Star Wars question??

[MeanJoePhaser]

It's just plastic...why would it stop anything? Really, guys in black tights covered with white plastic.

Also, we saw the stun setting used on Leia. No other shots from "blasters" resemble that afterwards.

 

[Nedersong]

Also, if the blasters fire some sort of plasma, which may be the case, why would that armor stop it?

About the only thing, at least that I know of, that can stop or manage plasma is a magnetic shield of some kind.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a show,
I should really just relax"

Your son has a great future in sci-fi nitpicking.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Also, if the blasters fire some sort of plasma, which may be the case, why would that armor stop it?

About the only thing, at least that I know of, that can stop or manage plasma is a magnetic shield of some kind.

Well, if the armour generates magnetic fields, which I would gather deflect/refract glancing blows rather than actually having real stopping power, which would have to double as making sure that the clones are sterilizing the clones because you'd have to wonder what would/will happen dwn the line when 2 million people with identical DNA start having children in proximity that hundreds of thousands of halfbrother and halfsister teenagers a decade later start going through puberty together without actually knowing much anything about their familial relations till it's too late.

Their babies will have 7 toes and one eye if they're lucky.

 

[Harvey]

A scene in the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight trilogy of books explains this. It is used to soften the blow of a spear, and, also (I conjecture) to install fear. And they had to come up with some way to explain how wimpy the armor is in the movie.

 

[Ethros]

While on the topic of stormtroopers, after the prequels I take it all the stormtroopers in IV-VI are meant to be clones of Jango Fett, just as the clonetroopers in II-III are?
Just they renamed themselves and changed their outfits a little?

Just wondered. And also if so why for the 2004 DVDs did Lucas change the voice of Boba Fett to Temuera Morrison's, but not the voices of the stormtroopers?

 

[Lindley]

While on the topic of stormtroopers, after the prequels I take it all the stormtroopers in IV-VI are meant to be clones of Jango Fett, just as the clonetroopers in II-III are?

I have no idea what Lucas was thinking there, but enough of the EU stories rely on clones being largely a thing of the past that I'm inclined to suppose most of the Stormtroopers are *not* clones anymore.

Cloning an army made sense when you needed it fast, and didn't have the political leverage to start conscription. Once the Grand Army is firmly established, it seems much cheaper to just refill the ranks with normal humans who either volunteer or are conscripted. Sure, you've got to train them, but they last longer----the rapid aging problem would cause complete turnover of a clone army every 10 years, even without combat losses.

There may have been a few elite clone units during the OT, of course.

 

[Guy Gardener]

the "You're a little short for a stormtrooper line" from New Hope had been seen as evidence that they were always supposed to be clones by the conspiracy minded well before attack of the clones.

Getting back to my thoughts on incest... if the Morrison was being used generation after generation, eventually not only would his children be doing it by accident, but he himself would be in situations where he would be making love to his own children from a genetic perspective if didn't properly vet his lovers.

Unless they're sterile, it's just far too dangerous to the population base to keep... besides, from what Jango said... They said that they had to keep taking samples from him to make the army they had in the second movie, and we know it's also bad to continually clone clones too.

 

[Lindley]

the "You're a little short for a stormtrooper line" from New Hope had been seen as evidence that they were always supposed to be clones by the conspiracy minded well before attack of the clones.

True, but by the same token, no one seemed shocked to hear Luke's voice coming from the trooper helmet, and he sounds nothing like the other stormies. I've always attributed that line to the fact that the armor just doesn't fit Luke very well.

Unless they're sterile

They aren't.

 

[Guy Gardener]

We're dealing in uncertainties here, and Jango needed to have a clone grown fro him to raise and nurture since he didn't or couldn't have a baby the good old fashion way, so there's no confirmation that patient zero could have fathered kids, which if so would be marvelous criteria for being a donor.

Considering how adaptive AI is, and life like, I've been curious about why tthe clones just throw themselves so carelessly into barrages of blaster fire as if they didn't care if they lived or died? The battle scenes in the movie looked like something out of Lord fo the Rings of brave heart. It's not how sensible people fight. Were they bred with special retardation in their intellect to guantee loyalty and selflessness? Are the clones alive and real with legal rights?

 

[P0sitr0nic]

While on the topic of stormtroopers, after the prequels I take it all the stormtroopers in IV-VI are meant to be clones of Jango Fett, just as the clonetroopers in II-III are?
Just they renamed themselves and changed their outfits a little?

Just wondered. And also if so why for the 2004 DVDs did Lucas change the voice of Boba Fett to Temuera Morrison's, but not the voices of the stormtroopers?

No, they were engineered to grow 2x as fast, by the time of ANH, almost all those clones would be old men. By the time of the Empire, they simply recruited troopers.

 

[Venardhi]

the "You're a little short for a stormtrooper line" from New Hope had been seen as evidence that they were always supposed to be clones by the conspiracy minded well before attack of the clones.

True, but by the same token, no one seemed shocked to hear Luke's voice coming from the trooper helmet, and he sounds nothing like the other stormies. I've always attributed that line to the fact that the armor just doesn't fit Luke very well.

We can assume that the standards for Stormtrooper recruitment were strict enough that Luke's less than imposing 5'8" stature would eliminate him from serving as one. We certainly see variation amongst them though in the OT, but perhaps the cutoff was 5'10" or higher, and so him being a couple inches shorter (and with an ill-fitting set of armor) it was noticable.

 

[Dream]

No. The Stormtroopers were just normal guys in the OT.

 

[Guy Gardener]

No. The Stormtroopers were just normal guys in the OT.

How can you be so absolutely certain? I didn't think they were clones when watching the original trilogy the first 300 times, but I was certainly introduced to the theory that they MIGHT be clones as early as '91, but then until '95 I thought that Han shot first.

 

[MarianLH]

If I recall correctly, Lucas has said that the OT stormtroopers are no longer entirely clones. I can't remember where I heard this, I think it was on one of the DVD commentary tracks. For whatever a "Lucas said" is worth.


Marian

 

[Immolatus]

Stormtrooper Armor explained at Wookiepedia.

thanks for the link

 

[Hermiod]

If I recall correctly, Lucas has said that the OT stormtroopers are no longer entirely clones. I can't remember where I heard this, I think it was on one of the DVD commentary tracks. For whatever a "Lucas said" is worth.

Amongst other places it's mentioned in the cutscenes for the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 video game.

 

[stonester1]

Real body armour doesn't stop a direct hit either, but it does protect against shrapnel, which seems to be at least as big a battlefield killer as bullets.

Actually, it does. Heard several tales from grunts and MPs taking direct fire attacks and coming out fine. But they are usually knocked down, sometimes injured. That may be the case for some of the stormtroopers.

 

[stonester1]

At some point, if you take into account all the films and the EU books, this happened. There was two major waves of clones, from the cloners and from clone tech the Emperor acquired later. But at some point, during the Dark Times, he began filling out the Imperial Army and starship crews with heavily conditioned conscripts.

And chances are, they were equipped as cheaply as possible, to allow quick mass fielding.

Simple answer? Conscripts meet contractors.

And if regular clones get the short end of the stick, imagine how much less the Empire would be willing to spend on conscripts once the Stormtrooper ranks were opened to them.

 

[Ethros]

No, they were engineered to grow 2x as fast, by the time of ANH, almost all those clones would be old men. By the time of the Empire, they simply recruited troopers.

Can't they just make some new ones? And if Kamino said no surely could just go there and "ask them nicely" to make some new ones.


And if they are humans in the OT, you can imagine the Emperor would kinda prefer the clones back. The clonetroopers were serious badasses as seen in the Clone Wars series & movie, and did a good job at taking out the Jedi's in Episode III.
Stormtroopers however... well they couldn't even take on a bunch of teddy bears could they?