Classifying Star Wars: Fantasy? Science Fiction? Speculative Fiction? Space Opera?
- Thread starter fireproof78
- Start date
I think you have the argument in your... Crosshair.
It is Fantasy with a science fiction paint job.
Space Fantasy is a good description.
I described Star Trek as weak science fiction once. I started reading Science Fiction before the Original Star Trek.
"OK, Boomer"!
Space Fantasy is a good description.
I described Star Trek as weak science fiction once. I started reading Science Fiction before the Original Star Trek.
"OK, Boomer"!
A lot of science fiction is fantasy with a science fiction paint job. Scientists are wizards and aliens are elves, dwarves and trolls. And lot of SF doesn't bother with the scientific method either.It is Fantasy with a science fiction paint job.
Space Fantasy is a good description.
I described Star Trek as weak science fiction once. I started reading Science Fiction before the Original Star Trek.
"OK, Boomer"!
It wasn't actually George who planted the seed, it was this thing:
The 1978 ‘Star Wars Official Poster Magazine #4’ - I loved that thing, and wish I still had my old copy.
"The creation of an Imperial Stormtrooper. A cloned man is one of a group of genetically identical humans, an assembly-line product. He is a thinking man, but he serves a specific purpose and no other. A Clone has no mother; only his trainers, and he accepts his fate because he believes it is inevitable. A Clone is, physically and emotionally, a normal man. He simply has no human rights and no name. He is the property of the Emperor. Soldiers fully formed in the growth tanks quickly proved impractical. Scientists found themselves the befuddled fathers of 12-stone blubbering idiots. A foetus is now removed from the hatchery after a gestation period of 60 weeks and is delivered immediately into the hands of its trainers."
A few other mentions...
Adam Bray, the author of the official Star Wars resource book ‘Stormtroopers: Beyond the Armor’ (a comprehensive resource on stormtroopers both in the Star Wars universe and in the real world) states...
^ from www.starwars.com/news/how-stormtroopers-beyond-the-armor-celebrates-the-empires-soldiers
The stormtrooper head bump…
Stormtrooper bumps his head in Star Wars '77 : www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQaLuqwtl8 (a 17 second video clip)
Jango bumps his head in Attack Of The Clones : www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjK_JFwTOWE (a 25 second video clip)
^ In the audio commentary for the Attack Of The Clones DVD, George Lucas talks about the backstory of Boba and Jango…
“It wasn’t until I started working on this script that I decided to make Boba the son of the original clone. Before, he was just another clone who was, for whatever reason, had sort of broken loose from the stormtroopers. I didn’t really go into detail at that point, even in my mind, or in the backstory… other than they were connected. But early on the stormtroopers were meant to be clones.”
^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0NyOcE4z10 (at 14 mins and 40 secs into this video of the George Lucas commentary for AOTC)
the commentary then continues… and George later talks about him having Jango bump his head on the door of Slave I:-
“You know, throughout as we go through the movie there’s all these little funny moments… like Jango bumping his head… because in Star Wars (1977) one of the stormtroopers bumps in head on the door as they leave the control room on the Death Star. And I thought wouldn’t it be funny if… that’s a trait Jango has… when he put his helmet and everything, he can’t really see that well… so he is constantly bumping his head… and that trait gets cloned into all the stormtroopers. That’s why they keep bumping their heads.”
^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0NyOcE4z10 (at 21 mins and 35 secs into this video of the George Lucas commentary for AOTC)
There is also the 2002 quote in Starlog magazine #300 (pages 42-43) - from George Lucas stating…
“I always knew that stormtroopers were clones".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCqDP1wWiw - a 5 minute HelloGreedo video.
As Fireproof mentioned earlier in the thread, we have the description of stormtroopers for the 1995 'Power Of The Force' official toy line...
‘Feared throughout the galaxy, Stormtroopers are elite shock troops deployed in support of both ground forces and the Imperial fleet. Stormtroopers are unquestionably loyal to the Empire, and their unshakable military discipline has led to speculation that they may be the result of accelerated Imperial cloning experiments, although this has never been confirmed.’
Officially licensed Star Wars merchandise also contained descriptions for stormtroopers - featured in all 3 of the Original Trilogy films - as being ‘Imperial Clone Stormtroopers’…
^ The 2002-2005 ‘Star Wars Trading Card Game’ - from Wizards of the Coast:-
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Trading_Card_Game & https://swtcg.com/Cards/Details/161/Stormtrooper-Squad
There is also mention of some Imperial Officers who excelled in their careers having “the honor of becoming a clone template for future stormtrooper ranks”…
^ a screenshot taken from the Star Wars official website’s ‘Databank Page’ for Lieutenant Oicunn (9th December, 2005):-
https://web.archive.org/web/2010020...rs.com/databank/character/ltoicunn/index.html
The canon novel Tarkin (2014) includes an incident where a group of stormtroopers are seen by Moff Tarkin without their helmets. The stormtroopers are led by a clone sergeant - yet all the other troopers are non-clone recruits (Page 94)…
'When the stormtrooper operating the equipment accidentally allowed the flattened sphere to bang against the edge of the cargo hold’s retracted hatch, Vader stamped forward with his gloved hands clenched.
“I warned you to be careful!” he shouted up at the trooper.
“My apologies, Lord Vader. Wind shear from…”
“Excuses won’t suffice, Sergeant Crest,” Vader cut him off. “Perhaps you are aging too quickly to remain on active duty.”
Tarkin couldn’t make sense of the remark until he realized that Crest’s was a face he had seen countless times during the war—the face of an original Kamino clone trooper. The bare-headed others comprising Vader’s squad were human regulars who had enlisted after the war.’
The Battlefront II video game tells how after the Battle of Kamino, clones were no longer viewed favorably. It is notable that it says “cloned from a variety of templates”, implying that clones were still heavily in use:-
‘The bounty hunter left after the battle was over, he said something about tracking down a smuggler on Tatooine. After the Kamino uprising, the Emperor decided that an army of genetically identical soldiers was too susceptible to corruption. Future troopers would be cloned from a variety of templates. Though the 501st itself remained pure, the rest of the Imperial Army gradually became more and more diverse. We never really got used to the new guys.’
Also in the Battlefront II video game (2005) - the 501st Journals... that refers to events in the Original Trilogy era...
'Star Wars Battlefront II (Classic) - 501st Journal (Full) HD'...
^ an 18 minute compilation video of the 501st Journals - from StereoLyrics Tracks youtube channel.
The whole of the 501st Journals are worth a look at - especially for anyone unfamiliar with them...
501st Journal
The 501st Journal was a compiled record of journal entries written by one or more retired members of the 501st Legion. The entries summarized their most famous battles, captured the feelings of individual troopers, and traced the 501st from its origins in the Clone Wars to its development as...
starwars.fandom.com
www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/8dd8bh/the_501st_journal_in_the_original_battlefront_2/ (plus check out the original version of 'the Kamino journal').
And on a tangent...
As something that may be of interest to some of us fans is that Lando Calrissian was originally written as being a clone - in the 1st draft script for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (circa February 1978) - by Leigh Brackett…
You'll Never Believe Who Star Wars' First Clone Actually Was
Who Star Wars' first clone was will shock you.
screenrant.com
^ Empire Strike Back’s 1st draft script, by Leigh Brackett: www.starwarz.com/starkiller/the-empire-strikes-back-first-draft-by-leigh-brackett-transcript (the early drafts of the films are always worth a read through
)
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Goodness that's a lot. Amazing.
See? Sci-fi stuff.
OMG that's the dumbest... Well, we ARE talking about Attack of the Clones, so it's a wide selection. But still, really really dumb.
I did know that one actually.
See? Sci-fi stuff.
Lucas: well, you see, there's no bras in space.
Isn't that what he told Carrie?
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