Star Wars isn't really Science Fiction though, it's space fantasy, Sinbad with laser swords.
If anything it's less Science Fiction than something like Krull.
As a compendium of lots of genres and the set pieces having a When World's Collide catalclysm before the beam hits is no more out of place than sound in space and all the other lapses in Sci-Fi realism.
The only real consideration is does it detract from the pace and over all impact of the story and there is a really good arguement for that.