# Star Wars Debate And Discussion About Contradictions In The Series. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460 "2003-07-28T17:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/81 "2003-08-03T05:09:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I forget, in episodes 4,5, and 6, do they give us an indication as to how long the Jedi have been defunct? > > Since Luke was told that his father was a powerful Jedi, did he just assume that he had been trained in secret by Ben or something? I don’t believe Obi-wan ever says how long it’s been since the Jedi have been an active force in the galaxy (no pun intended). However, given what we’ve learned in Episodes 1 and 2, there is no way Luke would have assumed that his father was secretly taught by Ben unless his knowledge of recent galactic history was criminally deficient. The Emperor may have been able to annihilate and completely discredit the Jedi in 30 years, but I doubt he was capable of actually erasing the fact that they existed recently from the collective consciousness of the citizenry. ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/82 "2003-08-06T06:01:23Z")
Heres one for ya. During Return of the Jedi, as Luke and Leia escape the Air Speeder after blowing it up…Where the fuck did that vine come from?? Holy crap, it was right there, - perfectly positioned for them to grab. - the perfect length and height away from the other speeder -it was hanging at this perfect point to give them both enough leverage to swing to the other speeder. God thats stupid. Go watch the movie, its really dumb to see. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/83 "2003-08-06T06:30:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*It also gave the impression that the Force was about sensing and communication (and maybe just a tad of mind control), **not** about telekinesis or similar parlor tricks. > > They went and wrecked that impression in Episode V. \*\* Well, not entirely. You’ll recall that Vader used the Force to choke one of the Admirals/Generals/whatever during the “board meeting” in Episode IV. “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/84 "2003-08-06T07:28:35Z")
> [@](#): > > During Return of the Jedi, as Luke and Leia escape the Air Speeder after blowing it up…Where the fuck did that vine come from?? Vine? You mean the big piece of cabling that was hanging off of the sail barge? The kind of cabling that would be useful for a multitude of tasks? The kind of cabling that one would find on all sorts of vehicles, vessels, and the like? Yeah. How stupid of them to have cables on their vehicles. Although it did suffer a bit from Spiderman syndrome. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/85 "2003-08-06T11:39:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is Amidala treated as such an important person in the Senate? I never heard Naboo cited for its economic, resource, or strategic value. Seems like a quaint vacation spot which would have a representative promoting tourism rather than brokering power. Actually, I know a lot of people tuned it out, but the political machinations were reasonably realistic and well-adapted to an epic adventure movie context and I was impressed with Lucas’ handling of them. This is one reason I really loved Episode II - I could really believe that the arcane manuevers were happening. In this case, Remember two things: Naboo isn’t really important (and its a sector Senatorial seat of which Naboo leads), true, but Amidala has a lot of personal charisma and a _very_ powerful patron in the Supreme Chancellor. She’s also proven she can get things done and briefly reinvigorated the Senate. Plus, she’s already been the kingmaker once - she was the one who brought down Chancellor Valorum when he got in her way. In short, a healthy mix of admiration, fear, and matured political sense. > [@](#): > > Then consider that there are millions of star systems with inhabited planets, and then another ten million or so with smaller colonies… granted, almost none of them will have populations similar to Coruscants, but jeez… the money to grow and train a few million clones could be had from searching through the cushions in everyone’s couch. Ther may have been more Clones than that. They never did actually say what a “unit” was - and Lucas may have left that deliberately vague (Lesson One, when making a series like this, use as few numbers as possible, so the fans won’t get PO’d later). A Unit might refer to a platoon (i.e., a military unit) or a single clone. Perhaps the first shipment was supposed only to be a spearhead of crack troops, not a full army in its own right. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/86 "2003-08-06T15:08:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by tracer_ > > It also gave the impression that the Force was about sensing and communication (and maybe just a tad of mind control), not about telekinesis or similar parlor tricks. > > > > They went and wrecked that impression in Episode V. > > \*\*Well, not entirely. You’ll recall that Vader used the Force to choke one of the Admirals/Generals/whatever during the “board meeting” in Episode IV. > > “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” \*\* Before Episode V came out, this incident could be explained as a kind of **Voodoo**. One could claim that Darth Vader didn’t really “choke” Admiral Motti with telekinesis, he merely raised his fingers in a choking gesture and made Admiral Motti _think_ he was being choked via the power of suggestion. In other words, this could just have been a nastier form of the same “You don’t need to see his identification” power that Ben had used on the weak-minded Stormtroopers. Now, if Admiral Motti had been lifted out of his seat and suspended in midair while Vader was remote-choking him, that would have been another matter. ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/87 "2003-08-07T05:12:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*Vine? You mean the big piece of cabling that was hanging off of the sail barge? The kind of cabling that would be useful for a multitude of tasks? The kind of cabling that one would find on all sorts of vehicles, vessels, and the like? > > Yeah. How stupid of them to have cables on their vehicles. Although it did suffer a bit from Spiderman syndrome. \*\* YEAH! Thats the one! Pratty lame eh? I’m glad we agree how lame that was! Lame! ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/88 "2003-08-09T12:59:28Z")
Okay, here’s the thing that always bugged me about Ep. II. Anakin and Amidala land on the volcanic/factory planet and break into a factory which is producing a robot soldier army. They get stuck to the conveyor belt on the production line, dodging machines and presses and the like, (I also think this scene was made to be included in video games) side scrolling through the level. The zap a couple of robotic machines to keep going through it. Now, Alien Joe Foreman comes over to see these two people cutting up his machines with a lazer sword and ruining his manufacturing equipment, which he was commissioned to cread by the still legal “Trade Federation” organization, so he flaps up there with his Alien Joe Foreman wings to see what the heck is going on, and Amidala and Anakin **kill him!** This wasn’t some robo death soldier like in Ep.I, this was just some factory worker. They turn the facory into killing fields with these guys. It’s crazy! It bothered me so much, that I wanted Amidala to get munched by the beasts later in the arena as a fitting punnishment for mass murder. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460/89 "2003-08-11T13:14:00Z")
Yeah, but in the Star Wars universe, you are always as guilty as the guy you work for. Think about the death star (either one). Sure, when you blow up a death star, you kill all kinds of Storm troopers, generals, darths, emporers, Grand Moffs and regular Moffs, but what about all the little people? If the first death star was the size of a small moon, how many people who worked there must have been technicians, medical staff, caterers, cleaners, personel officers, etc? What about all the rebel prisoners in cell block 1138? Was Darth Vader’s secretary as evil as Darth himself? Just because you took a memo saying “Remember to strangle Captain Pyett with your mind?” make you as evil as the guy actually doing the strangling? How about the person who made his lunch? Is it possible to make evil sandwiches? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-debate-and-discussion-about-contradictions-in-the-series/191460.md?page=4)