10

Despite the perception that Obi-Wan was Luke's mentor who taught him in the ways of the Force, it seems like they only had a minute of actual Jedi training. This was on the Millennium Falcon as it made its way from Tatooine to the Death Star.

Han, near the start of the scene, brags about just escaping the Imperial ships above Tatooine, with the jump to light speed:

Han: Well, you can forget your troubles with those Imperial slugs. I told you I'd outrun 'em.

Luke gets to try out his lightsaber with the training droid, including with his blast shield down. They have a short conversation about the nature of the Force, and Han gets to express his skepticism. Meanwhile Chewie, R2-D2 and C-3P0 play their holographic board game.

At the end of the same scene:

Han: Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan.

Does it really take just a few moments to get from Tatooine to the Death Star (where Alderaan would have been)? Are they really moving "merely" at light speed or what?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    Several days, as far as I can recall.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 5:30
  • 2
    No, they were moving at "point 5 past light speed", whatever that means.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 5:31
  • @Richard It means point 5 units. ;)
    – Lexible
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 5:45
  • 1
    @Lexible - Ah, well, yes. Obviously. That makes more sense.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 5:49
  • 4
    @Richard - it took them 11 parsecs
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 14:38

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

UPDATE: According to the new canon novelisation of Star Wars: A New Hope, there was only a gap of a few hours, at most a day between the ship leaving Tatooine and their arrival at Alderaan.

Meanwhile, the old man had been lecturing Luke from the moment the ship had settled into hyperspace. They, Chewie, and the droids had migrated from the cockpit to the central hold area. Han told himself he was only hanging around nearby to make sure they didn’t get any ideas about throwing their lightsabers around.

...

Luke arched his back, and the pose was so strange Han couldn’t keep his chuckle in. The kid must have heard it because he scowled and switched the lightsaber off. “Oh, this is pointless. What can I really learn on a ship in a few hours?”
Exactly. Han dropped his mask back down over his face and returned to the circuitry in front of him.
“I do not expect you to master everything in mere minutes, and you should not expect that of yourself, either. That is a path to frustration, anger—and both are dangerous.”

Star Wars: New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy

It's not stated in the script, but it is notable that there's a cut between Luke/Han/Obi-Wan going to lightspeed (in the Tatooine System), then we have the follow-up scene with Leia meeting Tarkin after having been tortured, then we have the scene where Luke/Han/Obi-Wan arrive at Alderaan.

As far as the amount of time taken, it's never spelled out. It's apparently long enough for Leia to have proven that her...

...resistance to the mind probe is considerable."

and for Leia to have been taken from Tatooine to the Death Star and for the Death Star to have then traveled to Alderaan.

Assuming that Ben feels the death of Alderaan in realtime, the implication is that at least a few days have passed since they left Tatooine.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.