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Flak me? Flak you!

Flak ('flak): excessive or abusive criticism
                    The Millenium Falcon was saddened by the amount of flak the TIE fighters hurled its way.

Tantive vs Devastator (4.54 Mb)

In each of the above series of frames we witness an apparent hit to the Tantive IV. In all instances, following the splinter or bloom, the screen flares to white for one frame.

The last two frames are interesting because the Tantive had already past well beyond the point where we see the blooming. It may well be that we are seeing an event very similar to the first two frames shown in this scene. Obvious in its absence is the well-documented "splinter" shot that directly precedes the introduction of C3PO and R2D2.

Falcon Escaping from Tatooine (2.12 Mb)

A frame by frame viewing of the exterior of the ISD and the Falcon shows only bolts being fired over the freighter with 4 flashes occurring from an indeterminate source at seemingly irregular intervals (0.38 seconds between 1st and 2nd, 0.21 sec 2nd/3rd, 1.08 sec 3rd/4th). The bolts all pass over the Falcon and fade from view, possibly from distance.There was also no observed relation between where or when the bolts were fired and the occurrence of the flashes. Each of the flashes, which cause the screen to flare to white, last only one frame.

When the view shifts to the cockpit, there are five blooms that occur in front of the Falcon. Each bloom appears for only one frame The sources of these are not shown but given the angle that the ISD's bolts were being fired, it would appear that these blooms are caused by the TL bolts that had passed over the ship. However, these do not cause the screen to flare to white as the flashes did in the external view. It seems unlikely that the Falcon's cockpit is heavily tinted as the stars are as visible here as when seen from outside the ship.

Then, after the Falcon emerges from hyperspace, there are two more blooms which appear in front of the cockpit. This time it is a TIE firing the shots. Again, the blooms appear for only one frame.

Escape from the Death Star

When the Falcon makes its escape run from the Death Star, two blooms appear out of the right side of the cockpit. This is just prior to Leia delivering the line "Here they come".  Each bloom occurs over two frames. Also, in the instance of the second bloom, it appears as a tightly packed shower of sparks in its second frame before disappearing completely.

During the first run of the TIE fighters, we are shown what may be the most interesting series of bolt/shield interactions of the entire trilogy. Fired in pairs of bolts, the first five do absolutely nothing (no flares/splinters/blooms) yet could not possibly miss the Falcon. It is only when the sixth pair hits that we see a flaring for one frame of the hull between the top center and right heat exhaust vents on the Falcon. The seventh blooms for one frame over the top right vent. The eighth blooms for one frame over and between the center vents and in the next frame the entire screen flares but not enough to obscure the TIE cockpit and the Falcon beyond. Here we can also see the ninth and tenth pairs continuing on undisturbed. The ninth hits and flares almost exactly as the sixth did. The tenth is not shown to hit as the scene switches to the Falcon interior.

It is important to mention that the TIEs were not meant either destroy or stop the Falcon, but rather to let it escape.

In this same scene there are blooms which appear around the TIE fighters. According to all official sources, TIEs are unshielded.

Speeders vs ATATs

Here a bloom appears from a bolt

Two blooms appear with no apparent source. There are numerous occurrences of this throughout the Hoth ground battle.

Falcon vs Ties
(keep your shirt on)

Falcon vs Avenger
(Bite me! I've got to clear some webspace first)

Note: My video capture device has crapped out. I would be very appreciative if anyone with relevant screenshots could send them to me.

Thanks to Wayne Poe for the screenshots from the escape from the Death Star.

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