Star Wars Tech

Great idea for debate, but I [MOVED] your topic to the General Movie Discussion since it's not necessarily about video games.

 

I like to say it's because of the massive galaxy wide chaos and war. Not Kotor to Episode 1 specifically, but take Episode 2 to Episode 3 to Episode 4. The technology of the galaxy, even in the Outer Rim, is fairly advanced, touch-based, classy, and smooth. But by the opening battle of Episode 3, we see more of how the galaxy has changed, with less emphasis on design and style and more on reliability and better effectiveness, hence the switch from touch to physical buttons in most spaceships, cities, etc. That, and when the Empire comes along, the style itself of the previous era is abandoned to move in its own direction, as noted in the Tarkin novel, one of simplicity but sharpness. And in order to effectively make all of the Empire this way, and not allow planets to keep their cultural identity, poorer places are first to be forcibly changed, such as Lothal, Tatooine, etc. That, and The Clone Wars ravaged the entire galaxy, so just like in real-world history, power that emerges afterwards is more dull, backwards, not-as-sophisticated, etc.

 

While it can be taken as a flaw, the new Canon has worked to support and accept the abrupt changes. I remember in Tarkin, the Eta-2 Starfighter Anakin uses in Episode 3 is still used as the military begins creating and supplying the TIE fighters, which Tarkin hopes to never fly, and how Vader in a black Eta-2 and a squadron of Y-Wings undertakes a mission. Hopefully, to be even more clear, one of the spinoffs has to allude to this issue and give a better visual understanding why it happened.

 

Well I agree that the tech changes are odd. This is one of the factors that marks SW in general as fantasy not science fiction. Its not a about a probable scientific future its about a lost mythic history with armor and swords and magic powers set in space.

The other issue is that tech superior to what we see in SW starts to effect the narrative structure. If they add transporters how some of the stories go would change. If they add rampant nano-tech or Minority Report style abundant retinal reading cameras where movement can be monitored automatically you change the style of stories that can be told. Imagine how long Luke and Han would have made it if there were facial recognition on the Death Star? If the Empire used bio weapons why blow up a planet a genetic bio weapon kills everyone on the planet and then virus dies off like it is designed to and you occupy a world with all of its tech and buildings in place all you have to do is burn bodies.

 

Great questions, guys.

When I was a teenager the lack of technological advancement in Star Wars used to bother me, because World War II brought crazy tech advances here on Earth. Computers were invented to break enemy codes, jet airplanes were invented to win the air war, RC technology was discovered to steer torpedoes, even heart transplants came from Nazi experiments on prisoners. When I was a kid the lack of any new techs in Star Wars seems bad.

But now I think the lack of new techs in Star Wars seems great.

In Star Trek, the tech is often the story. Got a problem? Tech it! Tech the techy tech to fix the Enterprise's problems, or to beat the Klingons, or to save the world.

In Star Wars, tech is never the story. People are the story. Got a problem? Send a Jedi. Or a bounty hunter. Or a farm boy, a smuggler, and a princess.

Star Wars tech is cool eye candy, but George Lucas never let it get in the way of the story. The story is about humanity. Courage. Ingenuity. Friendship. Belief in your convictions. The pod races were about the racers, not the pods. If Gene Roddenberry had done the pod race, it would have been about the pods, not the racers.

Why did Star Wars fans hate the concept of midichlorians so much? Because the explanation takes the mystery and the magic out of the story and replaces it with tech and science. In other words, midichlorians are too Star Trek.

I don't want this to sound like a rant against Star Trek. I like Star Trek, but I like Star Wars more, and I like them for different reasons. Mostly it boils down to Star Wars has a heart and Star Trek has dials and knobs. Star Wars is a tale of heroes who use a different technology than we do. Star Trek is a tale of the technology the heroes use.

With all that in mind, I'm glad Star Wars tech hasn't changed.

 

I really like how you explained this. But the retinal data and stuff? That I must respectfully prove wrong. In the first new canon novel, A New Dawn, Kanan and Hera team up with a female alien, forget the species, who scans and checks up on people as her job, which in turn helps our heroes in the narrative. As for Han being caught with visual data? Him and Luke take two of the Stormtroopers out in the Falcon, and then in the prison area that's monitored by sensors and cameras, crashes in and destroys all the cameras. In all, the technology story-wise in my opinion has the technology, but the Empire and The Clone Wars must took the overall galaxy a step back. But again, Star Wars is about people, not tech, so I agree on all hour other points