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he original Star Wars takes on a whole new meaning with the release of this once untold story.
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00:00Of all the Disney Star Wars movies, Rogue One is perhaps the most beloved.
00:04This proved that you can do a side story and still have it be hugely meaningful to the overall
00:09narrative. Critics loved it, the fans loved it, and it's still heavily talked about today.
00:14So in honour of how much it changed the game, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and this is Star
00:19Wars Rogue One 10 Ways It Changed A New Hope. Number 10, The Boarding of the Tantive IV.
00:25Most obviously, the iconic opening scene that kicked off the Star Wars saga nearly 50 years
00:30ago takes on a whole new meaning after Rogue One, given how the events of this movie had
00:35literally just taken place. Probably just a few hours to a day at most before this scene,
00:41Jin and Oso and co had just given their lives in a successful effort to steal and transmit the
00:46Death Star plans, which were now in the custody of Princess Leia. As a result, the entire scene is
00:51now even more urgent than it already was. Leia's cover story as well of being on a diplomatic mission
00:56sounds even more like a last minute lie, as she obviously did not have much time to prepare
01:00for Darth Vader's arrival. Speaking of Vader as well, it appears that he is far angrier in this
01:05scene than previously thought. Now he does come off as more reserved in comparison to the slaughter
01:10that he committed in the final minutes of Rogue One, but that makes sense, as he appears to have
01:15gotten most of his initial anger out of his system. In addition, 3PO's line of,
01:19there'll be no escape for the princess this time, suddenly fits in with everything much better,
01:24considering we now know he was referring to what had transpired only several hours beforehand.
01:29Number 9, the Empire's competence. One of the most glaring, literal plot holes that bothered
01:34Star Wars fans for decades is how the Empire, the ultimate military force in the galaxy, could allow
01:40such a potentially devastating flaw in their supposedly all-powerful superweapon. Rogue One,
01:45of course, filled us in on that, as it turned out that the flaw in the Death Star was not naive
01:50oversight on the part of the Empire, but rather sabotage of the main reactor by Galen Erso,
01:55a traitor with the Empire's trust. So, it was not incompetence on the part of the Empire,
02:00it was someone on the inside setting them up to fail right under their noses. Now,
02:04they come off as a much more believable threat in regards to battle strategy given this information.
02:09Also, as an added bonus, the Empire's decision to build a second Death Star in Return of the Jedi
02:14suddenly makes a lot more sense, since they knew that the only reason the first one failed was
02:19because of the aforementioned sabotage. Number 8, Darth Vader's behaviour and musings.
02:25Despite his relatively restrained nature in the opening scene, Darth Vader still appears to be
02:29very high-strung throughout the duration of A New Hope. Granted, he's not going on an absolute
02:34madman rampage like he did at the end of Rogue One as again, that likely served as a way for him to vent,
02:39but he still has absolutely no problem choking a rebel to death with minimal effort. While it's not
02:44always overt, it now very much seems that Vader is almost running on an adrenaline high after the
02:50events of Rogue One. This is apparent by the aforementioned choking of a man to death during
02:54the interrogation, his merciless killing of Obi-Wan which was preceded by self-indulgent gloating,
02:59and his haste in taking to his fighter to put a stop to the assault on the Death Star himself.
03:04At this point, Vader is absolutely furious that the Rebel Alliance got the best of him and managed
03:09to escape with the plans in the first place, and as such is determined to not let such a defeat
03:13befall him again. In addition, certain quotes and reflections the Sith Lord has throughout the film
03:18now seem to feel much more at home. Most notably, his lines similar to that of C-3PO's in which he
03:23proclaims to an Imperial officer that, there'll be no one to stop us this time. We now know that he was
03:28referring to what had just taken place on Scarath. Number 7, R2-D2's secrecy.
03:33Throughout the early goings of A New Hope, R2-D2 is something of a painfully stubborn little spy,
03:39not sharing his mission of delivering the Death Star plans with even his closest companion,
03:433PO. In addition, he tricks Luke into turning off his projector to keep him from seeing Leia's
03:47message, as well as sneaking off in the middle of the night to search for Obi-Wan and complete his
03:52objective. All of this, of course, is much to the frustration of 3PO and Luke. However,
03:57given the events of Rogue One, R2's behaviour now feels much more logical, especially from his
04:02perspective. Given the countless number of Rebels who had just died in the effort to steal these
04:07plans, plus the ones who were slaughtered like fish in a barrel by Darth Vader while trying to
04:11get them to Leia, it's understandable that he would rather nobody know that he was now their custodian.
04:16And that means nobody. Rewatching A New Hope with this in mind makes R2's behaviour come off as
04:21smart strategy, as opposed to just obnoxious stubbornness. Number 6, Tarkin's arrogance in not
04:27evacuating. Another point of criticism for A New Hope has been Grand Moff Tarkin's brash
04:31arrogance during the assault on the Death Star. Many have deemed this as foolish overconfidence,
04:36but Rogue One told us that this was far from the truth. Was he overconfident? Well,
04:41arguably, but it was far from foolish. In fact, had it not been for Galen Erso's actions,
04:46he would have been absolutely justified in his refusal to evacuate the base. As stated before,
04:51the Death Star's only weakness at this point was the result of an inside job, something Tarkin was
04:56completely unaware of and could not have planned for. The only two Imperial officers who knew of
05:01the sabotage were Galen himself and Director Krennic, both of whom perished during the events of Rogue
05:05One before the information could get back to Tarkin himself. Moreover, Tarkin's attitude towards the
05:10Death Star in Rogue One tells us a lot as well. The sheer amount of pride that the Grand Moff had,
05:15which we only had gotten a glimpse of in A New Hope while he made an example of Alderaan for
05:20instance, was now on display in full force. The Death Star was so destructive that Tarkin had both
05:26Jedha and Scarif fired upon on the station's weakest setting, and yet it still caused cataclysmic
05:32devastation. The Death Star created something of a god complex for Tarkin, and he refused to
05:36entertain the idea that it could be destroyed. And given what we saw in Rogue One, who can honestly
05:41blame him? 5. The Rebels' Will to Fight
05:44Throughout their appearance in A New Hope, the Rebel Alliance seems willing to take the fight
05:48directly to the Empire, no matter what the cost. However, the first two acts of Rogue One tell a very
05:53different story. In fact, many were disillusioned with the cause, disgusted with themselves and
05:58some of the heinous orders that they'd had to carry out, and were beginning to feel the
06:02apparent hopelessness of fighting the Empire. In short, they were just about ready to give up,
06:07and it was the sacrifice of Rogue One that caused their change of heart. The Rebels' original
06:12motivation of simply wanting to restore freedom to the galaxy is all well and good, however now knowing
06:17that they were doing what they did to honour those who gave their lives just to give them a fighting
06:21chance makes their drive and determination mean so much more. Which brings us nicely to number 4,
06:27the size of the Death Star assault team. Continuing from the last point, the Rebels having such a small
06:32team for the famous assault on the Death Star now seems much more fitting, given the fact that a
06:37sizeable portion of their forces had just been wiped out during the Battle of Scarif. During said
06:42battle, we see an absolute fleet of X and Y wings, most of which would be destroyed while Rogue One
06:47fought below to retrieve the Death Star plans. So when it came time to attack the Death Star directly,
06:52thirty one-man fighters were all that the Rebellion had left to spare for the battle that would decide
06:57the very fate of them and their cause. Worse yet, all but three ships the Millennium Falcon excluded
07:04would meet their bitter end over the course of this assault. The attack on the Death Star truly was
07:09an all-or-nothing gamble for the Rebels, sending what small amount of men they had left in a last-ditch
07:14effort to get the job done. The job not being merely win the war against the Empire, but simply to
07:20survive another day. Number 3, the Stormtrooper's inability to hit targets. For years, the Stormtrooper's
07:26apparent ineptitude when it came to firefights had been the subject of mockery and ridicule amongst
07:31fans. This, of course, goes all the way back to A New Hope, in which the Imperial soldiers were
07:36completely unable to hit the film's protagonists with their blasters, despite them having perfectly clear
07:41shots throughout the movie, and our heroes being sitting ducks at times. So, what gives?
07:46Well, in Rogue One, despite his blindness, Donnie Yen's character is able to not only effectively
07:51dodge each blast that came his way, but walk through a chaotic battlefield without so much
07:56as being graced, all the while proclaiming, I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
08:01He is only finally hit and killed after making it across the firefight and scared and flipping the
08:06switch that would help make the Rebels mission a success. His dying words are,
08:10I fulfilled my destiny. Provided this was the intention, this information kind of changes
08:15everything. This tells us that when the Force is involved, not even the most highly trained
08:20soldiers in the galaxy can keep something from their purpose. So, how did Luke Skywalker and company
08:25manage to remain unshot for so long? Well, it's because they hadn't fulfilled their destiny yet,
08:30and the Force was going to help make sure they did. Number 2, the Destruction of the Death Star.
08:35Because of the information given to us in Rogue One, the ultimate destruction of the original
08:38Death Star in A New Hope retroactively becomes one of the most emotional moments in all of Star Wars,
08:44if it wasn't already. Rogue One gave the mission everything, up to and including their lives,
08:49just for a chance. A chance and nothing more. A chance that maybe what they did could help the
08:55Rebellion succeed. They clung to the last bit of hope there was all the way to the bitter end,
09:00just to buy a little more time for everyone else, and it paid off. It was because of the bravery and
09:05selfishness of Rogue One that Luke Skywalker was even given the chance to go on his iconic mission.
09:11So, the Death Star's destruction was not only Luke's moment of triumph, but also, and arguably
09:16more so in a way, that of Rogue One. The last will and testament of those previously unsung heroes was
09:21what made the Rebellion's finest hour of possibility. The Force truly was with Rogue One,
09:26and you can bet that somewhere they were smiling when the Empire's ultimate weapon,
09:30the one they had given their lives to stop, went up in flames. Number one, the title.
09:35When the original Star Wars film was rebranded as A New Hope four years after its initial release,
09:40everyone assumed that this was referring to Luke Skywalker. And how could they not,
09:44given the content of the film? However, after Rogue One, the title takes on a whole other meaning.
09:49Throughout Rogue One, we are constantly reminded that Rebellions are built on hope. They drive this
09:54point to the viewer over and over again. The team do what they do in the name of hope, and this
10:00culminates in Leia's last line that closes the film in which she receives the stolen Death Star plans.
10:05When the Rebel who gave her the transmission asks what had been delivered, she replies simply with
10:10the word hope. The hope that one day the sacrifices made to steal those plans would be worth it. Well,
10:16that day would come sooner than they may have thought, as the assault on the Death Star would come
10:20shortly after the events of Rogue One concluded. Which begs the question, was this new hope really
10:25Luke, or was it what came of Rogue One's first and last stand? Well, why can't it be both?
10:31So that's our list. I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below. Are you still
10:34loving Rogue One as much as you did back in 2016? And has this list given you a kick to go and rewatch
10:40it? I know it has for me. While you're letting me know in the comments, could you please also give us
10:44a like, share, subscribe, and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
10:48Even if you don't though, I've been Josh. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon.
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