Stupid Lucasian physics

[Renekin Skywalker]

OK, so, I'm wondering... If blasters are supposed to be clumsy and random (like Old Ben says), how is it a Jedi knows exactly where to put his lightsaber in order to not only intercept it, but also to bounce it anywhere they want?

[albatross]

Many of the "truths" that Obi-Wan clings too depend greatly on his own point of view. With a blaster, Obi-Wan loses control of the blaster bolt the moment it leaves the weapon - it could be reflected back at him, or the target could move and he might accidentally shoot something he wasn't aiming at.

Jedi of Obi-Wan's era have no such trouble with lightsabers - they are in complete control the entire time... the force enables them to predict sufficiently the path of the lightsaber to avoid chopping their own limbs off, etc.

Of course, against another force user the opponent can still react and counter, but I don't think any battles between Jedi using lightsabers and ordinary people (Jango Fett comes to mind) are normally in serious danger of a lightsaber attack being successfully countered. And by the time Obi-wan says this, there aren't many force users left. To Obbi-wan's credit, the one who is left handles blaster fire pretty easily (vs Han in Empire).

In any case, Obi-wan should have said, "Once you learn how to use a lightsaber, you can reflect blaster bolts back at people and still attack them. You can't defend yourself with a blaster farm boy. Wanna get shot, or do you want the only weapon in the universe that can defend you against blasters?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

Well, yeah, all that.. but doesn't entropy play a role in all this? We'll assume that, although lightsabers are charged particles, the nature of the charge keeps a fixed width and density (for lack of a university physics degree).

But with blasters, as the charged patricles leave the gun, the fly through, and entropise, meaning the width increases and the density decreases, because the charged particles are basically moving away from each other in every direction.

So, as the jedi becomes further away from the firer, less of the beam shot would be deflected by the lightaber. So wouldn't the ability to deflect an entire blast decrease the further away he gets, and, the further he gets more of the beam would, in fact, get past the barrier of the lightsaber?

Yes, I'm bored.

[albatross]

Short answer: blasters have sufficient range so there is plenty to deflect under all normal circumstances.

Long answer: this would fall under the "much harder than it looks" category. For instance, in movies people run around and shoot while moving all the time, while anyone who has played paintball knows that shooting something while you yourself are walking is super hard, and if you are pumping your legs in a run, you might as well be blindfolded, stuck on a tilt-a-whirl and try to shoot someone.

Deflecting a dissipating blaster bolt, or shooting while running, are activities which can only be explained by super-human powers (ie they are impossible)

[thorley]

I believe it's supposed to be mystical, The Force guides the actions of the Jedi. This is why Luke Skywalker was practicing blaster deflection blind folded. I think in the first prequel movie it was mentioned that there is a sort of very short term, split second precognition involved. This is how Anakin Skywalker was supposed to be such a killer pod racer despite being a little kid, he was subconsciously using The Force to do things a human couldn't and compete with aliens with much faster reflexes.

The idea being that the Jedi tends to be moving to intercept before the blaster bolt is actually fired.

One thing I'd also point out is that in the movies you generally don't see Jedi fail to deflect blaster bolts (unless it's mass firing), however it's been pointed out in several occasions that Jedi are not invincible and have been taken down by relatively normal stuff. Most RPGs make it a contest of skill of sorts. In D6 Star Wars it comes down to rolls, and there are feats in D20 Star Wars that make it harder for a Jedi to deflect shots.

I also believe in the comics that Aura Sing <SP> killed a Jedi with a sniper rifle. This leads me to believe that their "Force Awareness" or limited precognition has a limited range and so that if they can't see the opponent, and the person is a good distance away, it won't help.

-

Oh and remember, Star Wars is actually more along the likes of "Space Fantasy" than science fiction. Unlike many other works there aren't even any hypothetical principles involved in most things, stuff just happens because it's cool. This is a universe where ships explode into fireballs in the middle of space/vaccum <SP> when destroyed.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Uuuuh, there's, like, oxygen on ships, right? Doesn't matter if the explosive matter of a vessel is something ridiculously small fraction of a ship, it would still be snough to result in the glowing, super-heated ship mass...

[dakota]

( *stays out of this subject to hide inner geekfu* )