Interesting, but ultimately it's just one more example of someone failing to realise that Star Wars is space fantasy, not science fiction.

Saying "he merely fails to realize that it's not meant to be taken seriously" is a fun-hating, sourpuss way of looking at it.

Dude, if you're going to use quote marks, at least quote what I actually said. I never said it wasn't to be taken seriously. I'm saying the technical analysis of a fantasy story often degrades the true purpose of the tools it uses to be an effective story.

And if you're going to debate me on the merits of technical analysis, don't dilute the focus of the discussion with a meaningless comment on the nature of quotation marks.

No, it doesn't. It never has, even when Tolkein did it with his own books and their enormous apendices. It's a way of examining the film, nothing more, akin to literary analysis to study the subtleties of the plot and cinematic analysis to understand the way the shots were made.

Technical analysis is meant to be a fun diversion, and it is for technically-minded people like me. I enjoy looking into the science behind the film, because it inspires me to work towards developing devices like hyperdrive, FTL communications, advanced propulsion systems, and so on. Being an engineering student, I'll be in a position to apply the science behind these analyses in order to help bring about the level of technology seen in the Star Wars films. It's centuries away at this point, but I can help it along. But it was seeing those analyses that inspired me to do it in the first place.

And if you're going to debate me on the merits of technical analysis, don't dilute the focus of the discussion with a meaningless comment on the nature of quotation marks.

Ego check:

1) I wasn't debating you. I posted before you were even a part of the discussion. Trust me, I have no interest in debating anything with someone who can't even comprehend the context of what I write.

2) It wasn't a "meaningless comment", it was proof you had completely misinterpreted and misrepresented my words, and then had the audacity to try and repackage it as something I had said.

3) I didn't ask for your life story.

4) Opinions are cool: you are not the only person who has them, or is entitled to them. Try not to flip out the next time I express one you disagree with, ok champ?

Bakura, re - read your post, because it is pretty obvious you have forgotten what you wrote.

Interesting, but ultimately it's just one more example of someone failing to realise that Star Wars is space fantasy, not science fiction. It's like people see the technology and just can't accept that it's only there to make it stand out from the one million other medievelesque fantasy sagas. It's all magic folks - Industrial Light and Magic, if you will.

His response was pretty accurate. It totally sounds like "you are having fun the wrong way" while missing entirely the point of the blog post.

People just have silly fun looking at things like that, and that it is actually a good opportunity for scientific divulgation.

Lasers would have recoil as photons have mass, it would just be tiny.

Photons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.

sorry, obligatory joke.

Bakura, re - read your post, because it is pretty obvious you have forgotten what you wrote.

"From a physics point of view — and using the Earth as a proxy for Alderaan — how much energy/power would it take to cause this destruction, and what are the physical possibilities for actually making this happen?"

If you want to write a paper postulating the source of the pigments used painting the Mona Lisa, go right ahead. You may even find that a lot of fun. It's still my OPINION that you are taking away from the point of the true value of the piece. And if me voicing that opinion makes you upset and you start yelling out your life story and misquoting me, maybe the problem is you?

Ok champ?

It's still my OPINION that you are taking away from the point of the true value of the piece.

an opinion that dismisses every other opinion as "You're just too clueless to get the real point" is no longer really just an opinion.

It's still my OPINION that you are taking away from the point of the true value of the piece.

an opinion that dismisses every other opinion as "You're just too clueless to get the real point" is no longer really just an opinion.

Actually no, once again with the quote marks around things I never said. Do you work for FOX news?

Please try to understand the meaning of the words being typed, and the point of view of the author, ok champ?

TIL There are a lot of champs ITT, but I still don't know what they are champs of......

Actually no, once again with the quote marks around things I never said.

Yeah they are, in the opinion of several people... So if an opinion can't be questioned, then you can't question our opinion of your statement, and how it's perceived.

So if in my opinion you sound like a pretentious hipster, who's only point is "no one but me really gets the point." then there's simply nothing you can say about it.

In fact, you trying to correct what other people are saying makes you the opinion police around here not me. Because so far the only thing you've done in this thread is attempt to correct everyone else opinion on the subject matter.

Actually no, once again with the quote marks around things I never said.

Yeah they are, in the opinion of several people... So if an opinion can't be questioned, then you can't question our opinion of your statement, and how it's perceived.

So if in my opinion you sound like a pretentious hipster, who's only point is "no one but me really gets the point." then there's simply nothing you can say about it.

In fact, you trying to correct what other people are saying makes you the opinion police around here not me. Because so far the only thing you've done in this thread is attempt to correct everyone else opinion on the subject matter.

It's like staring into infinity...

"So if an opinion can't be questioned"

When did I say that?

Bonus Round:

"Actually no" was in reference to the previous line, not the quoted text. Ok champ?

Its interesting but doesnt fit the lore for the series. Its about as disrespectful as the Discovery or History channles documentary on SW tech.

..."disrespectful"? Is the Star Wars canon going to have its feelings hurt?

Lasers would have recoil as photons have mass, it would just be tiny.

Photons do not have mass, but they do have momentum which can cause recoil.

They are near massless.

As spindown's response said, there's good experimental evidence that photons do have literally zero mass. The consequences for the current models of physics of photons being demonstrated to have a nonzero rest mass would be... drastic.

Except they act more like plasma weapons than lasers don't they.

Not really we have advanced in LASER / light technology over the years esp these last 2 years. We can do a heck of alot of the things you see and SW.

If you can see it traveling through otherwise empty space, then whatever it is, it's not a laser.

A good anology would be to compare the first fire arm built to a S&W .500 that has a muzzlebreak or 10 inch german rifle barrel, and is chambered with 700 milgrm glacier shells that have river jack venom / rhino viper venom in them.

It took a lot of work to figure out what this means. I had to translate "S&W .500" to "S&W Model 500", which made it easy to figure out that "muzzlebreak" meant "muzzle brake". Figuring out "glacier shell" took a while, but eventually I figured out that you meant a Glaser round. And it turns out a "river jack" is an African adder with dangerous venom, although it's sort of a pointless (and unreliable and expensive) component to add to a round that's already impractically large.

So, for other readers, the analogy BKL is drawing here is just from a simple firearm to something he perceives as a particularly advanced one.

@Bakura

Your opinion is that other people fail to understand how to interpret the movies (you wrote it, not me, i am not taking anything out of context). You are stating that other's people opinions are wrong. That's the opinion you stated. That's why i asked you to re-read your own quote, it seemed that you missed the part where you wrote "fail to understand".

Don't you see how that would make people answer to you directly ? You did this on a very subjective matter, so you can't really come surprised now if people disagrees with it, and voice their opinion and explain why they have their opinion looking for some kind of connection that makes you understand them (or how you would call it... telling you their lives).

And about how important the subject is to deserve to be discussed. Well, you answered to the thread, and you have to remember we are on a Xwing miniature gaming forum. We are here to discuss pointless stuff.

@Bakura

Your opinion is that other people fail to understand how to interpret the movies (you wrote it, not me, i am not taking anything out of context). You are stating that other's people opinions are wrong. That's the opinion you stated. That's why i asked you to re-read your own quote, it seemed that you missed the part where you wrote "fail to understand".

Don't you see how that would make people answer to you directly ? You did this on a very subjective matter, so you can't really come surprised now if people disagrees with it, and voice their opinion and explain why they have their opinion looking for some kind of connection that makes you understand them (or how you would call it... telling you their lives).

And about how important the subject is to deserve to be discussed. Well, you answered to the thread, and you have to remember we are on a Xwing miniature gaming forum. We are here to discuss pointless stuff.

At least when I expressed my opinion, I didn't accuse the author of being fun-hating, or put words into his mouth. I did say I found it interesting.

Let me quote myself correctly, as you all seem incapable:

"If you want to write a paper postulating the source of the pigments used painting the Mona Lisa, go right ahead. You may even find that a lot of fun. It's still my OPINION that you are taking away from the point of the true value of the piece."

Now, if that opinion offends you, grow up. And/or ignore it. And/or voice your disagreement. But don't make a fool of yourself by misquoting me.

Ok champ?

I am voicing my disagreement. And i am pretty sure i quoted you correctly. But of course, that is my opinion. If you feel offended by it, grow up. Right ?

"Extracted by Bakura83's retort handbook".

I am voicing my disagreement. And i am pretty sure i quoted you correctly. But of course, that is my opinion. If you feel offended by it, grow up. Right ?

"Extracted by Bakura83's retort handbook".

There is nothing here I find offensive, and I celebrate your freedom to express your opinion.

You still aren't using quotes correctly, but this IS a gaming forum and not an English test, so I'll leave it be.

Of course it's not science fiction

Star wars is and always has been science fantasy. To classify it pure fantasy is to discount about 90% of the movies.

Things like hyperdrive, tractorbeams, turbolasers, proton torpedos, space ships, super lasers, intergalactic travel, droids, blaster pistols, light sabers, and pretty much everything else in the movie, other then the force.

Without the force it would be pure sci-fi even if it wasn't hard sci-fi. But it's not pure fantasy either, there's far too much tech in the story for that to be true. More accurately it's a Space Opera, which like Fantasy is a subclass of Science Fiction. Space Opera differs from hard sci-fi because the science isn't the story, it's the background for the story.

As such, things like space stations with super lasers is completely in the realms of something to discuss from a scientific point of view...

Unless you're going to honestly try and claim that Space Stations and Super Lasers are common fantasy elements...