When is it first mentioned that storm troopers are clones

Stabshauptmann

Am I right in thinking that in EP IV theres no mention of stormtroopers being clones?

When is it first mentioned? I knew before the prequels, so is it in the comics then?

mikhail

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that in EP IV theres no mention of stormtroopers being clones?

When is it first mentioned? I knew before the prequels, so is it in the comics then?

Going by the handful of novels I've read (and strictly from memory), the canon is that the first storm troopers were clones (the idea being that you can't beat industrial cloning for sheer quantity in a war), but by the time of the original trilogy, they've mostly been phased out for normal people.

Looking this up now, they're first mentioned in the original film - Luke asks Obi-Wan "You fought in the Clone Wars?" It's not expanded on though.

bonerm

The idea of actually cloning people was present in the Zahn Trilogy anyway. It's mentioned that C'Baoth is a clone for instance. That was around 1991.

In terms of the movies there's no mention of actual cloning of Stormtroopers until we see it in Episode 2. The original trilogy and Ep1 make no specific reference to it.

mikhail

bonerm wrote: »

The idea of actually cloning people was present in the Zahn Trilogy anyway. It's mentioned that

C'Baoth

is a clone for instance. That was around 1991.

You might think to spoiler that.

Anyone know exactly what was presented to Zahn as canonical? Did he just work off the three films, or was there a 'franchise bible' of some sort?

In terms of the movies there's no mention of actual cloning of Stormtroopers until we see it in Episode 2. The original trilogy and Ep1 make no specific reference to it.

That much is certainly true.

49ers fan

Yeah, would agree with earlier poster that the first mention in the Original Trilogy is Luke asking Ben Kenobi, 'You fought in the Clone Wars?' in 'A New Hope'

Dont think its really shown again till AOTC, with Jango Fett being the basis for the army, that point is again revisited in the ROTS Novalisation where Obi Wan tracks General Grevious to Utapau, using a Clone army for support.

Not sure when the clones were phased out but considering ROTS is set approx 19yrs before 'A New Hope' they were possibly human Stormtroopers at that stage as some one else has posted

By the way I stand to be corrected, this post is from aging memory.....:cool:

dyl10

I have heard people mention that Leia's line "you're a little short for a stormtrooper" to Luke, is a reference to the uniform clones, I don't neccesarily believe it but it's something to consider.

Also, Obi Wan does mention the clone wars in ANH but doesn't strictly reference the stormtroopers.

mikhail

dyl10 wrote: »

I have heard people mention that Leia's line "you're a little short for a stormtrooper" to Luke, is a reference to the uniform clones, I don't neccesarily believe it but it's something to consider.

Could be. Replace "stormtrooper" with "Garda" and it's obvious that that's not by any means a given.

Venom

Showing my age here but I remember reading in the original Marvel UK weekly Star Wars comics about stromtroopers being clones in the fluff articles they published.

Shuggana

There is no actual mention of them being clones, it isn't said at all.

The Stormtroopers that storm the Tantive IV at the beginning of Episode IV are the 501st legion, the last Stormtrooper brigade comprised fully of Jango's clones. Known as "Vader's Fist". They're pretty much the only REAL unit of clones left. You can see that the Imperium's forces are less clone oriented by looking at Imperial troops that don't wear helmets, like the navy and officers. So with so few clones left in the Imperium there would be no need to mention them at all, really.

dyl10

Would be interesting to find out what Lucas originally had in mind with regard to the mention of "the clone wars".

funky penguin

I often wonder why they never continued cloning.

The rarity of the cloning and the whole

Spaarti cylinders in the Thrawn Trilogy

kind of reeks of inaccuracies...did Kamino just stop making them for the empire? Was it too expensive?

I suppose given the distance time wise between the films and the books has to be taken into account. Plot holes will occur.

AnCapaillMor

dyl10 wrote: »

Would be interesting to find out what Lucas originally had in mind with regard to the mention of "the clone wars".

Supposedly he'd little or no idea what to do with the clones originally, heard he told Zahn stay away from the clone wars when Zahn was writing the trilogy as he still was'nt sure what he was going to do with it or if he continued it on.

49ers fan

Just saw this article in Sw Insider, issue #94, thought it was relavent,

....We know that by 'A New Hope' not all the Stormtroopers are Jango-based clones of the prequels. From the EU, it is established that other clone hosts were selected in addition to Jango Fett, while other Stormtroopers were actually recruited and were not clones....

as other poster said as well, the last full clone troops were the 501st Legion, an elite unit of clone troopers that came to symbolize the might of the Galactic Empire, the 501st Legion was made up of the soilders under the direct command of Darth Vader, ie: Vaders Fist

Tordelback

Given that all the Stormies in the OT movies are different heights and builds (including Vader's troops on the Tantive IV), there's no evidence from the films themselves that they are clones. When

clones are introduced

in the Zahn Trilogy, everybody seems pretty surprised. Although this has largely been ret-conned as a reaction

to the growth speed and particular mental characteristics of Spaartii clones

, that isn't in the novel and it seems pretty obvious that Zahn wasn't aware that there already were Stromtrooper clones. It isn't mentioned in the Annotated Screenplays volume either, which generally mentions a lot of stuff that subsequently appeared in the PT (Mace Windu, Utapau, Padawans etc.).

As far as I've been able to make out it's a clever idea that Lucas came up with during the prep work for the PT.

As an aside I seem to recall that it was Rick McCallum that introduced the idea of linking Fett and his armour with the clones, further suggesting that the whole thing was in flux right up until AotC was in pre-production.

evil-monkey

Traviss hints at some big plot in her novels that is most likely this - a new generation of clones for the Empire (presumably to fill the boots of the Stormtroopers). But she hasn't actually revealed this in any of her novels yet, and may not considering her affair with the Republic's Commandos is coming to an end.

horgan_p

I believe it was mentioned in the Return of the Jedi Marvel comic in the 80s . I dont know if this is canon though (i doubt it somehow given the amount of stories set between empire and jedi )

johnnyivan

I was genuinely surprised when my wife suggested they were clones - and this after a childhood obsession and also having seen the prequels!

When I heard them discussing "the game the other night" by the tractor beam in the original - they seemed like ordinary blokes. Plus, they're bloody useless. Unable to hit ANYTHING most of the time.

John

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Star Wars Age 9 . com

Tordelback

johnnyivan wrote: »

When I heard them discussing "the game the other night" by the tractor beam in the original - they seemed like ordinary blokes

That's some mighty funny hearing you have!

I heard:

"Do you know what's going on"
"Maybe it's another drill"
"You seen that new BT-16?"
"Some of the other guys were telling me about it, they say it's quite a thing to see".

Sounds like clone chatter to me! (Not that I accept that they were ever intended to be clones, mind).

johnnyivan

Ha ha! You're right!

Sorry - i don't know where I got that from. Maybe it was in the novel.

John

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Star Wars Age 9 . com

AnCapaillMor

Maybe the BT-16 is a new Saabac card dealing machine.