Star Wars: questions you've always wanted answers for

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

The same could be said of the Stormtroopers, perhaps it was just easier and cheaper to make their armor than those of the clones even at the expense of protection, especially when you figure that even Clone Trooper armor couldn't stop blaster fire so perhaps the Imperial military figured that cheaper was better since the extra money didn't result in extra protection.

You can actually see that at work between the two. In the couple years of the clone army's existence we've seen, we have no less than a dozen distinct helmet types (plus a couple equipment variations within some of those), most presumably for a particular mission role or advantage over another. Maybe a third are evolutions from one to another, but that's still really rapid evolution. Meanwhile, in the OT, we have four helmet types all throughout. And two of those -- infantry and pilots/drivers -- share a common base (the faceplate) and thus, presumably, shared parts for ease and lack of cost for repair and maintenance.

--Jonah

 

[Riceball]

You can actually see that at work between the two. In the couple years of the clone army's existence we've seen, we have no less than a dozen distinct helmet types (plus a couple equipment variations within some of those), most presumably for a particular mission role or advantage over another. Maybe a third are evolutions from one to another, but that's still really rapid evolution. Meanwhile, in the OT, we have four helmet types all throughout. And two of those -- infantry and pilots/drivers -- share a common base (the faceplate) and thus, presumably, shared parts for ease and lack of cost for repair and maintenance.

--Jonah

4 helmets but 3 distinct armor types with 4th sub-variant where as the clones had mostly the same armor type despite the different helmets. However, during the span of the Clone Wars the clones did go through 3 distinct evolutionary phases in their armor although I can't say for certain if it was just different helmets or completely different armor all around.

 

[HEMADEW]

With the growing interest in HEMA these days there are plenty of people that could hire to help choreograph the fights, there's a guy in England who had YouTube channel devoted to HEMA who'd be a great candidate.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

I'd love to see HEMA in SW! I've been a practitioner for about 16 years (note my username). The man you mention is my friend Matt Easton. He would be great, but another good candidate would be the guys from AMEK. They use historical techniques to create great choreography.

https://www.facebook.com/AdminAMEK?pnref=lhc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUFSctupyzU

 

[Laspector]

May sound gory, but just for once I would like to see a real swordfight. I don't mean some demonstration. I mean no choreography, no bravado, no glory of clacking our blades together, no kung-fu kicks, no points scored. I mean an honest-to-god "I am going to kill you with this sword" fight.

I doubt they are even half as flashy as what we see today.

By saying this though, I am by no means trying to belittle the sport. I actually have great respect for it.

I mean we've all seen videos fist fights where people were trying to kill each other, gunfights, etc. I'm not talking about some video of some random drunk dude with a sword trying to fend off cops, I mean an actual sword fight between two skilled swordsmen where their lives were actually on the line. I wonder what that would actually look like.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Kingdom of Heaven and Lord of the Rings are actually pretty good for that sort of thing (at least as far as capturing it cinematically -- been a dearth of real duels since the invention of the movie camera). The thing is, from studying both Japanese and European sword forms, poise (and pose) was a large part of it, even when trying to kill your opponent. Much time facing down the other and waiting to see who's nerve broke first. As I figured out in my first year fencing back in high school, if I can outwait my opponent, I can almost always parry their initial attack and hit home with my counter. That kind of headspace is far more likely for anyone trained in lightsaber fighting than "charge in swinging". Jedi seem more inclined to duels rather than thousands on thousands pitched battles.

--Jonah

 

[Riceball]

May sound gory, but just for once I would like to see a real swordfight. I don't mean some demonstration. I mean no choreography, no bravado, no glory of clacking our blades together, no kung-fu kicks, no points scored. I mean an honest-to-god "I am going to kill you with this sword" fight.

I doubt they are even half as flashy as what we see today.

By saying this though, I am by no means trying to belittle the sport. I actually have great respect for it.

I mean we've all seen videos fist fights where people were trying to kill each other, gunfights, etc. I'm not talking about some video of some random drunk dude with a sword trying to fend off cops, I mean an actual sword fight between two skilled swordsmen where their lives were actually on the line. I wonder what that would actually look like.

The closest you're going to get to that is to watch some HEMA training videos or videos of HEMA competitions. They won't be using sharpened weapons and generally stop at a single touch but it should be enough to give you an idea of what a real sword fight would be like. In particular, I'd check out the YouTube channels of Skallagrim based up in Canada and Matt Easton based in the UK, both are HEMA practitioners and both have HEAM training and competition videos on their channels.

 

[plasmar]

Why didn't Chewbacca get a medal at the end of ANH?!?

 

[Laspector]

The closest you're going to get to that is to watch some HEMA training videos or videos of HEMA competitions. They won't be using sharpened weapons and generally stop at a single touch but it should be enough to give you an idea of what a real sword fight would be like. In particular, I'd check out the YouTube channels of Skallagrim based up in Canada and Matt Easton based in the UK, both are HEMA practitioners and both have HEAM training and competition videos on their channels.

Yeah, but still their life is not on the line. I would be willing to bet that if you tell these guys that the loser actually dies, their fighting styles would change up some. Look, like I said I am not putting down the sport, I'm just saying any sport style would drastically change if death was actually on the line.


Anyway, I know this is getting off topic.....Back to Star Wars.

 

[Jaitea]

Why didn't Chewbacca get a medal at the end of ANH?!?

Because he's only a Wookiee

Why didn't R2 get a medal?

J

 

[plasmar]

Because he's only a Wookiee

Why didn't R2 get a medal?

J

I see, medals must be for humans only!

Next question: How is it that everyone can understand R2 and Chewy without a translator?

 

[Riceball]

Yeah, but still their life is not on the line. I would be willing to bet that if you tell these guys that the loser actually dies, their fighting styles would change up some. Look, like I said I am not putting down the sport, I'm just saying any sport style would drastically change if death was actually on the line.


Anyway, I know this is getting off topic.....Back to Star Wars.

True, but it's as close as you're going to get and it will still give you an idea of what a real sword fight would be like. I'd also read up on the treatises that have survived to today, that's what HEMA fighters largely base their training on and in them there is mention of grappling techniques alongside the usual sword techniques. It is funny that you mention how people would act differently if their lives depended on it because in one of Matt's recent videos he showed a video from one of his classes where they reenacted a historical scenario of a single spearman vs. multiple opponents with swords coming through a door. People commenting on the video mentioned that the lack of fear of death changed the tactics used by both sides and gave the swordsmen an advantage that they wouldn't have had in real life where fear of getting stabbed by a spear comes into play.

At any rate, there's one thing that will keep realistic sword fighting from ever appearing in any Star Wars movie and that's the lack of pommels on lightsabers. Without a pommel to remove and throw at one's opponents there's no quick way to end one's opponent rightly.

 

[Axlotl]

At any rate, there's one thing that will keep realistic sword fighting from ever appearing in any Star Wars movie and that's the lack of pommels on lightsabers. Without a pommel to remove and throw at one's opponents there's no quick way to end one's opponent rightly.

LOL!
I had to google this - I thought you had completely lost your mind.

 

[Halliwax]

I see, medals must be for humans only!

Next question: How is it that everyone can understand R2 and Chewy without a translator?

no one can understand r2, only c3po. r2 beeps and boops to luke in the back of the xwing, and its translated on a dash in the cockpit. chewie... idk maybe they teach it in schools like we are taught french

 

[Riceball]

LOL!
I had to google this - I thought you had completely lost your mind.

It was covered in a video by Skallagrim and has since become something of a running joke on the various YouTube HEMA channels. In turn, I've tried to use it here as much as possible, but it hasn't caught on, so far.

 

[Krull]

If there's one glaring hole in lightsaber fighting is the fact that you learn in a real swordfight you ALWAYS wind up getting cut....so how's that gonna work with a friggin' laser sword??

Of course that begs an answer as to why sometimes lightsabers lop limbs,hell whole body cavities in two sometimes and others just leaves a burn mark

Consistency is not one of SW's best traits......

 

[Boba Flint]

Why didn't Chewbacca get a medal at the end of ANH?!?

Wookies do not need such trinkets.

 

[Zombie_61]

Why didn't Chewbacca get a medal at the end of ANH?!?

Leia was too short to get it over his head.

Why didn't R2 get a medal?

He doesn't have a neck to hang it around. :lol

Next question: How is it that everyone can understand R2 and Chewy without a translator?

Exposure and time. Have you ever visited relatives or friends who have a very young child, and the child wanders in and babbles some incoherent series of sounds that only the parents understood? Same thing; you hear the same sets of sounds whether they're beeps and boops or growls and grunts, and eventually you learn what they mean.

Years ago I worked with a mechanic who was born with a cleft palate that caused him to have a speech impediment. For the first couple of weeks I had a difficult time understanding what he was saying when he spoke, but he was very good-natured about it and before long I learned how he pronounced words and from that point on could understand him easily. In fact, there were a number of times when he would explain to a customer what was wrong with their car, and when he was finished they would look at me with an expression on their faces that said, "What did he just say?" Then I'd repeat what he said, and he'd nod affirmatively and say, "Uh huh," as if I was his translator. :lol

 

[Riceball]

Years ago I worked with a mechanic who was born with a cleft palate that caused him to have a speech impediment. For the first couple of weeks I had a difficult time understanding what he was saying when he spoke, but he was very good-natured about it and before long I learned how he pronounced words and from that point on could understand him easily. In fact, there were a number of times when he would explain to a customer what was wrong with their car, and when he was finished they would look at me with an expression on their faces that said, "What did he just say?" Then I'd repeat what he said, and he'd nod affirmatively and say, "Uh huh," as if I was his translator. :lol

There's that and the fact that Artoo & Chewie aren't speaking gibberish, they're supposed to be speaking actual languages so either through exposure or learning you'd be able to understand them. It's not unusual for people in Europe to speak 2 or 3 other languages in addition to their own so it's not that odd that Han could understand Wookie and Huttese in addition to Basic and that Luke sometime seemed to be able to understand Artoo without a translator.

 

[NeoRutty]

There's that and the fact that Artoo & Chewie aren't speaking gibberish, they're supposed to be speaking actual languages so either through exposure or learning you'd be able to understand them. It's not unusual for people in Europe to speak 2 or 3 other languages in addition to their own so it's not that odd that Han could understand Wookie and Huttese in addition to Basic and that Luke sometime seemed to be able to understand Artoo without a translator.

I feel like the only time Luke ha an actual conversation with R2 was when he was reading it from the x-wing translator. Any other time was no different than when I talk to my dog.

 

[Laspector]

It makes you wonder why would they even build droids who talk like Artoo? Unless either the builders themselves talk like that or R2 units are only really supposed to interact with other machines and R2speak is some form of computer language.