I'm not sure the Empire knows there is a purposeful "fatal flaw." They simply know the plans for the Death Star have been leaked.

They know the Death Star plans are something worth the Rebels apparently making their first act of aggression against the Empire, risking a good portion of their fleet to accomplish that goal (which nicely answers the question of why it seemed they had so few ships for the battle of Yavin) Why would they all of a sudden take up arms to extract some plans that may or may not have a fatal flaw? The Rebels aren't that stupid and neither is the Empire. I liked the movie, even saw it twice. The second time I saw it I went straight home and watched ANH, and while ANH is a great movie, with the R1 information fresh in my mind, it was a bit off. Maybe when I see R1 as much as I've seen ANH it won't be as off, but it is for now.

You fail to realize that they where on a tight schedule. If you look R1 and ANH are almost real time movies. The Empire needed to get the plans back and as a bonus they knew the location of the main Rebel base. They had a chance to kill the Rebellion in one fell swoop. The Evil guys where cocky and if you look at the opposition they had up till that point The Emperor and Vader both thought it would be a simple operation. They had just taken out a large chunk of the Fleet, they had a weapon that could kill planets( they knew it could take out cities not planets yet) . The one stand up battle with the Rebels they ran scattering to the wind. In a matter of days they now had the location of the main base, why not go for it. There would be no way they could have figured out a weakness in that quick of time. They had no idea they where told where the weak point was, all the plans did was show them where to strike.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

They certainly could have figured it out, you fail to realize they're the fucking Empire, not some idiots who stumbled into galactic domination and had a Death Star magically appear for them to use.

The flaw explains things in future movies.

The second Death Star was obviously based upon the plans for the first. The "flaw" led to the 2nd Star getting blown up in a manner similar to the first.

One could assume that Starkiller base had its roots in the Death Star plans as well. Which would again explain the similar destruction method (I think someone even makes a comment to that effect).

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Depends on if they know exactly what was on the stolen data thing. If not, that is a very complex thing to track down such a small flaw.

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Elections have consequences.

How dare you minimize the sacrifice of many Bothans!

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I thought it was a nice touch to show him looking up lovingly at his creation during his final moments.

I've seen it three times now (with different family members) and it's been better each time. I think the musical score deserves more credit than I initially gave it as well. I wonder whether Giacchino was given full permission to use whatever existing themes he wished, or if he had creative limitations.

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He looked like a golf pro at a fairly snooty country club.

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I found it weird he had a white coat and cape which I had not seen before in any movie. As if he was higher up but clearly he wasn't high enough.

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Elections have consequences.