[Helena]

Look, people may not bother plating their ships with chrome during a war, but technology isn't suddenly going to regress by several decades just because the Empire takes over. On the contrary, you'd expect the Empire to invest huge amounts of resources in military technology - robotics included - to help them maintain control of the galaxy. As for the Rebels, they might not have access to the very latest stuff, but it's inconceivable that their technology would be inferior to that which was in common use thirty years ago. There's just no sensible explanation for it.

[srmoore]

well.. maybe all that stuff was destoyed.. and beggers can't be choosers ya know?

(That was sort of my take on it.. But you are right the Empire should have cool stuff)

[use the force]

how do you even know if that droid is more advanced. it also probabley depends on the injury's they suffered. padme suffered from a force choke and /or a force push against a wall. luke suffered from frostbite, which is why he was in a bacta tank the medical droid he had was just to operate the equipment. hhow do you know if that medical droid was even needed in lukes case. or maybe that droid is a local model to polis massa. there are so many things to take into consideration here. whatever lucas sucks pt sucks death to lucas!

[jariten]

On the contrary, you'd expect the Empire to invest huge amounts of resources in military technology - robotics included - to help them maintain control of the galaxy. As for the Rebels, they might not have access to the very latest stuff, but it's inconceivable that their technology would be inferior to that which was in common use thirty years ago

The Jedi's droids appear the way they they do because they were created in a time which invested in the aesthetics and beauty of construction as opposed to just the production line look of the Empire- who I imagine got things out as cheaply and as quickly as possible which gave everything that hard, metalic, ugly look. Compare that to the technology of the "more civilised age" (love that quote) like the ships of Naboo or the droids in the Jedi Temple, or the Jedi archives etc. Watch the series in order, and the collapse or regression in technology will be a depressing pointer to the destructive effects of the Empire, who destroyed not only people but art and aesthetic values.

[Helena]

This idea in itself is not particularly realistic; it's usually dictatorships, rather than democracies, which make the biggest show of beautiful and impressive-looking technology. This is partly because they can afford to, what with being able to divert resources away from more mundane areas such as keeping their people fed (look at North Korea, for example), and partly as a way of showing off their power and intimidating the general population. But in any case, the ships and droids we see in the PT don't just look better; they're clearly more advanced in terms of functionality, which is ridiculous. Lucas should just admit that these things look better because special effects are better now and be done with it.

[jariten]

the ships and droids we see in the PT don't just look better; they're clearly more advanced in terms of functionality

How so?

In fact, i'd say the opposite is true. Just look at the thing Obi Wan's ship needs to travel into hyperspace for example.

This post has been edited by jariten: 03 January 2005 - 04:12 PM

[not this crude matter]

Maybe part of the problem is because Lucas didn't have the technology to make things look "shiny" and "cool" in the OT. Remember this is the time of the Empire, technology has stunted probabley cause they are devoting everything to complete the deathstar, and fashion has gone out the window. As jariten said the republic was a more "civilised" age. I doubt the empire really cares about updating the medical droids for the common people anymore. The rebellion probabley takes whatever scraps they can get. Or as use the force said, I highly doubt the entire galaxy can produce new models of medical droids at the same exact rate. It would just be impossible. Eh, did any of those answers do?

[Helena]

Maybe part of the problem is because Lucas didn't have the technology to make things look "shiny" and "cool" in the OT. Remember this is the time of the Empire, technology has stunted probabley cause they are devoting everything to complete the deathstar, and fashion has gone out the window. As jariten said the republic was a more "civilised" age. I doubt the empire really cares about updating the medical droids for the common people anymore. The rebellion probabley takes whatever scraps they can get.  Or as use the force said, I highly doubt the entire galaxy can produce new models of medical droids at the same exact rate. It would just be impossible. Eh, did any of those answers do?

Sorry, but no. Even if the war did place constraints on technological development (which, as I explained, is an idea that makes little sense anyway), it is simply inconceivable that it would be going backwards. And in a society where communications and transport are so advanced, there's no way it's going to take thirty years for one part of the galaxy to catch up with another - unless certain places deliberately rejected the new technology, which seems unlikely.

The Empire should have considerably better technology in the OT than the PT, full stop. Construction of the Death Star would no doubt be expensive, but remember that you're talking about an economy on the scale of an entire galaxy - I highly doubt that the Empire would pour all their resources into this at the cost of neglecting their conventional forces. As for the Rebels, even under a worst-case scenario they should still retain some of the Republic-era technology - there's no way all of it can have been destroyed.

The idea that the technology only looks more complex for the sake of appearances is also impossible to swallow. Are we seriously supposed to believe that the Republic has nothing better to spend its money on than making droids and ships look pretty? There's no poverty, crime, disease? I know this was supposed to be a 'more civilised age', but that's just ridiculous. Even if this was the case, I can still think of several ways they could spend that money better, starting with building up their own f*cking army to avoid having every minor trade dispute turn into a galactic crisis!

The only one of your suggestions that really makes sense, in fact, is the first one. And to be honest, I wouldn't really mind about the disparities in technology if Lucas would just admit this, rather than trying to pretend it's all part of his Grand Design. Every time he comes up with some spurious 'explanation' for things like this he just digs a deeper hole for himself.

This post has been edited by Helena: 04 January 2005 - 07:21 AM

[not this crude matter]

Sorry, but no. Even if the war did place constraints on technological development (which, as I explained, is an idea that makes little sense anyway), it is simply inconceivable that it would be going backwards. And in a society where communications and transport are so advanced, there's no way it's going to take thirty years for one part of the galaxy to catch up with another - unless certain places deliberately rejected the new technology, which seems unlikely.

The Empire should have considerably better technology in the OT than the PT, full stop. Construction of the Death Star would no doubt be expensive, but remember that you're talking about an economy on the scale of an entire galaxy - I highly doubt that the Empire would pour all their resources into this at the cost of neglecting their conventional forces. As for the Rebels, even under a worst-case scenario they should still retain some of the Republic-era technology - there's no way all of it can have been destroyed.

The idea that the technology only looks more complex for the sake of appearances is also impossible to swallow. Are we seriously supposed to believe that the Republic has nothing better to spend its money on than making droids and ships look pretty? There's no poverty, crime, disease? I know this was supposed to be a 'more civilised age', but that's just ridiculous. Even if this was the case, I can still think of several ways they could spend that money better, starting with building up their own f*cking army to avoid having every minor trade dispute turn into a galactic crisis!

The only one of your suggestions that really makes sense, in fact, is the first one. And to be honest, I wouldn't really mind about the disparities in technology if Lucas would just  admit this, rather than trying to pretend it's all part of his Grand Design. Every time he comes up with some spurious 'explanation' for things like this he just digs a deeper hole for himself.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sorry, but how do you know? The only planets we have seen in the OT are Tatooine(a desert crap planet with little advances in technology).Hoth, a inhospitible snow world with no civilization. Bespin, which is actually pretty advanced. And Endor, which is a world to primitive cultures. How would you know if the technology throughout the whole galaxy is like by only seeing those planets in the OT. You can't just go BAH, that medical droid looks less advanced then the one in the pic of ROTS so the whole PT must have way better technology than the whole OT. Well you can, but it wouldnt make sense.

[srmoore]

Well wait a sec... the russians and chinese have a big show of their military might. (Or.. well.. the russians used to.)

But their stuff isn't sexy. it is very very minimalest in design. very very functional.

But again.. i don't know if that really fits the model of the empire.

[Helena]

Sorry, but how do you know? The only planets we have seen in the OT are Tatooine(a desert crap planet with little advances in technology).Hoth, a inhospitible snow world with no civilization. Bespin, which is actually pretty advanced. And Endor, which is a world to primitive cultures. How would you know if the technology throughout the whole galaxy is like by only seeing those planets in the OT. You can't just go BAH, that medical droid looks less advanced then the one in the pic of ROTS so the whole PT must have way better technology than the whole OT. Well you can, but it wouldnt make sense.

If the Republic's main purpose is to foster trade between planets (which is certainly the impression I get) then you would expect new technology to spread between Republic planets at a very rapid rate. Presumably the reason why worlds such as Tatooine and Endor are excluded from this is because they are not members of the Republic. In any case, by the time of the OT the Empire controls not only Coruscant but most of the galaxy; there's certainly no reason why their technology should be inferior to anything we see in the PT.

Sheesh, I'm getting tired of arguing about this... look, just ask yourself one simple question. Do you truly, honestly believe that if Lucas were making the OT today, he wouldn't make the technology look at least as advanced and impressive as what we're now seeing in the PT? Because if he did - and I'd be prepared to bet money that this would indeed be the case - all your arguments, whatever their merits, go straight out the window. I don't believe Lucas has any sensible explanation for making the PT technology better; I think he's just doing it because he can - and it's the hypocrisy that really annoys me, not the inconsistency.

[srmoore]

hehee... I don't know why i am rationalizing lucas at all..

I do agree that if lucas made them now it would all be super flashy.

I just think that it could sort of make sense the way it is now.

[Paladin]

In fact, i'd say the opposite is true. Just look at the thing Obi Wan's ship needs to travel into hyperspace for example.

Although you put up some pretty good arguements, I don't think this one is exactly correct. For one thing, it is possible that Obi-Wan's ship didn't house an internal hyperdrive due to its small size. Remeber the scene when a TIE fighter attacks the Falcon in ANH? While Luke and Han are arguing about how that fighter got there, Obi-Wan mentions 'a fighter that size couldn't have made it this deep into space on its own.'

I believe the same rule would probably have applied to Obi-Wan's ship... it was either too small to house a hyperdrive OR it could hold a hyperdrive, but needed that ring thing to give it extra range... a sort of booster/fuel tank, if you will.

Anyway, I have played some PT Star Wars games that were on display at some shops more than two years back, I remember that the Naboo fighter did have a hyperdrive capability of their own, and surprisingly long-ranged as well. But then again, they also comment that the Naboo fighters are very expensive, so I guess they're built more for quality and performance rather than their ability to be built in large numbers.

But then again, you do get attacked by mercinaries in the game that have similiarly small ships but still can hyperdrive like everthing else.

[CowboyCurtis]

Just compare the medical droid to the interrogation droid in ANH! The Empire has everything they could need--they have the money---the material---the resources---their interrogation droid could've easily looked like the droid from the medical-aliens! The empire being as powerful as it was (or supposedly), could've TAKEN that design away from them, or just take all the droid period.

The "evolution" of design does not follow. It is simply obvious that Lucas is bascially trying to "bury" the old films, and he's doing it by burying it in CGI slop and lack of cohesion.

As for the Hyperdrive ring... Jedi Fighter...yadayada. Not only not putting the hyperdrive on the ship--which makes no sense to me, because if the Jedi are constantly planet-hopping for all their investigation, I think they need something that's a little more reliable, and not have the chance of losing parts of your ship!

Jango could've destroyed that ring and not worry about chasing after Obi-Wan. He would've been stranded.

Anyway... again, it's a situation of people not seeing the design flow from movie to movie, as it is of people not seeing the continuity and integrity of character and story flowing from film to film.

[J m HofMarN]

This brings up another interesting question:

Why in gods name does Naboo have an army? Is there any entity in the galaxy that dosnt have an army besides the galactic republic?