# A Star Trek vs Star Wars conundrum **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877 "2016-01-12T00:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/1 "2016-01-12T00:56:38Z")
At dinner tonight, my son Fang, asked a poser, and I didn’t know the answer. If a stormtrooper shoots at a redshirt, does the redshirt still die? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/2 "2016-01-12T01:02:14Z")
The official answer is, the stormtrooper misses and the redshirt dies anyway. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/3 "2016-01-12T01:34:50Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > At dinner tonight, my son Fang, asked a poser, and I didn’t know the answer. > > If a stormtrooper shoots at a redshirt, does the redshirt still die? Yes, because both universes in question immediately are destroyed from the unsolvable paradox in question ripping apart space-time. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/4 "2016-01-12T02:18:12Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The official answer is, the stormtrooper misses and the redshirt dies anyway. …and JJ Abrams double bills his time… (…he’s not very well off & he needs the money. I’m surprised there isn’t a Kickstarter for him yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/5 "2016-01-12T02:21:00Z")
Stormtroopers are perfectly capable of hitting anyone they need to kill to push the plot forward. Redshirt die when it’s necessary to push the plot forward. There is no paradox. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/6 "2016-01-12T02:40:32Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > There is no paradox. Exactly. Consider the opening scene to Star Wars. All those Rebel soldiers wearing salad bowls on their heads? Those are Star Wars redshirts, and they get mowed down like tall grass. Stormtroopers are crack shots, so long as their target doesn’t have a name. It’s only recognizable characters they can’t hit. If the Rebel uniform had included name tags, they’d have had the Empire rolled up in a long weekend. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/7 "2016-01-12T03:26:54Z")
I’d love to see someone do a filmed version of the following scenario: A man in Darth Vader outfit brandishing a light saber. Pull back to reveal a man in Starfleet uniform. Starfleet officer pulls phaser, smirks, disintegrates Vader. (Basically, the Indian Jones thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/8 "2016-01-12T04:29:10Z")
We can’t be absolutely sure that the light-saber won’t deflect the phaser pulse. Physical experimentation is called for. ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/9 "2016-01-12T05:26:27Z")
What answer did the poser give? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/10 "2016-01-12T06:43:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The official answer is, the stormtrooper misses and the redshirt dies anyway. Another version I heard recently is that the Stormtrooper tries to shoot himself point-blank in the head, misses, and the head of a Redshirt a few miles away suddenly spontaneously explodes. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/11 "2016-01-12T12:41:40Z")
The redshirt dies because the stormtrooper’s errant shot makes something next to the redshirt fall on him or explode. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/12 "2016-01-12T13:25:57Z")
He’s frozen in carbonite, Jim. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/13 "2016-01-12T14:19:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Exactly. Consider the opening scene to Star Wars. All those Rebel soldiers wearing salad bowls on their heads? Those are Star Wars redshirts, and they get mowed down like tall grass. Stormtroopers are crack shots, so long as their target doesn’t have a name. In fairness, they’ve hit Leia twice. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/14 "2016-01-12T14:23:24Z")
Worf is a stormtrooper ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/15 "2016-01-12T14:33:06Z")
I went slackjawed when someone noted that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s snicker-worthy line, about how _only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise,_ retroactively makes perfect sense once you figure he last saw 'em in action when they were the closest thing to Jango Fett to ever gun down robot soldiers and Jedi Knights with equanimity. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/16 "2016-01-12T14:44:05Z")
Fang’s thought was that the redshirt (unless he’s Scotty) dies, because redshirts always die. I like this answer best, though: > [@JRDelirious](#): > > The redshirt dies because the stormtrooper’s errant shot makes something next to the redshirt fall on him or explode. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/17 "2016-01-12T14:44:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > In fairness, they’ve hit Leia twice. And the only times we see them missing badly are when the Empire is running the long con and letting the heros go to further a bigger plan. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/18 "2016-01-12T14:48:26Z")
Oh come on, hasn’t this meme been refuted multiple times? _“They let us go; it’s the only explanation for the ease of our escape”._ Now granted, the stormtroopers performed disgracefully on Endor; but I don’t recall any other times they were less than brutally efficient.\* \*trivia In _The Empire Strikes Back_ the Wampa ice creatures originally were going to be featured more prominently, including a scene where the Stormtroopers invading the rebel base get attacked by a pack of them. This is in the novelization but not the final cut of the movie. ETA: ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/19 "2016-01-12T14:54:27Z")
Ok, we know Star Trek can time travel, but how do they solve the “in a galaxy far away” logistics issue? Maybe add some Stargate to the mix, they had intergalactic travel. And I’d love to see them use a P90 on assorted SW/ST bad (and good?) guys. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877/20 "2016-01-12T14:58:18Z")
P.S. Every time Luke Skywalker looks through binoculars, something always blindsides him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-star-trek-vs-star-wars-conundrum/742877.md?page=2)