MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) Discussion > Why didn't they retrieve the bodies of A...

Why didn't they retrieve the bodies of Akbar and the others?

posted 7 years ago by christomacin (4660)
37 replies | jump to latest

Perhaps they did, but it isn't shown in the film. How about the novelization? Obviously, both Leia and the corpses HAD to have been pulled along in the force shield of the ship, otherwise how could Leia still be close enough to force push herself all the way back to the ship? She HAD to be inside the force shield bubble, because if she wasn't then the ship (which Leia just gave orders to fly away at "top speed") would have been many thousands of miles away in the few minutes she was out in space. In fact, she probably wouldn't even be able to see it anymore. So, not only would she have to keep herself alive and generate enough velocity (10,000 mph, 20,000 mph, faster?) to overtake the ship, she would have to be doing mathematical calculations to determine its location in space. Ridiculous, right? So, the only explanation for her to be able to do that is if she was being pulled along by the ship's force shield bubble...but that would also mean Akbar's corpse would be floating outside the ship and would have been retrievable. They could have given His Fishness a proper send off, or, at the very least, they could have had frozen fish sticks for dinner. Maybe they had run out of tartar sauce and decided it wasn't worth it.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

In episode 9 Akbar shows up again right at the start in a bacta suit which is leeking.

Nobody mentions anything about what happened before.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Poe: You must have a million questions.
Admiral Akbar: IT'S A TRAP!
Poe: Don't you wan't to know where Rey is?
Admiral Akbar: IT'S A TRAP!
Poe: Are you feeling alright, Admiral?
Admiral Akbar: IT'S A TRAP!
Poe: That does it! We're having fish sticks for dinner!
Admiral Akbar: IT'S A TRAP!

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

It's worse than that I'm afraid Christo

In episode 9 Admiral Holdall's wife appears to grieve over her death with Leia, only she was born a man and has decided to keep her original anatomy. She takes a sexual interest in Poe...enter Admiral Akbar...

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Poe: What, baby, am I doing it wrong?
Leia: Women are always on top. I need you to learn that.

(Leia then slaps Poe in the face and feels a lot better)

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Admiral Akbar screams "IT'S A TRAP!", and then proceeds to go down on the farm with Leia, Holdo's widow, and Poe, leaving all three of them satisfied.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Somebody has to mention a fish smell at some point.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

This scenario gives "frozen fish stick" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

It certainly plants crabs into the process!

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

I hear a Star Wars stand-alone entitled "Looking for Mr. Akbar" is in the works. Rian Johnson is set to direct. I must say, this thread has gone off on an odd tangent. How can it not, though, where the Admiral is involved?

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Well, to try and get it back closer to being on topic.

Who doesn't want to see Akbar having a Total Recall exposed to Mars' atmosphere reaction?

That alone could have saved the movie and made it an instant cult classic.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

I would only support that if Arnold Schwarzenneger was given some voice over work doing his famous "AGGGHHHHHHHHH!" grunt.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

We could have used a sample of "It's a trap!" and then equalise it with Arnie's grunt to get the best of both worlds.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Good. By the way, who do you think should do the eulogy at Akbar's funeral and where do they spread the ashes?

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Nien Nunb for sure.

They should spread the ashes on Mustafar, right where Anakin got burned up for not having the high ground.

Who do you think should do it and where do the ashes go Christo?

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Holdo would probably insist on doing it, being the snarky, bossy jerk that she is. She would probably say of Akbar that he was "a dangerous hot head who needed to either shut up or be slapped", and then invite everyone into the Officers' Quarters for a fish fillet dinner. So no ashes to spread. Just send the urn back to Mrs. Admiral Akbar with some nice flowers and a note that says "Shut up".

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

True, but there'd be no tartare sauce because it has the word tart in it and that's oppressive to tarts.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Damn it, I can't even eat fish anymore because it's not PC.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

You can still eat straight white male fish Christo, I think the tables are turning on Japanese, South Korean and Chinese fish too (Only straight male ones though).

Just leave all those marginalised fish alone #LinesUp

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Akbar was red, so I guess I can't eat him. A shame really. Some good meat there.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I'm not sure what the deal is with reds. You could probably eat them as they are really inconvenient for everyone who has stolen their territories and calling for inequalities and colonisation without seeing their own hypocrisy.

Just don't eat the women ones or any of the ones which look like they are disabled in any way. They're the rarest and need to be used to make political points Christo.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

That's true. It's their fault anyway because reds are "illegal immigrants" usurping the sovereignty of the squirrels, bison and caribou already there. Serves them right anyway for being "pro-immigration" and letting all those whites in.

(Seriously, I actually heard a Trump person saying this about Native Americans on a Politics discussion board. There's lots of hypocrisy on all sides when it comes to that.)

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

There's hypocrisy everywhere. Nobody is free of it.

That's pretty much the only issue I have with anyone who wants to preach at me.

Preach by all means, just accept what is volleyed in return.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Christomacin, you're applying sound reason and logic to a movie that frankly doesn't even know what they are.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Yeah, I had a sneaky suspicion that this was the case...he he. You got my drift precisely. And just to drive it home for anyone that hasn't gotten it, the fact that Akbar body wasn't recovered proves that the force shield theory is impossible, therefore Leia's going back to the ship was impossible force push or no force push. The other possibility is that no one cared enough about Akbar and the rest and left their dead bodies floating around outside the ship. Must have been pretty gross and creepy for the crew.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

What for? They were men.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

Ah, yes, I forgot that. Makes perfect sense now.

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[–] Skullomania (483) 7 years ago

So that in episode 9 we get to see a ship fly past the squid rings of saturn.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

"IT'S A TOURIST TRAP!"

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

In space you have no resistance (like air molecules) stopping or dragging you down. So if she jumps outside of the spaceship she will float alongside of it at same initial speed.

Same reason we can do spacewalks on the ISS, with no needed boosters.

Essentially it is Newton's first law of motion.

So in a movie full of incoherent nonsense, that part works.

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[–] christomacin (4660) 7 years ago

She was ejected out of the ship and should be travelling in a direction away from the ship, should she not? Also, they weren't in orbit around a planet like the ISS.

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

As I remember it, an explosion pushed her out of the spaceship into space. This would mean that she would move parallel to the spaceship and at the speed of the spaceship AND continue in the linear direction the explosion pushed her.

So she would ultimately move with the spaceship at the same speed, and increase her distance to the spaceship in whatever direction the explosion pushed her. The difference between her location at any given moment and the spaceship is defined by the explosion only.

And this is what we saw (as I recall) until of course her force spirit took over...

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

Yes, the ISS is not technically in outer space, but Newton's first law of motion applies still: If no drag (like air molecules) and one jumps ship, one will float parallel to the spaceship forever at same initial speed.

The issues you describe are true from a moving car on earth, but not from a spaceship.

So for her to come back, she would only need to countermeasure the effect of the explosion, not the initial speed of the spaceship.

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[–] Quint (957) 7 years ago

Thats only correct if the angle of the explosion vector is normal to the ships moving direction. In any other case she either moves away from the ship forward or backward (with different speed).

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

No. The ship and she have the exact same reference. So all that influences her relative position to the spaceship is the explosion.

It doesn’t matter what direction the explosion pushed her. She and the spaceship’s reference will be the same.

Let us say the explosion push her away with a speed of 50 km/h. After one hour she will be 50km away from the spaceship. No matter which direction. If the explosion pushed her ahead of the ship, to the side or backward... makes no difference. Her distance to the spaceship would be the same. Why? Because they share the exact same reference.

Again, I know it can be hard to understand, but it is the exact same reason they can do spacewalks from the ISS and not loose sight of it and drift away in various speeds... even though the ISS moves at a whopping 27,580 km/h (a speeding bullet travels at about 2000 km/h, so the ISS is no joke :)

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[–] Quint (957) 7 years ago

You even described my point and still didnt got it :) . If she was blown away for example with an angle of 60 degrees (with 0 degrees as the moving vector of the ship) then she will indeed move away from the ship, cause she will not only move sideways (as you descrbed), but also forward. And therefor with every second she will increase the forward or backward distance to the ship cause the momentum of the explosion forces her forward and sideways. Only if the angular degree is exactly 90 degree (within this example) she would only move sideways.

And I know that the explosion indeed has not only one angular degree for its momentum. But for one person there is only one vector how the explosion impacts his/her body.

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

Incorrect, or I misunderstand you. Her and the ships reference is the same in space.

Push her away at a given speed (y), and her distance to the spaceship is ONLY defined by this speed (y).

The initial speed of the spaceship and its direction, has zero effect.

... same reason they can do spacewalks from the ISS and not loose sight of it and drift away in various speeds... even though the ISS moves at a whopping 27580 km/h (a speeding bullet travels at about 2000-4000 km/h, so the ISS is no joke :)

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[–] Quint (957) 7 years ago

Indeed, but she would only move perfectly sideways of the ship: When the explosion momentum will move her away at accurately 90 degress in comparision with the movement vector of the ship. In any other case (so in almost any case) she will also move forward or backward in comparision to the ship. And therefor she could be anywhere in space related to the position of the ship. And given the fact that the momentum of the explosion will move her forward "forever" she will be far away enough from the ship within a few seconds so that she couldnt even see it in space anymore.

The whole scene is pure SF :) . In reality she would have moved away from the ship, given the huge impact of the explosion, within the given time of the scene far enough so that she would never ever come back to the ship at all. No matter how large her force oxygen tank would have been ;) . But this is SF and not reality. So in this SF world its perfectly fine. But its still laughable to let Princess Leia fly around like Mary Poppins :) .

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[–] HAL 9010 (906) 7 years ago

No umbrella, so she has one up on Mary :)

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