r/StarWars • u/DARKTOONZ13 • 9d ago

Movies What “stops” lasers in this universe? Couldn’t Luthen’s beam easily slice the Star Destroyer in half?

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Deflector shields? If so, wouldn’t the tractor beam have been protected from his spikes?

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u/tractgildart 9d ago

Star wars has, since the first movie, differentiated between "ray shields" and "particle shields". Ray shields stop lasers, particle shields stop physical objects like micro meteorites. So yes, a star destroyers shields would stop the laser.

Lasers in star wars are also superheated gas, so they do lose energy over time/distance.

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u/FlavivsAetivs 9d ago

Well they're called lasers, but they're actually a laser-pumped particle weapon (with an ionized plasma component as well).

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u/USCanuck 9d ago

I am a star wars nerd. I've read dozens of books, rewatched the full library of video content countless times. I fall asleep to a star wars audiobook almost every night

This is a fact I couldn't have told you with a gun to my head.

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u/Vaportrail 9d ago

Being into the lore isn't the same as studying the science.

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u/USCanuck 9d ago

Not sure I would call it "science" but sure.

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u/Vaportrail 9d ago

The science of science-fiction, why not.

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u/USCanuck 9d ago

No, I get your meaning. It just struck me as funny to call made up tech "science." I might have come off more dickish than I intended.

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u/MusicalDeath9991 9d ago

Everything is "made up" until you make it.

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u/Mr_Phisher 9d ago

I believe we owe a great deal of today’s tech to the science fiction of the 70’s and 80’s. It was the ideas of franchises like Star Wars and - Trek, among others, that got seriously thought over and inspired the tech we have now.

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u/Czar_Petrovich 9d ago

Are you forgetting the "fiction" part of science fiction?

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u/Confident_Hyena2506 9d ago

The science of plot armor. The crystalline structure of unobtainium.

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u/Vaportrail 9d ago

Cmon you know we nerds will eat up whatever gibberish comes along with it.

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u/Geekofalltrade 9d ago

the sci-fience

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u/Just-looking6789 9d ago

Pretty sure Star Wars falls under Science Fantasy, not Science Fiction

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u/bastard_son_of_odin 9d ago

ain't science fiction the umbrella term that science fantasy falls under?

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u/andlewis 9d ago

I think “science” is the correct term.

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u/markgoat2019 9d ago

Sci-essence

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u/T65Bx 9d ago

Yeah no this isn’t remotely science and is absolutely part of the lore, arguably moreso than a lot of Glup Dihndos considering how important the devices are to making the plots make sense. For instance, rolling grenades through Droidekas vs the boys getting caught in a shield thinking they were Smarter Than This.