Star Wars, Highly Illiogical Captain

[Dînadan]

To avoid the headcanon thread getting derailed anymore, I'm starting this one. Use this to discuss things about Star Wars that don't make sense or fall apart after a second's thought.


And just to be clear, this is for things from the Original Trilogy too, not just the Prequels and also encompasses the spin off films (only Rogue One so far, but as others are released they count too, ditto with the new trilogy) and Clone Wars and Rebels.

[GandALF]

Ok, I'll give you a genuine one. Bendu's "balance-ness" is depicted as neutral which is inconsistent with how Lucas describes balance in the Force.

[Dînadan]

Can't speak for Bendu as I haven't watched 'Rebels', so I'll add one of my own. And to show I'm not rabidly against the prequels, I'll forgo choosing something for them in favour of something from the OT.

The Happy Ending. RotJ ends on a high note, with a sentiment that the Rebellion has won and the Empire has been defeated once and for all, which is exacerbated by the Special Edition showing celebratory scenes from across the galaxy concurrent with the Rebels' celebration on Endor. Presumably this ties in with Lucas becoming burnt out creatively and not wanting to have to address the issue with a sequel trilogy (and possibly wanting to go lighter and softer after ESB), but in universe it doesn't make much sense that even with the loss of the Emperor and Vader that the Empire would completely collapse overnight.

It's mitigated somewhat in the old EU, with the Empire hanging on for some time and the Rebellion not even getting to Corruscant for several years, and even after that the Empire only being pushed back, but as it stands in the film on its own it's a bit of a misstep.

[GandALF]

I don't think the celebrations necessarily depict the complete collapse of the Empire. Lucas probably agreed with overall direction of the EU, Timothy Zahn came up with the name "Coruscant" and Lucas used it as a nod to Heir and there was also a planned TCW episode featuring the Yuuzhan Vong.

[LittleRaven]

The thing that really stood out to me from Force Awakens.

Wait...you can get around shields by going into hyperspace and then coming out of hyperspace INSIDE the shield? That seems like it would render planetary shields almost completely pointless, and frankly would make shields on space stations and even large ships kinda moot as well. I mean, sure, maybe the Falcon is the only ship cool enough to pull that try off, but it can't be that hard to start making hyperspace missiles and torpedoes. Strap a fusion warhead on one of those babies and you could have turned the Starkiller Base to slag from a couple of systems away. Death Stars would be irrelevant - they would only ever be a missile away from destruction. No space station would be safe. Anything that isn't HIGHLY mobile would have no way of protecting itself.

[The Romulan Republic]

To avoid the headcanon thread getting derailed anymore, I'm starting this one. Use this to discuss things about Star Wars that don't make sense or fall apart after a second's thought.


And just to be clear, this is for things from the Original Trilogy too, not just the Prequels and also encompasses the spin off films (only Rogue One so far, but as others are released they count too, ditto with the new trilogy) and Clone Wars and Rebels.

Almost anything can be made sense of if you're willing to put in the time to come up with an explanation. But that's supposed to be the writers' and director's job, not the audience's.

Trickiest issues for me include:

-Leia remembering her mother despite the fact that Padme died about a minute after her birth.

-On that note, Padme's death. "Lost the will to live"? Really? I think the physical strain caused by having to give birth on top of severe emotional trauma and being choked probably had something to do with it.

-General inconsistencies in Force powers, although these aren't too hard to explain based on how much Force use is influenced by the mental/emotional state of the user.

-There was that old EU line about how the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire. A galactic civilization that built multiple Death Stars. Thankfully non-canon now.

-How Starkiller Base works. Its supposed to be mobile, or so I've been told (thus explaining how it can fire more than once when it drains a star for fuel), but this isn't really explained in the film I don't think.

Personally I'd have preferred it if it were a stationary gun that draws in fuel via hyperspace just as it fires through hyperspace. Seems more consistent, more original, and less silly than a flying planet, at least to me.

[LittleRaven]

-How Starkiller Base works. Its supposed to be mobile, or so I've been told (thus explaining how it can fire more than once when it drains a star for fuel), but this isn't really explained in the film I don't think.

Wait, I thought it just caused the star to go dark for a few minutes. (it like, redirected all the energy of a star for a few minutes and thus the star seemed to go dark.)

If it actually DRAINED A STAR permanently...and frankly, I'm not even sure what that MEANS from a physics standpoint...well, we're looking at a massive case of SciFi Writers Have No Sense of Energy.

[TGLS]

-There was that old EU line about how the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire. A galactic civilization that built multiple Death Stars. Thankfully non-canon now.

Perfect sense. The death star program was already under construction for some time and an established component of the Imperial budget, while the Executor was a new appropriation. A coalition of senators filibustered the debt ceiling in protest, which nearly led to a government shutdown and a default on the imperial debt. This was part of the lead up to Palpatine abolishing the senate.

[GandALF]

Padme's death. "Lost the will to live"? Really? I think the physical strain caused by having to give birth on top of severe emotional trauma and being choked probably had something to do with it.

It was a Force choke. Probably didn't compute for the droid.

[The Romulan Republic]

-There was that old EU line about how the Executor nearly bankrupted the Empire. A galactic civilization that built multiple Death Stars. Thankfully non-canon now.

Perfect sense. The death star program was already under construction for some time and an established component of the Imperial budget, while the Executor was a new appropriation. A coalition of senators filibustered the debt ceiling in protest, which nearly led to a government shutdown and a default on the imperial debt. This was part of the lead up to Palpatine abolishing the senate.

Oh, God, that actually kind of makes sense. As much as debt-ceiling/shut-down related stupidity ever does.

Padme's death. "Lost the will to live"? Really? I think the physical strain caused by having to give birth on top of severe emotional trauma and being choked probably had something to do with it.

It was a Force choke. Probably didn't compute for the droid.

Wouldn't a Force choke still leave signs of physical damage?

Yeah, I think "medical malpractice" or "faulty programming" (maybe the droids weren't used to treating humans) is the simplest explanation.

-How Starkiller Base works. Its supposed to be mobile, or so I've been told (thus explaining how it can fire more than once when it drains a star for fuel), but this isn't really explained in the film I don't think.

Wait, I thought it just caused the star to go dark for a few minutes. (it like, redirected all the energy of a star for a few minutes and thus the star seemed to go dark.)

If it actually DRAINED A STAR permanently...and frankly, I'm not even sure what that MEANS from a physics standpoint...well, we're looking at a massive case of SciFi Writers Have No Sense of Energy.

Well, I could be mistaken. But I think it was supposed to drain the star. I could be wrong though.