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The Science of Star Wars
anonymous lion writes "National Geographic has an interesting interview with a couple of scientists on the scientific reality of Star Wars. For example, related to the cohabitation of humans and Gungans on NabooSeth Shostak states, "So maybe it's possible to share, as long as neither species has the technology to obliterate, enslave, or merely cook and eat each other.""
related to the cohabitation of humans and Gungans on NabooSeth Shostak states, "So maybe it's possible to share, as long as neither species has the technology to obliterate, enslave, or merely cook and eat each other.""
Doesn't that qualify more as "The Sociology of Star Wars"?
Look, normally I am against genocide, but if I found a pile of gungans on my planet... nuke the fuckers.
...by the Bad Astromer. Still, I can never get enough of nitpicking sessions on Hollywood science. :-)
That's all you need to know about the "science" of Star Wars.
Something I never understood: in the first movie, the Death Star blows up Alderaan. Then at the end, the Death Star is moving in on Yavin. How did the Death Star get to the Yazin system? Are we to assume that it can movie around at light speed?
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For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
The sad part of this is, that my dad and I once had this conversation a couple of years back (related to the original 3 Star Wars). He always kept nit-picking at them, explaining to me that Luke should have two shadows (if I remember correctly Tattooine had 2 suns, I could be wrong). I guess thats what I get for having a physics teacher for a father.
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Another lame blog
did i miss something.. i ... i though starwars was about making money..
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
This is nearly as irrelevant as that ten page report about caffeine. So much for real geography :/
RIP NGS
Well, that's all well and good, but massive underwater nuclear warfare has unknown (probably rather devastating) consequences on the environment as a whole. A decidedly better option is to create a briefcase-sized tactical neutron device and have carriers go inside the enclosed urban habitat to detonate.
> So maybe it's possible to share, as long as neither species has the
> technology to obliterate, enslave, or merely cook and eat each other.
What a crock. Forget the tech and look to morals and clue for the answer. How many countries on THIS planet have the tech to "obliterate, enslave or cook" most of the rest of the population? Obviously it isn't a techological limit. And besides, those Gungans appeared to have a fair bit of tech themselves.
Democrat delenda est
We can't even get on with others that have diffent skin and cultures than us, let alone genes...
Lets say the republic is 10,000 years old (as is alluded to in the movies). Thats mean they've had 10,000 years to turn Us and them to just Us. Culture shares a large part in that, The europeans went from backward thridworld area continually warring with itself to a fairly unified entity in less then 1000 years. It's not hard to imagine, given 10,000 years the various races of the republic would start identifying themselves as a hetrogenous whole rather then a group of distinct peoples.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The secret's out, people. Now everyone knows that Star Wars is not actually "hard" science fiction!
At least they didn't do a study or anything.
They begin the article with the admittance that this is a galaxy far different from our own, with faster than light travel, etc, then they keep comparing it to our own galaxy. Just because in our universe we may not play nicely with another civilization, doesn't mean that they can't cohabitate peacefully. We are talking about a galaxy that is built on the force, which creates it's own balance amongst its inhabitants. So while there are races that are war hungry, you'd have to believe that most people fall in the middle which means living with each other without constant war. So I don't think this article holds much water.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
I think it may require some creative use of math in order to scientifically explain Star Wars phenomena...
derivative = used to explain aliens in TPM that conveniantly conform to racist stereotypes from Earth.
l = new constant used to explain how, as time increases, Han goes from shooting first, then second, then at the same time as an enemy. l standing for lameness, of course.
continuity = Leia remembers mother?
eccentricity = What was going on Lucas's head with regards to Midichlorians
hyperbola = NoooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
etc.
There was a book published with this exact title many, many years ago.
2 209584/103-6435152-7840603?v=glance
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/031
In short, there's no science in the movies at all. None. And everyone should know that.
So Obi and Qui Gon find Anakin infested with force bacteria. Qui Gon says he's make a good Jedi. Yoda says hell no he's to freaking old. The kid is what? four.
Well, spoiler coming, turns out that wasn't the best idea. As Yoda predicted he went to the dark, a bunch Jedis got it in scenes reminiscent of the original Godfather.
Somehow Obi makes it. Hooks up with Luke eighteen years later and says, basically, screw it four years old may be too old to be a Jedi but eighteen is no problem. No freakin way a half assed jedi could get turned to the dark side and make things even efffin worse. I'll train Luke.
Fake science I can live with, clear jedi incompetence is a bit harder.
Human civilization is approx. 4000 years old. In that time we have pretty much closed the technology gap of the vairous tribes of humanity. We can all forge metal, we can all make things move via petroleum based products, we can kill each other with projectiles ect...
In 10,000 the technology gap of a community of star systems that communicate with each other woudl also close. So it's not such a huge issue. Technology doesn't have to spread directly, even the rumor of something being possible can send other cultures into a frenzy to find out how. The stories marco polo brought back from china were more useful then the inventions and products he brought back. It sent europe into a frenzy into trying to mimic these items.
In the proccess of trying to mimic these products they derived their own innovations and advanced further. Over 10,000 this would equilize the technologies of the various intelligent life forms. As for the robots, perhaps innovation in robot designed leveled off long ago and even 100 year old droid are useful. Or AI requires some rare material that is now in short supply so even old droids must be maintained.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Check out the The Force Skeptics Page:
In a galaxy far, far away a long time ago.
You can't argue with history. noobs
... they get past the faulty idea of conflict, just as we today know that if the president of the or leader of any other country was taken out it wouldn't make much difference to the gears and bearing organization really running the show.
We know today there are things we did hundreds and even thousands of years ago that we have found better deceptive ways of dealing with instead of in brute force conflict. like duping teh Aerican public about WMD in iraq...
Anyways we are still babies in comparison to any civilization advanced enough to travel here and probably not skilled at all in comparison to techniques in deception and leaving no proof of visitation.
war does not contribute to the survival of conscious being needed to continue expanding what all exist in existance..
In the future there will be homosexual robots
That article should not have been named the Science of Star Wars. I should have been named the climate and science of the worlds of star wars.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
Are they trying to imply that Star Wars wasn't real?
I suppose they didn't really have light sabers, either?
What next, Darth Vader's voice was dubbed?
I'd better lie down a while.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
How is moving from more advanced concepts to more basic ones a realistic view of society? They've reverted to hand-to-hand combat. Using those stupid light sticks is nothing more than glorified sword fighting. Perhaps if their technology becomes even greater, their fighting will regress even further and they'll use Super Dentures to bight each other. Lame.
So maybe it's possible to share, as long as neither species has the technology to obliterate, enslave, or merely cook and eat each other.
Speaking in response to a fictional situation. The Naboo may have a completely different culture than the humans of Earth. Cultures also vary differently on Earth in violence, for example compare the modern USA to the modern UK. They may completely and utterly shun unprevoked violence. I believe the human inhabitants of Naboo did not even have a standing army.
Finally science being put to good use. No more of that looking for cures for cancer or finding new cleaner energy sources.
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He's only viewing the Star Wars universe from an evolutionary perspective.
I was hoping for a more scientific foundation, but it's easy for some people to confuse the two I suppose.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
They make a few good points, but they're missing some of the Star Wars facts. A few that come to mind:
1. Yoda knew Luke was coming. It wasn't coincidence that he lost control of his fighter and landed in Yoda's back yard. That was the Force. They mention that it might be the case, but aren't sure. Well, it is.
2. There's very little or no liquid water on Tatooine, which they say. But they neglect the fact that this is obvious. Uncle Owen runs a moisture farm, which collects water vapor through a series of vaporators spread across the desert. They grow crops underground in tunnels.
3. Chemists correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the molecular weight determine where oxygen might occur in an atmosphere? If Tibanna, a gas used in heavy blasters in the Star Wars galaxy, weighs more than oxygen, isn't it very possible that there would be oxygen above it? Maybe it's something that's common in the upper atmosphere (we see mining pods floating around), but is breathable in its natural form, sort of like how nitrogen makes up a good part of our breathable atmosphere?
4. They totally copped out on Coruscant. They worry too much about the location. I'd figure that all this intense development on Coruscant might have started long before anybody decided it would be the seat of galactic government. Sure they risk a lot by being there, but you don't want to make the trash on the other side of the outer rim fly all the way across the galaxy, do you? Location, location, location!
5. I don't think Hoth is right in the asteroid field. The Falcon had to fly for a while before they got to it, and eventually (it seems conceivable that the trip took weeks) made it to Bespin. Even at sublight speeds, space vessels in the Star Wars galaxy have got to be pretty fast. All kinds of junk from space makes its way to Earth's atmosphere every day, and it hasn't stopped us from developing civilization. I don't see why the occasional small meteorite would stop animals from living on Hoth.
It seems that for a couple of scientific types, those guys didn't really ask enough of the right questions. That's all I've got.
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Somebody is getting interviewed about the science of Star Wars. Again.
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500 years ago we thought the earth was flat, today we think its a scientific impossibility to travel at the speed of light. 500 years from now we'll probably be wondering if its possible to leap over to the neighbouring universe.
It is spooky enough for me when I see a sci-fi movie where you can hear shots fired in space.
And people manually driving fighter ships or aiming guns at other ships (double you tee eff they have no computers?). And old robots cracking codes in seconds in order to open some door. And tiny planes size of cessna refuelling some chemical and able to land/takeoff on a planet. And ubiquity of oxygen. And some 'force shields' around ships and abundance of them around compounds.
SW and science/common sense don't compute for me. Didn't they mean sociology of cultures presented in the movies?
The other is stating that an advanced civilization would shun planets for artificial habitats. For an astronomer, he seems unfamiliar with the fact that the universe is largely cold, empty space with nasty hazards and such. Why would a race automaticly want to go live in space?
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
There was also a National Geographic 'Science of Star Wars' TV special on (I think) Discovery HD. It was basically a 3-hour infomercial with no useful information, at least not for anyone who makes any reasonable effort to keep current in tech.
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what i never understood was the scientific reasoning behind how a "long time ago" in a "galaxy far far away" a species identical to humans (so much to be called by the same name IIRC) evolved and is technologically superior by probably a few centuries to a millenium to us. Anyone have any ideas?
Move Sig, for great justice.
*yawn* I'm not even going to bother with the real science.
A bullet in your head and the head of every other prepubescent idiot who thinks it's KEWL to troll places like Slashdot would be a really good start.
Oh, sorry. I thought that you said, "What can I do to make the Internet better".
I agree with king-manic that technological gulfs, while huge, could be reduced significantly through interstellar trade. What is more signficant -- and I never see mentioned in these types of discussions -- are the huge gulfs in intelligence and mental abilities. There are going to be species out there that are vastly more intelligent or have incredible memories. In the movies and TV shows, all aliens have pretty much the same brainpower. That's just unrealistic.
Consider the following scenario: a race of technologically advanced reptiles are being attacked by intelligent insects from another world. The insects are more intelligent than the reptiles and have the same level of technological development. The reptiles are fucked unless they can get some help. They approach a world called Earth that contains intelligent bipedial mammals named humans. These mammals show promise but are relatively young and do not have sophisticated technology. They also are highly unpredictable and warlike. Knowing the risks, the reptiles make an offer: if the humans agree to enter the war by serving as tactical officers onboard their warships, the reptiles will provide the humans with advances in medicine, communications, power generation, and warp drive. Humans, eager for a chance to obtain technologies necessary to solve problems on their planet, leap at the chance. The highly-logical insects are used to the methodical, logical battleplans of the reptiles and are baffled by the unconventional tactics of the humans. They are quickly and easily defeated. Fearing they have created a monster, the reptiles quickly sever ties with the humans but not before they have transfered a signficant amount of technological know-how. Within a few decades, humans become a threat to the very reptiles who kick-started their space exploration.
Technology gaps are easily solved. Huge gaps in cognitive function are what make long-duration star wars unlikely.
GMD
watch this
I admit it: i was waiting for a Star Wars story so i could finally post this link (and yes, it is obligatory). That guy's a genious.
Scientst: but... what about... George: wizard
Its actually 20,000 years, according to KOTOR anyways. That game, set 2000 years before the "main line" star wars has a fair bit of racial biases and etc. Best part is when a slaver comes up and asks to buy one of your female party members. :)
Indeed, the science in question is called "accounting".
What keeps me going is my inertia.
NabooSeth Shostak, is he a character in one of the films, or an unfortunately named researcher?
Are you...Are you some kind of genius?
No, ma'am, I'm just a regular Slashdot reader.
The story is being told in the future. Therefore, "a long time ago" isn't referring to our past, but the past of the narrator.
The "galaxy far, far away" is our own. But in the future, when the story of Star Wars is being told, humanity has moved to distant galaxies.
The Museum of Science in Boston is opening a Science of Star Wars exhibit in October. They've been building it for 2 years! It's going to be huge and very cool. The website is here: http://starwars.mos.org/>
that's one example. another might be some place like the Middle East that only seems to be less willing to live-and-let-live as time passes
Why are we worried about the realism of the science in Star Wars when we're all still pissed off about the wholly fictional midichlorians?
Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
You see, he has mastered the art of Offscreen Teleportation
Either that or a load of Bothans were forced at blaster-point to get out and push. Certainly explains how they'd be familiar with the exterior vulnerabilities of the Death Star, don't it?
can someone who RTFA clear up the Wookies on Endor conundrum?
"Hello. I'm a human. How do you taste with fava beans and a nice chianti?"
As much as the next scientist, I like to find ways to conduct outreach and bring science to the public. But I have my limits, and Star Wars is about as far from science as you can get. There are plenty of other, better vehicles. We may as well do the "science" of Sex and the City or the "science" of American Idol. Really.
Lucas and/or some non-scientific Hollywood writer types made some shit up that they thought would fly. It's just dumb for scientists to sit around and come up with justifications for it after the fact when so much of it is so dumb to start with. It doesn't serve the cause of education.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
After the last star wars movie, my friends and I spent twenty minutes outside of the theater arguing whether Naboo was an apartheid state.
The only conclusion we came to is that we're total geeks, and we needed to stop before anybody noticed.
Science applies to Star Wars less than acting, directing, or writing.
Star Wars has racism. Look at the Wookiees! Even Leia uses a racial slur ("walking carpet") to refer to Chewie, and Chewie doesn't get a medal. Even worse, Wookiees are enslaved by the Empire. Imperial crews are all human, even though the Rebels are willing to work with Wookiees, Mon Calamari (Ackbar), etc. Organized crime is filled with ethnic minorities such as Hutts, Rodians, and Twi'leks. (In American history, whenever a new ethnic minority immigrated over, they got involved in organized crime when overwhelming prejudice against them locked them out of legitimate jobs. This is why New York has an Italian mafia to this day.) As another poster has commented, KOTOR has more of this.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
According to this book, tauntauns generally live in underground caves and grottos pretty well stocked with lichens. Remember, Lukes died out in the open at night, they werent built to survive much on the surface.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
1) It's fiction. And a movie. 20 minutes of silent space battle would be boring. It works in Firefly because it's not 30% of the screen time. Maybe they have little AIs in the spaceships that make Surround Sound representations of the events around the ship to aid in navigation. Who knows?
2) What's with the sociology? Repulsorlifts! Lightsabers! Blasters! FTL! That's what we want.
3) It's become amusing how rapidly the "we don't know that yet so it's impossible" crowd jumps out. Sure, it may be the case that we eventually conclude that none of these "effects" are possible in the real world. But what kind of a world can be made in a place where people never research antigravity or FTL or "force fields" 'cause it's all just presumed to be "impossible?"
The "anti-explorers," we'll call them.
I'd eat roasted Gungans, anything to SHUT JAR-JAR UP! I hear they taste like chicken.
Why all these "science of..." articles? Star Wars and Star Trek are space opera. You want semi-realistic science fiction? Babylon 5. The only made-up aspect of B5 was the jump gates - no fake grav on human ships, realistic space physics and space marines. Nuff said.
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The europeans went from backward thridworld area continually warring with itself to a fairly unified entity in less then 1000 years
Or, on the other hand you could look over at Africa where they are still a 3rd world contenent fighting with itself, and they've prolly been doing it for 20,000+ years.
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10.
and all I got were these lousy t-shirt ashes.
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Heck, the next-to-last episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" actually had a zoomed-in camera shot of a Carl Sagan memorial on mars.
By contrast, the gem of "Stars Wars" is not the technology but, rather, is the philosophy: the battle between good and evil. One of the themes of that battle is that good will triumph if you stick to your ideals. In the original trilogy, the Force was available to all, and Obi Wan Kenobi even offered to teach the Force to Han Solo, but the swashbuckler was too arrogant to accept the offer.
Notice how "Star Wars" I and II rather sucked after Lucas tried to inject all that technology into the movies. First and foremost is that concept of midichlorians (which turned the notion of Jedi into some sort of snobbish club into which you are born -- if you inherit midichlorians in your blood). Then, Lucas packs every scene with speedsters (air-borne cars), special effects, etc. All that technology just smothered what little philosophy was there.
300 years from now, the original "Star Wars" trilogy will still be watched by our descendents. The philosophy of "Star Wars" has made it timeless.
I cannot say the same for "Star Trek" or the "Star Wars" prequels.
There is the objection that an underwater species might have difficulties fostering technology. Smelting metals, or even developing radio or astronomy, are challenging, to put it modestly, in a watery environment.
Just because your race/species' progression along your race/species' tech tree follows one path and have certain pre-requisits doesn't mean another species has to.
While the humans are sitting around in their cars, congratulating themselves on their brilliant wheels and combustion engines, a parallel but different species may well be wondering why the hell humans haven't figured out that really obvious teleporting trick that just relies on simple [to them] bacteria and water based science.
For hundreds of years, similarly arrogant Europeans congratulated themselves on how advance they could make their tin suits and big imposing castles. They laughed at those strange Eastern folk in their silly bamboo armor and paper houses. Right up until those weird Eastern guys invented this cool stuff called gun powder. At which point the really advanced armor and castle construction suddenly seemed painfully, embarassingly backward.
Besides, much as I despise supporting Gungans... He's putting down a speciest that are comfortably amphibious competing against one that's air breathing only.
The sciences he quotes have only been around for the last five thousand years or so, most for only a couple of hundred - a mere blip in evolutionary terms. So, assuming both species evolved to the point where they could learn such technologies at the same time, what would happen?
Humans invent fire.
Gungans wander out of the water and try to copy it.
Humans chase Gungans away.
Gungans run to the safety of the water where humans, having not invented submarines yet, can't follow.
Repeat a few thousand times until Gungans get lucky. Now they have fire too.
At the same time...
Gungans invent [some basic water driven tech]
Humans can't copy it because they can't enter the water and see it.
So Gungans get every human tech and they get all of their own. And a pompous human scientist sits there observing how they can't possibly smelt metals or invent radios while some water based tech that he's never heard of, fused with smelting, radio and everything else they simply copied, obliterates his entire species.
Well, except that they're stupid idiots which we all hated but actually, when you think about it, is the only way to explain why they didn't wipe the limited air breathing humans out millenia ago.
Of course, we pompous humans are so convinced our approach is the only one that we apparently miss all that.
I'd be happy if someone undertook a study to find the PLOT behind the Prequels...
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
Replace the word "Neimoidian" with "Jew" and let's see how happy people would be to find that in an encyclopedia. Lucas is a racist.
And Leia, Obi-wan puts her where she'll become a princess, because her mother was a queen. Fer crying out loud, a princess is a princess only because she can document her lineage and everyone will know it! Way to hide her, Obi-wan!
I hate to break it to you man - but Mark Hamill is not really the son of James Earl Jones!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The fleet has a history of dropping out of hyper-drive at the wrong place/time. Hoth battle as example. Navigation seems to be subject to human error. That, or the Station was unable to fire it's blast at Yavin moon w/o a charge. Charging the primary weapon cannot be done while power sources are being diverted to getting that hunk of sht up to 98.5 Mph (wrong flick?) in hyper-drive. I will make up a few more next session on the can. Shoot some holes into these for me, then help out with my latest project. Vader disses . . . everybody I talked to thought the "Noooooooo" line was a horrible topper to a pretty btch made sissy telling of Vaders first days. What would you say before getting choked out from 10 yards away? Hmmm... -Where's your whip? -I guess you like black. -That suit looks itchy. -Hi, my name is Luke Sr. -Have you seen a counselor? -Daddy didn't love you? -What, is your dominatrix out shopping for a new leash? As the poor quality of some of these disses illustrate I have made them up quite independently of any source. If anybody out there is actually reading all of these posts and you get to this - think about your Vader diss and get back at me.
I hold a similar view to a friend of mine, if technologicaly advanced aliens landed here, it would scare the crap out of me. Many think they would be benevolent. These people think aliens will be like Ewoks, friendly, happy-go-lucky little aliens. My friend and I think they would be more like Gungans who use Earthlings as lab mice, food additives, or just something fun to annoy. If basing Earth sociology and how it has progressed since our civilization began on a Star Wars like galaxy...I must say that in the last 4000 years of recorded history there has been, what..less than 200 years of peace? (non consecutive of course)
good credit is the worst thing that ever happened to me.
However, we shape our planet with two other intelegent species: mice and dolphins.
There are four sorts of people in the world: fools, lunatics, idiots and morons. - Umberto Eco, Foucaut's pendulum.
This isn't about science, it's about having a laugh. If nit-picking about the "science" of a fantasy world is what gives you your jollies, then good luck to you
I think there might be a difference between sterotypes of two divisions of the same species (jew/non-jew humans) and completely different (ficional) species.
This no one would bitch if the wookie entry mentioned them being big and strong, you know?
as a side note... After episode 1, when everyone was calling lucas a racist because the bad guys had a (waaaay over the top) japanese-ish accent, I liked to point out that in the original movies, the baddies all were english (except vader). Ya don't get a lot whiter than the english, after all.
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
Replace "Neimoidian" with "Ferengi" and they'd read about the same way. Then you have the violent Klingons, the logical Vulcans, the secretive Romulans, the brutal Cardassians, and so on. It holds true for a lot of sci-fi that I've read. What it comes down to is that it's a lot easier for writers to paint with the broad brush than it is to try and convey the same kind of complexity we see in human society.
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I wasn't really being serious, especially about Lucas being a racist. Anyway, there's a big difference between "Wookiees are big and strong" and "Neimoidians are greedy, money-grubbing whores".
Its a fucking movie.
We want to know about about Makeing REAL Light sabres. Check this out for info http://www.exn.ca/starwars/plasmasaber.cfm
vader was english too, sort of - the actor who played vader was Dave Prowse, an english bloke. James Earl Jones did the voice though.
Pitched Battles, medieval style.
Now I know it was a long time ago, but they aint dumb. As soon as repeating weapons became mainstream here, pitched battles like in Phantom menace and to some extent Clone Wars. Strategies where changed as it was just suicidal. I know the Gungans were behind shields, but the driods just marched through in formations.
Also in Revenge of the Sith, firing a broadside in space? What was the deal with that?
To me they're always seemed a great lack of missiles in space combat. Saying that if it was truely realistic it would probably have everything cloaked, with the occasional explosion as something was detected and nuked. Should be called Cloaked Wars. As everything now is moving towards stealth and slealth detection.
Also back in Phantom menace, the Droids were controlled by the Ships in space. hmmmm Latency. Be like my trying to play Natural Selection in Austalia (i live in the U.K). It just didnt seem right to have Driods that wernt automated in they're own right.
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The only scientific thing in Star Wars is the Force. Really.
...as long as neither species has the technology to obliterate, enslave, or merely cook and eat each other.
Hell, the rest of the world has tolerated the French.
There's actually a good semi-sci-fi book that addresses the cohabitation of sentient beings called the Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. She also has a follow up book. I thought it was a very good commentary on the sociology, biology, and ethics of the matter.
Isn't this a fantasy film? I sit down at any movie like I'd sit down at any James Bond movie: I "turn off" all rationalization, because I'll enjoy it more that way.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
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I don't have a sig.
Yoda's fears about Anakin turning to the dark side were a self-fulfulling prophecy. In their distrust, the Jedi held Anakin down in every way they could, instead of embracing him as the chosen one. The Jedi were poor masters.
Anakin was born as a slave on Tattooine, conscripted into a Jedi slavery where he could not rescue or even visit his mother, and finally sucked into Sith apprenticeship under Sidious. He was always somebody's slave, never free to follow his dreams and wishes. Luke may have felt tied down on the farm, but at least he wasn't a slave. He lived with family, had friends, and got to fix and fly spaceships for fun. Yoda never sensed fear in Luke, only recklessness: a fearlessness that comes from living free.
Obi-Wan totally let Anakin down. Qui-Gon would have let Anakin rescue his mother, the Council be damned. Then Obi-Wan lies to and manipulates Anakin's innocent children to try to undo his mistakes. I'm surprised he waited for Luke to grow up, rather than taking him to Dagobah at age 3.
Yogurt: Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower.
[turns it on]
The Dinks: Ooooh!
Yogurt: (reacts to dinks) The kids love this one. (A dink hands him a doll that looks likes Yogurt) And last but not least, Spaceballs the doll, me.
[Pulls string]
Doll: May the schwartz be with you!
...
Philosophy my ass...
It's machine vs. man, man vs. woman, and woman vs Your Mother!
Sounds like a good way to build up my infamy Soon as Automator sent for me We headed over to receive our registration forms from the galactic embassy (Yes may I help you) Remember me To escape a global panic we had to intercede (Oh you're here for the battle forms) Yeah can we get them for free (I'm afraid not you'll have to pay the entry fee) It was worth a try when we 1st arrived on mercury Gravity adjustment must then Step up contestant Number 12, I was 13 he started bursting ammunition that wasn't working His rudimentary technical abilities couldn't kill me Not me for a loop But I can still breath He had the crowd going by appearance Here comes the anticipated interference from his squad and guards I bust back with on slough of Hydrothermal clod that burnt they're third eye They out num but I come with heat & trigger a massive explosion to the beat They hit me compressed air Left my chest bare My sonic stun gun takes em out by the next snare
They think they so smarty they think their brain so big.
Do you know the Culture /a> by Ian M. Banks?
Store with salt
> And if the question is "How many countries on THIS planet have the tech
> to obliterate, enslave or cook most of the rest of the population
> without suffering severe losses in the process", then the answer is
> "None".
They aren't even twenty years in the 'ashbin of history' and you young pups have already forgotten the Evil Empire. They DID have the tech to enslave half the planet and pretty much got away with it because the West was engaged in a navel gazing exercise at the time, questioning its own moral authority and right to live. Thankfully some of us snapped out of the funk, tossed Jimmy "Age of Limits" Carter out on his plump ass and installed a more effective leader of the Western Alliance.
So yes, we DO have ample examples of amoral clueless societies with more tech than wisdom attempting to enslave a planet with a fair degree of success. So I'd assert it is the higher moral stature of the West that prevents it from doing likewise.
For example, the US could currently do it at little risk to itself. Lets do a thought experiment to test this theory.
The liberals are right, Dick Cheney IS a Sith Lord, who reveals himself and becomes Emperor Dick The First and Biggest. And for the sake of this theoretical he gets away with it, method left to the imagination and paranoia of the particular reader. Ok, we now have the biggest baddest military machine ever in the hands of someone with the Will to Power, but how to do it.....
Easy actually. Just DO it. Blow a bit of smoke about The Threat, perhaps North Korea. Set off a nuke somewhere newsworthy but not really critical, say Hollywood and claim it to be Them. Now we embark on a program to ENSURE WORLD SAFETY by making sure only 'responsible' countries have the bomb. Russia and China will go for that if they are in the club. Now you can crush North Korea and Iran, confiscate every other nuke and crush the countries who refuse with few objections. Doing so gets the US on a real war footing so manpower is no longer a problem. Some countries will try to form a bloc to resist, especially if we secretly encouraged such a plan, creating a perfect excuse to crush em. Really. the Emperor in SW knew all the right moves but in reality a plan as complex as his wouldn't be likely to succeed. In the modern world few countries would have the actuall testes to stare down the US military machine, exploit that fact and you could roll up half the countries who could be a threat before the rest could screw up the courage to resist. Keep the Russians and Chinese out of it for a few years and the rest could be ours. Then deal with them one at a time.
This scenario isn't likely to happen because WE aren't that sort of people... yet. We grow more debased each generation so you guys in the rest of the world better watch your backs.
> Colonialism is an example of this. Either you realise it and go away
> in a reasonably orderly fashion (as the English did most of the
> time), or you're in for a long, painful, ugly struggle in which you
> have simply no chance to prevail (the French in Algeria, possibly
> the ugliest war ever fought by a Western democracy).
By a democracy or republic yes, colonialism isn;t a longterm winner. The British saw themselves fulfilling the "White Man's Burden" to bring enlightenment to those living in darkness. When the people they thought they were helping yelled "Go Away!" loud enough they did. Read an interesting alternate history a few years ago though. About Gandhi[sp?] and India, but except for the British being in charge, the Third Reich was in charge. Very different outcome, things ended very badly for Mr. Gandhi.
> Oh, BTW, pray remind us what happened to American Indians ?
Never claimed we were the ultimate evolution in enlightened civilization, only the highest point in human history so far. Yes, at one point we did lots of things that wouldn't be considered very nice now. But also remember which civi
Democrat delenda est
After episode 1, when everyone was calling lucas a racist because the bad guys had a (waaaay over the top) japanese-ish accent
There's always the fact that Lucas was trying to re-make the old science fiction serials of the 30's and 40's. I'm sure those had plenty of ridiculous Japanese accents, given the war propaganda at the time.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
"...it's just a show."
"I really should relax."
Actually, there is no plural form for the word 'universe'. As I said... the word universe literally means the "one all". The concept of more than one of them is inherently self-contradictary, however gramatically correct it may sound.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Shit, that's nothing... you oughta see some of the WWII era cartoons (the ones you won't see on cartoon network!). At least a few "Bugs Bunny w/fanged Japanese monster" ones exist.
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
At least a few "Bugs Bunny w/fanged Japanese monster" ones exist.
Bug's antagonists were always portrayed negatively. The shows involving African, "Indian", and Axis opponents have been hidden away, but you can still watch him face off against an ultra-violent redneck (Sam) or a clueless, obese ouppie (Fudd).
Apparently, "white" stereotypes are still allowed...