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In the Prequel Star Wars Trilogy transportation often seems to miraculously appear to help move the plot along, whereas in the Original Trilogy the difficulty of acquiring that transportation is more often woven into the plot.

In the Coruscant chase scene from Star Wars Episode II, the Attack of the Clones the level of difficulty which Anakin encounters in obtaining the right speeder for his needs (open top, speed capabilities e.t.c.) feels about right. Anakin is in a built-up metropolitan area with plenty of transports parked up. However, it is not the case that when a mode of transport is needed, its acquisition is quite so plausible elsewhere in the Prequel Trilogy and the third Trilogy.

In Episode One (The Attack of the Clones) Watto just happens to be the first junk dealer that Qui-Gon visits and also just happens to be the only one around with the hyperdrive that he needs. In that sense it's all a bit too easy.

In Episode II (The Phantom Menace), Anakin's suitably ominous swoop bike just pretty much appears out of thin air in order for him to search for his mother and massacre the Sand People.

In Episode III (The Revenge of the Sith) Obi-Wan Kenobi just happens to find himself a Boga on Utapau, a large enough lizard to act as his steed which is already saddled and thus presumably trained up to know how to provide transportation to bipedal humanoids. This also raises the question of who trained him. The residents of Utapau don't seem that active or sporty, and it’s difficult to imagine that anyone from General Grievous's army would have had cause to bring a Boga with them.

In the escape from Jakku in The Force Awakens Rey and Finn just happen to run into an implausibly convenient open-air space ship park when they need a ship in which to escape. Even more implausible is that the space port wouldn't have been under cover on a desert planet. Furthermore, since we learn that Unkar Plutt has stolen the Millennium Falcon it seems even more improbable that he would leave it out in the open air covered with little more than a dust sheet.

By contrast, in the Original Trilogy, when a mode of transport is needed it is not quite so easy to come by and never seems to materialise out of thin air.

In A New Hope hiring the Millennium Falcon for the journey to Alderaan is a costly affair which involves negotiation for instance. Luke even has to sell his Landspeeder in order to contribute towards the cost. And in The Return of the Jedi the stealing of an Imperial Shuttle in order to get past the Death Star and on to Endor appears to have been a whole mission in itself.

Most difficult of all is perhaps Luke's departure from Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back when his X-Wing Fighter is submerged in the swamp. This is at first presented as an insurmountable obstacle as Luke's Jedi powers are not yet strong enough to lift anything more than small rocks. At this point we have never seen the Force used to move objects before and so do not know what it's limitations are. Thus, we share in Luke's surprise when Yoda is able to raise the fighter from the swamp. Getting access to a mode of transport to leave Dagobah and come to the aid of his friends is both an ordeal and a lesson for Luke and nothing falls into his lap as it does for others in the chronologically earlier Star Wars movies.

Again in the The Last Jedi, modes of transport to seem to conveniently present themselves as and when needed. This is especially apparent on Canto Bight when Finn and Rose first escape from the jail on the backs of Fathiers, and then when they are cut off DJ just conventiently turns up with BB-8 and a ship he has stolen and off they go. The ski speeders on Crait also fall into this category. The Rebel Alliance had just happened to leave all these vehicles behind for the Resistance to use 30 years later. Whilst it is plausible that the Alliance might have been in a hurry to leave and thus have left these rust bucket ships behind, they seem to have left them fully fuelled and ready for battle.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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