Metaphysics(Star Wars, Star Trek, Etc.)

[Priest4hire]

Indeed. You really have to wonder about Starfleet though, don't you? I mean, they have some of the coolest technology and then it's like they just forget about it. The Genesis wave, had it and then poof, it's gone. How about the ability to cloak and phase a ship? The transwarp drive? At least they came up with an excuse on that one. A ship that can fire while cloaked? Hell, what ever became of the cloaking device that Kirk stole from the Romulans?

[Drooling Iguana]

Originally Posted by Priest4hire

I never said that. What I said was that I consider the Star Wars novels to be well paid for fan fiction. I never said why. The reason though is because they are a) Officially considered to not be cannon and b) thus not required to remain to any but the loosest standards. In the same sense the Star Trek novels are no cannon and thus I would also consider them to be more or less fan fiction.

Actually, the Star Wars novels are considered to be canon by Lucasfilm (unless they bear the "Infinities" label). Star Wars has a tiered canonicity system. The movies are at the top, and are considered the authorative source when a contradiction is found between them and the other sources. Next come the material based directly on the films: the novelizations, radio plays, and the Incredible Cross Sections books. After that come the EU novels and the story elements from the video games (the actual gameplay is not considered canon. You cannot determine the capabilities of a ship in Star Wars based on how it behaves in the X-Wing games.)

It's Star Trek that has the "it don't mean a thing if it ain't on the screen" policy.

Now I mentioned the whole Millenium Falcon bit as a joke obviously. It's one of the many parts in SW that doesn't seem to conform to any understanding of the universe. Along with countless probems with Newtonian physics. Star Trek is almost as bad, though it varies.

Star Trek is far worse. There are parts of Star Wars that seem to contradict what we know of physics, but that could just be the result of their advanced technology as the actual scientific principles that their devices are based on are never really made clear. Star Trek, on the other hand, pretends to be scientifically accurate, and tries to explain the inner workings of their technology but gets it all wrong. Star Wars sometimes ignores science. Star Trek actively butchers it.

PS. One has to boggle at the stupidity that places the ship's reactor within a clear shot of the landing bay. Really.

The Trade Federation ships were freighters retrofitted into battleships. The reactor core was likely placed out in the open to make maintenance easier, since the ships weren't initially designed for combat.

Anyway, closing for length.