Star Wars Episode IV : What does this line mean?

Ha, ha, I've wondered about that line from the first time I saw the movie in a theatre in 1977. For some reason, it caught my attention. I don't think it was intended as a "joke," at least not for the audience (I don't discount that it might have been some sort of inside joke), and have always assumed it was just a throwaway line of dialogue.

The bigger mystery (and a plot hole, actually) is why the Empire just didn't blast the pod from space. Apparently they were blasting others that had life forms, so what would it have cost to shoot this one...especially as a precaution in a universe known to be populated by droids?

I've always thought that it was about perspective. The movie was Star Wars -A New Hope but the opening scene was very heavily weighted towards complete power and the death grip of Darth Vader and the Empire had on the galaxy; certainly no hope in escaping them. C3-P0 was known for making projections and in this case his statement is about hope, that no matter how bad what you're facing may seem like up close a little distance means it just might not be as bad as you think. The line is optimistic and brings a little balance of calm to the opening sequence. (There is some irony that Darth Vader created C3-P0 when he was an optimistic little kid filled with hope and yet his droid helps make sure the stolen plans find their way to the rebel alliance.)

From what I remember of the Radio Play, Princess Leia and the captain of the Tative IV suspected there was a spy onboard who may have allowed the Star Destroyer to track them. They were afraid to use any of the humans onboard to smuggle the plans which is why Leia uses R2. C3PO's line seems to reference that the Tative was captured a lot easier than it should have been, possibly indicating sabotage.

George Lucas is generally considered a terrible writer, especially of dialogue. Reading too much into anything said in any of the films is a huge mistake many people, myself included, have made. In the business there is a term: "throwaway line" which means, and I quote, "A line of dialog that suggests new plot lines but that mean little or nothing in the current context." Everything George Lucas writes is a throwaway line. Everything. e.g. "Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars." There's no gold at the center of his chewy nougats of nonsense regardless of how many films, comic books, young adult novels, and cartoon series are made based on a single line or a single shot. George is in on the joke too, which is why he went ahead and wrote, without any editor or co-writer, an entire trilogy of Star Wars prequel garbage, and then filmed it.

Not much "plot significance" really, just small talk. Definitely not a joke/sarcasm, either. C3PO pretty much demonstrates he has no understanding of humor/sarcasm if you see all the movies.

Remember there were several explosions and you could see damage when they were inside the ship. He was just commenting that, from the outside, it didn't look that bad. It's just small talk, nothing major.

Episodes I, II, and III show the galaxy being gradually taken over by an evil politician. Beginning with the uplifiting Episode IV gets the audience interested in the series.

C3po Funny

there was more damage in the ship then out side. plus its a joke.

I always thought it was because he was looking at the star destroyer and assumed that was the ship he was in, concreting his blonde personality

no, its a joke.. sarcasm..