SW Reactor and Power Page

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SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:03 pm

http://www.st-v-sw.net/STSWimpower.html

Looking for reviews/editing help/comments. This is the result of me finding a pretty old page, thinking I could polish it up and tie up a few loose ends, and have done with it.

The way it actually turned out was that very little of the page is the original content, none of the original content is in the same place, and the whole thing's basically been re-written, re-edited, re-done, revised, reworked, recalculated time and again, and of course repaired because Kompozer is a little flaky with some things.

It's taken days upon days. And I don't even know how long I spent on the original years ago, but there was a lot in the original page, too. Now it's this humungaloid monstrosity covering everything from fusion to ion engines to ship's power distribution and even some speculations on possible ISD fuel range.

In short, it ended up a fairly comprehensive look, and while I like being comprehensive this is just ridiculous.

I'm basically tired of looking at it at this point, to be honest. I'm really quite exhaustipated. But before I completely release it, I figured I'd let you guys take a crack at it and see if I have any glaring errors, abnormal conclusions, or just completely weird non sequiturs. Hopefully anything found is simply the result of incessant editing, but if there's something that just breaks logic I hope you see it, because at present whenever I look at this page my brain glazes over (not just my eyes).

Thank you in advance for your time.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:13 pm

Hell, no wonder I'm tired . . . the text alone is 22 pages per the print preview. The Star Wars Canon Overview monstrosity is only 3 more than that. Bloody hell.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by Jedi Master Spock » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:08 pm

Nice. I of course disagree with some of your analysis - there being no cheats is central to my analysis and part and parcel of my conclusions for both SW and ST technology - but nothing really jumped out at me.

What I would suggest with this is actually breaking it down into sub-articles on different pages. You could have practically the exact same content, but by breaking down the essay into linked topic briefs (putting on different pages what's currently on different bookmarks within the page), you increase the chance of people reading through to the conclusions.

They may only review the parts they're curious about, but argumentatively, it's probably a better technique.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:04 pm

I would prefer not to have to deal with the cheats either, but I can't see any other way around it.

For example, your recent "big picture" model post gives X-wings reactors of a certain power based on getting to orbit via Newton-style energy requirements, but once that's done nothing else about the ship makes sense. The wee little pew-pew guns and limited acceleration abilities in open space just mess it all up. I don't like it, either, but I don't see an obvious solution other than to allow that, just as hyperdrive allows lightspeed without infinite levels of energy, and just as the Death Star makes Alderaan go boom with a beam powered by its fusion reactor, antigravs allow gravity well exit without Newtonian levels of energy.

At that point, many problems are rectified. Are new problems made? Probably so. But the technology relevant to the stories makes more sense, in my view. That is to say, I'm trying to let the canon lead me more than remaining fixated on modern scientific reasoning.

And of course the canon doesn't make perfect sense, scientifically. Not only is it sci-fi, but it's all Hollywood sci-fi. Almost nobody in Hollywood knows science anymore. So we either deal with the canon as it is . . . as it presents itself . . . or we dismiss it as the work of drug-addled minds like those of Brannon Braga. The problem with Wong or Saxton . . . the point of logical departure . . . is that they look at the movie for a minute, then go all scientific (or pseudo-scientific), to the point that they actively ignore the canon. That defeats the purpose, to me.

But I digress.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by Mr. Oragahn » Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:03 am

I assume you're basing your observations on the scholastic reference of the old rules of canon, since the new ones clearly seem to put any secondary input in the movie novelizations at the same level as any EU data. Plus, I'm not sure the purist canon of late, acknowledge by LFL people, actually encompasses anything else outside of the movies and only the movies.

The piece of script you cite in "III. Fuelling the Reactors .A" is contradicted by the movie, iirc. It's followed by the Invisible Hand's belly suffering from some gaping hole after the main explosion occurred. However, in the movie, not such damage was ever seen.
It seems to be fairly acrobatic to consider that the explosion did occur, but didn't blow a piece of the hull out. I'm not saying it's impossible though, but more thinking is required.

I'll notice that in Rookies, blowing up the fuel didn't result in a massive WMD-style obliteration of the outpost.

Besides, Reactor Power Requirements should be part IV, not III.
I'm glad someone has finally put caps of this sequence online. I was tired of writing entire pages to describe what happened by observing my miserable LQ SE edition.
Also, notice on the last frame of the A.1. sub section, ISD sploding, that we can actually see the tower.

As for a Star Destroyer deceleration, in TCWS season 1, I remember seeing a Venator coming from the upper right angle of the screen braking, and it's quite higher than the deceleration suggested by the beached whale crash of TESB.
Then again, it's a cartoonish CGI show, with characters moving unnaturally at times, so I don't expect anyone to really take this show that seriously except for the global picture. This is notably why I wouldn't rely on your calculations about accel from TCWS, no matter how correct they may be.

On a side note, I find it interesting to note that WH40K's promethium suffers from the same problem. It's clearly a flammable liquid, and a petrochemical substance. It's used to power at least the smaller starships.

Notice that in the EU, several sources give starfighters fission engines (not the power core). The Star Wars Journals are one of them.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:52 pm

Besides, Reactor Power Requirements should be part IV, not III.
Good catch! I've fixed it. Thanks!
Mr. Oragahn wrote:I assume you're basing your observations on the scholastic reference of the old rules of canon, since the new ones clearly seem to put any secondary input in the movie novelizations at the same level as any EU data. Plus, I'm not sure the purist canon of late, acknowledge by LFL people, actually encompasses anything else outside of the movies and only the movies.
Lucas personally line-edits the movie novelizations, doing so up to RotS. The TCW film novelization was not edited in that way.

“I am the father of our Star Wars movie world - the filmed entertainment, the features and now the animated film and television series,” he says. “And I’m going to do a live-action television series. Those are all things I am very involved in: I set them up and I train the people and I go through them all. I’m the father; that’s my work. Then we have the licensing group, which does the games, toys and books, and all that other stuff. I call that the son - and the son does pretty much what he wants.” He laughs. “Once in a while, they ask a question like ‘Can we kill off Yoda?’, things like that, but it’s very loose."

‘‘Everything in the father's world is consistent, mainly because I know it so well,'' he says

"Well, there's, the-, we say, we say that there's, there's three pillars of Star Wars. One is, uh, the features and the, and the films, and what I do, that comes from me.

"Now these three different pillars don't always match, but the movies and TV shows are all under my control and they are consistent within themselves."

Lucas does not specifically mention the movie novelizations. However, his behavior toward them compared to EU stuff indicates that they receive a different treatment both perspective-wise and activity-wise. And the scripts naturally follow, especially for someone as hands-on as Lucas.
The piece of script you cite in "III. Fuelling the Reactors .A" is contradicted by the movie, iirc. It's followed by the Invisible Hand's belly suffering from some gaping hole after the main explosion occurred. However, in the movie, not such damage was ever seen.

It seems to be fairly acrobatic to consider that the explosion did occur, but didn't blow a piece of the hull out. I'm not saying it's impossible though, but more thinking is required.
There's no contradiction here. It's a big ship, and "great explosion" hardly demands that such-and-such percentage of hull within the camera's field of vision be missing.

The reality is that the midsection explosion preceding the ship breaking in half was originally this effect, from what I understand, though that doesn't make sense since their course from the hangar bay to the upper tower structure should've taken them aft of the bay, not forward.

In any case, though, since we do not know where we are looking, what the ship was supposed to look like, and we do not clearly see the ship from every angle, it is not impossible that an explosion occurred. I'm not sure we ever see the starboard aft 'fender' of the ship, for instance, save for in the distance during the Republic Venator broadside.

And after all, the damage to the ship from the Republic Venator cannonade was not clearly visible (if at all) in later scenes.

So, no, there's no contradiction or acrobatics required.
I'll notice that in Rookies, blowing up the fuel didn't result in a massive WMD-style obliteration of the outpost.
1. It did blow the **** out of the outpost, to the point that the structure collapsed and such. Whether that was secondary explosions or what is unclear.

2. Why would you expect or require WMD-style obliteration, anyway? They put a detonator on tibanna. That doesn't mean fusion. It's a flammable liquid.
Also, notice on the last frame of the A.1. sub section, ISD sploding, that we can actually see the tower.
Ah, correct. I'd been losing it in the sparky flamy stuff. I'd noticed the corner of the ship, but not the tower. Will amend.
As for a Star Destroyer deceleration, in TCWS season 1, I remember seeing a Venator coming from the upper right angle of the screen braking, and it's quite higher than the deceleration suggested by the beached whale crash of TESB.
If so then I've missed it. Got a firmer reference?
This is notably why I wouldn't rely on your calculations about accel from TCWS, no matter how correct they may be.
Your choice. I don't consider the information as highly as I do the films, and make allowances for stylistic requirements, but it is canon.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:10 pm

Fixed the text around the exploding tower.

Old:
The Empire Strikes Back also appears to feature an ISD reactor overload. The incident occurs during a short-range near-broadside match against a Mon Calamari Rebel cruiser. Two heavy Mon Cal shots miss the ISD completely, but a smaller third shot does hit the area of the bridge tower at about the same time the main hull superstructure suffers a massive explosion. The center of the ship thus in flames, the four portside heavy turbolaser batteries explode, followed by detonations apparently from the ventral bulb structure and the hangar areas forward of that. Within two seconds almost the entire vessel is covered in explosion and flame, at which point the scene changes. While the event appears quite destructive, the portside aft corner of the ship is still visible, seemingly intact and unmoved, though this might not have lasted long. However, the nature of the event leaves the idea that the ship will end up a burning hulk rather than an exploding mass of vapor.
New:
Return of the Jedi also appears to feature an ISD reactor overload. The incident occurs during a short-range near-broadside match against a Mon Calamari Rebel cruiser. Two heavy Mon Cal shots miss the ISD completely, but a smaller third shot does hit the area of the bridge tower at about the same time the main hull superstructure suffers a massive explosion. The center of the ship thus in flames, the four portside heavy turbolaser batteries explode, followed by detonations apparently from the ventral bulb structure and the hangar areas forward of that. Within two seconds almost the entire vessel is covered in explosion and flame, at which point the scene changes. While the event appears quite destructive, the portside aft corner of the ship is still visible, seemingly intact and unmoved. More remarkably, the bridge tower and most of the superstructure beneath it is also visible through the darker orange flames. To be sure, we cut away so quickly that the vessel may yet have torn itself apart, but the nature of the event strongly suggests that the ship will end up a burning hulk rather than an exploding mass of vapor or debris.

Compare the bridge tower's survival here to the asteroid incident that sheared off the bridge tower of another ISD in TESB.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by Jedi Master Spock » Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:38 pm

2046 wrote:I would prefer not to have to deal with the cheats either, but I can't see any other way around it.

For example, your recent "big picture" model post gives X-wings reactors of a certain power based on getting to orbit via Newton-style energy requirements, but once that's done nothing else about the ship makes sense. The wee little pew-pew guns and limited acceleration abilities in open space just mess it all up.
Actually, that peak figure is based on the more generous hyper limit figures, but Newtonian thrust from the ion engines lines up reasonably with it. 100 TJ/kg would correspond to a little under 5% of lightspeed if you take that and convert it straight to kinetic energy.

Let's say you burn 0.1 kg/sec of fusion fuel and turn it into propellant with perfect efficiency. Unless I made a mistake punching that into my calculator, it's exiting at about 14 million meters/second, which means you have 1.4 million kg m/s of momentum going that way each second, which is a 1.4 million newton. If the X-Wing comes in at 27 tons, that corresponds to 50 g thrust from ion engines, which happens to be right in the zone in which many "Point A to point B" movie incidents intersect.

Now, you would be able to get that acceleration much more efficiently with an antigravity engine that directly converts energy into velocity by pushing/pulling "against" a planet's gravity field, but that does let something like an X-Wing pull 50 g sustained thrust on ion engines. Which is a capability we might want for the ANH attack run.

Yes, the guns look not especially energetic in comparison to that - but that's a common problem in SFX, and I don't think the documentarian approach is very good. (There's also the open question of how powerful they are relative to the reactor; 1 terawatt "effective" firepower pushes the limits for an X-Wing even including ~1-10 terajoule proton torpedoes.)

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:53 pm

Where do fighters need 50g ion drives in the films? All the Death Star fights were exclusively within antigrav environments. I figure they could get away with half that, though I suppose that's within the realm of efficiency possibilities given the figures in that last post. I rather doubt they can outperform the Falcon by a factor of two or more.

(It's my working hypothesis that SW antigravs allow for extreme improvement over ion drive systems within six planetary diameters, probably still not to Trek levels of maneuverability but far superior to what they can do in open space.)

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by Mr. Oragahn » Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:01 pm

2046 wrote:Lucas personally line-edits the movie novelizations, doing so up to RotS.
Why is this not acknowledged by Chee, and why doesn't it seem to affect LFL's canon hierarchy's much?
The TCW film novelization was not edited in that way.
So it would be more EU-like, since still based on the script, but not checked by Lucas?
“I am the father of our Star Wars movie world - the filmed entertainment, the features and now the animated film and television series,” he says. “And I’m going to do a live-action television series. Those are all things I am very involved in: I set them up and I train the people and I go through them all. I’m the father; that’s my work. Then we have the licensing group, which does the games, toys and books, and all that other stuff. I call that the son - and the son does pretty much what he wants.” He laughs. “Once in a while, they ask a question like ‘Can we kill off Yoda?’, things like that, but it’s very loose."

‘‘Everything in the father's world is consistent, mainly because I know it so well,'' he says

"Well, there's, the-, we say, we say that there's, there's three pillars of Star Wars. One is, uh, the features and the, and the films, and what I do, that comes from me.

"Now these three different pillars don't always match, but the movies and TV shows are all under my control and they are consistent within themselves."

Lucas does not specifically mention the movie novelizations. However, his behavior toward them compared to EU stuff indicates that they receive a different treatment both perspective-wise and activity-wise. And the scripts naturally follow, especially for someone as hands-on as Lucas.
What are those features?
There's no contradiction here. It's a big ship, and "great explosion" hardly demands that such-and-such percentage of hull within the camera's field of vision be missing.

The reality is that the midsection explosion preceding the ship breaking in half was originally this effect, from what I understand, though that doesn't make sense since their course from the hangar bay to the upper tower structure should've taken them aft of the bay, not forward.

In any case, though, since we do not know where we are looking, what the ship was supposed to look like, and we do not clearly see the ship from every angle, it is not impossible that an explosion occurred. I'm not sure we ever see the starboard aft 'fender' of the ship, for instance, save for in the distance during the Republic Venator broadside.

And after all, the damage to the ship from the Republic Venator cannonade was not clearly visible (if at all) in later scenes.

So, no, there's no contradiction or acrobatics required.
Doesn't the rest of the script that follows actually says that the explosion was huge. I know one source says it, so if it's not the script, it's the novelization. I even think that the in cut off material, there was quick pre-render of the explosion seen from outside.
I'm sure there were images for that sequence.
1. It did blow the **** out of the outpost, to the point that the structure collapsed and such. Whether that was secondary explosions or what is unclear.
2. Why would you expect or require WMD-style obliteration, anyway? They put a detonator on tibanna. That doesn't mean fusion. It's a flammable liquid.
My point is that despite the volume of tibanna that's blown up, it's nowhere close to the energy density argued by some people, as simple as that.
But anyway, globally, all of TCWS, except Invisible Hand's crash onto a moon, points to low magnitudes in anything, from shields to ranges to firepower and so on.
The abilities of laser swords really stick out.
If so then I've missed it. Got a firmer reference?
Unfortunately, no. I just know it's from season 1, and it's rather quick. But the good aspect of it is that the Venator in question is not far in the background. I recall it took a fifth of the screen, upper right portion. Yes, right side, coming from the right and suddenly decelerating as its bow "touches" the centre of the screen.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:33 pm

Mr. Oragahn wrote:
2046 wrote:Lucas personally line-edits the movie novelizations, doing so up to RotS.
Why is this not acknowledged by Chee, and why doesn't it seem to affect LFL's canon hierarchy's much?
"Regarding The Clone Wars movie novelization, these were done a bit differently than our prequel trilogy novels (I'm not exactly sure how it was handled in the OT novels). For the prequel trilogy novels, each of the authors met directly with George Lucas to discuss story points and character motivations. The Clone Wars is more of an interpretation of the movie script (actually more like a hybrid of the individual episodic scripts which make up the movie including scenes that were done for the episodes but were cut from the movie as well as scenes that were created specifically for the movie that weren't in the individual episodes). There also wasn't any direct contact this time around between the novelization author and George Lucas or the writers and director."

- Leland Chee, LLP continuity database admin, Aug. 2008 - post from the "Holocron database continuity questions" thread at the StarWars.com forums

"Not only has Mr. Lucas succeeded in tying together the entire six-film cycle (and elegantly, too), but I've managed to weave in a significant amount of the Expanded Universe material in as well -- having started in the Star Wars realm as an EU author, after all. I was really trying to bring the whole Star Wars Universe together in this story, and while Mr. Lucas, in his line-edit, decided to excise a fair amount of the EU material, he also left a fair amount of it in... so I guess that makes whatever's left just a hair short of ”G canon,” for all the purists out there."

"As I said above, part of my aim here was to create a novel that would work as part of the EU as well as a companion piece to the film."

- Matthew Stover, Author (Ep3 and EU) and EU Guerrilla, Mar 2005 - "Inside Del Rey's Episode III Library" on StarWars.com
What are those features?
The films, I presume . . . Lucas is difficult to transcribe. He speaks in a very flow-of-consciousness manner, so someone might've put an "and" (or "an'") instead of an "uh"/"um"/"er"/"erm"/whatever.
Doesn't the rest of the script that follows actually says that the explosion was huge. I know one source says it, so if it's not the script, it's the novelization.
I don't see anything to that effect, nor recall anything. The script doesn't give any suggestion of additional relevance of the explosion . . . the novelization might, but I don't see it on a quick perusal. I'll read through it at length soon.
My point is that despite the volume of tibanna that's blown up, it's nowhere close to the energy density argued by some people, as simple as that.
Like for combustion?
But anyway, globally, all of TCWS, except Invisible Hand's crash onto a moon, points to low magnitudes in anything, from shields to ranges to firepower and so on.
The abilities of laser swords really stick out.
Quite true. I forgot to mention the Hand's event on the page, in order to show that hyperspace entry and exit do seem to involve realspace velocity for some of the event.
If so then I've missed it. Got a firmer reference?
Unfortunately, no. I just know it's from season 1, and it's rather quick. But the good aspect of it is that the Venator in question is not far in the background. I recall it took a fifth of the screen, upper right portion. Yes, right side, coming from the right and suddenly decelerating as its bow "touches" the centre of the screen.
Well crap. Now I'm gonna find myself rewatching season one. Not that it would be torture, but that's like 11 hours of stuff. You bastard. ;-)

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by Mr. Oragahn » Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:33 am

2046 wrote:
Mr. Oragahn wrote: Why is this not acknowledged by Chee, and why doesn't it seem to affect LFL's canon hierarchy's much?
"Regarding The Clone Wars movie novelization, these were done a bit differently than our prequel trilogy novels (I'm not exactly sure how it was handled in the OT novels). For the prequel trilogy novels, each of the authors met directly with George Lucas to discuss story points and character motivations. The Clone Wars is more of an interpretation of the movie script (actually more like a hybrid of the individual episodic scripts which make up the movie including scenes that were done for the episodes but were cut from the movie as well as scenes that were created specifically for the movie that weren't in the individual episodes). There also wasn't any direct contact this time around between the novelization author and George Lucas or the writers and director."

- Leland Chee, LLP continuity database admin, Aug. 2008 - post from the "Holocron database continuity questions" thread at the StarWars.com forums

"Not only has Mr. Lucas succeeded in tying together the entire six-film cycle (and elegantly, too), but I've managed to weave in a significant amount of the Expanded Universe material in as well -- having started in the Star Wars realm as an EU author, after all. I was really trying to bring the whole Star Wars Universe together in this story, and while Mr. Lucas, in his line-edit, decided to excise a fair amount of the EU material, he also left a fair amount of it in... so I guess that makes whatever's left just a hair short of ”G canon,” for all the purists out there."

"As I said above, part of my aim here was to create a novel that would work as part of the EU as well as a companion piece to the film."

- Matthew Stover, Author (Ep3 and EU) and EU Guerrilla, Mar 2005 - "Inside Del Rey's Episode III Library" on StarWars.com
The M. Stover quote is interesting in that he acknowledges that his material is NOT G canon, but somehow close to it. If we were to find equivalent on the canon ladder, it would be something hybrid like material acknowledged by Lucas, somehow T canon style, but not made by him, and actually falling one step below T canon as well. It's complicated actually. Especially since at that time, there was no T layer, and thus all non G canon would fall into the EU category.

We can see that the movie novelization authors were very involved with Lucas in the creation of the material, and that comes from Chee, which doesn't help in light of what he formerly said:
"Are novelisations of the films considered G-level or C-level material?
In a nutshell, anything created by the author would be C-level. Anything in the the novels created by George Lucas (whether it comes from unpublished early script versions, unpublished author interviews with George, or George's revisions to the novelization manuscript) would be G-level unless contradicted by the films.
http://www.canonwars.com/SWCanonquotes2 ... e-Holocron
"And all G level would mean GL himself checks over it right?
G-level canon has nothing to do with GL checking over anything. It's anything that can be taken from the films or internal notes from him which can come from discussions, early drafts, or comments on GL-approved text.
http://www.canonwars.com/SWCanonquotes2 ... andEUoverG

Clearly, Chee was actually stuck in some kind of contradiction. In the first quote, there is no doubt that the novelization's G content is not what any novelization author added by himself.
In the second quote, Chee starts saying that G material has nothing with GL checking over anything, yet ends saying that G canon encompasses several things, including comments on GL-approved text, making the comments canon, much likely commments from GL himself on any text he formerly approved, which would obviously make such texts G canon as well first. And by definition, anything approved is something that's been checked over first.

That's why things appear messy.
Doesn't the rest of the script that follows actually says that the explosion was huge. I know one source says it, so if it's not the script, it's the novelization.
I don't see anything to that effect, nor recall anything. The script doesn't give any suggestion of additional relevance of the explosion . . . the novelization might, but I don't see it on a quick perusal. I'll read through it at length soon.
So the script ends there? There is no description, seen from outside, of the consequences of that explosion?
My point is that despite the volume of tibanna that's blown up, it's nowhere close to the energy density argued by some people, as simple as that.
Like for combustion?
No, more like for claimed terawatt power production for small crafts based on that same fuel, weapons and so on, up to greater numbers. What I mean is that with the size of the containers, ICS logic would dictate that their destruction would have left a large crater on the flank of the mountain.

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Re: SW Reactor and Power Page

Post by 2046 » Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:27 am

Mr. Oragahn wrote:The M. Stover quote is interesting in that he acknowledges that his material is NOT G canon, but somehow close to it. If we were to find equivalent on the canon ladder, it would be something hybrid like material acknowledged by Lucas, somehow T canon style, but not made by him, and actually falling one step below T canon as well. It's complicated actually. Especially since at that time, there was no T layer, and thus all non G canon would fall into the EU category.

{...}

That's why things appear messy.
It's vastly less confusing if you just ignore the GTCSN RSTLNE whatever altogether. Lucas's "parallel universe"/pillars statements are not dictated by Chee's Holocron rankings, so I never really think in terms of Chee when pondering canonicity unless it relates specifically to intra-EU stuff.
Doesn't the rest of the script that follows actually says that the explosion was huge. I know one source says it, so if it's not the script, it's the novelization.
I don't see anything to that effect, nor recall anything. The script doesn't give any suggestion of additional relevance of the explosion . . . the novelization might, but I don't see it on a quick perusal. I'll read through it at length soon.
So the script ends there? There is no description, seen from outside, of the consequences of that explosion?
I've got Scene 18 quoted already. Here's the text:
17 INT. GENERATOR ROOM -- TRADE FEDERATION CRUISER

The fuel hits the SPARKING power discharger, and there is a HUGE EXPLOSION.

18 EXT. TRADE FEDERATION CRUISER -- BATTLE

A GREAT EXPLOSION and a flaming gas cloud spray out of the side of the Federation Cruiser.

19 INT. HALLWAY -- TRADE FEDERATION CRUISER

A large bulge appears in the wall around the sealed hatch as the EXPLOSION hits. OBI-WAN jumps back, then stands amazed.

Obi-Wan: All right, you win. I have much to learn. Let's go!

ANAKIN grins at OBI-WAN, and they run down the hallway.
In the movie, they land, cut down droids, have the "spring the trap" conversation, and head out. The next thing we see is Grievous, IIRC, and their encounter with destroyer droids, and their entry into an elevator full of battle droids.

In the script, they land, cut down droids, have the "spring the trap" conversation, and head out. Then they fight super battle droids, end up in the room with leaking fuel, and escape the room. Then they encounter destroyers immediately after the explosion. The rest of the script proceeds normally. And the Grievous scene happens somewhere in there, too.

So in other words, it is a scene that had little real bearing on the remaining action. Another action scene is also cut, regarding their re-traversing of the landing bay.

The novelization merely describes a "preposterous farce-chase" and "more low comedy business" as it describes Dooku's impatient wait for his supposed capture, as planned.
What I mean is that with the size of the containers, ICS logic would dictate that their destruction would have left a large crater on the flank of the mountain.
Ahhh, gotcha now. I thought you were trying to say the tibanna should've undergone fusion when detonated so as to become a WMD or something.

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