Star Wars "Science"

[Agemegos]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

Not to apologize for the bad science of the Star Wars universe' date=' but one thing that should be kept in mind is that episodes 4-6 take place after the Clone Wars in which a lot of technological knowledge was lost.[/quote']

 

There's another one: In a society of quadrillions of people, widely scattered, and with independent collections of records, separate educational institutions, and trained technicians all over the place etc. etc. technological knowledge can be lost.

 

Also, was it just me, or did there seem to be no media whatsoever in the movies? No one goes to the movies, or sees plays, or listens to the news on the radio.

 

Well spotted! No telephone, either.

 

And here's another: droid torture.

[Lupus]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

I was mainly thinking of the multiple runs on the deathstar in the first movie, there.

Also in Jedi, the first attack on the station (the shield was still up), and the shield generator failed.

Yeah, the run on the death star was pretty funny. But each run was led by one of the commanders. Luke didn't get in first because he wasn't senior enough. (And by the time he did, chain of command was screwed up enough that people who'd been flying longer than he had were listening to him as a commander!) It's possible to read that as red-shirt scenarios, yah. I interpret it differently, I guess.

 

Attack on the shield generator, too - big guys go in first. Han's right there along with his troops.

 

Really, just about any time anything dangerous is being done, there's a main character or at least high-ranking person going along with the attempt, or doing it solo. Ben turns the tractor beam off himself (telling the others to stay put where it's safe). The jedi in I and II are constantly putting themselves in harm's way. The people rescuing Han are all his friends. Luke is the first one to do an attack run on the AT-ATs (of course, his gunner dies, but that does mean he was putting himself in the line of fire).

 

Heroes, in Star Wars, are active. They do things. They don't sit back - that's for high command. The heroes aren't high command, they're field personnel, leading from the front. They don't tell others to do anything they aren't willing to do themselves.

[tgrandjean]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

Re: Technological collapse.

I don't really see it that way (as a collapse).

Instead w/episodes 4-6 what we see instead is the results of rampant militarism. They went from virtually no military in the Old Republic (mostly just system defence), to a galaxy spanning dictatorship.

Most resources have be allocated to military use and the everyday citizens have to resort to smugglers for luxury and non-approved items.

Nobody watches the media because the only thing that you would see would be government propaganda. Think of life in the Russia after the revolution. The economy had collapsed, shows of wealth or quality made you a target, media that didn't glorify the revolution was "decadent". After a few years, pre-revolution items became extremely expensive, new items were regarded with mistrust, and government sponsored luxury items were a joke.

As far as military spending, after a few decades of war nobody really wants the expense of droid based missile systems (more the cost of the drive than the warhead) and instead concentrates on proton torpedoes (anti-ship weaponry). Shielding is also relatively expensive, boosting the cost of even an outdated fighter like the Y-Wing to several times that of a TIE Fighter.

 

(But as a practical matter, just envisioning technology as a extension of the 1930s-1940s works just as well. =P )

[Supreme]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

There's another one: In a society of quadrillions of people, widely scattered, and with independent collections of records, separate educational institutions, and trained technicians all over the place etc. etc. technological knowledge can be lost.

 

Well spotted! No telephone, either.

 

And here's another: droid torture.

Yeah, the droid torture struck me as odd, even as an eight year-old. But then my dad was a computer programmer.

 

As for the technological loss from the Clone Wars, it's not just about knowledge, but infrastructure. Lose too many Questonite processing plants and there's no more Questonite and all the gizmos that require it to function. And as tgrandjean points out, if you're spending too much on the military, you won't have enough left over for rebuilding. And no, not even for military technology. Pig-headed generals who now have too much authority are going to short-sightedly feather their nests just as much as anyone else.

 

Has anyone brought up mono-climates yet? I can sort of buy an all-arctic planet, and maybe even an all desert planet, but an all forest planet? An all swamp planet? Ummm... no... And Star Trek was more guilty of this than SW, but cultures where everyone is of one vocation (i.e., Klingons are all warriors, Ferengi are all merchants, etc.).

[Nyrath]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

Has anyone brought up mono-climates yet? I can sort of buy an all-arctic planet' date=' and maybe even an all desert planet, but an all forest planet? An all swamp planet? Ummm... no... [/quote']

SF author Larry Niven called this the 'It Was Raining On Mongo That Afternoon' syndrome. The way most authors write, you get the impression that most planets are the size of Baltimore.

[Whitewings]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

Slaves (they have robots' date=' for pete's sake - why have slaves that are sentient and can rebel?)[/quote']Status symbols for underworld types.

[austenandrews]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

Slaves (they have robots' date=' for pete's sake - why have slaves that are sentient and can rebel?)[/quote']

If droids could think, there'd be none of us here.

[Jhamin]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

- Technology improves as civilisation declines/becomes decadent (ie forcefields are huge and clunky' date=' but later get used by single-seat fighters, as do FTL drives)[/quote']

 

I don't know about this one.

 

The Roller Droids from Episode One had personal shields. They didn't stop fighter weapons, but they were designed to fight infantry.

 

In Episode Three the Jedi fighter had a detachable Hyperspace engine. It might not be a big leap to a single seat FTL fighter.

 

 

More than anything, episodes I-III are "a more elegent time" rather than a higher-tech one.

[Supreme]

Re: Star Wars "Science"

 

SF author Larry Niven called this the 'It Was Raining On Mongo That Afternoon' syndrome. The way most authors write' date=' you get the impression that most planets are the size of Baltimore.[/quote']

Now I've got an image of John Waters dressed up as Ming the Merciless stuck in my head...