I know what you’re thinking: the Death Star does not seem like the kind of progressive touchy-feely workplace where employees would be encouraged to indulge their inner children by zipping down a slide on the way to the organic smoothie station. But I can assure you, this slide is not there for the amusement of off-duty stormtroopers. It is a highly functional and businesslike slide, designed for carrying trash away from populated areas. And yet, the fact that this terrible battle station might be positively teeming with super-fun twisty slides delights me to no end.
I honestly think that in George Lucas’s mind, there was some kind of distance to traverse between the cell block and the garbage crusher (that word “chute” is a giveaway). Maybe the way they intended to shoot the chute was too expensive or impractical, so they just decided to yada yada over it. That’s too bad, because it could have been one of the all-time great slide scenes, right up there with Goonies, Romancing the Stone, and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.