# Does Padme ruin Star Wars continuity/story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571 "2009-07-20T00:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 20, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/41 "2009-07-20T21:47:30Z")
> [@Arglefraster](#): > > After seeing the prequels, I figure R2D2 knew exactly who Luke was (and who his father was) in episode IV as well. He simply chose not to contradict Obi-wan’s story about Vader killing Luke’s father. Well, maybe he did but it came out like “Chirp-CHIRP-tweet-dawooo, beed-deep, chawaiooooooo…” and everybody ignored him. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/42 "2009-07-20T22:04:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Why? It was established that nobody had to father Anakin. someone had to “mother” him… that pesky incubating problem is a bit tough to solve. if only they had gone to that cloning planet. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/43 "2009-07-21T09:21:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, maybe he did but it came out like “Chirp-CHIRP-tweet-dawooo, beed-deep, chawaiooooooo…” and everybody ignored him. If it is one thing the prequels improve, it that now you can well imagine what R2D2 was saying \*" This is your fathers lightsabre, he would have wanted you to have it". "Well technically Obi Wan had just sliced off his limbs and left him buring next to a river of lava, and he was saying something about hating him, but yeah probably\* _Luke my boy, you don’t want anything to do with Leia; that way. I am telling you_ _Hmmm, the Imperials disabled the hyperdrive, wait I can fix this, its the same way Anakin would diable Mace Windus fighters hyperdrive when he was annoyed at hi,_ ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/44 "2009-07-21T09:31:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, maybe he did but it came out like “Chirp-CHIRP-tweet-dawooo, beed-deep, chawaiooooooo…” and everybody ignored him. It’s the old “Artoo’s dialogue is whatever you want it to be” defense. “How do you know a city is that way?” “We’ve been here before, dipshit…” “Vader killed your father” “Yeah, about that… no.” ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/45 "2009-07-21T11:01:20Z")
I like how “Confused Matthew” from the You-Tube reviews calls her **A Walking Plot Contrivance**. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/46 "2009-07-21T13:10:32Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > someone had to “mother” him… > > that pesky incubating problem is a bit tough to solve. if only they had gone to that cloning planet. Heck, why can’t the midichlorian stork bring babies? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/47 "2009-07-21T14:55:07Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > The danger is when you create a foreign (yet familiar-looking) system with words and titles that have specific associations and meanings, and then decide to rest the entire 3-film story on the shoulders of the various machinations and “intrigues” within that political system. That things are different from us and go unexplained is fine with me–but then to be so dependent on the specifics of such a system so as to labor to incorporate them into the story without satisfactorily reconciling these associations and assumptions is simply distracting. Of course. But amidst all the things you mentioned, the concept that naboo had a funny government doesn’t seem to qualify. I would agree on the rest - just not that the part about having a young elected Queen. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/48 "2009-07-21T15:05:22Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I agree with your other point, but what you and Irishman said here is defintely not true. It was quite common for the monarchy to be routinely decided not by inheritance law (and most nations never had a clear or respected one if they had one at all) but by political influence. Usually this was limited to members of the ropyal family, but hardly always. That’s basically what I said in the text you quoted. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/49 "2009-07-21T15:18:38Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > It’s a strange foreign political system which doesn’t make sense to us…that was the most science-fictiony thing in the entire series! I would argue that the appeal of science fiction is not in showing the audience foreign things that make no sense, but rather in showing us foreign things and then showing how they DO make sense in the context of the culture. Although I have forgotten (or blocked out) most of the details of Padme’s story, I know it did not ring true. I’ve read a lot of history, historical fiction and science fiction about real and imagined cultures with seemingly incomprehensible practices, and a well-written account will always help me comprehend the system\*. - not counting parodies/farces like\* Brazil\* and _Sleeper_. And discounting stories like \*Road Warrior \*which are great fun despite not making much sense. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/50 "2009-07-21T22:29:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, why can’t the midichlorian stork bring babies? they saw what happened with the last stork delivery and decided to go with “the bunny died” method. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/51 "2009-07-21T23:37:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > It’s definitely a Lucas thing. Remember that in the story meetings for Raiders of the Lost ark, Indy was supposed to have raped Marion when she was 12. :eek: Holy fuck! For real? No, that’s gotta be fake, Lucas wouldn’t lose his mind for another decade yet. But then how to explain Temple of Doom… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/52 "2009-07-22T00:15:35Z")
Had to go back and dig up [the link.](http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/03/raiders-story-conference.html) Here’s the relevant part: > [@](#): > > Then the discussion turned to how old Marion and Indy were at the time of the affair: > > G — I was thinking that this old guy could have been his mentor. He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven. > > L — And he was forty-two. > > G — He hasn’t seen her in twelve years. Now she’s twenty-two. It’s a real strange relationship. > > S — She had better be older than twenty-two. > > G — He’s thirty-five, and he knew her ten years ago when he was twenty-five and she was only twelve. It would be amusing to make her slightly young at the time. > > S — And promiscuous. She came onto him. > > G — Fifteen is right on the edge. I know it’s an outrageous idea, but it is interesting. Once she’s sixteen or seventeen it’s not interesting anymore. But if she was fifteen and he was twenty-five and they actually had an affair the last time they met. And she was madly in love with him and he… > > S — She has pictures of him. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/53 "2009-07-22T00:24:59Z")
I guess I must be wacko or something because I don’t foam at the mouth when anyone mentions Star Wars I , II, or III. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/54 "2009-07-22T00:28:37Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Numba two being Ewoks. > > Cute, furry, living teddy bears…that are cannibals! > > DAMMIT! Who _does_ things like that?!:smack: I have to address all this Ewok hate. You know what else are cute, furry, flesh eating\* living teddy bears? ACTUAL EARTH BEARS! Sure they are cute and fuzzy. But they are still small sentient bear-like terrorists with primitive weapons. You think you can take on a dozen Ewoks jumping out of the trees trying to stab you with little spears and bash your head in with large rocks? - They aren’t cannibals. I don’t think they eat each other. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/55 "2009-07-22T01:52:24Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > bear-like terrorists You mean bearorists? Those are the worst. Stephen Colbert’s complete nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/56 "2009-07-22T06:26:47Z")
Bah, Ewoks are just oppressed exiles from the Sparta-like Heightocracy of the Wookiees. Lucas, make it so. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571/57 "2009-07-22T09:58:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You think you can take on a dozen Ewoks jumping out of the trees trying to stab you with little spears and bash your head in with large rocks? Yes. Two words: killing field. The little vermin can’t stab you if you obliterate every piece of cover within five kilometres of where you plan to build your shield generator. Here’s another two words: orbital bombardment. If _Rebel Dream_ has taught us anything, it’s that Super Star Destroyers make great point defense weapons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-padme-ruin-star-wars-continuity-story/503571.md?page=2)