[floppydisk]

Why does the wound Obi gives to the alien in ANH bleed, but ones later in the series don't? Like when Vader cuts Luke, it doesn't bleed. So what's up? Are sabers hot enough to cauterize or not?

[Richard]

Some feeble excuses, I mean, explanations:

The alien is made of different material to humans, so it will be different when he is hit by a lightsabre, not necessarily the same thing will happen

In a PG film, It's okay to see aliens bleed, it's not okay to see humans bleed

Lucas will eventually edit that out and erase our memories and my EYES

[Twig Bear]

Why does the wound Obi gives to the alien in ANH bleed, but ones later in the series don't? Like when Vader cuts Luke, it doesn't bleed. So what's up? Are sabers hot enough to cauterize or not?

Gusher says, "0MFG!!1!! yu duNNO DAT?!1?! LoLROfLMAo. 0LD SABA KrisTAALs r H00)00Tt!!1! !11!"

Okay. Thats the only explanation I can see a gusher giving. As lightsaber crystals age, they become hotter. Or... Vader's crystal was hot because it was red.

The real question is... why can't Lucas figure it out before he puts it on film?

[floppydisk]

Some feeble excuses, I mean, explanations:

The alien is made of different material to humans, so it will be different when he is hit by a lightsabre, not necessarily the same thing will happen

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bah! Humbug! The second one makes much more sense. This is possibly the first example of Lucas' idiocy. And unless the alien was made of jello, it would cauterize.

I think that if sabers are hot, they would cauterize. Anyone know if they're hot?

This post has been edited by floppydisk: 24 May 2005 - 02:13 PM

[Helena]

Short answer: Lucas hadn't decided that lightsabers would cauterize wounds at that point. He came up with that in ESB to avoid having Luke bleed to death when Vader cut off his hand. Wasn't that one of the things he fixed in the Special Editions?

[Richard]

Bah! Humbug! The second one makes much more sense. This is possibly the first example of Lucas' idiocy. And unless the alien was made of jello, it would cauterize.

I think that if sabers are hot, they would cauterize. Anyone know if they're hot?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who knows what the aliens are made of. They may react to heat in a very different way to how human flesh reacts to heat.

However, this is me doing Uncle Lucas's work for him. I think in actuality he didn't know what the flipping heck he was doing, and like Helulator said, only decided later that lightsabres wouldn't make people bleed.

[floppydisk]

I think that any carbon-based life forms would probably react the same way to heat. But don't quote me on that because I'm not a biologist.

[Richard]

who said they're carbon based

ETC

ETC

ETC

[floppydisk]

All right, you got me there.

[Helena]

who said they're carbon based

Um... as opposed to what? All life is carbon-based. Besides, something that hot should instantly evaporate all the 'blood' it comes into contact with anyway.

Lucas just hadn't decided that lightsabers would cauterize wounds at that point. Yes, it's a continuity error, but it's hardly a big deal.

[Richard]

I think it's maybe short-sighted to think that humans know everything about life and the universe, and it's an assumption to think that other 'life' in the universe will follow the same rules as us and MUST be made of the same kind of matter as us

[Helena]

I think it's maybe short-sighted to think that humans know everything about life and the universe, and it's an assumption to think that other 'life' in the universe will follow the same rules as us and MUST be made of the same kind of matter as us

If they were made of a different kind of matter, their bodies wouldn't remotely resemble ours in any way. They certainly wouldn't be likely to share any of our physical features, bleeding included.

[Despondent]

Yeah, well. What about the Snowman? He should have MELTED.

I'm only kidding. It's not GL's biggest plot hole.

[Richard]

If they were made of a different kind of matter, their bodies wouldn't remotely resemble ours in any way. They certainly wouldn't be likely to share any of our physical features, bleeding included.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Again, I think you are making assumptions about the universe. Having only ever explored this planet, I think we can't really say anything about possible other lifeforms in the universe. Of course Lucas has created these creatures and probably doesn't know what the hell they're made of and doesn't care but I really think that we shouldn't leap to conclusions about the unknown IE aliens

[Helena]

Again, I think you are making assumptions about the universe.  Having only ever explored this planet, I think we can't really say anything about possible other lifeforms in the universe.  Of course Lucas has created these creatures and probably doesn't know what the hell they're made of and doesn't care but I really think that we shouldn't leap to conclusions about the unknown IE aliens

*Bangs head against wall* Look, as I said, all life in the known universe is carbon-based. It's hard to know what any other kind of lifeform could be made of, since we know pretty much every element in the periodic table, and the only molecules we've found (not for want of looking, believe me) that are capable of natural self-replication are carbon-based. It's not absolutely impossible that there could be lifeforms based on other kinds of matter, but what is certain is that they would be nothing at all like us.

Lucas changed his mind, that's all there is to it. Seriously, why all the fuss over a very minor inconsistency that doesn't even affect the plot? This is why I'm starting to get so fed up of this forum...