[Admiral Archer]

I know this is a Star Trek forum, but since we have an off-topic area I'd like to discuss Star Wars storyline glitches and continuity problems AKA what happened behind the scenes. Since the prequel glitches are countless I'm going to focus solely on the original trilogy for now.

HERE THEY ARE:

--In the original STAR WARS, Darth Vader seemed to have limited power.
Grand Moff Tarkin appeared to "hold Vader's leash" as Leia put it. So when
did Vader get as all-powerful as he was in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? Was it
after Governor Tarkin died? Or was there yet more of a status ladder
climb that occurred between the two films?

--Han Solo really, REALLY wanted the money to pay off Jabba the Hutt in
STAR WARS, but three years later, in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, he still hasn't
payed it off. WTF? It must not have been that important after all! Or was
it? Did Han actually try to pay it off, but never got the chance?

--When was the freaking Super Star Destroyer built? Don't tell me that thing
took only three years to build!!!

--Robot Chicken even parodied this next one. Was the Emperor pissed off at
Vader when the Death Star blew up? Or was it the standard kindly grandpa
approach that was used in the prequels "Oh my poor lad, thank heavens
you are all right!" I think the latter idea is BS, but how did the Emperor
really respond? Did he even care? Or was it a "necessary loss"?

--Expnding on the previous idea, how did the Emperor treat Darth Vader?
Was it the same way he treated Darth Maul, brutally and abusively? Or
was Vader like his pride and joy son sort of thing? Did Vader ever get in
trouble with the Emperor? If so, what was his punishment?

--How did Darth Vader eat or drink? Was it in that Isolation chamber?

Sorry if all this is rather overwhelming to answer, I figured it would make good conversation!

[MissionTrek08]

I'll take a stab at these...

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--In the original STAR WARS, Darth Vader seemed to have limited power. rand Moff Tarkin appeared to "hold Vader's leash" as Leia put it. So when did Vader get as all-powerful as he was in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? Was it after Governor Tarkin died? Or was there yet more of a status ladder climb that occurred between the two films?

Don't forget, the whole motivation of the Dark Side is to obtain power. So with Tarkin out of the way in the chain of command, Vader naturally rises up another step in his quest. Pay attention to how Vader lures Luke to join him at the end of TESB -- he lays out this exact plan of taking over the Empire. It's all there. Also, with the threat of the Jedi returning, Vader (the Empire's sole practitioner of the religion) becomes even more crucial in protecting old Palp.

--Han Solo really, REALLY wanted the money to pay off Jabba the Hutt in STAR WARS, but three years later, in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, he still hasn't payed it off. WTF? It must not have been that important after all! Or was it? Did Han actually try to pay it off, but never got the chance?

Presumably while Leia payed Han for his rescue efforts, the Rebels were clearly on the run from the Battle of Yavin on. Plus he had the hots for Leia, so of course he never went back to payoff Jabba. He always maintained he would pay his debt, but postponed it until he was captured.

--When was the freaking Super Star Destroyer built? Don't tell me that thing took only three years to build!!!

This never bothered me, considering the unlimited resources and 'slave' labor in the Empire's reign. In fact, keeping the three-year span between Episodes, the Empire was 2/3 complete in rebuilding a new Death Star between the end of IV and the start of VI. That project would dwarf building a 'mere' super stardestroyer. Unfortunately Lucas screwed up this consistency at the end of III, when he shows a 'young' Tarkin overseeing construction of the original Death Star... which seemingly takes up to 17 years to complete, since the DS is a new battlestation as IV begins. Don't even start me on Han shooting second!

--Robot Chicken even parodied this next one. Was the Emperor pissed off at Vader when the Death Star blew up? Or was it the standard kindly grandpa approach that was used in the prequels "Oh my poor lad, thank heavens you are all right!" I think the latter idea is BS, but how did the Emperor really respond? Did he even care? Or was it a "necessary loss"?

While hilarious on Robot Chicken, in 'reality' I think the Emperor had much more to worry about than blaming Vader. First off, the DS was Tarkin's command, not Vader's who even warned Tarking not to be too proud of his "technological terror." I see no evidence that Palp could blame Vader for anything related to the DS destruction.

--Expnding on the previous idea, how did the Emperor treat Darth Vader? Was it the same way he treated Darth Maul, brutally and abusively? Or was Vader like his pride and joy son sort of thing? Did Vader ever get in
trouble with the Emperor? If so, what was his punishment?

While Palp likely had a healthy respect for Vader's power and skills (as all Sith lords must with their apprentices), I always figured Vader also felt undeniably as the Emperor's slave too -- which is Anakin's tragic theme, fighting all his life to escape feeling like a slave. Of course, he traded actual slavery as a child to being a slave to the Dark Side, and thus Palp. For their relationship to last as long as it did, my guess is their relationship had to remain a delicate balance, since any extreme would probably prompt one to kill the other as Siths tend to do.

--How did Darth Vader eat or drink? Was it in that Isolation chamber?

That's my guess, and given his terrible physical condition I always figured Anakin/Vader lived pretty much by I.V. for sustenance -- the basics to keep what's left of his body alive and functioning. A good time for his 'meditation' and medical treatments while he's being tube fed nutrients.

[Hawku]

Star Wa...what? This is the first I've heard of this series.

[dotcanada]

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--In the original STAR WARS, Darth Vader seemed to have limited power.
Grand Moff Tarkin appeared to "hold Vader's leash" as Leia put it. So when
did Vader get as all-powerful as he was in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? Was it
after Governor Tarkin died? Or was there yet more of a status ladder
climb that occurred between the two films?

It may be possible, and it has been mentioned, that Tarkin was placed in charge by the Emporer only on the Death Star. Who knows?

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--Han Solo really, REALLY wanted the money to pay off Jabba the Hutt in
STAR WARS, but three years later, in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, he still hasn't
payed it off. WTF? It must not have been that important after all! Or was
it? Did Han actually try to pay it off, but never got the chance?

You answered your own question. Remember at the end of Episode 4, he was going to pay him off, but decided to turn around and help defeat the empire and take care of the debt later. And at the beginning of Episode 5, he was intending to return to pay him back, but the empire found the rebels. He took the princess with him to keep her safe. Remember, in this episode, Jabba had enough and had hired bounty hunters to go after him. Boba Fett found him first and carried his frozen butt to Jabba. So in essence, he never got a chance. He put his friends before his debt.

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--When was the freaking Super Star Destroyer built? Don't tell me that thing
took only three years to build!!!

Who said it was? They might have had it even during Episode 4 but was somewhere else at the time. And don't look at things too linearly. Just because it was 3 years between episode 4 and 5, doesn't mean it was 3 years set that the story was taking place.

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--Was it the same way he treated Darth Maul, brutally and abusively?

HMM?? You might have seen a different Episode 1. I don't recall the emporer treating Maul "Brutally and abusively".

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--How did Darth Vader eat or drink? Was it in that Isolation chamber?

How did he pee? How did he poop? Did he shave? You see where I'm going with this. Use you imagination. However, I think he drank his coffee like Dark Helmet did in Spaceballs.

[Shinzon]

Originally Posted by Admiral Archer

--When was the freaking Super Star Destroyer built?

Who cares when it looks so damn awesome! lol Shame we never saw the later Eclipse class SuperStar Destroyer in the movies.

As for Vader eating and drinking, alot of him is machine so his sustinence intake would be alot lower.