xhonzi said:

Wait!

Are there any aliens in the Rebellion until Jedi? I was talking to my friend about the role of "humans" in SciFi. I offered the opinion that in 90% of SciFi, humans are shown to be technologically inferior, but somehow morally superior. He responded that in his experience, 90% of SciFi showed humans to be technologically superior. We both used Star Wars as our argument. He pointed out that humans run the Empire- humans run the rebellion. Aliens hang out at bars, are co-pilots, or are criminals. I pointed out that the Empire is run by humans and for humans, but that the Rebellion was "indiscriminate" and "equal work for equal pay." But then he pointed out that the Rebellion on Yavin is almost all middle aged white human males, and that Hoth is only a little better (if you count the female radio operator and all of the tauntauns).

So... was this a budget limitation? Or were aliens intentionally left out of the Rebellion till RotJ.

I agree with your point on humans in sci-fi. Look at Enterprise and Stargate SG-1, both about humans taking their first steps into a universe already populated by species that have been in space for millennia. Both involve the humans being simply better than the rest and being able to do things their predecessors (Vulcans/Ancients) were unable/unwilling to do. I think that's what makes sci-fi, man being down in tech, but their humanity proving to be better than anything (at least in Roddenberry's POV).