Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trw-unix!trwspp!urban
From: urban@trwspp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies.sw
Subject: Re: LIMITING FACTORS IN SW/ESB/ROTJ DISCUSSIONS
Message-ID: <88@trwspp.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Aug-83 12:04:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwspp.88
Posted: Wed Aug 10 12:04:56 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Aug-83 00:15:25 EDT
References: sri-arpa.3873
Lines: 27

Why are people trying to make the StarWars universe coherent?
Because it's fun!  You point out the Baker Street people's
attempts to resolve the Holmes bugs.  This is a game that lots
of people play with imaginative literature.  OF COURSE we know
that the reason that X is inconsistent with Y is "the writer
wasn't thinking about Y when he wrote X."  But the universe in
question (whether Holmes' London, or Oz (FULL of wonderful
holes to play with), or a galaxy far, far away) is sufficiently
appealing that we find it more fun to "play in that universe"
by trying to force it to make some kind of sense [btw, read
Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe" for a humorous story of
someone who really ends up in a pulp-magazine SF world].
Tolkien's entire universe sprang from this kind of play, of
course.  "Unfinished Tales" shows Tolkien in his last years
trying to come up with a coherent explanation of Galadriel and
her place in the history of Middle-Earth, though he hadn't
completely worked this out when "Lord of the Rings" was
written.

Imperial Armor dates from the days of the Republic and was
excellent at repelling the blasts of a now-obsolete variety of
blaster.  Galactic paperwork being what it is, the Imperials
haven't managed to retool their armories with anything that
effectively blocks the new Mark VII blasters that the
well-financed Rebellion uses.  Or something.

	Mike