Lit The GFFA Needs Captain Planet (angry ecology rant thread)

I'm depressed about Starkiller Base. Not Starkiller the guy -- that dude's a jerk. But Starkiller Base was just a planet. It had innocent trees and presumably innocent other lifeforms. They all died. And nobody cares. And that's what's depressing me.

I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Especially when Rogue One's Catalyst was released, and Luceno had the subplot about the Empire destroying planets for money. Not bang-boom explosionz destroying, but overmining, bulldozing, contaminating, etc. And really nobody in the GFFA cares except like, 3 people. I'm not even convinced Lyra Erso cared.

The culmination was Starkiller Base. Nobody cared that it was a planet except for the size. Like, there was absolutely no acknowledgement, "hey, what lived there before? What's still living there now?" Everyone was just like "KILL KILL KILL".

I'm not saying they shouldn't have destroyed Starkiller Base. But it bugs me that everyone was so apathetic - no, entirely oblivious is more accurate - to the fact it was a planet with life on it.

Someday I want an author to write something about it. Or make a video game about Finn's escapades while he was working there. Or comic. Or something. Something that gives it justice. There are a woeful lack of ecologists in the GFFA.

I miss you Starkiller planet. I didn't even know your name.

 

This is actually a good point.
The FO would not have evacuated all sentient life forms from Starkiller planet. The EU NR under Leia would have tried, the NuNR, may also would have tried. We will never know. I am all for destroying military installations with civilian "collaborationists" (such as those willingly wash and cook for FO troops, keywords on willingly, or their civilian adult husbands and wives who support their spouses' work), but an entire planet! FO children, babies? entire species unique to starkiller base?

 

It was a necessary evil of war. What would an invasion of Starkiller Base cost? How many lives to try to root out the FO from every corner of the planet and to shut down the cannon? Would it be wonderful if they could have done that and SKB not fire off another blast to take out other planets? Sure...but you have a limited force and limited resources in the Resistance so it would not be an option. The sacrifice of all life on SKB was a sacrifice that needed to be made.

 

I too like the point you make, and I agree that more pro-environmental character(s) and themes should be incorporated in the franchise. Considering that Star Wars is one of the, if not the most influential and largest franchise today, it certainly wouldn't hurt if it tackled that theme, especially in light of the environmental crisis we are facing today in the real world.

In universe, one example of a pro-environmental faction that I can think of are the Ithorians on Telos from KOTOR 2. IMO that was a great touch, but I don't want to see only Ithorians or only a few other species as eco-friendly. I'd like to see a mixed species on effort on multiple planets when it comes to environment protection. That way, the message the stories would send would be greater and it would avoid applying stereotypes to certain species like Ithorians.

As for the attack on Starkiller Base, the only excuse I can think of for the Resistance is if they didn't destroy and thus sacrifice the ecosystem(s) on Starkiller, more planets would be at risk. In other words, the lesser of the two evils - destroy Starkiller Base or endanger more planets like those from the Hosnian system.

 

It was a necessary evil of war. And there was no time, it's true. But people can't use the excuse of it's to save lives when you are killing an entire planet to save lives on your side only. When that planet went kaput, it's not only the FO military, but every single being on an Earth sized planet. It's totally different from the Death Star. Again, it's a necessary evil of war, so better excuses need to be used than "it's to save lives". A better one would be "There was no time, it's them or us!"

 

But did we see any animal lifeforms on SKB or did the FO kill them all off while building the really big laser cannon? And how long would the flora survive without the fauna??

 

The cute animals on Starkiller Base are a terrible loss.

It was also Illum and home of a great number of Jedi historical artifacts and importance.

However, war is bad.

It has costs.

Just like the baristas and cleaning staff on the Death Star.

 

What baristas and cleaning staff on the Death Star? We have droids for that

 

fixed that for you....

 

That's my pet peeve with TFA, why destroy the entire planet? Maiming the superweapon should have been enough... not only they would have avoided this ecological catastrophe, but also a great number of "it's just a copy of Episode IV" arguments would've never even been born.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I loved the concept of Rebel ships using their shields and tractor beams to stop DS2 debris from falling onto Endor's moon.

 

They. Killed. Jude.

I'll never forget NuNR for that.

 

But how deep into the planet did the weapon go? If you blew up just the weapon....how big of a crater would have been left?? Would you have basically shattered the planet and cause a massive ecological disaster anyway??

This is another reason for me to say they should have gone with a galaxy gun type weapon for the FO.

 

They just wanted things to go boom.

the problem with a galaxy gun, is unless it needs a certain range to fire (The SKB doesn't need to be near its target), the Resistance would have no idea where that weapon is.

For the ecology minded people, maybe have a novel where indeed the FO killed all flora and fauna, and all of them trees were decorative plastic? A massive garden for them evil FO personnel something to look at in their down time?

 

In Legends I'm pretty sure there existed movements to preserve endangered environments and species.

Though few people care about such issues during war time.

 

Given what is known about the scarcity of planets able to support life in the cosmos, it could make for an interesting aspect to bring into SW.

 

They could theoretically publish an out of universe "Tourist's guide to the best Planetary Parks" wherein it would introduce huge swathes of Parks in different planets. Natural reserves, etc, and different flora and fauna of the galaxy and their admission costs.

 

If I remember correctly, the book Catalyst goes into some Eco-protection stuff. Mostly how certain worlds, called Legacy worlds, are environmentally protected from mining, which the Empire bypasses by planting weapons and going in under the pretense of suppressing rebel activity abd takes over what little mining exists on the planets and just wrecking the ecosystems.

 

There has to be a goal.
It's not like Palpatine was already ordering Operation Cinder for while he was still alive.
If Jelucan mining is not for the benefit of Jelucan economy, where is the wealth going? Stormtrooper armors are heavy, yet still can't stop blasters. TIE fighters still don't have shields. DS still have design flaws.

 

I mean, the Empire is all quantity over quality. Yeah, Tie Fighters and Stormtroooer Armor are terrible, but there are just so many of them. Hell, the empire also has a ton of Star Destroyers, Escort Craft, Carriers, Ground Vehicles, Facilities, etc. All that needs raw materials.

 

I'm perfectly fine with the protagonists doing evil things- as long as the evil is acknowledged. The story should go out of it's way to show the impact of their actions. If only Moff Jerjerrod's scenes weren't cut. [sigh]

 

The above post has been processed and cleared by the Special Commissariat for Thought Reform (Holonet), of the Coalition for Improvements, Commission for the Preservation of the New Order.

 

I think they as in the people of the galaxy have so many worlds they can live on that they don't really care about it.

 

I think she was saying Galen Marek was a jerk.

 

Galen Marek is awesome and people who dislike him are objectively wrong.



Yes, I mean you, Cooper.