Star Wars Why Tantive IV Is NOT Pronounced Like It Should Be

Star Wars: Why Tantive IV Is NOT Pronounced Like It Should Be

The Star Wars ship Tantive IV is pronounced “Tan-tiv-ee four,” to the surprise of fans who have been pronouncing it differently for decades.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Star Wars Why Tantive IV Is NOT Pronounced Like It Should Be

The Tantive IV, Leia’s ship in Star Wars, has been given a rather unusual canon pronunciation thanks to the radio drama adaptation of the movie. As the first ship to appear in the first frames of Star Wars, the Tantive IV has a special place in fans’ hearts. The scene of the Star Destroyer shooting at such a relatively tiny ship was the first thing that brought so many fans into Star Wars, leading to fan joy at seeing its return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and cameo in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Like most things in Star Wars, there was a deep and winding process by which it came to the screen. The design of the Tantive IV was supposed to be used for the Millenium Falcon, but that was scrapped because it looked too similar to the Eagle Transporter from Space: 1999. Instead, the Millenium Falcon gained its iconic design, and the old model was reworked into an Alderaan cruiser, the oddly pronounced Tantive IV.

The correct pronunciation, “Tan-tiv-ee four”, comes from the NPR radio drama version of Star Wars, as pointed out by Twitter user mannybothanz. The name is never said in Star Wars itself, so while the name is written out in the original novelization, Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker from 1976, the pronunciation wasn’t settled until the release of the radio drama in 1981, after The Empire Strikes Back had been released.

See also  KUWTK Rumors Kanye West Cheated On Kim Kardashian Explained

This clarified things, but not in a way that reached everyone. While the radio dramas were a big hit at the time, most people are more familiar with the movies and mentions of the ship from novels and comics. So the name lives on mostly as text, leading to the usual pronunciation of “tan-tiv four” that fans have been using for years. Many still choose to use that pronunciation, as old habits are hard to break and many think it’s just adding a syllable to an otherwise straightforward-to-say word.

This isn’t even the end of its confusing naming and classification. While the name was established in writing as “Tantive IV” even before Star Wars came out in theaters, what exactly the ship is got confused quite a bit. While Lucasfilm officially refers to the Tantive ships as “Alderaan Cruisers,” some of the early Expanded Universe called them “Corellian corvettes”. Even the NPR radio drama refers to it as a “Rebel blockade runner.” While these have all been retconned into being correct terms for the class of ship, it just adds more confusion. In the case of the radio drama, that gives some fans backup to use their preferred pronunciation. If the radio drama gets the class of ship wrong, why assume it has the pronunciation right?

Regardless of fan complaints, the Star Wars radio drama makes it official. It’s not pronounced “Tan-tiv four,” it’s “Tan-tiv-ee four.” Official confirmation is unlikely to stop the pronunciation wars, like the argument over “gif,” but Lucasfilm gave the answer 39 years ago and it sticks around to this day.

See also  Fall TV 2013 The 10 Best New Shows [Trailers]

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-wars-tantive-iv-name-pronunciation-different/

Movies -