From a reader:
The slightest bit of research will reveal that George Lucas did not
transcribe Star Wars from some master design but made things up as he
went along. The owner of a fan-site who calls himself “T-Bone”
interviewed novelization author Alan Dean Foster and when the question
of an unintentionally humorous panel drawing from a Marvel comic
adaptation came up, Foster went on to offer quite a revelation:
*T:* This is obscure, but do you remember a scene where in the
conference room on the Death Star, Vader chokes Admiral Motti (In
your novel it’s Tagge) and before he does it, he floats a cup over
to himself using the Force. Was it in the script?
*ADF:* As I recall, the floating cup was my invention. A way of
illustrating Vader’s casual mastery of the Force.
*T:* What would he have done with it? Maybe a little mechanical
straw would come out? I guess what I’m asking is – was it just done
for effect?
*ADF: *I didn’t think that far ahead. At the time, nobody knew
whether Vader’s mask was fixed, whether he could breathe without it,
or even if he was human (as opposed to being an alien, or a droid).
Twenty dollars says George Lucas hates the internet.