# Stupid Star Wars question - are the "humans" homo sapiens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592 "2025-06-13T16:16:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/82 "2025-06-20T22:45:13Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And let’s not get started on what, exactly, a poor dirt (excuse me, moisture) farmer is going to do with an R unit. Have it stand around and suck water out of the air? Repair mosturators? How is it going to tell Owen that “you need a new frabulator and a left-handed blivet” in boop beeps? It’s like the racing tip scene from _Day at the Races_. Farmer: Hey, droid salesman, what’s with this R2 unit you sold me? I can’t understand a word he says. Chico: Oh, you just need to use your translator unit. Farmer: Translator unit? I haven’t got any translator unit. Chico: You don’t got one? You’re just wasting your money buying an R2 unit without a translator. Farmer: Do you know where I can get one? Chico: Well, just by accident I happen to have one right here. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/83 "2025-06-20T23:32:10Z")
I think Chico’s last name is probably Haney. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/84 "2025-06-20T23:44:45Z")
> [@digs](#): > > It’s actually a fairly effective way to discover an Imperial spy [Alec Guinness, slowly raising an eyebrow] ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/85 "2025-06-21T00:21:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Nope. At one time he planned to cast “little people” as Luke and family, for instance. > > [Nanism | Wookieepedia | Fandom](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nanism#Behind_the_scenes) > > Unless Darth Vader was also 3 feet tall, that would have changed the story arc a bit. Bagginses, Boffins, Tooks, Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Proudfoots and Skywalkers. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/86 "2025-06-21T00:26:46Z")
> **[Etymology](https://xkcd.com/890/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/etymology.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/etymology.png) ---
**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:** [June 21, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/87 "2025-06-21T00:39:03Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Well, the bad guys do (cf. Grand Moff Tarkin et al). Huh. You know, I don’t think I ever thought it through before, but: in the prequels, Anakin Skywalker sounds as all-American as, oh, say, James Earl Jones — and then he spends decades sounding like James Earl Jones — and then, after he finally embraces his role as a good guy, he for the first time _ever_ starts instead talking like a Royal Air Force officer with a posh British accent? ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/88 "2025-06-29T12:20:12Z")
_Are_ Star Wars humans the same species as Earth _Homo Sapiens_? Many alien species such as Kryptonian, Asgardian, and Gallifreyan appears superficially human. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/89 "2025-06-29T12:46:01Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Gallifreyan appears superficially human. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/d5Ggc9wVd_A/hqdefault.jpg "Doctor Who - No, you look Time Lord. We came first.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Ggc9wVd_A) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/90 "2025-06-29T13:31:16Z")
What exactly does “first” mean in the context of time traveling? Note: not a serious question, just a smart-ass remark. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/91 "2025-06-29T14:41:32Z")
And here without the title I would have thought it was about _ornithology_. “The Millenium Geejaw” just doesn’t quite have the same ring… ---
**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:** [June 29, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/92 "2025-06-29T20:06:18Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > Many alien species such as Kryptonian, Asgardian, and Gallifreyan appears superficially human. The Silver Age Superman and Superboy stories featured large numbers of aliens who looked exactly like (caucasian) humans from Earth. If there was any in-canon explanation offered for this I’m unaware of it. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/93 "2025-06-29T20:14:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What exactly does “first” mean in the context of time traveling? > > Note: not a serious question, just a smart-ass remark. Serious answer though: in-universe canon, before they were the Time Lords the inhabitants of Gallifrey were an ancient race of monster slayers, who tamed what would otherwise have been a Lovecraftian universe into something humanoids could hope to survive and thrive in. Their extermination of the Racnoss and the Great Vampires for example. > **[Dark Times](https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Times)** > > The Dark Times, (PROSE: The Five Doctors \[+\]Terrance Dicks, adapted from The Five Doctors (Terrance Dicks), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1983)., The Pit \[+\]Neil Penswick, adapted from Hostage, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1993).; TV:... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/94 "2025-06-29T20:36:50Z")
The simplest (but least easy for me to swallow) explanation is that God created humans (everywhere) in his own image. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/95 "2025-06-30T00:01:41Z")
Among the Kzinti of Niven’s Known Space stories, there was a heretical cult that believed that God created humans in His own image. Humans, specifically. Not Kzinti. What? You guys kept winning! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/96 "2025-07-01T16:15:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Also, Hutts apparently _can_ speak Basic; conceited bastards that they are, they just don’t deign to speak the languages of lesser creatures. It’s true. In fact, Ziro was basically doing a Truman Capote impersonation. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iuhN8brnW_8/maxresdefault.jpg "Ziro Desilijic Tiure The Hutt Scenes (Clone Wars)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuhN8brnW_8) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/97 "2025-07-01T16:28:39Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > _Are_ Star Wars humans the same species as Earth _Homo Sapiens_? The only way for them to be the exact same species would be for humans from Earth to go into the Star Wars galaxy, or vice versa. It has never been stated nor implied that this is the case, just that whatever galaxy they’re in is “far, far away” from ours, and the events portrayed happened a “long, long time ago”. I just assumed it was supposed to be an extreme example of [convergent evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution). I believe that the humans in Star Wars originated on Coruscant, per the 2017 book _Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia_. That’s the most definitive source on the matter AFAIK. Since the humans of their galaxy evolved on that planet, and we evolved on Earth, it’s just a matter of two separate species being nearly identical despite having no common ancestor. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/98 "2025-07-01T16:37:40Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The only way for them to be the exact same species would be for humans from Earth to go into the Star Wars galaxy, or vice versa. It has never been stated nor implied that this is the case, just that whatever galaxy they’re in is “far, far away” from ours, and the events portrayed happened a “long, long time ago”. Granted, but — when guiding off precise calculations — someone once said that travelin’’ through hyperspace ain’t like dustin’ crops, in that doing it _without_ precise calculations could mean flying right through a star, or bouncing too close to a supernova. Unspoken: without calculations, could Captain Crash and crew wind up blindly hyperspacing their way to another galaxy? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/99 "2025-07-01T16:44:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Unspoken: without calculations, could Captain Crash and crew wind up blindly hyperspacing their way to another galaxy? Sure, if the plot of a story was based around that. The “rules” around hyperspace travel – or pretty much any technology – in the Star Wars universe are always subject to change or reinterpretation, in the service of plot. But, AFAIK, there has not ever been a canonical Star Wars story which has attempted to make any connection between the “humans” in the Star Wars galaxy, and we humans on Earth. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/100 "2025-07-01T16:48:47Z")
Well, there’s [this…](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/that-time-indiana-jones-met-han-solo-in-the-strangest-star-wars-story-ever?amp) [![](https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/scale_600/public/swtaleslastpage.jpg) ](https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/scale_600/public/swtaleslastpage.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592/101 "2025-07-01T16:56:13Z")
I’d not seen that before. It’s cute, but it’s from the pre-Disney era for Lucasfilm, and even back then, it looks like that comic series was largely considered to be non-canonical. As that article notes: > [@](#): > > Like many of the one-shots in the _Star Wars Tale_s series, this story wasn’t canon then, and it certainly isn’t now. Prior to Disney buying Lucasfilm, stories like in the Dark Horse comics were considered to be “B-level” canon: they were the “Expanded Universe,” and weren’t at the same level of canonical information as the movies…but they were generally considered to be at least somewhat canon, until contradicted by something that Lucas himself helmed (i.e., the movies). When Disney bought Lucasfilm, all of the old Expanded Universe stuff was demoted to “Legends” status – the only canon which is now recognized is material which is directly created by Lucasfilm/Disney (that _does_ include the newer novels and Marvel comic books, which Disney directly oversees). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-star-wars-question-are-the-humans-homo-sapiens/1019592.md?page=6)