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.""

Genocide

[Shihar]

Look, normally I am against genocide, but if I found a pile of gungans on my planet... nuke the fuckers.

Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[TrentL]

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?

Pizza The Hut

[AutopsyReport]

As long as my neighbour isn't Pizza the Hut, then I'm fine.

The sad part is

[MikeDawg]

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.

wtfhatta?

[Amouth]

did i miss something.. i ... i though starwars was about making money..

Re:Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[cocoamix]

Since it had no visible engines and no solar sails, we can only surmise that they launched it from a giant baseball-pitching machine.

Re:Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[Marko DeBeeste]

My favorite part was when they arrive at the rebel base and somebody says "Leia, thank God you're alive. When Alderan was destroyed, we feared the worst."
No, everythings fine, just a couple of billion people incinerated.

How a scientist would describe "the Force"

[Anonymous Coward]

Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.

Check out the The Force Skeptics Page [netcom.com]:

The Jedi Knights are known for their supposed ability to perform "miracles." They can influence others' thoughts with a wave of their hand, use a slender light saber to deflect blaster bolts with their eyes closed, jump great heights in full gravity, move objects without touching them, see into the future, and do many other things that normal people can't. Or so they claim. They attribute these "powers" to an energy field they call the Force.

More Science Than Fiction

[edittard]

The "Star Wars" Worlds: More Science Than Fiction?

I'll buy that. After all, fiction usually has a plot and characters - maybe even some dialogue.

But it already happend!

[espergreen]

In a galaxy far, far away a long time ago.

You can't argue with history. noobs

Re:Genocide

[SnprBoB86]

Now why would you want to go and waste a perfectly good nuke on a pile of Gungans?

Instead, send Jarjar back there with a megaphone... instant mass suicide.

C3PO

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

In the future there will be homosexual robots

Wait a second!

[lheal]

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.

Re:Fighters make sound in a vacuum.

[NanoGator]

"Fighters make sound in a vacuum."

Yeah, and an orchestra lead by John Williams follows everybody around. I can't believe how unrealistic incidental music makes a movie. Oh, and don't get me started on looping of dialog!! Those guys shouldn't be futzing around with the sound like that, it's not realistic! I'm a purist that demands that scifi movies be like somebody is carrying around a small camcorder around documenting everything so it's as real as possible! MOD ME UP!!

Re:C3PO

[BiggerIsBetter]

In the future there will be homosexual robots

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Re:Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[hehman]

No, don't be silly. They built the Death Star in orbit around Alderaan.

As for how they got to Yavin, it was conveniently the next planet out in the same solar system. Questionable planning by rebels, putting their secret base in the same system as the Death Star.

The rest of the galaxy, of course, was kept in line by knowing that they were at risk of being blown up in a few hundred thousand years if they didn't behave.

Re:Question: My dog's semen is bitter.

[Anonymous Coward]

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".

Re:Better option

[Anonymous Coward]

Use sharks with freakin lasers on their freakin heads... remotely controlled most certainly.

Finally!

[Lisandro]

I admit it: i was waiting for a Star Wars story so i could finally post this link [vgcats.com] (and yes, it is obligatory). That guy's a genious.

Re:Fighters make sound in a vacuum.

[murr]

Yes, I think the next Star Wars movie should be Dogma 95 [martweiss.com] conformant.

Re:Cohabitation

[spudgun]

but rather 'driven stall at a less intelligent stage of evolution'

Jarjar didn't seem too evolved !

Re:Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[Pollardito]

Practically speaking, what use is a planet-destroying weapon that can't move between planets to destroy?

ummm...to impress the ladies?

Re:Can the Death Star travel at lightspeed?

[SEWilco]

The Death Star instead moved the Universe around it.
It is obvious that there are still people who treat it as the center of the Universe.

Re:Wookies on Endor

[Warlock7]

It does not make sense.

The gungan intifada...

[dominion]

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.

Re:ha ha, yeah right

[The One and Only]

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.

Re:Fighters make sound in a vacuum.

[GraemeDonaldson]

The Force, though? Eh. Fantasy. Bash that.

I find your lack of faith... disturbing.

Re:Cohabitation

[Presidential]

The Nabooians (naboos?) are human.

I believe the proper plural for the people of Naboo is "Nabooniks."

This is a far cry more dignified than the residents of Tatooine, which are referred to as "Tatooweenies."

Re:Cohabitation

[Anonymous Coward]

No I don't think we have. all the shit is still there plus more we add every day.

Re:Star Wars is Philosophy & Star Trek is Tech

[Anonymous Coward]

"you're very ignorant."
Wow. I don't think I need to rebuke this wowzer.

"Star Trek has at least as much philosophy if not more. plus it's a far more focused on how we should live our lives."
"Star Trek was the first program to have an interracial kiss and showed a ship full of different races working together."

Oooooookay. So, a little bit o' jungle fever makes Star Trek better. Who gives a shit who kissed anyone. There's a ton of other things that make Star Trek incredible from a philosophic and cultural standpoint, and you pick that? Whatever. As far as different races working together, I suppose you don't count the shitload of aliens in Star Wars, say, the Calamari, Bothans, Sullustean, Wookiees, Ewoks, hell even the Gungans. All teaming up to fight a bunch of white clones.

"in Star Wars the hero was an aryan brat, the only black guy was Judas, the baddies had a french accent, all wrapped up with a philosophy about as deep as the lyrics to a Britney Spears song."

Cry me a fucking Congo. You're either trying to be funny with your race banter, or you're just retarded. No, wait! You're 12 and you're seen Chasing Amy!!! I get it now!!! I understand!!!

Oh, and retard? Vader wasn't black. Anakin/Vader was white. Voiced by James Earl Jones, a black man. There's a difference.