What sci-fi concepts would never “work” in Star Wars?
- Thread starter Maximum7
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Serious transhumanism, especially intelligence amplification. The setting is built around the assumption that even after tens of thousands of years of advanced technology and multiple civilizations rising and falling, the galaxy is still overwhelmingly dominated by baseline organics and droids that are at best human-equivalent in intelligence. No Singularity here, or even cyberpunk.
I'm thinking huge anime sized mechas, those would be incredibly out of place.
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- The Hague
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- He/Him
Television.
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- The Land of Many Bregrets
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- They/Them
Technomagic. Like a Force-wielding droid or the lightsaber-equivalent of a blaster or a machine tool that can be used to 'cast' Force powers.
I believe in the the EU there was a droid with midichlorians in its oil that became a Jedi. I think it was the busted red astromech at the start of A New Hope?
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
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- Somewhere Offscreen
Skippy the Jedi Droid wasn't canon in the EU. Star Wars Infinities was a book for non-canon AU and parody stories.
There were Force-sensitive living crystals that could control droid bodies called the Iron Knights.
I'd say post-scarcity utopian tech from Star Trek like replicators would be a no-go. Eliminating wealth, poverty, crime, resource limitations and other kinds of inequality would remove too many aspects of the setting and plot hooks.
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It's probably more helpful to start with what is things that work in Star Wars.
Star Wars tech is intentionally stuck at a point where it's somehow sort of always World War 2-level tech, just with lasers and space wizards. Starfighters move and behave and are treated like dogfighting planes, people pin their hopes on absurd superweapons which may or may not pay off (there were a lot of efforts at wonder weapons in one form or another in World War 2), your readouts are simple devices instead of anything like modern HUDs or any better thing, tanks and trench warfare have their place, you see crew-served large guns, and so on. With very minimal variance, lightsabers are just "a good sword", with none of their possible further utility explored. Blasters are "a handgun", not really a laser and never dramatically more effective than we'd expect a gun to be. There's also an intentional lack of use of some tactics and technologies that seem like they might work but break the feel a bit. Orbital bombardment is rare, and treated more like a battleship shelling the coast than a spacecraft directly overhead using laser power. We don't see any equivalent to the internet or TV, specifically because they weren't a major piece of World War 2-esque stuff.
If you know somewhat more obscure genre terminology, "Weird War 2" is more accurate and descriptive. It lets you bring in esoteric superweapons and psychics that definitely aren't just Jedi/Sith and hidden factions.
Most science fiction technologies that posit further developments, something that lets you do something better and more or differently than we do today, is generally not going to work in Star Wars.
Basically all the above answers work, but the 'why' is because the setting aesthetic is what it is.
Star Wars tech is intentionally stuck at a point where it's somehow sort of always World War 2-level tech, just with lasers and space wizards. Starfighters move and behave and are treated like dogfighting planes, people pin their hopes on absurd superweapons which may or may not pay off (there were a lot of efforts at wonder weapons in one form or another in World War 2), your readouts are simple devices instead of anything like modern HUDs or any better thing, tanks and trench warfare have their place, you see crew-served large guns, and so on. With very minimal variance, lightsabers are just "a good sword", with none of their possible further utility explored. Blasters are "a handgun", not really a laser and never dramatically more effective than we'd expect a gun to be. There's also an intentional lack of use of some tactics and technologies that seem like they might work but break the feel a bit. Orbital bombardment is rare, and treated more like a battleship shelling the coast than a spacecraft directly overhead using laser power. We don't see any equivalent to the internet or TV, specifically because they weren't a major piece of World War 2-esque stuff.
If you know somewhat more obscure genre terminology, "Weird War 2" is more accurate and descriptive. It lets you bring in esoteric superweapons and psychics that definitely aren't just Jedi/Sith and hidden factions.
Most science fiction technologies that posit further developments, something that lets you do something better and more or differently than we do today, is generally not going to work in Star Wars.
Basically all the above answers work, but the 'why' is because the setting aesthetic is what it is.
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- United States
Conflict with alien species. Star Wars is always about political or philosophical conflict. The differences between humans and aliens, or aliens and other aliens, don't usually come up. This is a conventional sci-fi plot, but it hinges on just how "other" the aliens are, whereas in Star Wars the weirdness of aliens is just there to add a fantastical backdrop.
I will note the old EU stuff did try to implement this on a few occasions, from making Palpatine and his Empire explicitly human supremacists, to invasions from hostile alien races like the Sisi-ruu or the Yuzhan Vong, but these didn't really survive the death of the EU, and some of them felt really "off" at the time. I think it was a result of writers trying to expand beyond the old Jedi vs Sith and Rebels vs Empire narrative, and falling back on older sci-fi tropes without realizing that Star Wars isn't really a sci-fi universe.
I will note the old EU stuff did try to implement this on a few occasions, from making Palpatine and his Empire explicitly human supremacists, to invasions from hostile alien races like the Sisi-ruu or the Yuzhan Vong, but these didn't really survive the death of the EU, and some of them felt really "off" at the time. I think it was a result of writers trying to expand beyond the old Jedi vs Sith and Rebels vs Empire narrative, and falling back on older sci-fi tropes without realizing that Star Wars isn't really a sci-fi universe.
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- The Land of Many Bregrets
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- They/Them
Hmm, I wouldn't say it's that far out there. Like, the original trilogy had the Rebels chock-full of aliens whilst the Empire was almost exclusively white guys (to the point I can't actually think of any non-male / non-white / non-human Empire characters in the trilogy movies at all outside of that one time hiring bounty hunters).
It was implicit, but it was there. The Rebels were diverse; the Empire very much wasn't.
- Location
- USA East Coast
The Empire in original trilogy were met to be space nazis. The all white and non alien Inperials got the point across.
I thought aliens were pretty much second or third class cizitens on imperial worlds.
I thought aliens were pretty much second or third class cizitens on imperial worlds.
gyrobot
One China One Nation/Weeping for Concord
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- Canada
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- He/Him
Stiff the empire would see use of aliens as penal death battalions but that would mean more cgi and costume work to covincingly have a lot of aliens running into rebel gunfire.
This is an important part. Usuaully people wants to give tbe setting sleek high tech weapon and armor designs that betrays the old aesthetic of star wars while stoking thekr military boner
Ellimist system
Newly cracked system full of traumatized yahoos.
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- Floating on a rock with my headmates.
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- She/Her/Other
Paper for the common being. There are like five bound books in the entire setting.
Probably a lot of them, because as someone has already said Star Wars is an aesthetic first. Even stories that are just extrapolating existing things in the universe feel a bit weird to me sometimes— I saw someone once say that General Grievous with his windmill lightsabers would feel wrong somehow if he turned up in the original trilogy, because there's a sense of things progressing around what's possible to do with sabres that's at odds with the run down world of the OT with its clumsy swordplay by legends.
I tend to think Star Wars is very limited in what it can do; it needs to always be relatively unchanging in how it looks and seems, but part of how it looks and seems is novelty and weirdness so it also has to keep expanding itself. At some point that's unsustainable, and it's either repeating itself too much or it is no longer Star Wars.
I tend to think Star Wars is very limited in what it can do; it needs to always be relatively unchanging in how it looks and seems, but part of how it looks and seems is novelty and weirdness so it also has to keep expanding itself. At some point that's unsustainable, and it's either repeating itself too much or it is no longer Star Wars.
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- USA East Coast
Another ironic thing before Disney took over was a hint that in the SW time line, things are regressing, not progressing.
Personally I see Star Wars as science fantasy that tries its hardest to be entertaining without being a intellectual about it. Given the limitations and what Lucas was aiming for, this is what we got.
Note!
George Lucas himself has stated that Star Wars was him wanting to make a Ramen Western in space, heavily into the samurai movie deal.
Hell! Episode 4 is a complete rip off of the samurai film " The Hidden Fortress" and Lucas admitted to it!
So yeah Star Wars in reality is more imperialist era sword/gun powder than WW2. With some sci fi, fantasy, and exotic world stuff.
It is not met to be cutting edge or pushing the borders of true science fiction game breaking stuff.
Personally I see Star Wars as science fantasy that tries its hardest to be entertaining without being a intellectual about it. Given the limitations and what Lucas was aiming for, this is what we got.
Note!
George Lucas himself has stated that Star Wars was him wanting to make a Ramen Western in space, heavily into the samurai movie deal.
Hell! Episode 4 is a complete rip off of the samurai film " The Hidden Fortress" and Lucas admitted to it!
So yeah Star Wars in reality is more imperialist era sword/gun powder than WW2. With some sci fi, fantasy, and exotic world stuff.
It is not met to be cutting edge or pushing the borders of true science fiction game breaking stuff.
just wodnering, but since you've said this, do you know if there are any works that also use Star Wars' aesthetic? I don't mean trying to merely ape Star Wars in terms of themes, of course, what I mean is them using that same sort of run-down/frozen-in-time "Weird War II" visual (without going into cyberpunk, which Star Wars is not, of course).
gyrobot
One China One Nation/Weeping for Concord
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- Canada
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- He/Him
To an extent Destiny fits that aesthetic and GotG does as well
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- The Pleroma
Going to the British Film Institute's book on Star Wars, the original version that appeared in 1977 without any episodic title, perhaps the most central conflict in the movie, going right down to the cinematography, is the tension between cold, controlled spaces (the Death Star, the Blockade Runner) and warm, uncontrolled spaces (Tatooine, the Rebel Hidden Fortress) and the rest of the initial trilogy, and the prequel trilogy to a lesser extent, maintain this basic tension between cold control and warm lack of control. It is not one where one side can clearly dominate over the other, either. The Rebels must still make use of disciplined, controlled formations of space fighters to attack the Death Star, even if victory requires turning off your targeting computer. The Ewoks and the captured walker are necessary to bring down the shield around the Second Death Star.
But there are a great many sci-fi conceits which rely on the notion that control is clearly superior. So, for example, a panopticon dystopia could not appear in Star Wars and be straightforward. The cameras and microphones and so on would be unable to truly suppress and the system would break down as warm spaces infiltrated. Transhumanist superhuman intelligences couldn't appear because that relies on an underlying conceit that greater intelligence means more control means better. Conflict takes a form wherein lack of control and warmth can be on an even keel with control and coldness, which is more important than the aesthetic of WW2- any given Macross series is far more compatible with Star Wars than any given Gundam series, despite Gundam actually having laser swords, because Macross is also a series where conflict between cold and warm and rational versus emotional is central.
There are of course other thematic considerations- the TARDIS couldn't really appear in Star Wars because Doctor Who has fairly divergent thematic concerns despite some shared ones, for example.
But there are a great many sci-fi conceits which rely on the notion that control is clearly superior. So, for example, a panopticon dystopia could not appear in Star Wars and be straightforward. The cameras and microphones and so on would be unable to truly suppress and the system would break down as warm spaces infiltrated. Transhumanist superhuman intelligences couldn't appear because that relies on an underlying conceit that greater intelligence means more control means better. Conflict takes a form wherein lack of control and warmth can be on an even keel with control and coldness, which is more important than the aesthetic of WW2- any given Macross series is far more compatible with Star Wars than any given Gundam series, despite Gundam actually having laser swords, because Macross is also a series where conflict between cold and warm and rational versus emotional is central.
There are of course other thematic considerations- the TARDIS couldn't really appear in Star Wars because Doctor Who has fairly divergent thematic concerns despite some shared ones, for example.
IgnusDei
Promethean Phantom
- Location
- The Amala Network
I think a lot of the concepts, as stated above, could work in Star Wars. You just have to be willing to cause radical changes to the universe.
More subtly, you would just need to create a completely alien faction to the universe, which embodies those ideas. The Yuuzhan Vong, for example, were pure biopunk in a galaxy full of Used Future and Raygun Gothic.
More subtly, you would just need to create a completely alien faction to the universe, which embodies those ideas. The Yuuzhan Vong, for example, were pure biopunk in a galaxy full of Used Future and Raygun Gothic.
- Location
- Australia
This may sound like a bit of a cop-out answer, but to expand on what @IgnusDei is saying above, I really think it's just a matter of presentation - you can introduce almost anything in an organic and compelling matter that makes sense in-universe if you are willing to change the fundamentals of the universe (as @IgnusDei mentioned above) which doesn't have to be a bad thing - and can in fact greatly enrich the setting - shaking things up and introducing new dynamics which keep the universe fresh and engaging. Part of what makes the Yuuzhan Vong such a great weave in the Star Wars tapestry is how uniquely alien and distinctive they are from the rest of the setting both narratively and conceptually (in sci-fi).
I think the crux of the issue here is (at least traditionally) Star Wars has been more of a science fantasy than classical science fiction setting, hybridising prominent fantastical elements (eg elaborate magic system, family destiny, perhaps most relevant to this discussion - medieval stasis - etc) withing a science fiction setting (galactic scale space opera). And as the former has had a tendency to be the focus of the narratives while the latter serves more as a background (in the majority of cases with some notable exceptions as I'll elaborate). This means that sci-fi aspects of the setting tend to be less important than the setting's fantastical/mystical aspects and thus the capability/implications of even sci-fi concepts already present in-universe to impact/add to the story are neglected.
Now I'm not saying this is always the case - Thrawn being perhaps the most significant/popular example of a great Star Wars character entirely from the setting's fantastical elements and whose storylines are in part so memorable and interesting because of how they bring the sci-fi of Star Wars into the forefront as opposed to just being the backdrop or setpiece for the real narrative at play. I'm not even saying its a bad thing that the fantasy of Star Wars often takes precedent - Sith intrigue, Jedi adventures and Force philosophy are among my favourite aspects of the Star Wars universe to explore and they help really make Star Wars distinct from and far more developed in this arena compared to other space opera settings with ambiguous psychics constrained/utilised only by plot convenience after which they vanish as if never present, to begin with.
But it is undeniable that Star Wars has been operating under a fantasy first, sci-fi second policy in most of its works, and I think that this unbalance while can be explained as the aesthetic/style of the setting has at least to some degree hurt its storytelling/narrative potential. Which is a shame because one of Star Wars' greatest strengths for me (as well as space fantasy in general) is how it can take the best of both worlds to gives a setting magnitudes more depth, complexity and flexibility as well as broadening horizons in terms of being a storytelling/narrative space.
Part of why I loved the Yuuzhan Vong so much is because they strike this balance so well, alien and existentially threatening both from a fantasy perceptive (worshipers of pain, entirely disconnected to the Force and the struggles between its rival sects and practitioners, or at least connected to it in such an alien way that Force users struggle to comprehend let alone utilise) and a sci-fi perceptive (overwhelming powerful extragalactic invaders whom hate and actively seek to destroy the technological and socioeconomic basis of galactic civilisation and replace it with their utterly alien biotechnology and in equal measure alien and horrifying brutal caste society with heavy theological overtones driven by a Blue and Orange Morality both to the Star Wars galaxy and the audience) and thus impactful and relevant to the Star Wars universe in its entirety, not just to the hero and their entourage (there is a reason after all that KOTOR introduced the recurrent idea that the galaxy's average citizen doesn't see much difference between the Jedi and Sith, at best apathetic to their eternal conflict or at worst actively resentful of the collataral damage their forever war causes for the masses). I don't think they would have been nearly as effective an outside context problem otherwise.
And I hope that going forward Star Wars can use the Vong's example of how they can expand instead merely retread the universe, there's so much existing let alone theoretical potential that right now that Disney is letting go to waste, although they seem to be on the right path judging by The Mandalorian and hopefully The High Republic.
But if I had to choose a sci-fi concept I didn't think works in Star Wars or at least I can't think of a way to make it work without extreme-extreme changes is weaponising hyperspace without restrictions (and seemingly at odds with the lore as to how they actually work), a can of worms unfortunately already opened by The Last Jedi, making space combat obsolete other than suicide drones consisting of nothing but a simple intelligence and a hyperdrive capable of killing planets. Even if in the overwhelming percentage of such attacks fail its much more cost-efficient than a fully staffed, top of the line space navy.
Now I think it could work but it strips what has been such an integral part of Star Wars, perhaps what its title most literally describes, for almost no new storytelling opportunities in return. And for this development to be not even techno-babbled away but subsequently completely ignored is honestly borderline insulting particularly to its most dedicated fans.
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