ANH: Imperial Boarding Party

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Chapter II: Imperial Boarding Party

Imperial Boarding Party
Two of Tatooine's three moons can be seen in the opening shot. Initially, the planet was orbited by only two moons, though a third is glimpsed while Anakin Skywalker spied on the Tusken Raider camp in Episode II. These moons are called Ghomrassen and Guermessa, while the newcomer is identified as Chenini.

The Tantive IV, last seen in Episode III, has been upgraded in the intervening nineteen years. Using the Vanguard c20 retrofit suite, its designation has altered from a CR70 corvette to a CR90 corvette. This was used to explain size and shape discrepancies between the original model created for this film, and the model used in Episode III. One of the more obvious changes is the vessel's recolouring; instead of Republic-era blue, the Tantive IV now sports the red patterns of a diplomatic cruiser.

The Imperial I-class Star Destroyer is introduced here, in the form of Darth Vader's flagship, the Devastator. Early material by Geoffrey Mandel tagged the Star Destroyer model with the classification "Imperator-class". Though these models were later resized and the information deemed non-canon, it was later revealed that Imperator-class was the original name for the Imperial-I Destroyer. The first Imperator-class Star Destroyers appeared in Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader.

The shot that cripples the Tantive IV actually bounces off the vessel's deflector shield and then destroys the solar fin, presumably overloading the shields in the process.

C-3PO and R2-D2 are reintroduced, in the same hallway we left them at the end of Episode III. Threepio also has the honour of providing both the last line of the previous episode, and the first line of this film: "Did you hear that?". Also note the shin of his right leg is silver, implying he has been on more adventures between episodes.

In fact, these two droids had many escapades in the timeframe between Episodes III and IV. They feature in a series of Dark Horse graphic novels set nine years before the film opens, and the cartoon series Star Wars: Droids is set four years prior to Episode IV. In these stories, the droids are not under the ownership of Captain Antilles, though this discrepancy was fixed by Billy Buehler, AKA The2ndQuest, through the "What's the Story feature on The Official Site. Several of the Tantive IV's escape pods were jettisoned during a pirate attack, one of which was carrying the two droids . This left enough time for their cartoon and comic adventures before being reclaimed by Antilles prior to the start of the film.

Music
"Star Wars Main Title" segues into "Rebel Blockade Runner".