EP IV - Something that occurred to me

[Welverin]

I was thinking about all the Star Wars movies the other day, and I came across a problem that I haven't been able to overlook.

In Star Wars: A new Hope, when Obi, Luke, Han, Chewie and the droids are sucked into the Death Star via the tractor beam, and the hide in the falcon, they hide in the cargo storage.

More importantly how does the tractor beam work over such a long distance? The Death Star didn't even fill up the entire cockpit view and since it's the size of a small moon they still had to be pretty far away.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Re: Re: EP IV - Something that occurred to me

More importantly how does the tractor beam work over such a long distance? The Death Star didn't even fill up the entire cockpit view and since it's the size of a small moon they still had to be pretty far away.

*SMACK!*

It's science fiction, and tractor beams are entirely scientifically fictitious. They can work however the author wants them to work.

Armor, though, is typically built to render lethal wounds into survivable wounds, and survivable wounds incosequential. Most of the Stromies that blasted by Luke and Han probably aren't dead... or even very seriously wounded. The kick from the blaster bolt hitting their armor probably knocks the wind out them and shoves them off their feet, bouncing them against a bulkhead or the floor, possibly knocking them out. Lucky (or well-aimed) shots might have pierced a chink in the armor and actually killed or wounded a few.

Think about someone wearing a bullet-proof kevlar vest, who gets shot point-blank with a .44 revolver. They won't die, but they'll get knocked on their arse and will have a nasty bruise, if not a few broken ribs.

 

[DM with a vengence]

Re: Re: EP IV - Something that occurred to me

More importantly how does the tractor beam work over such a long distance? The Death Star didn't even fill up the entire cockpit view and since it's the size of a small moon they still had to be pretty far away.

I believe that according to several of the source books, the Death Star had dozens of tractor beams, and if you focus a bunch of them on a target they have really long range.

Star Destroyers would rather use the space for lasers and ion cannons.

 

[Staffan]

I think Stormtrooper armor is built of the same material as Starfleet control panels. Any hit on the outside leads to an explosion on the inside.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yes, seems to be logical. Thus, an imperial soldier does not have to suffer when he is shot, he instantly dies from the inner explosion.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Fenros]

DocMoriartty wrote:

Stormtrooper armor would do many things even if it cannot protect against direct hits.

1. Protect against shrapnel.
2. Protect against gas and other such agents.
3. Integrated communication system.
4. Integrated targetting system.

Then Rel wrote:

Well, in the unlikely event that you got into a fight with some punk-ass little aliens from some backwater, mud-hut planet who had stone-age technology, you'd be invulnerable!

Heh heh, actually even Stormtroopers still wouldn't be invulnerable. Their armor couldn't protect them from Ewok arrows, Ewok stones tied to end of stick thingies, etc, etc.


DocMoriartty wrote:

Not at all. As long as Stormtroopers are not firing at the stars of the movies they are deadly accurate.

Look at how quickly they captured Leia's ship in Star Wars or how quickly they penetrated right into the Hoth Command Center in Empires.

Storntroopers are deadly effective troops in every combat scene that a hero is not in.

Actually, let me amend your statement Doc.

Stormtroopers are deadly effective troops in every combat scene that heroes AND ewoks are not in.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Stormtroopers are deadly effective troops in every combat scene that heroes AND ewoks are not in.

They did manage to kill aat least one of them... Watch closely, and you'll see a sappy scene of some Ewok shmuck pining over his fallen comrade.

 

[Rel]

Then Rel wrote:

Heh heh, actually even Stormtroopers still wouldn't be invulnerable. Their armor couldn't protect them from Ewok arrows, Ewok stones tied to end of stick thingies, etc, etc.

Well, that was sort of my whole joke there, wasn't it? *Tap-Tap* Is this thing on?

To go back to the Stormtrooper discussion, I finished re-watching the original trilogy last night and they just got embarassed by the Ewoks. It was sad.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Lucas has told us unequvocaly that Stormtroopers are bad ass but very little in the movies illustrates this. I guess the battle of Hoth is the closest we come to seeing them live the dream in the recruitment posters.

Other than that, they simply fill the role of "throw away" bad guys who provide a plausible threat but mostly just get killed.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Also I would like to point out that at no time do you see a stormtrooper running around or down with arrows stuck in their armor. The only time you actually see ewoks taking down stormtroopers directly they were using long clubs weighted with rocks. If you get hit like that the type of helmet won't matter, simple physics will guaruntee it will hurt.

 

[Welverin]

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Lucas has told us unequvocaly that Stormtroopers are bad ass but very little in the movies illustrates this. I guess the battle of Hoth is the closest we come to seeing them live the dream in the recruitment posters.

Other than that, they simply fill the role of "throw away" bad guys who provide a plausible threat but mostly just get killed.

THe first time we see them in Star Wars boarding Leia's ship the held their own and despite suffing losses managed to take the ship. That's the one other time they weren't a total embarassment to the Imperial war machine.