Another SW mythbusters episode last night. Here is the promo clip
2 myths tested. 1) Can you dodge a blaster bolt because they seem to move pretty slow? 2) In a lightsaber fight, is the high ground really everything?
Blaster Bolts
Super SW fan Adam calculated the 'blaster' bolt speeds in the movies based on visual measurements. He found that they move at 130 mph on average. With this speed, they then setup a long hallway to test if you could get out of the way once the shot was fired. I'll spoil things down below for the results.
The absolute most impressive part of this segment was Jamie's pneumatic launcher. It has revolving barrel tubes that can be loaded with anything that fits. The end up firing small foam balls with 2 wooden paddles glued together to make fins. One shot nails Adam in the neck and he curses pretty good.
High Ground
The myth is that ridiculous ending of ep3 with Anakin and Obiwan. It was entertaining to watch since I'm sure everyone knows that the 'high ground' argument held no weight to begin with. They tested this by making custom lightsabers covered in a copper cloth. Both Adam and Jamie wore suits made of copper cloth and when an opposing blade completed a circuit with the opponent, an led belt would light up. I find it strange though that Adam didn't add just 1 more relay to the circuit to prevent near simultaneous triggers. It happened a few times where they both struck each other at about the same time where only review of the footage would show the victor.
Obviously they're both not sword experts. So they brought in one of the lightsaber choreographers from SW which was really cool. They trained with shinai's (Japanese fencing swords, kendo) to learn at least some novice swordplay moves. Again, it was entertaining to watch the process as the 'myth' was somewhat ridiculous to begin with.
Side note here, if you dvr'd it, don't miss the mid-commercial scene about 3/4 through. They get the choreographer to see if he can deflect a blaster bolt with his blade.
not 100% of the time, but he did manage to deflect a few
The results
Blaster Bolts:
While 130mph seems really slow (a speed more for movie aesthetics than practicality), neither Adam or Jamie was able to dodge. The projectile travels the 40' hallway at about the same time as their reaction times. Later they add the gun aiming time and they were still pegged every time. So at the end of it, storm troopers just really suck at aiming. Adam was surprised at the result as his initial guess was that 130 mph was too slow.
High Ground
At the end of the episode, they build a similar ramp to the one seen on ep3. They did 2 trials of 25 hits, alternating who had the high ground. At the end, it was 24:26 high:low. Might there be different results if it was 2 sword experts? Maybe, but the myth itself doesn't have a lot to stand on. It didn't seem like they took it seriously too much either. The credits say copyright 2014, so they have been sitting on this episode for a while. It was still fun to watch though.
Final note: Before someone starts arguing that the blaster bolt speeds are dead wrong, remember that it is entertainment.... both the mythbusters episode and Star Wars as a whole. Any faster and the audience would not be able to see the shots. I still enjoyed watching the episode regardless, still a big fan of the new format.
Edited by treybert