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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit The Official StarWars.com Blog Thread - That's right, I went there

Discussion in 'Literature' started by CooperTFN, Sep 24, 2013.

  1. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    I'm ambivalent. The article was extremely well-written (unsurprising, it's Jason Fry), but at its heart is an exhausted trope: Older Is Better. For all their cool technology, I like to think the GE would still lay waste to the Rakatan. Sometimes (read: almost always, in the real world) technology and knowledge really do improve with time.
     
  2. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Well, ultimately, the Rakata only controlled a few hundred worlds--current naval forces are almost certainly more vast. I think the piece is more about how mysterious and exotic tech was; at least as far as the Rakata are concerned. It does end on that note about the Celestials posing a thread, but c'mon--they've been portrayed as all-powerful from the beginning.
     
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  3. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    It's myth and legend. People were and are fascinated with Atlantis, but do you really think some advanced-for-its-time people would compare to modern tech? Of course not. But there are limits: the ancient Greeks and Romans actually were more advanced than the pre-industrial West. Sometimes tech is lost.
     
  4. King of Alsakan

    King of Alsakan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2007
    I thought it was a good piece as well, but I think as mentioned in the article it was better suited for the Atlas and they made a good call going with what they had in there.

    I love all of the stuff on the ancient races, even though I think the Rakata are pretty lame compared to the rest. I could only wish that ancient human history was expanded further, and even better give them some space fairing capability.

    I never liked the hyperspace barrier business at all, but having it as an artificial construct is a bit more palatable, though its hard to believe they haven't figure out a way around it yet. The only thing I really didn't like was Motti being surprised about the Celestials having the power to destroy planets for a variety of reasons.

    I am looking very forward to the next 11 articles:)
     
  5. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2013
    I wonder if they are going to cover how the Rakata tricked the Kwa into training them and then revolted.
     
  6. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    [​IMG]
    What if the Celestials are actually really weak?!
     
    purplerain likes this.
  7. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    No, I didn't mean to suggest that the Older Is Better trope originated with Mr. Fry and this article. I just am loathe to see validation of it. In A New Hope, the Empire's Death Star was presented as the culmination of military technology. To have the EU then turn around and compare it to a child's toy is disheartening. So, in my headcanon, I still conclude and persistently seek evidence to support the idea that the GE would crush any single aggregate that preceded it.

    Sure, I can accept that certain bits or even entire swaths of knowledge were lost. (Greek fire and all that.) But generally, broadly, real world knowledge and technology dramatically improved with time. Imagine what modern USA would do to the amassed ranks of the ancient world were such a conflict ever to occur. Star Wars is guilty of ceding technological advancements and Force mastery to chronologically older civilizations and cults. It's boring. I'd like to see someone endorse modern tech, modern knowledge.

    Ironically, as much as I dislike it, this is one thing Legacy does quite well.
     
  8. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    The ship sailed with the silliness of Centerpoint "It's too big to be a space..." Station!

    I guess the Ones built it though, that seems like their MO.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  9. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2013
    "Older is Better" is how KJA thinks.
     
  10. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Excellent as always. Wow - two great blog posts!

    It always bothered me about Centerpoint - didn't anyone say "Hey, what's that giant ancient weird space station in one of the most well-known systems in the galaxy?" And here we get a great, simple explanation - people thought it was some old Corellian sleeper ship turned into a space station. Perfect.
     
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  11. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    This is what happens when, out of disregard, people feel the need to gratuitously aggrandize their own works and disrespect that which gets them their paychecks. (Again, not a reference to Mr. Fry, who's only trying to make entertaining sense out of what he's given.)
     
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  12. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    There was a fascinating article recently that an unusual piece of artistry from the Roman Empire - a vase that had unusual color changes - had baffled scientists for years, until they found out that it involved grinding down gemstones to such a fine powder that it qualified as reaching the scale of nanotech - an amazing feat that couldn't be duplicated by other means (albeit expensive means) until a few decades ago.

    Also, sometimes the tech isn't advanced, but rather a refinement to the level of the technology at that time that was lost over the years, and never rediscovered because of a lack of necessity. Case in point, the Egyptians' ability to precisely carve and fit stone blocks, which was rendered pointless by the development of the mortar-and-stone technique.
     
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  13. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    The culmination of the then-25,000 years old Republic-turned-Empire.

    In another Lucas-helmed production, we have an entire planet encased inside a micro-universe inside a much smaller space station built by an ancient power that predates even the Republic.

    My one point of annoyance with Centerpoint is that it's in the Corellian system. Wedge and Han, two Corellians, are the ones to express disbelief at the Death Star's size. Way to f that up, EU.
     
  14. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    blackmyron -- huh, interesting. Happen to have a link to that, or something?

    Sable_Hart -- well, I'd never liked the idea of the Celestials. I would prefer that they stayed within the realm of legend and we never actually knew if they existed. The Rakata... sort of annoyed me when TOR came out, but I like the idea that they're incredibly old, advanced, and yet small-scale to the Galactic Republic that came in response to them. Like how the Roman Republic developed out of the Etruscan heel and eventually surpassed it, but loomed large in the foundation myths.
     
  15. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    That's why I carefully said military technology. Mortis isn't a military installation nor is it truthfully a product of technology but extraordinary Force power.
     
  16. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    Military forces fuel technological development all the time. The distinction is meaningless.
     
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  17. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    I'm not picking up what you're laying down, brohan. Mind explaining?
     
  18. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    I didn't view Mortis as technology at all so I was initially EXTREMELY CONFUSED by what Tzizvvt78 said.
     
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  19. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    That your distinction is meaningless and therefore your complaint. The Monolith that houses the planet/realm is more than 5x5x5 km in size, according to the bts for the first episode.
     
  20. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    @GrandAdmiralJello - Here you go. Got some of the particulars wrong - it was gold and silver, not gemstones.
     
  21. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Can I appeal your value judgment, O Arbiter of Substance?

    Anywho, the Mortis monolith appears to be a product of the Force, not conventional or military technology. So I'm still not grasping its relevance to my "complaint," Your Honor.
     
  22. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    And so Centerpoint Station and Sinkhole Station are equally magical? Didn't know that. There's a phrase from Arthur C. Clarke that comes to mind...
     
  23. DigitalMessiah

    DigitalMessiah Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2004
    The fact that Rex and the Venator SD (IIRC) were occupying the same coordinates as the shuttle yet did not witness the monolith (or the shuttle) is indicative of it not being a material phenomena, but an ethereal or astral or somethin'.
     
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  24. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    ...And so the "Death Star" and "Mortis monolith" are anagrams for Centerpoint Station and Sinkhole Station? Didn't know that either.

    How's about you and I check the snark at the door and you cogently explain your point, because I'd really like to grasp it (even if I don't agree with it).
     
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  25. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    ESB welcomes you to the concept of a cloaking device.

    You were the ones claiming Celestial technology like the Mortis Monolith, Sinkhole and Centerpoint were all magical artifacts. Need some sources...