"Just like Watkin in 'Star Wars'..." Please explain this line to me.
I'd appreciate it.
shareIt's a reference to the scene in A New Hope when Leia, Han and Chewbecca are in the garbage compactor in the Death Star. It sounds like he says 'Watkin', but I think he says 'whatsit' ie he doesn't know the character's names. It's a common English word when you aren't sure of something.
It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!
I know about Star Wars, and I knew he was referring to the trash compactor.
But he definitely says "Watkin." It is confirmed if you activate the subtitles, and the name of the episode is titled "Watkin." I don't get the joke.
I didn't see that the episode was entitled 'Watkin', my bad.
After googling, Geek of Doom has something to say about it:
http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2016/11/14/tv-review-dirk-gently-1-4
It says in the recap: " “Burnt and crushed to death like Watkin in Star War.” (Yes, Star War.) "
Perhaps, and this is merely a theory, this takes place in alternate universe where the film is called Star War and one of the main characters is Watkin? I assume it's something that will be followed through in later episodes, or perhaps is just another nugget thrown in to allude to a big reveal, and (like you picked up and I didn't!) they deliberately drew attention to it with the name of the episode.
Dr Google doesn't seem to throw up any more connections. I'm sure that all will be revealed in the course of time, after all everything is connected
It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!
The only reference to a character of a similar name that I could find is from here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Watkins
It's a rather obscure reference in the Star Wars extended universe, but his death seems more closely linked to being burnt and crushed than the trash compactor scene. (I couldn't find any details about the explosion that killed him, other than the blood loss.) The interesting thing, if it is indeed what Dirk is talking about, is that the 's' is dropped from both the name of the character and the name of the film. It seems too deliberate to be coincidental, which leads me to think it may be a clue. Perhaps an s is dropped from a character in the show and it's significant? Like "Springs" instead of "Spring". Or a pronunciation clue, like "Luck Dujour" instead of "Lux Dujour"?
Or maybe it's just a throwaway line.
Wow that's a cool find! It's fun either way - perhaps that was the intention of the film-makers - to get people to go out and do some digging, have a bit of fun with it! If they dropped the 's' from Watkins and the 's' from Star Wars, it's not a reach to think that's who Dirk was talking about and dropping the 's' is significant.
It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!