
They never calibrate their weapons!!!
by the time of episode 4 there are no more clones in the imperial army, the army by that point is made up of recruits and drafted civilians, which was established in star wars rebels and in the previous canon.
There are still clones in the army but it's no longer the main source of military force. There was a rebellion on Kamino so they stopped major cloning.
+Noah Peterson I didn't know that lol
It's a movie, you can't have a storm trooper kill a main character. It would end the movie.
+scottdpt12 The reason for an event in a work of fiction can't break the fourth wall. Unless it wants to be really meta, off course.
+scottdpt12 This! People look so much into this it's mind-boggling. It is called "plot armor". Why did the storm troopers miss? Because they read the script :P. If they hit all their shots, the protagonists would all be dead in the first hour hahaha.
+Random Complex It's not a reason, it's a plothole.
Phlos Fysics Phan 42 Precisely, it is not a valid reason, as I said. However, it is not really a plot hole, it is simply how the movie was written.
Making the storm-troopers not kill them is necessary because in the movie, the characters don't die, so they can't get them killed, so the movie can progress.
The way that it was executed proves lousy writing, but not a plot hole.
Random Complex Whatever same thing.
Actually, clone troopers and storm troopers are different.
+Xenophilius394 Well, don't know about Disney's canon, but in Real Star wars, there are a considerable number of clones in the imperial army, but they are made from a wider variety of templates.
+1234kalmar JJ Abrams has said that Storm troopers are different from clone troopers.
Like it or not, that's canon now, in real Star Wars.
Xenophilius394 So if I were to buy a work of art and vandalise it, I'd be praised too? wow, Cool!
+1234kalmar No, if you bought the rights to a franchise, you'd be allowed to dictate what is true and what is not true in that franchise.
Xenophilius394 So there is no protection from vandalism? Huh.
My favorite Theory comes from my friend Colin. As he calls it: force luck. The idea is that those with the power of the force at their disposal have chances naturally favor them, somewhat like an innate, lesser version of the battle meditation seen in the Knights of the Old Republic series (not cannon I know, but bear with me). I'd have to speak to him about this, but this theory explains a great deal of occurrences throughout the entirety of the series, most notably why stormtroopers, whom Obi Wan directly says in the beginning of the first movie have precise aim, miss so often. One good evidence of force luck is the very scene you showed of Han chasing the troopers Benny Hill style. He, Luke, and Leia turn the corner, and all the stormtroopers miss and flee. Han chases after them, leaving Luke and Leia, and the stormtroopers regain their numbers and rally forth. My personal favorite example of force luck in the series though comes from episode 6, when Han is sneaking up behind one of the stormtroopers on Endor. As he does so he breaks away from the group, leaving Leia behind, and what happens? He steps on a stick. A freaking stick! And now his cover is blown, just as he walks away from someone who is strong with the force. Anyway, that's my favorite theory personally.
What? No spoiler warning for spoiling Star Wars?
+Christopher McKee Is this sarcasm?
+Christopher McKee We're talking about Episode IV here... The movie is nearly 40 years old at this point.
+Christopher McKee At this point that would be as difficult as spoiling the bible
Jedibob5
Well, He did spoil all six movies, some of which are more recent.
IOwnTheSpire
I'll let you figure that out and let Poe's Law take its course.
Simple answer: If you've ever played DnD, you'll know that lower-level characters can't even touch higher level characters, simply because they can't beat their target's Armor Class. Obviously, all the Storm Troopers are level 3, and can thus snipe everyone in their level range and lower, but cannot even being to go after the level 10 or above Main Characters.
Ignoring the whole "The Storm Troopers are not necessarily Clones" issue, I would be a bit more concerned about similar issues present in Separatist Battle Droids During the Clone Wars and the incursion on Naboo. Battle Droids are designed to target the enemy, and they have computer controlled aiming systems, and they lack any need to see the enemy as anything but the next thing they need to shoot, so there is no good reason at all why they should miss, outside of severe manufacturing defects... But they still miss. A lot. I like to think of it like this, the Trade Federation was a group of Capitalistic businesses, trying to get as much return out of as little investment as they could, so they wanted to spend the least amount of money possible. I am guessing droid parts are cheap, and good targeting software is expensive, and droids are themselves a commodity, so it was a better investment to make up for bad targeting systems by fielding a lot of droids that they could then turn around and sell later.
I subscribe to the Inverse Talent Quotient Theory.
I'll skip the math because people poop their pants when they see math, the but theory goes like this. Good guys and Bad guys both have a pool of Talent (strength, speed, firepower, etc). The pool is divided equally or near equally among the actual combatants. When you are an unruly band of misfits numbering less than 10. Each member gets a pretty big chunk of the talent pie. When you are part of the ravening masses numbering in the dozens to thousands, that pie is very small. Its why a ragtag fleet of rebels can take down an Empire in a few short years but the Republic (with the same resources as the Empire) spent a decade or more fighting the Seperatists and even then only to a draw.
What if it was The Force?
No, no, hear me out here.
Luke is Vader's son, right (and Leia's his daughter)- and they're all Force Sensitive/have a bunch of midichlorians. So, they probably have similar Auras- similar ways that they resonate in the Force. So the reason that the Stormtroopers were unwilling to shoot at that particular group of Rebels (since they were fine with slaughtering Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, the rebels on the Blockade Runner, and the Eewoks) because their instincts were yelling at them as though they were firing at Lord Vader himself (and his personal retinue)?
Ok yes, as everyone on here has been repeatedly informing you, Stormtroopers are not clones. This could lead to a potential reason as to why the troopers seem to be so faulty. After the expiration of clones in the early days of the Galactic Empire, most humans were either conscripted or enlisted into the Imperial Army. Imperial propaganda was rampant in the galaxy, which was used as ways to lean misinformed youth to enlist and force drafting.
We know that the Empire has a nearly endless pocket of credits to build vast armies, huge starships with cutting edge technology, and even TWO moon sized weapons to destroy entire planets. However, despite this, the Empire also was very prominent about cutting corners to achieve quick, fast, mass produced units (This is explored in the EU through books and comics). Take for example the TIE fighters, they were flimsy, had no shielding and were easy to shoot down, but they came in swarms, with the intention to overwhelm the few, more armored rebel fighters.
The same goes for Stormtroopers, there was constant heavy demand for more troops to enforce Imperial law. This meant most troopers had expedited, poor training. Most troopers were barely ready for combat, which could explain all the incompetence. They relied on their numbers rather than their own sloppy training. Maybe this brought them into a state of confusion and fear when encountering rebels, which could prompt the terrible aiming we see in the films.
I'm unfamiliar with a lot of what happens in the EU between Episode III and Episode IV, but I was under the impression that there were a finite number of clone troopers, and that the other storm troopers were simply picked up from the Imperial academy. The one Luke mentions joining early in the Episode IV. If that's the case, they could be all over the place in terms of natural skill level.
one thing we do know about storm troopers is that they are extremely susceptible to the will of the force. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this could manifest itself in poor aim.
Personally as much as the theory is too tiddy for you, it makes perfect sense with Leia saying they let them escape, because why else would it have been so easy.
But Troopers weren't clones. ONLY the 501st legion remained clones under Vader's command because he refused to give up his clones from the Republic and like their undying loyalty. Clones were loyal to the Emperor to a fault, by programming placed in them before their birth.
Troopers were recruited from the worlds that the empire takes in its victory, they are trained quickly, motivated by fear and most importantly, normal people. Often times taken from the outer rim territories the Empire recruited in vast numbers because they needed billions, yes billions, of troopers to serve as occupation forces. Doing little more than babysitting the worlds now under empire control they basically just dealt with whatever smaller rebellions would arise.
The Emperor was sure that a clone army was too susceptible to corruption after the cloners on Kamino used a fresh batch of clones to attack their own brothers as the planet was being taken. Essentially turning them against their masters by removing their programmed loyalty to the throne. This ended badly for them in the end.
From then on Clones were only produced for Vader's legion, the ones in service were slowly killed off and replaced by normal humans.
I probably missed something but that ^ is why the Troopers in the movies were at least, in all likely hood, not entirely made of clones. So they would have no predisposition to betray the empire for the sake of re-establishing the Republic. But also means that the Normal Humans being recruited could have, as normal people being motivated by fear, decided that they WANT the rebels to win, but know their their experiences in the military that joining them will result in their swift and horrid deaths. These people would then reason that by letting these rebels escape by what owuld appear to be incredible luck time and time again they could help to bring down the government that is the cause of their suffering while saving themselves from the wraith of their CO's.
*Braces for Impact*
The only channel where the dislikers are actually intelligent.
Tidiest theory I ever heard is that for the Empire to employ that many troopers across a galaxy spanning civilization was to make a very cheap military. Guns, armor, tanks, walkers, and the Stormtroopers themselves are all dirt cheap and therefore inadequate soldiers
If the troopers aren't clones, then that can still mean that they could have received rushed or sub par training and held to no standards
Storm Troopers and Clone Troopers are different. Han Solo was a Storm Trooper for a while
+Skyla Jade Forster (Sky) The reason why their bad at shooting and such is that its a massive galactic empire that has to recruit millions of soldiers, just look how bad alot of current day American soldiers are when they arent given proper training. Its the same thing they press troops into service without proper training and with little to no combat experience. There are a few elite units and the rest are just cannon fodder that rely on numbers to win.
Man, I love this channel... Ok, so researching Star Wars canon is HARD. I made a Star Wars related video a couple months ago and the research took me a week longer than expected. THERE IS A LOT OF MATERIAL, so don't be too hard on yourself. I am also no expert.
I think the fact that most of the stormtoopers are not clones by Episode 4, if anything, VALIDATES this fan theory. The older versions were all clones of Boba Fett's father, who (as portrayed in the prequels) really cared for nothing but his son. He was also an excellent fighter, so I think the clone versions of the stormtroopers wouldn't have this problem fighting the resistance. The fact that they're mostly individual humans now who have just been trained by the Empire just makes it more plausible that perhaps, on some deep subconscious level, they feel the resistance should win. They actually have a vested interest in the outcome of the war. We know they're not terrible shots in general because, in Episode 4, Obi-Wan mentions how "precise" they were in disabling the Jawa trading vessel. If we set aside the fact that this is a fictional universe, then we have to assume there is something else going on.
P.S. Nice shirt! Brings back some memories.
be aware, spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥
As much as I LOVE Star Wars and can't wait for Force Awakens, one thing that always felt off was the fact Stormtroopers are always called the ELITE fighting force of the Empire. Sort of sounds like they would be the Special Forces of the standing armies but...THEY ARE THE STANDING ARMY! Look how many they pack in the ships, I am sorry. Even with high standards, there is no way all of them are ELITE fighters. Also we know the Empires general tactics are Heavy Armor and massive numbers on the ground/in space; again both suggesting that ELITE is just propaganda tactics. (This of course stems off the fact that Stormtroopers are pretty much not clones anymore by Episode 4 but everyone is already saying this.)
Though I am with the whole "They are Order to Let Them Go" Theory as there is dialogue in the film that suggests this; plus like the Force.
No mention of Obi Wan’s (paraphrased) “only imperial troops are this accurate” line?
I know I’m late to the party, but in the off-chance it wasn’t mentioned in the previous 1,799 comments: Most bullets fired in the real world don’t hit their target. I’m not convinced the stormtroopers are bad shots.
(Although all movies with “firearms”-whether science-fantasy or gritty cop drama-could use a healthy dose of actual fire-and-movement tactics. With, say, sword fighting you can argue that unrealistic techniques are important to help the audience follow the action. I’m not convinced that realistic gun tactics would have such issues.)
Nope. One response to the "they missed because of some subconcious yada yada yada".
Order 66. Clones killed a LOT of Jedi, "They look like us" types. They were ordered. It's the Empire. Clean and simple theories work.
As a Dungeon Master I am the true evil overlord of my Campaigns. But I also am playing so that me and my players have fun!
I like to see the Star Wars movies as a D&D Campaign, where each main character is a player! With this premise I see the Stormtroopers as Mooks, but Mooks are not what most people say they are!
Mooks, to me, are the ultimate tool to help the players have fun. They are a dangerous but weak opponent that serve as "The Everyman" in an organization. A mook is not a "bad fighter", not at all! A random Level 0 Citizen is a BAD fighter, a tavern drunk is a bad fighter! A Goblin is a bad fighter!
Mooks are noble, hard working people who serve one, and only one purpose. They walk into work, lock step, to fulfill a single goal. "Help the players have fun!"
Do the players want to slaughter untold numbers of minions? Send in the mooks!
Do the players want a highly trained commando squad to test their new skills? Send in the mooks!
Do the players want some slap-stick silliness in their combat? Send in the mooks!
The Stormtroopers could have been ordered by Vader to let the rebels escape... Or the Mooks could be doing their jobs perfectly and allowing the story to evolve and giving the players the perfect amount of resistance to give them a sense of triumph and satisfaction!
Being a Mook is Noble, Worth While, and Fulfilling vocation! The unsung heroes behind the scenes!
If a Mook is doing their job right, they will fight, they will die, they will lay in the mud. And after the battle is done and the smoke has lifted, they will help each other up, square their shoulders, dawn their newest costume and walk off stage. If a Mook has done their duty, the players won't even notice when their gone.
Everyone is commenting about how you thought storm troopers were clones, so I'll complain about something different. It's pronounced pal-pa-teen. Have you even seen Star Wars?...
Luke and Leia both have the... space power. Remember that Leia actually does get shot by a storm trooper. When? When she isn't paying attention properly, and is unable to instinctively use the space power (presumably).
Neither of them are really trained, but neither was Anakin, who also instinctively used the space powers to his advantage while podracing.
We've seen that the space powers have both telepathic and telekinetic properties, so it's easy to imagine that a little nudge-nudge from their... space powers would be enough to knock blaster shot off course just enough to avoid bein' fried.
Least that was always my theory.
I like to think they're actually bitter about being the bad guys in the movie. So much so that they're actively trying to ruin the suspense of the movie by being purposely incompetent. After the success of the original series, they realized this wasn't enough.
They had 20 years straddling the 4th wall to figure out how to make sure the prequels were as bad as possible, and turned out to be the most effective meta-villains of cinema history so far, and they killed the meta-hero for a large number of people: George Lucas' film-making prowess.
To be honest, it really doesn't matter, if the Stormtroopers are clones in A New Hope, they still miss basically every shot in the movie. We can still discuss that point, right?
So, one of the possibilities is that they are just badly trained. The empire might be running out of funds at that point. They were wasting a lot of money on the Deathstar(s), not to mention all those Star Destroyers. Perhaps with all their firepower they just did not have enough money for adequate training anymore. Who even needs decent footsoldiers when you have enough power to destroy planets with a single shot? Han, Leia and Chewie had good training from their background and Luke, well, the force was strong with that one.
Also, pretty sure his name is Chancellor Pal-pah-/teen/. Not Pal-pah-/tine/. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Luke's midichlorians cast a magical glimmer effect that blinds the stormtroopers, duh.
Now to head to my George Lucas bunker and CGI in some wicked green particle effects to seal the deal!
Stormtroopers being ordered not to kill them isn't just a fan theory, it's practically cannon. Tarkin asks "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?" as they're leaving, and Leia even points out "They let us go. It was the only reason for the ease of our escape."
Here is a better explanation: Shitty writing.
This is a movie, the heroes can't die in the second act. Writers couldn't think a way to make it work so they say: Storm Troopers miss.
PEW
I think the theory that some of the stormtroopers want the rebels to win could make a lot of sense. The fact that they aren't clones means they would have even more individuality, and they would not be bred to unquestioningly follow orders. The tyrannical rule of the Empire was harsh, and many troopers might have felt the effects of that either directly or indirectly. They may have even had thoughts of joining the rebellion but were too afraid to; thus, seeing real, living rebels would give them enough mettle to rebel in their own way by missing purposefully. Also, it is very possible that many of those stormtroopers are actually rebel spies in disguise, and them knowing the importance of Leia at the time of IV and the rest of the crew in V and VI would lead them to try to cause the stormtroopers to fail. This might entail the spies putting themselves on the front row to make it harder for other troopers in the back to land a shot while sacrificing themselves.
Luke says "I can barely see in this helmet" in a new hope. This could be the reason they have bad aim, there vision is impaired by the helmets. Also it was confirmed in the movie that Darth Vader let them escape the death star because he put a tracker on the millennium falcon. It's is not a theory it is a fact.
I'm probably not the only person to bring this up, but after the Clone Wars the troopers were dismissed and replaced with ordinary soldiers who were not groomed since birth for combat.
You imply that storm troopers and clone troopers are the same... They're not.
I saw a thing that said in the movies they hit 27% of their shots which is actually extremely high for combat situations
- Storm Troopers are not all clones, the only 100% clone division of the empire is the Imperial Security Bureau. The rest of the army consists mostly of civilians recruited to the Imperial Academy.
- In the movie it is stated several times that there is a tracker on the Millennium Falcon.
- Part of the whole "evil empire" thing is that they regularly use stormtroopers to slaughter unarmed civilians. Very few troopers have ever missed on purpose.
This can mostly be sourced to A New Hope (the movie) and Allegiance(Book) by Timothy Zahn. That book is an excellent way to gain more insight into Storm Troopers, it is one of my favourite SW novels.
Stormtrooper are NOT clones silly willy!!!
Therapy is going very well Mike. Thank you.
Single problem, Stormtroopers aren't clones.
Why don't they always set their guns to "stun"? It's the only shot that a stormtrooper actually does not miss (Episode IV), right?
to my knowledge the stormtroopers are not clones o.o
I dont think their clones in the new cannon
Why are you saying "primmer" and not "primer"?
A disappointingly naive look at stormtrooper fan theories. The theory that they were under orders has significant in-movie bearing. Vader and Tarkin state pretty plainly that it was a plan to get the rebel base location.
Tarkin: "Are they away?"
Vader: "They've just made the jump into hyperspace"
Tarkin: "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk Vader, this had better work."
And immediately following that is this line from Leia:
"They let us go, it't the only explanation for the ease of our escape. They're tracking us."
It is also important to recognize the beginning of the film, at the attacked sand-crawler, where Ben Kenobi says: "And these blast points, too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial storm troopers are so precise."
The argument for their 'humanity' breaks down when examining the Lars farm, where Owen and Beru were slaughtered and burned, even though they weren't even military targets. The stormtroopers could have let them escape or imprisoned them for information, but they killed them.
There is also the fact that, as has been said multiple times in the comments, stormtroopers are not clones.
+bwjclego Now, this only deals with episode IV. Episode VI, notably with the fight with the ewoks, have more serious problems, and in even episode V the stormtroopers have trouble dealing with Lando/Leia/Chewie in Cloud City. Still, at least with the ewok the argument can be made for surprise and numbers, and on Cloud City there were fewer stormtroopers, tighter corridors, longer distances, and more use of cover.
troopers in new hope aren't clones. figure it out
primmer? palpatiine?