Star Wars universe does have lasers of all scales and power levels.
Yet literally no one uses them well on a personal scale.
The Jedi (and Sith for that matter) imbue it with a power of magical stone, and then…use it as a saber.
To balance this stupidity, stormtroopers, clones and droids all use slow, non-continuous energy blasters. With actual lasers, they could insta-kill any Jedi, but they cannot, because otherwise the movie wouldn’t exist.
Iirc, that’s because none of the items mentioned in this post actually are lasers in the star wars universe. They’re actually supercharged bolts of plasma.
Laser weapons are considered primitive tech. Like who wants a space gun that just fires into infinity? You might blow up something incredibly far away by mistske.
Pictured are space-bombers. They drop gravity bombs… in space. Please stop talking about scientific accuracy in Star Wars.
Remember how in TESB, Han and Leia land in an asteroid crater/cave to hide and go out in the vacuum with nothing but an emergency airplane O2 mask thinking that’s OK? And gravity is earth normal gravity?
I’m pretty sure “a galaxy far far away” means the laws of physics are a bit different.
Also, let people enjoy things.
While that happening, there are also TIE bombers flying past dropping bombs on them.
During all my life, from all the movies, EU, and games, they have specialized ships to do bombardment missions,. Y wings, and A wings for surgicals.
This fucking scene threw me off so hard… it was so fucking stupid. Just like the rest of the movie eventually.
Suspension of disbelief, or belief in suspension tech?
Start with land speeders… what holds them up? If you’re in a universe where it’s simple to make anti-gravity devices, why not use them to “fly” your big space ships too?
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, they knew things we still do not, and apparently they did not know many things that we do.
I remember seeing this shit in theaters and losing my mind over how stupid it was. It’s in the middle of an incredibly bad movie anyway which doesn’t help, but I just can’t imagine how many people had to be involved with this creative choice and how ar least some of them must have brought up how stupid dropping bombs like that is in a space fight and yet they still went with it. Dumbest shit ever.
Didn’t TIE bombers bomb asteroids in TESB when Solo and crew were hiding in a giant worm? Sure looked similar, IIRC.
That’s like a land mass at least. In this scene they were doing this in straight up open space against another ship
Lol
It’s fantasy, not sci-fi though
You can’t stress that enough. I love sci-fi, but I never really fancied Star Wars.
Now, as a dad, I rewatch the movies and replay scenes with my son, and the similarity with fantasy action movies strikes me. For example, the beautiful display of alien species and habitats.
Space opera, specifically.
I think space opera can be sci-fi or fantasy? Star Wars is definitely fantasy tho.
You’re right, though the melodrama and swashbuckling of Space Opera definitely lend themselves more towards the soft sci-fi/sci-fantasy end of the spectrum. Sort of, “if the characters and plots don’t need to bear much relation to the real world, why should the setting?”
Space Western
The most known version of which is FireFly (or Red Dwarf?)
its like BSG, its also space opera(at least the reimagined one)
We don’t need to split hairs - ‘sci-fi fantasy’ or ‘science fantasy’ is a real genre and common enough term.
Laser swords and biological powers beyond our current grasp of the science behind them define it as science fiction.
I get it’s the quirky pickme trend to argue over this and I agree about the fantasy elements but don’t be the ‘actually’ guy in the room.
Not really, in LoTr, they have a magical sword that shines around orcs, another one that can stop a ghost sword, and there are being with biological powers beyond the grasp of our understanding.
I think you are confusing setting with genre. By your logic the star wars and star trek porn parodies are also sci-fi and not porn.
Sci-fi is only sci-fi if science plays an integral role in the story, eg. Expanse, Stargate (shows), Star trek. But these are all arguably in space, so I get your confusion, that’s the setting, shows like Black Mirror and For all mankind are also sci-fi and those are present day things.
Well actually For all mankind plays out in an alternate past where the space race continues (though I guess this is also technically in space).
Black mirror explores humanity through the lense of abusing technological/scientific inventions.
So those are science based fictions, sci-fi.
Star Wars is space fantasy, arguably if we live in an alternate universe and the original trilogy is released in the late 2000s and 2010s they could be dubbed as YA. Random teenager protagonist finds out they are indeed special and helps to overthrow an opressive regime, like Divergent, Hunger games, Maze runner
lotr isnt scif lol, its fantasy, but a specific to medieval types.
Who said Lotr is sci-fi?
I used LotR explicitly to show that Star Wars is closer to that and therefore a fantasy than it is to any well-known sci-fi.
A humble farm boy’s guardians and village are burned, leading to him leaving his home and finding refuge with a wise old man who has special powers. He tells him he knew his father, that he was a knight and they fought together. He gives him his father’s sword, and teaches him to use his own special powers. They receive a message from a princess in distress, who tells them she’s being held hostage by the evil emperor. They travel to save her with the help of a roguish anti-hero and free the princess. Once freed, they learn of a crucial weakness in the emperor’s fortress, and together they lead a raid to siege it. They succeed with the help of a rag tag bunch of rebels and the princess awards them with medals in her throne room.
That doesn’t sound like a story about how technology, science or knowledge effects people or society to me.
Magic swords and magic powers are exactly what makes it fantasy. I cannot imagine a worse example to pick for your point.
Quote the script where magic is ever mentioned in the films. A light saber is a device with a button that Luke has the knowledge to repair.
Put it in your fantasy section if you want, I’m not even arguing it’s not fantasy, but it’s undeniably science fiction.
Quote the script where someone explains the science of how the Force works. A lightsaber is a special magic sword that can only be made by a space wizard using their magic on a special crystal. It’s magic with a futuristic flavor, that doesn’t make it science fiction.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.
Anakin Skywalker: Master, sir, I heard Yoda talking about midi-chlorians. I’ve been wondering…what are midi-chlorians?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Midi-chlorians are a microcopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force.
Anakin Skywalker: They live inside of me?
Qui-Gon Jinn: In your cells, yes. We are symbionts with them-
Anakin Skywalker: Symbionts?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you.
Anakin Skywalker: I don’t understand.
Qui-Gon Jinn: With time and training, Annie, you will. You will.None of that gives an explanation of the Force in any way that removes the magical nature of it. Obi-wan just says it’s magic, and the midiclorians are magic microbes that let special people use magic. There’s still no pretense that this is a scientific advancement, just flavors of magic.
Also MAGIC too, star wars strangely has magic in it, which in contradictory to what a sci-fi, aka the night sisters.
Just because you don’t understand the science does not make it magic. The force is described as a biological phenomenon that the Jedi have some understanding of, whether the audience learns about it or not is irrelevant, it’s science fiction by definition.
i dont know whatyour talking about, but the night sister were clearly using MAGIC, they even stated that in the series lol many times in episodes, im not pulling it out of thin air
They aren’t lasers, though. That’s just a colloquial term. Like how we call large language models AI.
star trek, and some other scifi genre captures it better, SW is more for children, it also magic-tech in it, so not really a true scifi.
SW is for children is not a great take. It’s just not sci-fi, and shouldn’t be judged as such. It’s a space fantasy, and it leans into the camp and the suspension of disbelief. They use wings and aerodynamics in space. Destroyed ships “sink.” The good guys never get hit and the bad guys die in one shot. Now, the new movies were absolutely disappointing, but Star Wars was never sci-fi, at least not in the ways this discussion is defining the genre.
Not all star wars is the same. While I agree that it is space fantasy rather than sci-fi, some of it is more serious and well made than the rest. I have absolutely loved Andor, Rogue one and Solo, and the first and second series of the Mandalorian. It’s starwars with very limited force use.
While the space flight isn’t realistic, the wings aren’t really a problem. Look at the space shuttle… Real spacecraft with wings.
Oh, I wasn’t complaining about any of those things. I think they’re awesome. X-Wings and TIE fighters are definitely not using their S-foils for reentry gliding though. I’m a huge Star Wars fan. I think it requires a level of suspension of belief to engage in the storytelling, because it’s not supposed to be at all realistic. There is also plenty of Star Wars media that is definitely not for kids or fits closer into sci-fi, but even Andor, the most sci-fi of the Star Wars media I’ve watched, was definitely still leaning on its fantasy roots.
Indeed the X-wing “wings” are more supports to mount weapons on than they are airfoil. Tie fighters have a totally different approach to flight.
Andor is of course beholden to the fantasy world it is set in, it did convince me as a sound socio-political story. The fears and distrusts both of the rebels and the military/ intelligence services, the anti Ghorman propaganda, it’s awesome.
Andor was awesome. Considering that the fighters in Star Wars do aerodynamic flight and sound is not just added for effect but audible in universe, I’ve always subscribed to the head canon that in the Star Wars universe, space is a gas of some sort. We also see people in space that die of suffocation, not pressure shock. The name S-foils also implies a similar purpose to airfoils, but the canon isn’t even consistent on that. Some TIE models explicitly use their S-foils aerodynamically in atmosphere, but other ships are ambiguous.
George Lucas literally said himself it was for kids.
I don’t think a defense of the most-hated parts of the prequels is a great argument. This comes across as George Lucas misreading his audience and trying to defend a product that missed the mark for most of his serious fans.
I have always wished for a serious grown up version of Star Wars. Like not being afraid to sever limbs like they used to, or worrying about your scoundrels being too scoundrel-y. Also really taking an inventory of everything and seriously thinking about how it would interact.
Like to your point - no need to toss out the more magical force elements but maybe just tone it down a bit and ground them in reality a little better? Because it’s absolutely ridiculous how they’ve become these invincible laser blocking demigods. They should be afraid to deploy, just like anyone, if there’s going to be shooting. It’s just lazy writing most of the time and it would be wonderful to see what a skilled hand could actually do with it all.
I mean… they do take pause when a Mandalorian is shooting. They may block lasers but putting a lightsaber in front of a slug 6 inches from your face just turns you into Swiss cheese.
Also, their flamethrowers. A lot of mandalorian weapons were utilized solely to counter force users.
Yeah like force speed. You have that ability, yet you used it only once. Would have been pretty handy like a hundred times in various sticky situations.
Yeah it’s so damn lazy, like they introduce these things like they’re in a vaccum, situationally just to have a cool scene and toss any kind of continuity aside
Agreed. Star Wars was never much my cup of tea - a bit too campy. That changed with Andor and Rogue One. Those are up there with my favorite movies/tv of all time.
Rogue One was really close to what I want the franchise to be. Having a universe with the force users instead of about the force users is so much more interesting.
And why the hell do the stormtroopers wear all that armor if one shot kills them?
It does deflect/disperse some of the energy, how much depends on what kind of plot armor you are wearing beneath it.
The actual answer is that faceless pawns make better canon folder villains because it’s less likely the audience will relate to them as actual people in the context of the narrative. The in-universe explanation is that faceless pawns are better foot soldiers for the empire because it’s less likely said empire will relate to them as actual people.
Because it’s cheap and looks scary. The Empire controls through fear and perceived power, not actual technological superiority. Stormtroopers primary job is to suppress dissent in civilian populations, they generally aren’t fighting an opposing army.
Because they tend to bump into things an awful lot.
The OG trilogy was an interesting-enough drama with a vibrant setting, made groundbreaking by their special effects. Everything else in the franchise was made to sell toys, with maybe one or two exceptions. It’s not supposed to be taken seriously like that, I think…
I thought they were plasma based weapons
I want to see the rebels and empire go at it like this:
13th gen Nerf hot pool noodles shall not be questioned
Being able to levitate things with your mind trumps everything.
