Star Wars The Most Overused Tropes?

[Paul Farquhar]

My understanding is that more realistic would look wrong to people. Whether or not space is 3D, people largely think in 2D, and would tend to lose track of what the heck is happening if you change that.

See ST: Wrath of Khan - the characters specifically tell you what they are doing, so you keep up.

Indeed, this is something you often see discussed by sci fi film makers.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

My understanding is that more realistic would look wrong to people. Whether or not space is 3D, people largely think in 2D, and would tend to lose track of what the heck is happening if you change that.

See ST: Wrath of Khan - the characters specifically tell you what they are doing, so you keep up.

Yeah I used to be disappointed by this when I was younger, and I still like it when things are like, a fraction more realistic (c.f. nuBSG or The Expanse - though both are far from realism), but I definitely think it's correct to say that if this stuff was strongly 3D, people wouldn't really get it.

 

[Ryujin]

In open space:

• One ship is a point.
• Two ships are a line.
• Three ships are a plane.
• More ships are a mess.

 

[MarkB]

In open space:

• One ship is a point.
• Two ships are a line.
• Three ships are a plane.
• More ships are a mess.

And then there's orientation. As ridiculous as it is that starships always show up the same way up as each other, when they don't it messes with your subconscious pattern-recognition. Even in the latest Picard episode, when the Titan is seen oriented at odd angles and even upside-down as it evades its pursuer, there's a subtle sense of wrongness as you watch it - the analytical part of your brain having to pick up where the instinctive part falls short.

 

[Ryujin]

And then there's orientation. As ridiculous as it is that starships always show up the same way up as each other, when they don't it messes with your subconscious pattern-recognition. Even in the latest Picard episode, when the Titan is seen oriented at odd angles and even upside-down as it evades its pursuer, there's a subtle sense of wrongness as you watch it - the analytical part of your brain having to pick up where the instinctive part falls short.

Even stranger when you find out that Roddenberry originally wanted the Enterprise to be upside-down, to the way that it's depicted in TOS.

 

[Haplo781]

I don't mind this so much. It reflects some of the pulpy origins of Star Wars, and SW is where the "trope" really grew trope legs and put down trope roots.

But I think everything else about Star Wars is the most oversused trope. The commercial and critical success of Andor shows that taking a radical new approach to the Star Wars universe works gangbusters. The Mandalorian showed that looking back to some of the early inspirations, the tropes that have faded into the background since the OG films (Westerns, samurai movies and Lone Wolf & Cub style chanbara) works gangbusters. But going over the same-old-same-old is a galaxy of diminishing returns (the prequels/the sequels).

The prequels actually tried something different. They were starting to get a little bit incestuous but not nearly to the degree of the sequels.

 

[Deset Gled]

I'm guilty of falling into this one myself sometimes, but the trope I probably dislike the most about Star Wars is "fans who do nothing but complain about the thing they claim to be a fan of".

 

[Fifinjir]

Frankly, Rebels vs. Empire. I’m so thoroughly tired of that era and conflict (and I don’t consider Resistance vs First Order to be meaningfully different) that I have no interest in Andor even if it’s as good as everyone says.

 

[Zardnaar]

Frankly, Rebels vs. Empire. I’m so thoroughly tired of that era and conflict (and I don’t consider Resistance vs First Order to be meaningfully different) that I have no interest in Andor even if it’s as good as everyone says.

I do have a follow iuo thread more or less dealing with that.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Frankly, Rebels vs. Empire. I’m so thoroughly tired of that era and conflict (and I don’t consider Resistance vs First Order to be meaningfully different) that I have no interest in Andor even if it’s as good as everyone says.

I would watch Andor on the last word on the subject, myself.