ST Will we see a Thermal Detonator explosion in Episode 7?

In my years of watching Star Wars movies and playing Star Wars games, even though Princess Leia (disguised as a bounty hunter called "Boushh") almost used a thermal detonator in Jabba's palace, the only areas where thermal detonators are actually used are in the games, most notably in the PC games of Episode 1; The Phantom Menace and the Dark Forces/Mysteries of the Sith series. Also, it seems that, in the games, the thermal detonator has a wide variance in explosion intensity ranging from a small puff of flame to a huge, wide explosion radius that kills/injures everything in it's path.

Does anyone out there think that a thermal detonator or two will be detonated in Episode 7?

 

I think Luke will be holding one and forget to count to three, blowing off his hand.

 

@BigAl6ft6
Luke thinks he has to count to 10, but it's 1 2 10 boom (3 seconds).

 

Five is right out!

 

I agree! Please follow the proper instructions.

 

Clearly the cave Luke was trying to get into was guarded by a creature so cruel, so foul, that no man that no man yet has fought with it... and lived.

Spoiler

That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

 

Hopefully.

 

Well to answer your question without jest, Yes they should! Not just one but several of them rolled into a building on Coruscant which bring it all down.

 

Thermal detonators actually saw rather widespread, on-screen usage throughout the five-season run of TCW.

Like, a lot of 'em.

I recommend checking the series out. It may have been by no means perfect (and YMMV), but for me, at least, the show was just packed with far too much SW goodness to ignore.


As for Episode VII (, VIII or IX)? Sure, why not?

 

Clone Wars is canon.
Here's your answer.

 

Why not?

 

Well, none of the 6 previous Star Wars episodes (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire strikes back, or Return of the Jedi) had anyone actually explode a thermal detonator.

 

Give that a watch, folks. It's pretty fascinating.

 

Considering all of the new stuff we got with each movie you really think we won't get a thermal detonator to explode in the ST?

 

Possibly, however I really doubt they go out of their way to include it.

 

Right

 

I would rather the mystery of Leia's empty threat be maintained

 

the term thermal detonator just suggests the fact that its a grenade/bomb that works via energy conversion. it moves base parts from potential to kinetic energy by way of thermodynamic transfer from stable units into an exothermic reaction. as such, there's no reason to believe its base mechanism is any different from say, a hand grenade.

of course, the actual reaction of whatever it is powering the thermal detonator would probably be quite different from a grenade. there would be similarities: both would probably rely on a base spark -> boom type of reaction. you know the rule. if it works, don't fix it. explosives have worked the same way since we discovered them: agitation leads to reaction. no reason to assume that they would be any different in a galaxy far far away. but the detonator is different from any sort of grenade we know. grenades work off the principal of shrapnel production. there's a base reaction that breaks apart per-weakened stressor lines in an otherwise hardened shell. this produces fragmentary bits that blow apart and lodge themselves into weak and pitiful manflesh. the thermal detonator has several stressors in it, but not arranged in any pattern that would make sense for fragmentary burst. so we can rule out the hand grenade as a basic design.

the major difference between a conventional earth explosive and a thermal detonator would be in scale. the basics of moore's law, while undoubtedly different in a reaction such as this, would still apply in some manner. as time went on in the gffa, their technological capabilities would increase, while the technology itself would shrink. we see this in lightsaber design from the backpack design in the hyperspace wars to the modern self-contained tube used in the films. i mean, this is a galaxy where a hooptie the size of a morbidly obese b-52 could skirt the edges of black holes and set a new speed/distance cargo run at the same time. all bets are off in what the technology is capable of.

as such, its entirely feasable that if we were to witness a thermal detonator go off, it would provide a reaction at least as large as the average hand grenade. or something the size of a nuke. there's enough room in that orb for some fissile material and something strong enough to split it. technology would have advanced to that point. i don't think, for reasons of thematic usage, that a thermal detonator would be capable of much more, however. the reaction of the crowd in jabba's palace was enough that its denizens were scared that it would wipe them out, but not scared enough that it would wipe out everything on the planet. there would be uncontrollable panic and whatnot if that were the case.

so to answer your question: i don't ****ing know if we'll see a thermal detonator go off in e7. its anyone's guess what abrams has cooked up for us. why the hell are you asking such a specific question at this stage in the game anyways? its absurd.

 

And the Jedi Master spake, saying, "First shalt thou push forward the thumb slide trigger, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Detonator Thermal towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."

Luke then holds up the Thermal Detonator and cries out "One! Two! Five!" Han Solo corrects him: "Three, kid!" Luke then yells "Three!" and hurls the Thermal Detonator.

 

Is this music what plays when Al Quaeda's secret agent is undercover?
Anyway I think something as simple as a thermal detinator is a classic example of what was missing from the prequels. A little, great, threatening, non flashy, memorable real object that made the scene.

 

I never thought of it until now but what if Han's great death scene went like this...

Our two young heroes and Han kill the bad guy but there's a super-thermal detonator and its counting down, Han is too old and has been wounded and can't run, yelling 'run' to the other two. JB and DR take off possibly using the Force to run through the forest, the detonator counts down 3...2...1 and Han gives a weak smile 'well you wanted to be around when i messed up, looks like you're goin to miss it your highness'.

Booooooooommmm!!!! the ripple effect as the shock wave rips through the jungle flattening tree's, JB and DR are running as fast as they can as the shock wave is nearing them....and then it disippates and leaves out two young heroes breathless and laid out on the ground.

Rambo 4 meets Star Wars

 

Wait, what did Luke throw into the belly of the AT-AT, that certainly didn't look like a normal explosive?

Also did anyone hear that story of Adam from Mythbusters getting a call from theFBI when he was working on the master replicas thermal detonator

 

13:20

Based solely on the movies, the thermal detonator Leia threatened to use in RotJ was portrayed as effective in inspiring terror, to the point that it wasn't worth it for even a powerful crime lord surrounded by his minions to call her bluff. If thermal detonators are specifically referenced in the ST, I hope it's in a similar capacity, rather than as a military weapon. I'm still holding out hope that there will be a terrorist or organized crime element in the ST. They'd make a good candidate for using a thermal detonator against a major political figure or business entity to send a message.