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omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Supreme Allah posted:

That seems like a pretty cool scene to have been deleted

It was probably deleted because it was more meaningful to have the full 'reveal' of the new lightsaber's significance (and it's similarity to Obi-wan's) be done by Vader when Luke gets turned over to him. Doing a reveal of something twice is less effective.

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omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

T-1000 posted:

How could you miss at that range? They were probably close enough to touch.

You could touch at that range, which is why the scene is so stupid.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Nckdictator posted:

I dont know, just suprised me the Lucasfilm would have authorized that.

Every time this thought crosses your mind, remember the holiday special.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Mister Roboto posted:





In any case, what's the official explanation as to why Vader desired to freeze Luke instead of capturing him regularly?

Capturing and then locking up someone who can leap long distances, telekinetically move/manipulate objects at at a distance, influence the minds of guards, and be prescient enough to knock blaster bolts out of the air is probably not a very good idea. Keeping them in stasis (in this case via freezing) would be the only logical way to do it.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Derek Dominoe posted:

That's actually a really great twist to space stories with FTL ships. Why should there ever be a mystery about what happened at any given location in space? Just warp/hyperspace the appropriate distance and watch events unfold. Who needs the force to see friends long gone when you can hire the equivalent of a space taxi to take you a few parsecs to watch your favorite moments together?

Because involving time travel in any sci-fi franchise is a recipe for disaster because it either becomes 1. a pointless gimick or 2. Godlike power which means the heroes are never challenged enough for there to be any real tension.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

VaultAggie posted:

I've got a question that's always bugged me. In the Empire Strikes back, when Han is being tortured, is there a reason for that other than trying to lure Luke in? I always thought that they were injecting him with chemicals or something to prepare him for the carbonite freezing.

Vader was being a jerk.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Fledgling Gulps posted:

I must be stupid or forgetting something because I don't get this reference. What does Wilford Brimley have to do with Star Wars?

You don't wanna know. Seriously. You will regret asking. :v:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

TheBigBad posted:



Anyway... so how powerful are thermal detonators? Do you think if Jabba had called Leia's bluff and she set it off- would have killed him? Hutts seem pretty tough. Would 3PO have survived the blast? I assume she and Chewie, and Bib Fortuna would be dead.

As powerful as the plot demands.

The real answer is that it doesn't matter how powerful or not the thermal detonator was. Leia had the audacity to threaten the Hutt with what amounts to a suicide bomb in his own palace. That impressed him (at least more than it scared him). The scene shows us more about Leia's character and her relationship with Han (who she's there to rescue). So in that sense the thermal detonator is just another storytelling element, there to give us insight into the characters, and unimportant in and of itself.

In fact, going out of your way to spell out how powerful it is would likely detract from the scene by stealing focus from the characters and giving it to an inanimate device of little real importance. :techno:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Slantedfloors posted:

the Emperor no longer subconsciously improving the Imperial crews ability with the Force.

This kind of poo poo is what is wrong with the EU.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Um no, it actually isn't that bad. Timothy Zahn did great.

From what we see in the films the Alliance's forces are far, far outnumbered and outclassed by the Empire, and they lose (from what I remember) two capital ships to the death star's superlaser, which means that after DSII blew they had what, Home One and maybe a couple other capital ships and a number of support ships vs dozens of star destroyers (and likely support ships) and their complement of TIEs. The idea that the Imperial Navy is so incompetent that they would suffer heavy losses while retreating from a situation where they outnumber their opponent a dozen to one because THE PUPPETMASTER is gone makes them a laughable non-threat. When your enemy is completely incompetent and a non-threat there is no satisfaction in them losing and no real danger. The implication that the emperor was running EVERYTHING and without him no one can tie their own bootlaces is dumb in the same way that 'Anakin is the chosen one prophesy blah blah blah and everything depends upon him' is dumb. It makes one character way more important than they needed to be. Was the emperor not important enough being a Sith Master who ruled the galaxy with an iron fist? Did they REALLY need to make him also single-handedly responsible for any success the imperial navy had?

Battle Meditation as a concept is something I find to be on the level of fanfiction because writing your characters as incompetent except when ONE specific character is there places everything's outcome on one single character. which aside from being silly and mary-sue like, detracts from the need or ability to make decent secondary characters.

WhyteRyce posted:

How else do you explain a highly trained fleet with superior numbers retreating from a fight against a ragtag force of Rebels, who they were previously grinding into dust through pure attrition?

Literally anything other than loving battle meditation. You could have several admirals realize that with the Emperor gone a power struggle will soon ensue and either begin to fight it out (lead up to the warlord of the week stuff that happened in the EU) or retreat back to their respective home systems to prevent that happening. Such a thing isn't exactly unheard of. Or take a 'no one knew what to do because holy poo poo the loving deathstar just blew the gently caress up' approach. Honestly the former approach makes the most sense considering that (apparently) a lot of folks splintered off from the empire to start their own little warlord empires after Endor. It would make sense for those folks to not want to risk their SDs and TIE forces trying to crush the last of the rebels since when you go rogue you can't replace your poo poo easily. With the imperials distracted and/or fighting amongst themselves you now have a plausible explanation for the retreat and even heavy losses on their part. It even leads up to having tons of warlords or the week running around post-Endor. AND it doesn't invoke stupid mary sue battle meditation bullshit.

omgLerkHat! fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Mar 3, 2011

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Kung Food posted:

A better question would be why were the rebels the only schmucks dumb enough to trust them with anything? Was it ever explained how the Imperials knew an attack was coming on the DS2? I bet it was all because of those drat Bothans.

The Emperor let the rebels steal the plans so he could draw their entire fleet and its leaders into an ambush when they tried to destroy it. He mentions this in the movie.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Captain von Trapp posted:

I would say this is paranoia, but if this wasn't explicitly done with 3D in mind I'll eat my hat:



And it will be ever more creepy and nightmare-inducing than it is now!

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

The Zombie Guy posted:

I was reading a SW novel and had a thought about Storm Troopers... Why do they wear armour when one blaster bolt cooks them anyways? What is the armour supposed to protect against?

Why do cops wear armor when literally any rifle round will pass right through it like it's not there? Why do we still use tanks when there are myriad ways to disable/destroy them that are far less expensive than the tank itself?

Because armor gives you a greater chance to survive by stopping all sorts of things you'll encounter on a battlefield like shrapnel, long range shots, ricochets, animal bites, various poo poo you'll encounter in a brawl/melee, and countless other things that would be fatal/injurious if you were naked. There's also psychological benefits to having armor in that it makes you more confident and thus able to work more efficiently in situations where you might otherwise be [more] terrified of dying.

But that's just reality. In most stories armor isn't there to actually be effective or for any logical reason other than to hide the identity of the wearer and make them a faceless force for evil. Seeing the enemies faces and thus giving them minor characterization runs the risk of making them sympathetic, something which wouldn't work particularly well in a story like Star Wars where things are very black and white (not necessarily a bad thing). Stormtrooper armor is designed to be intimidating and show the capabilities and resources of the Empire. Having their elite troops decked out in head to toe armor while fighting the rebels who are using in most cases very little armor at all shows the disparity in power and resources between the two sides. Note also that the rebel forces never wear fully-enclosing helmets, keeping them from being faceless mooks. (see also why TIE pilots' helmets are fully enclosed)

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Chairman Capone posted:

No, you should be, because it really is loving stupid. I mean, I get that the point is to draw in people who just assume it's set during the movie era and with movie characters, but they should just be upfront about putting money ahead of creativity. It has Star Wars in the title and it's being made by BioWare, it would make a ton of money anyway.

I mean, even though it's set three thousand years beforehand, it has stuff like Imperial Stormtroopers, Moffs and Grand Moffs, star destroyers identical to movie-era designs. I guess the explanation now is that when Palpatine came to power he deliberately copied everything from the Sith of this era but that's not exactly stellar writing.

The idea that someone would copy 3,000 year old designs down to the minute details with perfect accuracy and have them be competitive with contemporary designs is so mindbogglingly stupid that it makes me angry just thinking about it. :argh:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Markoff Chaney posted:

Kinda. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightclub

But that's just a slightly longer than normal lightsaber. Really not that exotic or funny at all, even if it has a stupid name..

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Flavor Bear posted:

But how do you know what is up or down without gravity?

All you need are some relatively fixed points in space to orient yourself. Gravity isn't required.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003
Sand people are full of cotton candy! :confuoot:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Harvey Mantaco posted:

I wasn't talking about weapons at all though, but your explanation that's it's a technology in use that (maybe you're not implying this) doesnt seem obviosly aparent makes enough sense I guess.

We have plasma cutters TODAY that sear through steel like it's butter. Considering the vast majority of weapons and such in Star Wars are energy based I don't find it hard to imagine that it's a common everyday technology.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Not A Bear posted:

If I remember correctly, they (ordinary non-jedi, non-wookipedia backstory, non-force sensitive people) had vibroblades - which was like a vibrating knife or some poo poo? Who knows? But from what I remember, they were pretty much used like you'd use a knife...that vibrates...maybe they were used for other things? Vibrospoons anyone?

Why you'd choose a knife that hums (maybe?) over a laser sword that can cut through anything* and is probably about the same size as a vibroblade when turned off, no one will ever know. Maybe the jedi had a space patent on them or something? Those capitalist bastards, trying to keep the common man from having awesome glowy things that cut through stuff.

And also Force Pikes and Gaffi Sticks for some reason. Apparently only Gammoreans, and various other hench-species use Force Pikes, perhaps named because the Pikes themselves are Force sensetive? Or ony work on people who are force sensetive?

*see approved list, apendix A through to 97F.


I don't know about you, but I like being able to actually see exactly where I'll be cutting when I use a knife. Having my blade be some thick brightly glowing thing makes precise cuts difficult. Because a sword is not designed for fine work at all. And even if you somehow miniaturized the technology so the blade was tiny it wouldn't work much more effectively than an industrial cutting laser or plasma torch.

The idea behind the vibrating knives is that with little serrations or even no serrations, a blade vibrating hundreds or thousands of times per second will cut easily through most materials with little force exerted by the user. It's the same idea behind the electric toothbrush taken to its logical extreme.

Additionally, an ordinary knife has a lot of uses that a lightsaber would not be able to replicate in a million years. A partial list:

1.Can be used to prepare food, including gutting and cleaning an animal in a survival situation
2.Manipulate objects/spread things around/butter bread/etc.
3.Impromptu screwdriver in an emergency (don't do this)
4.Amazing tool for removing cactus thorns or splinters
5.the list goes on. Seriously a normal utility knife is one of the MOST useful single tools you can carry with you.

Also notice that many uses of a knife do not involve slicing effortlessly through the item being worked on and leaving it singed. So in short, a plasma torch is not a substitute for a knife.

Also I'm not sure where you people are getting the idea that lightsabers would never need to be recharged simply because it's never shown on screen. By that logic none of the characters ever need to poop (the 'no toilets on the Enterprise' scenario)

omgLerkHat! fucked around with this message at 03:58 on May 24, 2011

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Sunshine89 posted:

True, but at least it's a good retcon- there are certainly enough Force-sensitive banthas and whatnot. I'm keeping my skeleton army no matter what you say :colbert:

Basic is also more common and less species specific than, say, Pak Pak or Skakoverbal

I always though the battle droids talked to each other in basic so that their non-droid controllers could monitor communications- probably to make sure, for instance, so they would know what happened if a pilot droid walked into a battle with a fusion cutter and a comlink when the command for "all troops, forward march" came through" and sent it a signal to stop and do what it's supposed to.

The simple answer for the verbal communication is that it gives the audience information on the plot and what is going on. Imagine every scene of 3PO and R2 in the original series being devoid of intelligible dialog. Sure it would certainly make more sense for them both to communicate through some super-fast droid-only communication method, but it would also be boring as hell and would make their interactions meaningless without some external exposition to tell the audience what the hell is going on. In other words: Keeping the audience informed is more important and often makes for better a better movie than being entirely logical with regards to technology.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

hannibal posted:

I think Stackpole has a habit of his characters saying "Agreed" all the time, which annoyed me to no end. I still love his books though (still have all my X-Wing books, and the EU ones I want to own, although I'm glad they're all coming out for Kindle)

That's because Stackpole almost writes every character the same way. Any time anyone has an internal monologue (which Stackpole also overuses) they sound the same and tend to come off as a needlessly cocky rear end in a top hat. Corran horn is everyone. :psyduck:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Mister Roboto posted:

Er, a Sith, who are supposed to be the most evil villains in the universe?


Are you saying that only maladjusted sociopaths who have a knack for losing would want to play the force unleashed? :colbert:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Jerk McJerkface posted:

The worst one is Dash Rendars Outrider. it has all the engines on one side. In space that won't really matter I guess, but in atmosphere it will make the craft so inherently unstable...ugh.

This is gonna blow your mind :v:

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Jerk McJerkface posted:

I understand what you are going for here, but still the engine is near the center of mass of the plane. Look at the tail, it's offset as well to couteract the differences of lift. Also, if you look at it you'll see the one side wing (cockpit side) is longer than the other, so the plane is still balanced around the thrust vector.

Look at this though:
http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/1/1c/Outrider.jpg

The engine is on the left third of the ship, I guess it could be extremely light on the cockpit side, but there's so much mass on the right two thirds of the ship. In space this would be a non-issue I guess, but in Shadows of the Empire the Outrider flies in Atmosphere a lot. But I guess when you are trying to make a non-Han-Solo character you have to make a non-Millennium-Falcon ship that can't quite look just like it but needs to be slightly different. The ship design is just so uninspired.

Not defending the silliness of the outrider at all, the ship really is extremely lopsided and indeed uninspired as you said. To further compound the problem it's got the aerodynamics of a brick and that lovely gap between the cockpit access area and.. whatever the hell the rear one is. I'd hatelove to see what the thing would do in a wind tunnel. I guess I came off wrong, as I was just trying to point out an amusing example of bizarre asymmetry in reality, and not actually trying to disagree with your assertion.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003
Cutting away from the main action to show Boba helmet cam is a bad idea because it's jarring, needless focus on a very minor character who has little importance to the scene other than coolness/fan appeal. Also anything involving gratuitous shaky-cam is the devil.

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Mister Roboto posted:

So it fits with the rest of Lucas' vision really well then.

So it would seem!

omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Kart Barfunkel posted:

Has the Star Wars established the difference between red lasers and green lasers? Red is a bad guy lightsaber color, but a good guy spaceship color.

Tracers are used in warfare to distinguish one forces weapons fire from anothers. This is just an expansion on that idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_ammo

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omgLerkHat!
Dec 7, 2003

Rev. Bleech_ posted:

They've besmirched and lessened the world of Ewok Jedi and caff :qq:


People actually get butt-hurt over there being a coffee analog in Star Wars?

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