Interdictor at the Battle of Endor?!?

[Wild Karrde]

I got bored yesterday and had some time to kill so I decided to watch the space battle in ROTJ. I come to the part where Arkbar tells the fleet the DSII's sheilds are down. Now the shot immediately after this is from the Millennium Falcon's cockpit and in the upper righthand corner you can see a strange ISD. After I slowed this part down I could see that the ISD had a strange "bulge" in it's midsection strangely reminiscent of the 4 spheres that an interidictor has. Can someone please confirm this and possibly post a screen-cap cause my vcr's pause feature is'nt all that great. Thanks.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

My VCR's functions suck and I don't have vidcap stuff either, but I do know that officially, some Interdictors partcipated IIRC, so I won't be shocked if it was an Interdictor. Who knows, maybe WEG is a little sharper than we thought

[Doomriser]

Yeah, many have seen phantom ships and weapons that turned out to be single-frame oddities. Unless you've seen a part of the "communications ship" or "bayless destroyer." Check www.theforce.net/swtc and go to the 'Star Destroyers' page, particularly the catalogue. There are several canon Endor ships covered by Saxton that may have been ignored by the EU and your mystery ship may be one of them.

[Stravo]

How could there have been an Interdictor if Ackbar orders a general retreat and Lando has to talk him into sticking around?????

[Vympel]

"We're in attack position now sir"

"Hold Here"

"We're not going to attack?"

"I have my orders from the Emperor himself, he has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping"

The only way they could prevent escape was with gravity well projectors.

Just because Ackbar ordered a retreat doesn't mean that they'd definitely pull it off.

[Stravo]

Ah, but Indterdictors weren't around until the Thrawn trilogy. I don't think there was any specific mention in the movie or the novelization how they were going to prevent the rebels from escaping. It seemed to me from the dialogue that Ackbar was relatively certain they could escape, because Lando was very adamant about staying. If the Imperial fleet was really the only reason keeping them from escaping, it would not have taken Lando to talk Ackbar into staying, he would have realzied that they couldn't escape. So there must have been a way for them to escape, IMHO. I could be wrong but I always assumed that they decided to stay because as Lando said, "we're not going to get a shot at this again."

There is also a further sense that they could have retreated even in the thick of the battle when Lando growls, that they have to give Han a little more time. Why did he need to say that if it wasn't because they could escape at any time? The fleet's perdicamnet and Acbar's extreme reluctance to engage the Imperial fleet at point blank range seem to indicate that the rebel fleet had at least a good chance of retreating up unitil they started to slug it out with the fleet. Ackbar was torn because he was putting his fleet at risk, a needless risk perhaps because they could have escaped and not done the unthnkable and confronted the Imperial fleet.

That's just my thoughts on that...

[Talon Karrde]

Stravo, if there were Intredictors at the Battle of Endor, then certainly it would have been more difficult to escape. However, what says the Rebels couldnt attack and disable and destroy the Intredictors. Under the predicament the fleet faced and Ackbar realized, they would either lose all of the fleet or some of it, thus attacking the Intredictors would at least save some.

[Stravo]

Stravo, if there were Intredictors at the Battle of Endor, then certainly it would have been more difficult to escape. However, what says the Rebels couldnt attack and disable and destroy the Intredictors. Under the predicament the fleet faced and Ackbar realized, they would either lose all of the fleet or some of it, thus attacking the Intredictors would at least save some.

True enough Talon, but I wonder how difficult it would have been for the rebels to have taken out the interdictors? They most likely would have been sitting in the heart of the fleet for best protection. It seemed to me that the rebel fleet was just sitting out there in orbit of the DSII for some time before they were forced to confront the Imperial fleet. Why were they sitting out there? Was Ackbar just a bad tactician or was it because the rebels were putting themselves in a position to jump away into hyperspace at the first sign that the mission on Endor had turned into a clusterfuck??

Remember Lando states "I wonder what those Stardestroyers are waiting for?" which seems to mean that everyone was surprised by the Imperial lack of initiative. Its never stated by the rebel fleet elements that they can't escape. Although it should be noted that both Piett and Palpy are pretty sure that they're not going to be able to get away. I just don't think it is clearly spelled out by the movie or novelisation just HOW the Imperials were keeping the rebel fleet from escaping, after all the Falcon jumps to hyperspace right under the bow of the Executor, so proximity to Imperial ships, even one as powerful as Vader's flagship doesn't seem to be the reason why. I suspect lazy writing on GL's part, but that takes the fun out of these debates...

[Wicked Pilot]

Don't tell George this, but I have a copy of ROTJ on my computer. (I also payed for the VHS, so no I'm not a thief) The DiVX version I have is widescreen and clearer than a VCR. Using this, I have scoured the scene in question and have found nothing but a calamari cruiser. There is the possibility that the cruiser in the scene is cut off in the 4:3 version, and what you saw is the back end of it.

[Sea Skimmer]

Ah, but Indterdictors weren't around until the Thrawn trilogy.

They came out within a year after Endor. Militaries often will conduct testing of systems with operational forces years before the item actually enters wide spread service. A prototype or two could have been dispatched for the battle.

[Talon Karrde]

Stravo, if there were Intredictors at the Battle of Endor, then certainly it would have been more difficult to escape. However, what says the Rebels couldnt attack and disable and destroy the Intredictors. Under the predicament the fleet faced and Ackbar realized, they would either lose all of the fleet or some of it, thus attacking the Intredictors would at least save some.

True enough Talon, but I wonder how difficult it would have been for the rebels to have taken out the interdictors? They most likely would have been sitting in the heart of the fleet for best protection. It seemed to me that the rebel fleet was just sitting out there in orbit of the DSII for some time before they were forced to confront the Imperial fleet. Why were they sitting out there? Was Ackbar just a bad tactician or was it because the rebels were putting themselves in a position to jump away into hyperspace at the first sign that the mission on Endor had turned into a clusterfuck??

Remember Lando states "I wonder what those Stardestroyers are waiting for?" which seems to mean that everyone was surprised by the Imperial lack of initiative. Its never stated by the rebel fleet elements that they can't escape. Although it should be noted that both Piett and Palpy are pretty sure that they're not going to be able to get away. I just don't think it is clearly spelled out by the movie or novelisation just HOW the Imperials were keeping the rebel fleet from escaping, after all the Falcon jumps to hyperspace right under the bow of the Executor, so proximity to Imperial ships, even one as powerful as Vader's flagship doesn't seem to be the reason why. I suspect lazy writing on GL's part, but that takes the fun out of these debates...

IIRC, Interedictors main course of action was to place themselves on the outskirts of a battle and put up their interdiction fields. This was my original theory about the whole ordeal, but it may be just as hard for the Rebel fleet to chase after an Intredictor half way across the battle field until their toast from the rest of the fleet.

The battle lines are odd and speculative. I.E. Admiral Piett, "Hold here." Lieutenant (?) "We're not going to attack." Pieet, "The Empeor has something specialed planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping." This line would to me further the argument in favor of Intredictors. The fleet of Star Destroyers takes no action to attack or engage the Rebel fleet, yet they are preventing them from escaping. HOW, other than an Intredictor Cruiser. Still, very speculative.

[Talon Karrde]

I WANT EDITING!!! I MADE ABOUT 3 MILLION TYPOS LAST POST!!!!!!

[Darth Yoshi]

Relax, Karrde. Typos aren't anything to be ashamed of, unless ... you're actually an English teacher! Incidentally, I think you can actually prevent a ship from escaping into hyperspace if your mass is great enough by imposing yourself into his vector. Said ship shouldn't try hyping for fear of smashing into your mass shadow. I remember Mon Remonda trying that trick in Solo Command, although how you'll prevent a fleet from escaping that way is beyond me.

[Talon Karrde]

Relax, Karrde. Typos aren't anything to be ashamed of, unless ... you're actually an English teacher! Incidentally, I think you can actually prevent a ship from escaping into hyperspace if your mass is great enough by imposing yourself into his vector. Said ship shouldn't try hyping for fear of smashing into your mass shadow. I remember Mon Remonda trying that trick in Solo Command, although how you'll prevent a fleet from escaping that way is beyond me.

Actually Im still a High School student, a Junior in fact ::PHEW::

I think what your saying here makes sense, but couldn't the fleet simply choose a new hyperspace vector?

[Vympel]

Lack of editing is a very good thing. Without it, idiots like Darkstar could hide their dishonesty after being exposed by editing.

There is one unknown Imperial ship at Endor- the Falcon is skimming under it (in one of the few upside down incidents in space combat IIRC)- it looks like the underside of an ISD, but there are no conspicuous hangar bays. This ship could have gravity well projectors for all we know, and may be related to the ship with the bridge tower unlike the ISD and ISD2s.

As usual, plenty of room for speculation. But I see gravity well projectors as the only option.