I really enjoy replying to these, so I'm glad you seem to take it well. It's a lot of fun, but I'll probably limit myself to the Star Wars ones.
darth_ender said:
Star Wars
1. C-3PO knew about the princess, as he said there'd be no escape for her. Then he knows nothing more than that she might have been a passenger on his last voyage. He clearly wasn't intending to lie. So why the lapse?
In all the excitement of the capture/boarding, his circuits got crossed, leaving him a bit traumatized afterward. He just wasn't made for battle.
2. It takes an incredible amount of energy to blow up a planet. It could be rendered uninhabitable by a powerful weapon, but to cause such a massive explosion that would hurl its own matter at such fast speeds would require the same amount of energy as our sun produces in 8,000 years! But this power was held inside of a space station the size of a small moon. Source: http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tech/Beam/Alderaan.html
That guys makes a lot of assumptions about how the Death Star works and the innards of Alderaan.
3. What is up with stupid Rebel tactics in fighting the Death Star? For instance, when most of the TIE fighers had retreated and only Vader's squadron was fighting the Rebels, why didn't other Rebels provide backup and get behind Vader and his compadres?
4. Or why didn't they approach the trench closer to the reactor shaft so they didn't have to get stuck with pursuing fighters for so long and actually have room to maneuver?
5. Or even in the trench, why didn't they have multiple fighter groups in the trench simultaneously? Luke, Biggs, and Wedge could have followed Red Leader and his wingmen at a greater distance in case Vader tried to drop behind them. And if Vader tried to get behind Luke and his wingmen, they could peel out. If he pursued them, it would buy more time for Red Leader. If he stuck with Red Leader, once Vader got in front they need only drop in behind him.
The more fighters in the trench, the easier it is for someone to get hit. The more crowded, the harder it is to dodge those turbolasers. And I'm guessing the targeting computer needs a good long while to get itself calibrated, matching sensor readings to blueprints, in order to hit something not much bigger than a womp rat.
6. If it wasn't foolish enough during all previous trench runs, when it was most critical Wedge simply fled when he could have saved Biggs and provided more help to Luke. What a coward!
Biggs, having a damaged engine, could not keep up with the trench run. He would have quickly fallen behind, leaving Luke with just as much backup (zero), but still in a trench full of turbolasers.
7. If Ben Kenobi is such a powerful Force user, why did he not telekinetically flip the switch to shut down the tractor beam power instead of climbing out over a bottomless pit?
He couldn't see the controls/labels from the main catwalk. Does the Force allow you to read printed instructions from a distance?
8. For that matter, since size matters not, why didn't Ben simply fling the Death Star away when it grabbed the Falcon in its tractor beam?
Oh my gosh how powerful do you think he is
9. Anyone think to install security cameras on the Death Star? Could have helped them locate some escapees.
Well they have some (the stuff they blast at the start of the detention block scene), but only in really important areas. The Death Star is so big that it's just too expensive to install cameras everywhere. Besides, who's gonna monitor all those? And just how do you propose they search a Death Star's worth of camera feeds for a few people?
10. So shy does the Death Star simply pop like a firecracker? We know it houses a powerful reactor, plus it was comprised of its own dense materials. It appeared not to be suffering any kind of cataclysmic failure, and the lights didn't even flicker for Tarkin, but suddenly it simply *popped* into glowing little fragments. You'd think it would have more debris and would blow up more violently than even Alderaan.
It's a lot smaller than Alderaan, yet, thanks to its core, probably has even more energy.
11. Does Leia ever redo her hair and makeup while prisoner on the Death Star? She looks exactly the same as when she was first captured, despite numerous apparent torture sessions as well.
You answered your own question: Evidently, yes, she does.
12. Why would the Death Star have such a poorly designed tractor beam station? I mean, we all hate those stupid Christmas light strings that go completely dead when a single bulb burns out. You mean to tell me they set up the entire station's tractor beams in the same manner?! You'd think they'd have redundant systems, not codependent.
Pretty sure he turned off power to the tractor beam specific to their docking bay, or side of the Death Star. He didn't turn all of them off, but he turned off the ones that were in the right position to get them.
13. I know everyone asks this question, but what kind of speciesists wouldn't give Chewie a medal?
I'm sorry, but my personal canon only includes ANH:R
But seriously, what if Wookiees don't accept awards for bravery? What if Wookiees don't accept awards for helping people to whom they owe lifedebts?
14. Heck, despite Wedge's cowardice, why didn't he get a medal? He fought through most of the battle. Han only showed up at the last second with minimal threat to himself, shot one fighter (not even the obvious one that really would have made a difference), and he gota a medal.
Luke, Han and Chewie didn't just blow up the Death Star. They also saved Princess Leia from it and delivered the R2 unit containing its plans.
15. Why was Threepio complaining that his joints almost frozen after walking a mere 100 yards in the sand? He walked much further after that apparently.
The guy will complain about anything. After a long time serving aboard clean starships, he's just not used to the desert sands and underestimates his resilience.
16. Wouldn't the Star Destroyer Devastator have at least captured in their tractor, if not flat out shot, any escape pods from the Tantive IV? There could be something valuable in there, like, I dunno, maybe Death Star plans. Hopefully that gunner got a Vader choke.
There were no lifeforms aboard and a lowly gun crew officer wasn't informed that they were actually there to recapture data. As far as he was aware, they were there to kill dirty, Rebel scum, and the pod contained none.
17. Why was Leia cool with leading the Empire back to the Rebel base, since she was so confident that the Falcon had a homing beacon? As pointed out by How it Should Have Ended, you'd think she'd be smart enough to trasmit the plans somewhere else. If the Rebellion was so farspread and well organized, you'd think they'd have spies at multiple drop points.
She knows that sooner or later they're going to have to attack the Death Star, and it's a lot easier to do that if the Death Star comes to you. The Rebellion being compartmentalized as it is, for security reasons, and the Empire's control being so great, she has to deliver them physically (or else why did she not transmit them from the Tantive IV?) and she only knows to go to Yavin.
18. Does Luke really need to whine so much? "But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters. Waaaaa."
Yes. It's one of Luke's flaws, which make him human.
19. "STOP THAT SHIP! BLAST HIM!!!" There's no better way to grant your quarry time for an escape than by shouting your intentions so loud that he could hear instead of giving silent orders before he even knows you're coming.
The Empire certainly does not assign their finest troops to the Outer Rim backwater worlds.
20. Interesting how the ships seem to be subject to the physics of atmospheric flight even though they're in space. For instance, there appears to be a limit to their speed. They turn like they have flaps guiding their motion. They change direction in spite of only having rear-facing engines. What happened to interia?
Yeah, I got nothing.
21. How do eight separate energy beams pause in the middle of space so all the others can catch up, coalesce, and change direction so they all shoot straight instead of at their initial angles? You and your friends try and replicate that with eight laser pointers.
You really do assume a lot about your understanding of their technology.
22. How does a man like Vader every use the potty?
Internal hoses.
23. Ever since I was a child (until they obviously changed it for the SEs), why was everything red during that dianoga eye shot?
Artistic choice to make it creepier. Turns out, wasn't part of the original vision.
24. I love how they take an untested pilot (Luke) and put him in one of their best fighters. I mean, surely they could have either found another pilot. Either through some amazing coincidence
They're pretty shortstaffed there at their illegal rebel military force, and suddenly they have on their hands the son of a long dead hero of the Clone Wars, who's become one of the best bushpilots in the Outer Rim? Yeah, I'd give him a ship.
25. (I'll have to edit this later at a different computer where I can include pictures, as I can't access the advanced editor features on this one; I'd like to include pics). Who is that guy who says, "That's impossible, even for a computer," in Wedge's voice? He sure doesn't look like Wedge. And why don't we ever see him again? Or for that matter, why don't we see any of those pilots (except Gold Leader) again? Heck, even when the X-wings are taking off, we only see guys with plain white helmets with blue Rebel insignias, but we never see those guys again, as everyone in the actual battle has fancy helmet designs. Of course supposedly there were initially 30 ships, and really we only see like 15 faces, but still, why so little connection between the hangar and the battle?
You're probably aware of the real life production reasons, but I think you (other than the Wedge thing) explained it all yourself.
26. Okay, we're talking about a massive space station, right? That likely means it stations a lot of ships there, right? Leia caught on pretty quick when she noticed they only sent four TIEs after the Falcon that their escape was too easy. But you'd think that once the Battle of Yavin commenced, especially after they realized the dangerous potential of the Rebels' attack, they'd have sent more fighters to take out the X- and Y-wings, just to be sure.
I'm not really convinced they had full staff onboard yet. Besides, they still underestimated the hell out of the Rebellion.
27. Why does Red Leader look like he's laughing as he crashes into the Death Star surface?
People do weird stuff when they go out in a blaze of glory.
28. Why did Red 10 fly with his eyes shut when he said, "There's too much interference"? Did he have a migraine? Was he trying to use the Force and got poor reception with lots of Force static?
I'm pretty okay with the headache explanation. Interference is noisy and annoying.
29. "This one's locked, move onto the next." So if you're searching for someone, and you find a locked door, that usually seems like a pretty good candidate as the location of your prey.
Evidently they don't have lockpicks and/or don't want to create too much of a stir yet by breaking and entering.
30. If Vader sensed a presence since he'd not felt since...don't you think he'd probably investigate further or at least wait around to see if Kenobi is on the ship? I'd be anxious for the results of the scan myself.
He then proceeds to run right into Kenobi in the hall. Everything proceeded as he foresaw, basically.
31. I know we already all know this one, but come on, "Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise" in their shooting, yet Luke, Han, and Chewie always manage to outdo them, even when the baddies already have their guns pointed at them.
Sadly, I got nothing.
32. Now I may sound like Father Skywalker, but seriously, was there any moral dilemma in the minds of the Rebels when blowing up the Death Star? They could have probably evacuated their sparsely populated moon before the Death Star got there and regrouped. But instead, they chose to kill probably hundreds of thousands if not millions who were on board that station, many of whom were probably decent people.
How many more would have died, had they not destroyed the Death Star? How many worlds would have perished in fiery agony?
33. Did Luke even care about his uncle and aunt? Sure, he looked bummed when they died, but he handled it pretty well and seemed to get over it quickly, never mentioning it again. He seemed far more distraught at the loss of Kenobi, whom he had only really gotten to know in the previous few days at most.
I have to admit, this is a legit problem.
34. Back to the TIE vs. X- and Y-wing battles, if I were Vader, I think I'd actually come at the Rebels from above, not behind. That way they could still be under fire from the turbolasers, plus I could keep striking at them.
The Rebels are moving down the trench at great speeds, apparently nearly (but not quite) as fast as his TIE can go. It's much easier to track and aim at targets that are moving like that if you're moving with them, and any angle away from their own trajectory slows you down a bit, as your speed is partially consumed by the vertical axis. Combine this with a ship with no turrets, and it makes sense.
35. Why was it so imperative to "stay on target" during the earliest trench runs? Obviously when time is running short you just gotta take out your target, but why didn't Gold Leader and Gold Five just leave the trench when they saw their comrade die and noticed Vader? Sure, they lose a few minutes, but then they can handle the more pressing situation of being attacked by TIEs, and when that's been cleared up a bit, then they can traverse the trenches and launch their torpedoes unmolested.
See my rebuttal to #4.
36. Leia seemed to handle the loss of her family and everyone she probably knew growing up surprisingly well. She looks frightened when Alderaan blows up, but we never see her cry or in shock, and even later she tells one of the Rebel commanders, "We have no time for sorrows," regarding the event. Does she ever need therapy? How did she handle this so well?
She handles it later, after the Death Star is destroyed. She has no time for sorrows.
So, a few I couldn't rebut, but in general I'm pretty pleased.