Sunday, May 25, 2008

 

Star Wars Questions

I've been watching the second Star Wars movie, and I have a few questions:

1) Is there some reason that these advanced societies have not come up with the seat belt? People are constantly flying out of vehicles.

2) If these Jedi are so wise, how come no one ever carries a second light saber? Most of the time, they get in a jam by losing their light saber, and there is no back-up. It just seems like a natural idea...

Comments:
You obviously haven't watched much Star Wars because they do have seat belts. They strap and unstrap themselves into their vehicles many times throughout the series.

But I don't know why they don't carry a spare lightsaber. This Star Wars nerd doesn't know the answer to that one.
 
As for your first question, doesn't the original star wars start out something like, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away"? I assume star wars takes place in the pre-nadar era.
 
Actually, jedis do carry a second light saber - it's called a "throw down saber" and is used in case the storm trooper they've just dispatched turns out to be unarmed.
 
Anon. 10:27-- nice... I knew law enforcement would work its way in here somehow.

Craig-- I guess I'm thinking of the Scene in movie 2 in which Padme is thrown out of the flying thingee, and a couple of other people fall out of vehicles at different times.
 
I think this quote sums up everything you will need to know about the logical consistency of Star Wars: "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs."
 
Oops-- I meant the second movie in the series ("Attack of the Clones"), not the second made (that other one with the ice planet of Hoth, which looked a lot like Michigan in January).
 
The first three movies in the series, the second set produced, should be burned. Jar Jar Binks and the other thinly veiled racial stereotypes aside, the whole thing is preposterous. An 8 year old pilot with reflexes and timing that good?

A 14 year old Queen running a planet? Who then retires?

Does this mean everyone over 15 is stupid or lazy or just totally worn down by the empire?

What those movies needed was a character like Han Solo - someone who didn't take the whole thing seriously.
 
I don't consider the first two movies ("The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones") to exist. As far as I'm concerned, they never happened. The third one I can tolerate, because there's some actual character development, even if Hayden Christensen's terrible acting does almost ruin it.

Episodes IV and V, however, are surprisingly good movies. When Lucas was trying to Americanize Akira Kurosawa, he was doing OK (for a fun time in comparative film studies, watch the Kurosawa film "The Hidden Fortress" and then watch the original "Star Wars"). But "Return of the Jedi," with its cutesy puppets, felt a little hollow to me.
 
They only carry one lightsaber because there's only so many pockets you can hide on those Jedi robes. Each lightsaber requires at least 4 AAAAA batteries and they have to be replaced after 3.5 minutes of use. SO, a Jedi has to choose whether he'll have an extra lightsaber for emergencies or an extra few minutes using just the one. Most Jedi carry upwards of 30-40 batteries at a time.

This is the reason you only see Yoda using his lightsaber in 2 of the movies. At his size, he's really limited in pocket space. Plus, carrying too many batteries would weigh him down and he couldn't do all the flipping and spinning that he loves so much.

As a young Jedi on the playground, Yoda would always run out of batteries early and Mace Windu would make fun of him. With no functioning lightsaber, Yoda was forced to deal with the teasing by dropping heavier and heavier rocks, spaceships and, eventually, buildings on Windu using the force. He knows he's the best at force-lifting-stuff, and he takes every chance he gets to show off (as you can see in 3 of the 5 movies he's in).
 
I always thought it was humorous how Naboo had a 14 year-old elected queen. Who elects a girl who is 14??
 
Dare I ask what or who Jar Jar Binks is? I think I've been out of the US too long . . . or haven't seen enough Star Wars. But I'm really curious. Or just point me to a website . . .
 
Pope--
You forgot to mention how horribly thought out it was to call an elected ruler in a democratic society a queen.
trevor--
I have to correct you on your explanation. Lightsabers did run on alkaline quintuple-A batteries-- in the first three movies. In the period between movies III and IV, the type of batteries used in lightsabers was found to leak and release toxic chemicals to all not used to it (this really did explain Jar-Jar-- his name was found to be Fred Scott after hospitalization, a Courescantian accountant who disappered on a trip to Naboo some 20 years ago). The Jedi council tried to use rechargable lithium-ion batteries, but that naturally failed due to the temple's lack of DC power outlets and the mysterious disappearance of the temple's store of AC-to-DC power adapters (this was found to be a failed plot of Darth Sidious prior to the Clone Wars). The Jedi order fell, and the ancient art of the lightsaber was not reborn until Episode VI, when Master Yoda discovered that a direct AC current could power lightsabers, as long as they were plugged in (they went wireless some years later).
 
Jedis apparently don't wear seatbelts on Corresant, but you usually see some sort of harness on the other ships. And in one less-than-famous line in A New Hope, Han Solo tells Luke and Ben Kenobi to "go strap yourselves in, I'm going to make the jump to light speed." So at the very least seat belts are used while leaping into hyperspace (though not while actually in hyperspace).
 
Padme elected not to wear a restraint in "Attack of the Clones" so that she could be thrown out of the plane for 2 reasons. First was so she wouldn't distract Anakin during the fight with Count Dooku. (spoiler alert) He lost a hand without her being there...imagine how much worse it would be had she been there. Second was to show off her incredible acting skills. If you recall, she fell out of the plane and landed in the sand, presumably dead or gravely injured, then immediately popped up and gave orders once approached by one of the clones...miraculous recovery! (All that being said, I'm still a Natalie Portman fan.)
 
Episodes 1,2,3 and the second half of episode4 are NOT part of the official "Star Wars" canon. The REAL George Lucas would have never included the Ewoks or Jar-Jar Binks. They were obviously made by his evil twin Skippy.
Thus your questions is moot. Please restrict future "Star Wars" related questions to episodes 4 and 5 and the first half of 6.
Thank you,
RFDIII
 
Did anybody else notice how parallel Star Wars and Harry Potter are? Just a thought.
 
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