Star Wars Tech

This documentary is well-made but the whole "examine the physics of some movie" thing has been done to death. This sort of material is pseudo-intellectual at best anyway. The idea is that the audience learns about real physics by comparing and contrasting it with sci-fi physics. Sounds okay but in reality these shows teach very little, or at least they teach very little compared to a straightforward show that was actually about physics. Real physics is intrinsically interesting. I wish documentaries wouldn't patronize people by having to sugarcoat the teaching of it by putting in mass-consumption form. There's nothing wrong with documentaries trying to capitalize on recent popular movies (although this one seems a little late for the Star Wars prequels buzz). The History channel recently aired a show called True Caribbean Pirates which is perfectly timed with the new Caribbean Pirates movies. That documentary was excellent, however, and covered real material. Afterward viewing it, I couldn't help but feel like I learned something substantial rather than the kind of fluff you might get from Star Wars Tech.

Whether or not this strives more to inform anyone out there, who still aren't sure of it, that Star Wars is science *fiction*, or ride the wave of the popularity of the films, and through that educate about actual science, is unclear. This feature basically goes through a number of the technologies found in the famous universe, and has clips of scientists say exactly why that does/may or doesn't/wouldn't work in real life. It manages to be quite informational and not without entertainment value(I must admit, the part I found myself enjoying the most was hearing some of the people who worked on the films describing how Lucas would talk about the tech and such, two third or so in), and it isn't paced too bad. It takes about three quarters of an hour, and it is reasonably rich in the amount of details and info. You'll find out about Darth Vader's suit, the Death Star and even Lightsabers. However, the first-mentioned of those does lead to some rather unnecessary(and, to me, unwanted) speculation that borders on gross-out comedy, by these well-educated folk(what's that about a genius having the mind of a four-year old child?). And one has to question the point of this... a huge part of the appeal of the Star Wars universe is the magic, and the films are arguably as much adventure as science-fiction, if not even more the former than the latter. Perhaps it shouldn't really be compared to science, or our understanding of such. While I can put forth such points of criticism towards the basis of this existing, I still cannot claim that this is poorly made. I recommend this for those genuinely interested in applying actual science to the movies, and for people looking for ways to teach science to those who aren't the type to sit down and bury their face in a book, or watching a documentary that doesn't use a piece of popular entertainment to relate the facts to. 7/10