Meh, I don't think there was any political context to this. Just a silly sight gag. I mean I love the new films but I thought it was funny at least.

Even more serious question: Do you think they'll address the whole 'kamikaze warp drive' thing in the next movie?

When that happened, my wife and I both leaned in and said "Why not just always do that?" and I know we're not the only ones. Like Star Trek's cloaking devices, that concept should totally change how ship battles are done in this universe. And I for one would welcome any upset to the usual WW2 dogfights in space—they're cool, but I've seen enough.

Yeah, a lot of us had the same question but my immediate realization was this: When you start questioning physics and tactics in star wars the whole setting it falls apart.

This is Lucas' cobbled together post Flash Gordon shit, not The Expanse.

That's fair.

Hey, is the expanse any good? I tried to watch it and the first scene is just some woman screaming in a box, so I turned it off.

Yeah I gave up early cus the gravity (or lack of) is not portrayed realistically.. I like my sci-fi hard or nuthin' !!

In 'the expanse' that is. Star wars gets a pass cus its just totally asinine flash gordon remake fantasy as has been mentioned.

The FTL kamikaze thing wasn’t even done properly.

The relativistic nuclear explosion would have killed everyone within a huge radius and probably destroyed that planet the rebels were trying to escape to, if not more. And that’s how you explain away it not being used, because it causes destruction on such a mass scale that it can almost never be used.

Nobody has answered my laser bounce questions. C'mon, nerds. I'm sure some of you read the books.

I haven't read the books but I haven't seen an example of it being done in any of the visual series even by the most badass of badasses so I'm going with it's impossible

(queue it happening in 3rd movie, probably right before this scene, thus justifying the ramming attempt)

In the expanded universe books I don't recall anyone blocking a huge ship laser blast with a lightsabre. Maybe it has to do with the effective radius of the blast vs the width of the sabre.

Going into nerd mode: the handguns and guns that are on small ships are called "blasters" and these are reflectable with a lightsabre. The large guns on capital ships are always called "turbolasers" and are not reflectable. Maybe the underlying technology is totally different.

Good... good... I can FEEL the acne growing within you... Now say the word 'mandalorian', and your journey shall be complete!

yeah, mr. shitpostingonadecadesoldinterwebsbackwater, I don't think you have any place to try feeling superior to anyone else. (other than camentante)

Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you.

Two Jar, please refer to the following for an answer to your laser question:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/tlc/Power/

TLDR, no, they can't. ::strokes beard::

"If ISDs carry 200 Turbolasers (as suggested by blueprints), then they must average around 2.5 million terawatts of sustained firepower per cannon. Of course, there are different sized cannons, some releasing less power than this, and some more. This power output is comperable to the detonation of a 595 Megaton nuclear bomb every second (per cannon). For comparison, the most powerful bomb detonated to date was rated at 50 Megatons. "

Can't block nukes.

You're saying a dinky little TIE fighter is hitting with the power of 12 nukes per second?! Wow, I honestly learned something interesting today.

Makes me wonder about those planetside battles (like Hoth) where the lasers hit the ground and just kick up a little dust. Is this the origin of the "everyone in Star Wars is actually really huge" theory?

The maths gets fuzzy when you try to apply real logic to star wars pew pew pew battles.

I think it's a little simpler; blasters have the mass and power of bullets, fighter cannons are equivalent to large caliber aircraft guns and starship cannons are equivalent to WW2 naval canons...all covered in dayglow paint.

And when you apply samurai/ninja movie logic, which I bet Lucas was familiar with, then a swordsman "can" deflect a hangun bullet but not a cannon shot.

... hey, just like Lost!

The people who were wondering how JJ Abrams, of all people, would come to salvage this fiasco of a franchise.

*Opening of Rey doing a ninja backflip over a tie-fighter flying ridiculously low to the ground*

Welp, I guess it's officially a mess. The sequels have been a ridiculously slapdash and sloppy affair from the start, it's "Design by Committee: The Series".

I just wish the characters were better in this series. Kylo is the only one I'm remotely curious to see more from, and he's the damn villain. They have a "reverse Marvel" problem, where the heroes are dry as toast.

But maybe I'm just that old and out of touch. Are people out there clamoring to find out if Rey becomes a real Jedi, or Poe learns to be a leader or whatever?

I can't say I even want to see this version of the rebellion beat this version of the empire! It just hasn't connected for me at all, and I'm not too cool for space opera blockbusters or anything. I can't put my finger on why, but I just feel no investment in these heroes. I think I cared more about Anakin and Padme, and they were in much worse movies.

The first movie had a decent setup I think.

The second movie did indeed throw away any decent setup the first made.