h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I always watch the credits. I have spend most of my life avoiding Star Wars and officially the only reason I let myself get dragged along to Episode One was to see Apple in the credits. My two reasons for watching credits... to see all the weird names of people and to see the name of my favourite company - they're in the credits of at least half the movies I've seen in the last few years. Yeah, okay, so I'm a little bit obsessed. BTW, today is the 16th birthday of the Macintosh... everyone sing happy birthday!

It is possible today to halt the speed of light. It is also possible to influence the laws of physics by the appliance of potent magnetic fields.
Couldn't it be such a magnetic field bending the end of the lightsabre into a curve / arc shape, so that the true blade is in fact a narrow arch (like mentioned earlier in this forum) held in place by a magnetic field.
After all, it is, as far as I remember, powered by electricity, isn't it?

But yeah, it does look cool!

I would love to have a life and don't know how to do it; probably should check out the "How do I...?" forum for that one...but then again, what many regard as a life doesn't suit me always, so...

Fruitbat

I never saw the point of Darth Maul either, but since I regard Lucas' writing ability as about parallel with that of the average game-show, I'm not surprised he was only put there to piss people off and kill them when they're not looking. Mind you, this is the first installment of a series that Lucas is writing backward, so he still has two shows to explain some of his peculiar choices....

Part of me's wondering which other films he's going to rip off to get terrific sequences for the next two films.....with any luck, the Blair Witch Project might be one of them.

And so that you know: I'm a life-long sf reader and occasionally find happiness in the cinema. I'd dearly love to see a film that has the time and the attention that Lucas lavishes over computer graphics and visual effects put into the writing, acting and direction. Harlan Ellison came close with the screenplay for "I, Robot", which an idiotic studio exec. canned. I usually go and see a Star Wars, like I'd see a Star Trek: on a discount day or not at all. If they're going to foist substandard crap at me they can damn well pay for the privilege. (I must be in the wrong forum; that came out rather more harshly than I meant it to...I'll live with it.)

Fruitbat

I'll have a go at answering the great "Why is there sound in space?" question, as I've both studient effects, studio intelligence (oxymoron-squad ATTENTION!) and audience expectations - in addition to being an sf fan:

The sounds of different spacecraft is there partially to cue a dim audience into the type of craft this is (many people, especially in America, have to be told what they're seeing before they can see it), and also to convey some semblance of the weight of the object.

I, too, have noticed the rumble of the Enterprise fly-bys and conclude they they want to impress upon us how heavy this ship is; all they need to do is show them having to slow the thing down from Warp speed to a dead stop, in twenty metres, believably, and they'd have us sold....(you might also ask how they turn and stop the ship anyway, since we can only see one end of the nacelles that works and there's no attitude jets used very often - but then, I'm reality-picking: we all know that planes, birds and Superman fly because they WANT to and this has no bearing on the environment).

Turning the sound off, in the same way as a realistic ex/implosion in space, would be far more dramatic if approached properly, but the people funding the shows are more interested in EXCITEMENT than good, intelligent storytelling. Since you mentioned the Shadow vessels, did you ever notice how, no matter how cramped for space the Babylon ship was said to be, they always had lots of room for the command-structures and no ceilings? Even the super-duper spacecraft had a vanishing ceiling.

Lucas is notorious for having space craft turning because they want to and behaving like 1940's fighter aircraft - 'cos it looks good.

Fruitbat

Fading away: such are the joys of looking for consistency in a story that George didn't want to write in 1975 (he wanted something simple: Flash Gordon) and had to make up as he went along....and then compounded the problems by making more stuff up as he went along with the other films.

He probably just thought it looked good, which is why he does a lot of what he does. The massive budgets are almost always for the horridly-overpriced stars and the computer-generated effects (which DO cost the Earth).

My guess is that the group-shot at the end of Jedi was simply an expensive version of the group shot at the end of LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, that is: they wanted a "family" shot and the logic wasn't an issue.

Fruitbat

This super-thread proves that I rule all!!

What I meant by metallic plate was a magnet. The magnet does indeed arc the saber blade around forming not one but two blades. Sabers are run on electricity. The energy from a battery is focused by three crystals (I could tell you the names of these crystals but I would have to do about half an hour's research and I just don't have the bloody time for that). The crystals also give the blade it's color. A green crystal yields a green blade, a blue crystal yields a blue blade, etc.

I can relate to this theory!

Does anyone know where I can learn to be a Jedi? (On the H2G2, I mean)

I'm not too sure. I tried (and as can you do) to search the Guide and came up with a lot about Star Wars and jedis, but preciously little about actually becoming one. Perehaps even here, the number of actual jedi is small?
I cannot recommend http://www.h2g2.com/A34552 as it is a small and pitiful site. But at http://www.h2g2.com/U112331 at least they claim to be able to help you.
Good luck, my friend. And may the Force be with you - always.

Try the 'how to...' forum. You can get there from the main page. ( www.h2g2.com )

Thank you.