Star Wars inconsistencies

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

A number of fans and critics have alleged inconsistencies in Star Wars films, or within the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Since the six movies span a period of nearly three decades, some inconsistencies may be caused by changes in technology or filmmaking technique over that time. Others may be a result of creator George Lucas changing his mind or more fully evolving his vision. Some may be explained by the inability to wrap up all possible loose ends within the length of a typical movie run-time. Still others may be simple mistakes that have no explanation other than human error. At the same time, Lucas continues to tinker with the movies themselves, so today's inconsistency may appear on tomorrow's cutting room floor.

Some of the questions may be answered by works within the Expanded Universe. Others will have to be accepted as part of suspension of disbelief. For some viewers, pondering these elements and considering possible explanations may be part of the fun of watching the movies.

Although many movie or other fictional series have plot inconsistencies, the inconsistencies of Star Wars have been something of a contentious issue. George Lucas has been seemingly self-contradictory in his declarations of how much of the movie series he had thought of ahead of time. Also, the Star Wars fan fiction and Expanded Universe, unlike other fictional franchises, makes a special effort to be all within the same continuity. Often what are thought of (by some) as plot inconsistencies in the movies are assumed to have valid explanations by others and these are incorporated into the accessory works. However, these explanations may be far fetched or dramatically unappealing to some.

Almost any of these inconsistencies can be explained as an oversight by Lucas or an intended change in Lucas' idea of how the Star Wars universe works, while many inconsistencies can be explained by forgetfulness by the characters involved, but other, often speculative justifications are provided with each case.

Contents 1 Alleged inconsistencies between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy 2 Other alleged inconsistencies in the films 3 Alleged inconsistencies when considering the Expanded Universe 4 See also

Alleged inconsistencies between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy

• Problem: In A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi seemingly does not recognize R2-D2 and greets him as though they had never seen each other before, even though Obi-Wan was well acquainted with Artoo during the prequel trilogy.
• Explanation: This could be partly explained by the twenty-year timespan between their last encounter as well as Obi-Wan's age. Other interpretations suggest that Obi-Wan is playing dumb, that Artoo's appearance is not distinctive, or that Obi-Wan actually does recognize the droid, but chooses not to make an issue of it. Obi-Wan claims that he doesn't "recall owning a droid", which is consistent with the prohibition on Jedi owning personal property of any substance. However this answer is not what we expect from someone who, although didn't own, he had one (R4) under his service.

• Problem: Similarly, in The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader seems not to recognize C-3PO, even when they are in the same room while Han Solo is being frozen in carbonite.
• Explanation: Since Vader, as a young Anakin Skywalker, built Threepio, it may have been logical that Darth Vader would have recognized him. Vader arguably does not want to remember his past as Anakin Skywalker, so it is possible that he simply refused to acknowledge his former creation's presence. Threepio has his memory wiped at the end of Revenge of the Sith, so he would not know Anakin's identity as Vader. There is also no reason during the scene for Vader to recognize him; not only is Threepio disassembled and strapped to Chewbacca's back, Vader is more focused on observing the freezing of Solo and making certain assurances to Boba Fett. Also, Threepio's appearance wasn't distinctive, two nearly identical models having been shown previously in the films.

• Problem: In Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan mentions that Yoda was his master, while in the prequel we learn it was Qui-Gon Jinn.
• Explanation: Obi-Wan mentions that he was taught under Yoda, not that he was his Padawan. The Jedi cannot have only one tutor for their whole life, and in some parts of Obi-Wan's training, Yoda must have been one of his tutors. This is obvious in the scene with the Younglings in Attack of the Clones.

• Problem: Questions have also been raised regarding R2-D2's abilities. In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, he is seen using equipped rockets, yet Artoo does not use them at all during the original trilogy, even in opportunities where they may have been of use.
• Explanation: The most common explanation is that over the course of time, he has fallen into disrepair and does not possess many of his original abilities. Many sources also suggest that R2 units are easily modifiable, so the rockets may have been removed to make room for other features.

• Problem: After Luke Skywalker leaves Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan Kenobi comments that Luke is "their last hope" and Yoda corrects him, stating there is another. Obi-Wan should have known that there is another Skywalker, as he was present when both Luke and his twin sister Leia Organa were born in Revenge of the Sith.
• Explanation: However, Obi-Wan doesn't react to Yoda's correction, although Obi-Wan is not visible in the shot where Yoda corrects him. It is very possible that Obi-Wan also disregarded Leia as a hope to end the Empire since she didn't have any Jedi training, nor was going to get one, since he had died and Yoda was almost dying of age. It's also possible that only Yoda can sense that the Force is with Leia as it is with Luke, although other characters, such as Vader in Return of the Jedi, seem to presume that Leia's Skywalker heritage guarantees her strength with the Force. A third explanation is that perhaps Yoda was not talking about Leia at all.

• Problem: In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she remembers her real mother, and Leia replies that just remembers images and feelings. In Revenge of the Sith, Leia's mother, Padmé, dies in childbirth, presumably before Leia would have a chance to remember her.
• Explanation: Two possible explanations have arisen to counter this: one is that Leia retains an image of her mother at her birth, possibly through the Force. Another suggestion is that Leia is referring to the Queen of Alderaan, Breha Organa, but this is unlikable since Luke makes himself clear ("your real mother", indicating that Leia knew the Queen was not her real one).

• Problem: The technology in the prequel trilogy, despite taking place a good few decades earlier in the series, appears vastly superior. Perhaps the only concrete example is Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber, and the presence of battle droids. The appearance of superiority is created by the increased use of CGI and improved special effects, which have had time to develop over the span of two decades.
• Explanation: However, there are places where technology is shown to have advanced between the trilogies. In the prequel trilogy, the Death Star is shown in the stages of planning and early construction, while predecessors to the Imperial Star Destroyer, X-wing starfighter, and TIE fighter are shown. Anakin Skywalker's prosthetic arm also has an obviously artificial appearance while Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand is, on the outside, indistinguishable from a natural hand. It is believed that the degrading of technology is a part of the general decadent state caused by the Imperial government.

• Problem: Lightsaber combat in the prequel trilogy is faster and more showy than the original trilogy.
• Explanation: One could argue that that the characters are either too old to attack quickly, or too inexperienced in the case of Luke. However, the original trilogy uses a swordfighting style based on Kendo, which teaches itself to be superior to all other swordfighting styles, and that dramatic or showy moves are inefficient and lead to mistakes. The precise movements of Kendo are far more controlled than acrobatics or other flashy movements, and could be seen as a more refined form of combat compared to the prequels.

• Problem: Throughout Episodes IV-VI, the Jedi are referred to as a source of legend and myth; the fallen Order is considered by many to be a "hokey religion", yet only twenty years have passed since the Jedi Order was destroyed.
• Explanation: The attitudes may be heavily influenced by Palpatine's machinations to paint the Jedi in a poor light.

Other alleged inconsistencies in the films

• Problem: Questions are also raised regarding the durability of lightsabers under atmospheric conditions. Obi-Wan's is damaged in The Phantom Menace when it gets wet on Naboo, yet Luke's continues to work despite being plunged into the Dagobah swamps, and Obi-Wan's lightsaber in Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope continues to work even after being submerged during Obi-Wan's swimming escape from clone troopers on Utapau.
• Explanation: Obi-Wan's original lightsaber was not water-proof. He corrects this mistake with his replacement, as seen in Attack of the Clones (and mentioned in the Visual Dictionary). Presumably he ensures Anakin's lightsaber is also water-proof, and of course this is the weapon Luke carries on Dagobah.

• Problem: In Revenge of the Sith, Padmé is pregnant with twins, yet despite living in the capital city of an advanced civilization with sophisticated enough technology to quickly travel across the galaxy and build intelligent droids, she is nonetheless ignorant of the fact that she is caring twins, information that could easily be discovered through an ultrasound or any other type of medical imaging procedure.
• Explanation: in the Revenge of the Sith novelization, Anakin said that she told her medical droid "not to spoil the surprise" of it being a boy or a girl, therefore, she wouldn't know that she was carrying twins.

• Problem: When Luke is confronted by a thug in the bar at Mos Eisley in A New Hope, Obi-Wan strikes him down with his lightsaber. As the camera shows down to the severed arm, blood is clearly visible at the site of the wound. This is inconsistent with other lightsaber inflicted wounds, as the lightsaber cauterizes the wound instantly.
• Explanation: it is possible that this is a result of difference between Aqualish and human physiologies.

• Problem: Han Solo, in A New Hope, boasts that the Millennium Falcon made the "Kessel Run" in twelve parsecs as evidence that it is a "fast ship". The parsec is a unit of distance, not time.
• Explanation:Obi-Wan Kenobi does give Han a skeptical look in response, suggesting that Han was deliberately making an impressive-sounding but fallacious remark as a test of his prospective clients' naïveté, or to impress them with made-up feats. Other explanations suggest that the Kessel Run is a test of maneuverability and navigation abilities, which have more applicability to speed in hyperspace flight than the raw output of the engines. The run is depicted in Rebel Dawn, where Chewbacca suggests that the Falcon`s distance gauge was thrown out of alignment by Han's reckless flying. It is also entirely possible that the parsec of the star wars universe only shares the name with ours, but doesn't have the same meaning. Further, characters in the prequel trilogy mention parsecs when talking about distance (Padmé reveals that "Geonosis is less than a parsec away" in Attack of the Clones) so Han's line may merely have been an ill-worded boast.

Alleged inconsistencies when considering the Expanded Universe

Unlike the movies, EU inconsistencies are somehow considered 'normal' and 'forgivable', since they are made by a variety of people, who cannot have all the massive circulating information on hand. Mistakes thus are unavoidable.

The amount of inconsistencies can also render the source S-canon or N-canon, thus removing it (totally or partially) from the official continuity.

• Certain Expanded Universe novels state that Grand Moff Tarkin was the one who came up with the idea of Death Star, after the Empire has been already formed. Tarkin, according to these novels, presented the plan in front of Palpatine who eventually approved it for its construction. Later, Expanded Universe extended the history backward, that a character named Raith Sienar was the one who came up with the original idea of Death Star, but the idea was taken away by Tarkin for his own purpose. On the other hand, Attack of the Clones suggested that the design of Death Star was initially done by the Geonosians, years before the Empire was formed, while Revenge of the Sith depicts the newly suited Darth Vader overseeing the construction of the Death Star with Emperor Palpatine, not long after the conclusion of the Clone Wars.

• In the video game Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, Jedi Starfighters are clearly seen to be escorting the gunships during the Battle of Geonosis, but in Episode II there are none to be seen. However, this mission doesn't take place in the same locations seen in the film, and following this mission, the starfighters are recalled into space to continue the fight.

• The Droids animated series and the associated comic series describe the adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO while traveling the galaxy during the early days of the Empire. However, the two droids are part of the complement of the Tantive IV at the end of Revenge of the Sith and at the beginning of A New Hope. If these stories are still considered canonical, it must be assumed that the droids were somehow lost temporarily in an unrecorded adventure.

See also

• Retcon