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An AT-AT on Endor?
In episode 7 – The Cast Awakens, Joe asked if there were any scenes we would like to be added to the films, and it got me thinking…
What did ever happen to that AT-AT walker on Endor?
In Return of the Jedi when Luke meets with Vader on Endor, one of the shots includes a single AT-AT walking with their flashlights on. The empire knew the rebels were coming, so the AT-AT was deployed on the moon for a reason. But it never got to crush the rebel scum.
In light of that, I think there could have been a couple of scenes included focusing on that AT-AT and the role it could have played in the movie.
You saw AT-STs in the forest moon battle, but the AT-AT was missing from action. There could have been a 5 minute segment where the rebels think they have won the battle against the Imperial forces and all of a sudden an AT-AT comes bursting out of the trees. AT-ATs should be capable of walking through trees so it could have looked awesome in the film.
Then Han, Chewie and Liea would have to board and capture the walker. It could show the Ewok defences crumbling against the force of an AT-AT. The segment could give the same vibe from the battle of Hoth. But in the End they could win over the AT-AT rather than having to flee, giving a sense of the overall rebel fight against the empire.
The captured walker could even be included in the celebration scene at the end of the film. Being used as a Ewok band stand, with DJ Wicket blasting out Yub Nub remixes long into the night.
In my mind the reason it is missing from the battle is because the AT-AT Pilots were sleeping on the job, only to wake up from their nap to find a Death Star-less sky.
And you never know, that missing AT-AT could have cost the empire the war…
In the latest Marvel Star Wars #2&3 Han, Leia, and R2 hijack an AT-AT, so the scenes described above could have played out in a similar way.
Note: this article was conceived and written before those comics were released, so I take full credit for the comic’s storylines.
While I’ve always wondered about that AT-AT myself, here is why I believe it was not included in that Endor Battle:
The Scene where the AT-AT appears is around the landing pad. I can only assume that said landing pad is close by the Main Entrance to the Power Generator for the 2nd Death Star’s Shields. As you will recall, the Main entrance was too heavily fortified,(aka, they have an AT-AT), so the rebels went to the ‘back door.’ This Back Door was where the entire battle took place, and as seen in the movie, it was pretty densely populated with large trees, that were bigger even than an AT-AT, where it might be understandable that an AT-AT could not just push them over. Also, when the satelite blew up, it seemed to appear to be MANY kilometers in diameter, and therefore not only was the AT-AT too large to fit in that section of forest, it was too far away to reach the battle in time. I do however like the anecdote that they fell asleep and cost the Empire the war. It was probably Tag and Bink. As it stands, we do see an appearance of that same AT-AT in the Star Wars Lego game when on Endor. Luke and Leia destroy it before he surrenders to Vader. 😉
I see what you mean, Seth, but I always found it funny how the Emperor said he had a whole legion down there (the SW equivalent of “it’s over 9000!”), but then they really didn’t do much. It seemed like just a handful of lazy Stormtroopers. There was very little threat in the Imp forces down there. I’d think they’d have had resources to spare to actually do some Rebel crushing.
Agreed, but they were all on the other side of Endor, and apparently getting owned by me in a future game of Battlefront. 😉
I appreciate the comment Seth! I must have forgotten about that dialogue in the movie…
It was cool to see an AT-AT on Endor in the battlefront trailer though 🙂
We might have to get a Jodo cast clan together! The ‘Jizz whalers’… ‘Noodle scooters’… there will be a lot of names to pick from when the game does come out! Haha