MaximRecoil said:How many times have we seen a Jedi drop or otherwise lose his light saber and not instantly retrieve it with telekinesis? That should be an extremely simple task, and indeed it is one that is often seen done, yet there are examples when they either don't do it at all, or wait a long time to do it. For example, when Anakin drops his light saber in AOTC (while he's on top of the flying car), he doesn't pull it back at all; and he was in a situation where he really needed it. He wouldn't have gotten it back if it hadn't have been for Obi-Wan miraculously catching it.
So yes, apparently they are stupid, which is what I was getting at in the first place. That's the problem when a writer makes his character too powerful; it makes them look stupid when they are in dangerous situations and don't use their powers effectively or at all. Since you need dangerous situations for a story of this type, you need to place limitations on their powers in order for the dangerous situations to even seem plausible; i.e., not make the character look like an idiot.
There are plenty of other examples too. Why didn't Obi-Wan use the force to nudge Jango Fett's ship; or at the very least, the missiles that were tracking him; into an asteroid during AOTC? Even if you want to speculate that the series established a limitation on the size of objects that can be moved with the force (which it actually didn't establish at all; quite the opposite in fact), we know that a small fighter craft, and especially, smaller missiles, can be moved by a Jedi.
Do Jedi not use their powers "efficiently," or do we as fans not have a clearly defined explanation on how their powers work and what the use of them requires?
We can think that the Force is an unlimited and effortless superpower despite the fact that at NO POINT IN THE MOVIES does it appear to be this. If it is indeed unlimited and effortless as you suggest, (apparently based entirely on one line), then we have to assume all the Jedi are complete morons.
This option has the advantage of making us feel both smarter than Lucas ("I wouldn't have written it that badly.") and smarter than Jedi ("I'd use the force better than stupid Yoda.")
Or we can assume these Jedi Masters actually know how to use the Force but that there are some practical limits to the Force, both in quanitifiable means (how heavy an object you can move) and practical means (why not make your lightsaber instantly fly back to you, why not use the force when flying a starfighter), even if the exact and specific limits are unclear.