6. Tarkin Blows Up Alderaan Because Its Convenient Star Wars
We know that the Galactic Empire are hardly good people, and when theyre led by a man as uproariously British and angularly-faced as Peter Cushings Grand Moff Tarkin, you expect some pantomime villainy to be par for the course. Of course, we all know precisely what Tarkin does when it comes time for his Im-so-damn-evil moment he blows up a planet, namely Alderaan. Again, this is just seen as something of a days work for Tarkin, but the fact he blows up Alderaan at all can be seen as a very curious overreaction in his quest to instil the sense of fear that might quash the Rebellion. When deciding who to release the Death Stars hellfire upon, Tarkin had a choice he could either go for Dantooine, where he thinks the rebel base is, or Alderaan as a giant middle finger to Leia. You wouldve thought this was a ridiculously easy choice he could either blow up Alderaan for the sake of propaganda, or take out Dantooine and a sizeable chunk of the rebel forces. Strangely, he chooses the former, saying that Dantooine is far too remote to make for an effective demonstration. Now, once again, I know its the Empires job to be evil, but it isnt necessarily their job to be stupid after all, they do still have a insurrection to put down, and blowing up a rebel base would surely go some way in aiding their cause. After all, when you go hunting, theres no point in scaring the deer if you can just kill it instead. Yet Tarkin completely ignores this, and chooses to go completely over-the-top on an ostensibly neutral planet, just so he can scare a few people. I guess people do get laser-happy when they possess a planet-squashing weapon, but Jesus Tarkin, sort out the Empires problems before you go hell-for-leather with it.