Scoundrel Poll: In Defense of Lando
PostedThu Aug 26, 2004 10:25 am
I know there are some that aren't fans of the "Expanded Universe" side of the SW lore (and for the most part I'm not either) but there's at least 2 concepts that I do like alot. One of them is the elaboration on the history between Han & Lando. The other pertains to some of the funding for the Alliance.
Firstly, in general most fans believe that Lando Calrissian "redeemed himself" by saving Han & Crew with a slick move here and there on Bespin. That Lando was a big sellout at first then did the right thing. I say that there's more in the story to give Lando credit for.
"You got a lot of nerve comin' here...after what YOU pulled!" That's what Lando tells Han when Han & Co. first arrive in Bespin. For almost 20 years everyone wondered what Lando could possibly be talking about. Then "The Han Solo Trilogy" (NOT to be confused with the infinitely superior 1980-81 "Han Solo Adventures") came out about 1997 and set the record straight on that. It seems that about a year or so before Han & Chewie first met Obi-Wan and Luke on Tattooine, Han organized a large cadre of mercenary smugglers to raid a spice mine owned by the huge Hutt Cartel. With the help of the then, "proto"- Rebel Alliance, the idea was to hit the mines, take away the spice, divide it up, and every body ride off into the starset rich, happy, and retired.
Of course, it didn't work out that way, because after the successful raid, the leader of the Rebel part of the Strike Team, Bria Tharen (who happened to also be Han's first love), stole all of the Spice at gunpoint, cutting all of the rest of the smugglers out of the score. (She went on to use the spice to finance the start-up of the Rebel Alliance!).
The smugglers that trusted Solo ( Lando included) blamed Han for the double cross since he was the one who recruited them. Also it was known that Solo had a personal relationship with the Rebel double crosser, which made them even more suspicious of Solo.
The mercenary smugglers all went away pissed off at Han which earned him a bad reputation among his criminal peers. He then sets off to Tattooine to try to get back on track (cue Episode 4 ).
That's the first concept that I liked about that 1997 trilogy. The second concept was that, like so many other recent rebellions/revolutions currently and in recent history (a la Colombia right now), the author portrays the "insurgent" Rebels as originally financed by what!? OMG, SPICE! The Rebels sold drugs to pay for weapons, training, X-Wings, Leia's hairstylist, etc, etc.!
Now, with all of that in mind let's address the "Scoundrel Question". It's obvious that, even though Lando still had some hard feelings toward Han, he did try to warn him off at the Cloud City landing pad ("You no good, dirty double crosser...").
You have to agree that Lando was hoping that Han's "crook sense" would kick in and and he would "get the message" that he probably should turn around and launch ship! Lando would still be able to tell Vader, "hey, Solo just bounced! Said something about meeting Skywalker in the Corporate Sector" (saving face with Vader). But of course, after dodging a million asteroids, a space slug, and a lost nookie opportunity with Leia, Solo's senses were understandably a little dull to Lando's sideways alarm.
So, I submit to all of you that Lando is NOT the bigger scoundrel. He could have not tried to warn Han off at all. Even though he did eventually sell him out, he did come back and "trade it all" to help his old boy out in the clutch! If he was the bigger scoundrel, Lando's response to Vader's "permanent garrison" order would have been "Great! I'll draw up credit chips so they can all gamble on the house!".
Solo, WAS, the bigger scoundrel for even expecting Lando's help after the Hutt Spice raid. Solo didn't have many options, but still it's like asking to borrow money from people that you already owe! That's "Scoundrel" fa' real! Even Chewie barked something that drew Solo's response "Well, I'm sure he's forgotten about that".
So my vote is Solo for bigger Scoundrel.
What do you think?
Firstly, in general most fans believe that Lando Calrissian "redeemed himself" by saving Han & Crew with a slick move here and there on Bespin. That Lando was a big sellout at first then did the right thing. I say that there's more in the story to give Lando credit for.
"You got a lot of nerve comin' here...after what YOU pulled!" That's what Lando tells Han when Han & Co. first arrive in Bespin. For almost 20 years everyone wondered what Lando could possibly be talking about. Then "The Han Solo Trilogy" (NOT to be confused with the infinitely superior 1980-81 "Han Solo Adventures") came out about 1997 and set the record straight on that. It seems that about a year or so before Han & Chewie first met Obi-Wan and Luke on Tattooine, Han organized a large cadre of mercenary smugglers to raid a spice mine owned by the huge Hutt Cartel. With the help of the then, "proto"- Rebel Alliance, the idea was to hit the mines, take away the spice, divide it up, and every body ride off into the starset rich, happy, and retired.
Of course, it didn't work out that way, because after the successful raid, the leader of the Rebel part of the Strike Team, Bria Tharen (who happened to also be Han's first love), stole all of the Spice at gunpoint, cutting all of the rest of the smugglers out of the score. (She went on to use the spice to finance the start-up of the Rebel Alliance!).
The smugglers that trusted Solo ( Lando included) blamed Han for the double cross since he was the one who recruited them. Also it was known that Solo had a personal relationship with the Rebel double crosser, which made them even more suspicious of Solo.
The mercenary smugglers all went away pissed off at Han which earned him a bad reputation among his criminal peers. He then sets off to Tattooine to try to get back on track (cue Episode 4 ).
That's the first concept that I liked about that 1997 trilogy. The second concept was that, like so many other recent rebellions/revolutions currently and in recent history (a la Colombia right now), the author portrays the "insurgent" Rebels as originally financed by what!? OMG, SPICE! The Rebels sold drugs to pay for weapons, training, X-Wings, Leia's hairstylist, etc, etc.!
Now, with all of that in mind let's address the "Scoundrel Question". It's obvious that, even though Lando still had some hard feelings toward Han, he did try to warn him off at the Cloud City landing pad ("You no good, dirty double crosser...").
You have to agree that Lando was hoping that Han's "crook sense" would kick in and and he would "get the message" that he probably should turn around and launch ship! Lando would still be able to tell Vader, "hey, Solo just bounced! Said something about meeting Skywalker in the Corporate Sector" (saving face with Vader). But of course, after dodging a million asteroids, a space slug, and a lost nookie opportunity with Leia, Solo's senses were understandably a little dull to Lando's sideways alarm.
So, I submit to all of you that Lando is NOT the bigger scoundrel. He could have not tried to warn Han off at all. Even though he did eventually sell him out, he did come back and "trade it all" to help his old boy out in the clutch! If he was the bigger scoundrel, Lando's response to Vader's "permanent garrison" order would have been "Great! I'll draw up credit chips so they can all gamble on the house!".
Solo, WAS, the bigger scoundrel for even expecting Lando's help after the Hutt Spice raid. Solo didn't have many options, but still it's like asking to borrow money from people that you already owe! That's "Scoundrel" fa' real! Even Chewie barked something that drew Solo's response "Well, I'm sure he's forgotten about that".
So my vote is Solo for bigger Scoundrel.
What do you think?
TEASE!