There but for a plot twist....

I re-watched the SW trilogy recently, and got to thinking at some points "What if they'd done what they set out to do?"

So, for example, what if Ben, Luke and Han had reached Alderaan before the Death Star? They deliver the droids to Jimmy Smits (Leia's "father"), Han goes back to pay Jabba, Luke and Ben stay to assist the rebellion, then the Death Star shows up and puts an end to the movie :)

In Ep. V, what if the Falcon's hyperdrive had worked from the start? Luke still goes to seek Yoda, but the rest rendezvous with the fleet and thus the movie ends. Unless Leia and Han have another fight about Han's decision to leave, Han leaves and gets captured by the Empire in order to lure either 1) Luke or 2) the Rebellion out of hiding, or 3) both.

In Ep. VI, suppose Han's rebels show up at Endor, raid the shield generator, take it down, and Han, Leia and Luke watch the show as the rest of the fleet merrily destroy the Death Star with the Emperor and Vader onboard (Vader wouldn't have been in a ship, as there would be no fleet waiting as it wouldn't have been a trap; otherwise they couldn't get the shield generator down easy).

This is why writers will do everything to twist a plot, even if it requires a McGuffin, a plot-device, a plot hole, an alien space bat, mischaracterization, overlooking the freakingly, effing obvious, or just about anything else at all.