My point is really that there’s an inconsistency that’s all. If I am honest, a ship moving faster than light should absolutely obliterate anything it collides with, even an x-wing. A ship at that speed is essentially performing the same function as a slug fired from a railgun (Halo MAC cannons, railguns in Mass Effect). But there’s clearly a reason in Star Wars, albeit unexplained, why they don’t and why it doesn’t work. And it’s shown not to work in Rogue One. However based on what we see in Last Jedi, something like a cruiser should have absolutely destroyed the… Read more »

I am appealing to real world physics (and indeed logic) because real world physics and logic still apply. Whilst there’s obviously lore that implies the denizens of the galaxy far far away have mastered other areas of science that we have not and can work around some of those physical laws, there’s no evidence that any of the physical laws as we understand them don’t apply. It’s called verisimilitude, without it stories tend to be less relatable and believable. But like I said, the only thing I am really pointing out is that it’s a massive inconsistency. My point isn’t… Read more »

Of course there’s an inconsistency, the inconsistency of why something like has never been tried before. Ramming has been part of naval warfare here for centuries, millennia even, so it stands to reason that they would be well aware of such a tactic and that speed and mass play a huge part in its effectiveness. If it were indeed possible to perform a hyperspace collision/ram it WOULD have been tried before. What we actually see in TLJ with the hyperspace collision is inconsistent with what has gone before. There’s never been an example of it happening and so it is… Read more »

The inconsistency isn’t the trying of something new, it’s the lack of explanation as to why it works now when it hasn’t worked in the past. Ramming is neither a subtle nor complex so why hasn’t it been done before? That’s the inconsistency.

The Hammerhead rams at sub-lightspeed hence it doesn’t do the same damage. Lower speed = lower kinetic energy. None of your explanation about hyperspace ramming is invalid, but there’s nothing in your explanation that was impossible in all of the preceding films. The technology required to perform a hyperspace ram in TLJ is the same as that available throughout all star wars films. It’s also exactly the kind of thing you would develop a computer algorithm for (or use a droid to perform). It’s always been possible to do, so why hasn’t it? By not doing it on film before… Read more »

All of the other things you claim are playing fast and loose are believable because of either our acceptance of the existence of the Force or the technology gap as shown in the film. They are also all consistent between films. Fixed Length Laser Swords – sure we don’t know how to make one but it is conceivable that a society as far ahead technologically as Star Wars might just know a thing or two about science that we don’t. So we accept it as possible. Crucially though, light sabres are consistent throughout all films, the only noticeable differences being… Read more »

Not a sensible tactic, a desperate tactic. The sort of tactic you might use when you have very few options available. Were the Reb… Resistance desperate in TLJ? Yes. Was this the most desperate situation we have ever seen in a Star Wars film? No. I would argue Yavin was more desperate and also time constrained. If Hyperspace Ramming were a plausible, if somewhat desperate, tactic then Yavin was the place to do it. With only a small window of opportunity to destroy the Death Star before it fires and destor the entire Rebel Alliance, if you had two options,… Read more »

No its not. In fact when the Raddus rams the supremacy there isn’t an explosion as such. The Raddus disintegrates and the Supremacy is cut in two, it is disabled but it doesn’t actually explode. Flying straight through the centre if the Death Star would probably cause an explosion though, of the exact same magnitude as detonating it via a proton torpedo. https://i2.wp.com/qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-04ae3cbd0b63770483f021e9b7c34334 Not the size of explosion I would expect. Not an explosion at all really. This really isn’t about trying something new, it’s about why something as simple as a high speed ramming manoeuvre is considered “new” in… Read more »

It sems to me that it affects exactly the amount of space that you would expect from two ships colliding at high speed. It doesn’t seem to either explode or implode, it breaks up on impact, much like an aircraft does when it crashes. I also totally disagree that writers are limited purely to what has been seen before. Introducing new things is both desirable and necessary but they have to be explained, especially if they appear to contradict previous films. TLJ fails to do this on a number of occasions. Star Wars has never necessarily tried to be physics… Read more »

@Warzan I suspect that there’s a few things that are a lot more difficult in future. As well as hyperspace ramming now being a reality in Star Wars, the whole “tracking through Hyperspace” (another Deus Ex Machina moment) means that suddenly the Reb… Resistance can no longer use hit and run tactics, the Emp… First Order will know exactly where they flee to and just follow them. So I suspect that the Reb… Resistance are going to have to science up some kind of tech doobery to disguise their Hyperspace trails or something. Which in turn mostly just undermines the… Read more »

There is possibility that either Force Projection was lost force ability (there are lot of lost or forbidden force abilities) that Luke had to learn from writings that he discovered during his journey to seek lost knowledge of Jedi or it’s too dangerous force ability to use unless user is willing to sacrifice himself or herself. I am not sure if it was explained in one of novels so I can only speculate possible reason why that was first time that we know of it was used. No one seems to complain about any other Force Abilities that Jedi and… Read more »

There’s lots of possibilities for everything, that’s not the issue. Golden rule of film is Show, don’t tell. TLJ does neither, it just leaves game changing events and actions unexplained. And that’s the issue, it does so many things without even telling how or why they’re only possible now despite everything we have seen in previous films suggesting they have always been possible, they just haven’t been done. The issue, a total lack of exposition or explanation about any of those things.

And yet, despite having better things to do, here you are. It’s obviously important enough for you to hold and voice an opinion. And none of your potential explanations of why Rey might be as highly skilled and competent are mostly speculation, don’t explain everything (piloting, really?) nor do they actually stop her being a Mary Sue. It’s a bit like superman – it’s right there in the lore why he’s basically invincible. He’s still boring and he’s still a Garry Stu. Rey has no flaws, no fallibility and experiences no real struggle. All of the best characters are flawed… Read more »

The issue with Force Projection is that it seems to run counter to anything that’s happened before but it’s also just lazy. Like, we want Luke to refuse to travel with Rey but still be there to save the day. It’s Deus Ex Machina. It’s basically breaking with precedent set in previous films for no reason other than to service bad writing. Much like the Hyperspace Ramming.