Are humans in the PT so pathetic that they can't Podrace?

What I want to know is if there are clearly species that exist that have superior reflexes to humans, as proven by the Pod Races, why doesn't the Rebellion/New Republic have squadrons of X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings etc made up of say...dugs? Even if you can't get the ships to go faster, their reflexes are still better, and could be trained to be superior pilots. A squadron of faster reflexed dugs with the same amount of training, should be able to outfly a human squadron easily, provided it wasn't a Jedi squadron. I understand why the Empire wouldn't use them, as part of the anti-alien bias and all that, but, why wouldn't the Rebellion?

 

Why is Anakin the only human who can podrace?

Because it makes Lucas's tribute to drag racing/Ben-Hur homage/video game commercial* seem slightly less shoehorned into the story when the race is supposedly demonstrating what great Jedi potential little Ani has.


*What I never got was, if podracing is impossible for all humans without Jedi reflexes, why did Lucasarts sell a game on this planet, which only has humans as far as sentient species** are concerned?


**Nothing against humpback whales, but a)they don't have the digits for manipulating the game controller, and b)Nintendos and water don't mix. Trust me.

 

Darth Davi brings up a good question. Many times I have thought about why aliens seem to never get a chance to fly in the Rebel stuntfighters like A-Wings/X-wings (not to mention the Y-wing bombers)


I think the answer lies in the fact pod-racing is a simple, straightforward exercise in "driving" reflexes.

I would reckon it to this analogy: The best video gamers are usually teens who have remarkable reflexes. The speed texting world champion this year was a 13 year old girl.

But these activities are pure speed/reflex exercises without multiple tasking elements too them.
Which is why you would not put these "whiz kids" in activities F-16 fighter pilots where there is a high level of multi-tasking where thinking/reasoning skills, information processing, plus reflexes are all meshed together. Even the best flight simulator cannot encompass the stresses and thinking skills involved in real combat missions.

Am I saying species like dugs (and the other podracing alien whiz kids) are not as "smart" as humans in the GFFA?

Yeah, that's the impression I get since the Alliance really loves humans in the cockpits


On the other hand, who's to say that the Rebellion did not have a streak of discreet bigotry when assigning pilots?

 

It's like the American Civil War. Hey, oppressed 'others', those people flat out admit they think you're inferior, so you should fight on our side! (We also think we're superior, but we just think it's wrong to say it out loud or put it in writing).

 

Kind of .....

But remember who was tasked with the biggest, most crucial mission of the OT Saga? The good Admiral A.


I don't think the Alliance was as bigoted as what you put forth in your North/South analogy. Could you see the North putting a black man in charge of the Army of the Potomac?

Yet the Alliance did do just that in letting the good Admiral run the show.

 

Except that there are multiple species of pilots in both Rogue and Wraith squadrons in the EU. At different times, they have had, according to Wookiepedia:

Humans
Devaronians
Mon Calamari
Quarren
Bothans
Gamorreans (he was bio-engineered to be mentally superior by Warlord Zsinj)
Twi'leks
Shistavanen
Sullustans
Gands
Rodians
Chev
Klatooians
Duros
Thakwaash


My intent was not to demonstrate that the Republic was just as anti-alien as the Empire was, clearly they weren't, merely that if there are aliens that are superior to humans in terms of physical reflexes, they should be encouraged to become starfighter pilots.

 

I didn't realize that you were able to ascertain the exact reflexes and skills needed to be a successful pod racer after ONE movie.

 

We're not talking about the EXACT skills. We're talking about the movies failure to convey the sense that his reflexes were in any way faster or superior to those of any other human being. Anakin didn't appear to be reacting to ANYTHING most of the time, much less reacting at superhuman speeds.

 

I don't buy the whole "humans don't have the reflexes" angle. Han was able to navigate the "fastest ship in the Galaxy" through an asteroid field, and we all know the odds of that. Biggs and Lando make it out of an erupting Death Star in record speed...outrunning a wall of flame. It's stretching a bit, but the Scout Troopers did relatively well at the Endor Moon...and they were travelling through a more dangerous course than the Boonta Eve. As it is, one of them had to get the head of the bike cut off in order to crash.

 

Exactly, the Alliance wasn't the bigoted side.

 

And what about the admirals that took evasive action. Those were good reflexes.

 

The Scout Troopers were using a small vehicle. The Podracers were using a small pod with two big ass engines, traveling through Beggar's Canyon and not losing control of their pods and the engines. The pods require quick reflexes for navigating at incredible speeds, while making sure that engines remain stablized throughout. Han and Jango both did well in an asteroid feild/belt, but their sutations were different. They both had guidence systems and Han had Chewbacca at his side. They were both also flying in regular starships and not podracers. While both did well with manuverability, speed was not nearly as big a factor as it is on Tatooine, where there is gravity. Lando, Nien and Wedge weren't piloting pods. One was a souped up cargo ship and the other a fighter known for manuverabiltiy. Lando also managed to lose the sensor dish. At the end there, when they were exiting the DS, they were flying in a straight line back out. That is how come the Falcon can beat the flames and make it out with seconds to spare.

 

wow. you guys are good. that whole death star trench run could have been assisted by Sebulba. but like some of you said, perhaps the empire put down the alien races and they were seemed inferior. I remember that cool part in ROTJ when lando and Numb go into the death star, the more I think about it, the more I have realized that maybe Lando couldn't have done it alone. Maybe niemb Numb was the pilot? maybe he was all responsible for the destruction of the death star? the same way chewie pilots the falcon..so you could say that in the OT the humans are the generals, commanders etc, and the aliens are the workers who actually pilot the ships.

About ackbar, that's totally different, because he was flying his own fleet..from his own planet..they didn't really belong to the human rebellion persay. meaning they were not using their ships, but joined.


In the end, i am all more but amazed at Anakin's talents as a boy.

 

I disagree. Yes the Mon Calamari Fleet was the backbone of the mission, but don't short-shrift them. They were not exactly hired guns. As the EU tells us, the good Admiral was a staunch Rebel and did many clandestine missions for the Alliance. The guy was a Rebel to the max.

And this assumption that it was a 'human' rebellion versus a galaxy rebellion is wrong in my opinion. Or the notion that the 'human led' REAL rebellion was somehow separate from the other planets/species Rebellion.

I do concur that Ani's ability to complete the race was extra-ordinary. His winning it was a sheer miracle.

 

well did you see the cut scene from ROTS? with padme, mon mothma, the other two black guys and the asian girl? they formed the rebellion. I didn't see any aliens there. the rebellion was an idea brought up by Humans. later on, they get jar jar and ackbar & among any others to join them..ackabar was good, but he was not an original creator of the rebellion.

 

Well all Revolutions are the brainchild of a select few to some degree. But that does not give them special standing.

American Revolution got it's start in New England. But it spread. And in the end, which colony had the most battles fought in it? South Carolina of all places.

Just an analogy to think about.

 

And the Mon Calimari did belong to your so called "human rebellion". They were in it neck deep after Palps burned sevral of their cities and threatened them with punitive measures.

 

You are correct Jedi Keiran Halcyon. As I said, Anakin did not appear to be aided by the Force (there was no sound effect), nor did he appear to posses "faster reflexes"and from the way it all unfolded it seemed to me that ANY human could pilot a POD. He looked like a kid driving a go-cart, except he was flying.

Nothing special about that in my book.
What Anakin SHOULD have said was: "I'm the only human SLAVE-CHILD thats fast enough to do it." Or something to that effect.

I'd love to know what you found amazing. I thought he looked like any other 9 year old boy. Flying the POD was meh, the Naboo craft left the hangar on autopilot and all he did was act like a kid once he got in on manual. He stalled the ship and then blew it up on accident. Nothing about any of that was impressive to me... Yippee.

 

Anakin was able to do it because he could see things before they happened.

Non force users wouldn't have enough time to react to the obstacle right in front of them as well as anticipate the 3 other objects beyond it.

It wasn't so much that the Force was guiding him as he had supernatural reflexes.

At the end of TPM, it wasn't that Anakin was using the force as much as the Force was using Anakin.

It's in direct contrast to Luke using the Force in ANH.

 

It wasn't so much that the Force was guiding him as he had supernatural reflexes.

--Except we were never SHOWN that onscreen.
We only HEARD the character's talk about it.
If anything, he LOOKED SLOW to me when inside either cockpit.

 

If Anakin could anticipate what was coming before anyone else would've, he wouldn't have to move the controls all that fast compared to the others, would he? He can take his time moving to avoid an obstacle he knows will be there, because he knows about it earlier. Of course he looks slow. That's not wrong, that's exactly right. It's not like his muscles have superhuman speed or anything, he's just a nine year old boy with a connection to the Force.

 

Having fast reflexes doesn't mean that he moves at superspeed. It means that he knows when something needs to be done, before it happens. Thus when you see him react to his engine crapping out, he was able to do several things at once. He was able to keep his pod going steady, while he put out the fire, redistributed power and start it up again. Try doing something like that in your car while going at top speed, while driving down the interstate. Hell, people in the real world have a hard time driving and doing all kinds of stuff. Be it eating, talking on the cellphone, shaving, putting on make-up, adjusting their CD or IPod. And they aren't travelling as fast.

 

Meh...

I can steer my Jeep with my knees, change a shirt, switch cd's, pack a chew, adjust my mirrors, open my sun-roof, turn on my heated-seats, drink a sip of my latte' and talk on the phone at 88 mph.

So no...
No, I am NOT impressed with young Anakin or his piloting skills.

 

There should be a law against this sort of thing. You're going to get someone killed!

 

Yeah, but did you do it during rush hour on the interstate?