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in episode iv a star destroyer commander says when the escape pod containing the droids escapes "There goes another one".
the other commander says "hold your fire, there is no life on board".
later however another office says to vader "an escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting". as though there was only one escape pod launched yet we know this isnt true as the commander said before that more than one was launched, is this a mistake or did captain antillies launch escape pods containing people?

true I never gave that much thought, but very true

Good catch there. Probably just poor thinking on the part of writers.

Maybe the guy in question realised that the plans must have been in the escape pod, and when he mentioned it to Vader, Vader confirmed his fears.

Cos when they were looking for the plans, they must've realised "oh crap we let on of those pods go - go tell Vader quick".

Which is pretty much what happened. Yeah, you're probably right. But both of them should have thought "Hey, what's the point in putting plans in an empty escape pod? How would they get to rebel hands? Oh wait... must be druids in there. Clever druids, eluding the sensors like that. Couldn't be droids. No, droids couldn't possibly account for a lack of life aboard."

The previous pods could've had life forms, and they destroyed them. When they talk about 'an escape pod being jetessined', they could be referring to one specific pod in question, with no lifeforms aboard.

there is a huge amount of people on the ship, so why can't some use the escape pods then?
and as said here already: that one that didn't contain lifeforms, why shoot it? so the only place the plans could have been in was that one

It was the only life pod that they didnt shoot down, therefore the only one worth mentioning to Vader.

Well, the way I always read it was that the others DID contain life-forms and therefore WERE destroyed by the Star Destroyer crew before they got away.
This one got through because it appeared to be empty.

So, in effect, "an" escape pod was jettisoned - as in only one which mattered in the context of Vader's conversation - which may in retrospect be where the plans were hidden...