5

In Episode IV: A New Hope, an interrogation droid is used to torture Leia.

enter image description here
Screencap from the movie

This droid is equipped with a syringe.

enter image description here
Photo of the actual prop in a museum

This syringe is clearly labeled "BRITISH MADE".

enter image description here
Photo of the actual prop in a museum

Obviously, Britain isn't in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, so this poses a problem for sticklers for continuity like... um... almost everyone on this site. Knowing the penchant Lucas and other Star Wars writers have for questionable retcons, I have to ask:

Was the appearance of "BRITISH MADE" in a Star Wars movie ever retconned or mentioned elsewhere, at any level of canonicity?

Note: I realize the label is all but impossible to see in the film, but I have heard people claim that they saw it there. Difficult for sure, but perhaps it is possible.

Improve this question
13
  • 1
    Incidentally, the poor little torture droid appears to have suffered some rough handling over the years. Chipped paint, dents, scratches, etc.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 8:05
  • 8
    Unless you can post an actual screencap from the film in which the label is legible, then there's no question to answer. A prop when seen off-screen is not canonical.
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 8:28
  • 2
    You can say it's still a valid question to ask whether the label was "mentioned elsewhere, at any level of canonicity", but if the premise of an "appearance of BRITISH MADE in a Star Wars movie" is false, the question should be modified. And of course, if it never appeared, it'd never need to be "retconned".
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 8:43
  • 2
    Too much semantics for me at 4 am. Off to bed.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 9:12
  • 1
    Follow up question: Who forgot to remove the label and were they fired or simply Force Choke'd to death?
    – user40790
    Commented Jan 4, 2017 at 18:45

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
25

Firstly, you'll note that the syringe in the movie is the other way up (it's quite likely so that the words "British made" aren't visible), and whatever it said on this side isn't necessarily the same as on the other side!

Getting past that, it would be highly unlikely that anyone ever could make out the words from just the movie. Below is a screen grab from Harmy's 1080p Despecialized Edition: the syringe from the movie, and while you can see... something, it's not legible what the words are.

enter image description here

So the only way that anyone would know for sure what it said would have been at the museum exhibit, which is not even close to canon. If someone had seen the exhibit, there's a chance that they'd be able to make out the words that they knew were there while watching the movie. However, if you had to run blind on what it said on there, I suspect that there would be very, very few - if any - who could tell you what is written there without out-of-universe knowledge.

Improve this answer

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