This blunder took place only seven minutes into the film. Princess Leia cleverly hid the stolen Death Star plans inside R2-D2, who got away in an escape pod. As the pod jettisoned, the Empire had a gun aimed at the pod, fully capable of destroying it instantaneously. However, the officer in charge ordered the soldier to hold his fire, because there are no life forms aboard. This was said while the Empire was looking for stolen Death Star plans, which do not count as life forms. Though it might've been an insignificant detail at the time, it weakened the Empire's power and vastly undermined their intelligence. Why would organic life-forms be the only thing they would shoot at? Furthermore, Darth Vader deduced in seconds that the plans were hidden in the escape pod, thus making it harder for the Empire to retrieve them. Had the Empire taken a single shot and fired at the escape pod, they wouldve destroyed C-3PO and R2-D2, and the stolen plans along with them, saving the Empire from a catastrophic defeat later on in the film. Instead, they decided to save on their laser budget and hold fire against an escape pod that allegedly malfunctioned. This one choice allowed the droids to escape, come into the possession of Luke Skywalker, and set in motion the destruction of the Death Star and eventual doom of the Galactic Empire.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
