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In Star Wars, basically everyone is a human with facial make-up; is there an attempt at an in-universe explanation of this within this franchise?

Note:formerly this question was for Star Trek and Star Wars, which was too broad. This is now for Star Wars.

Link to old question: Do characters in Star Trek address how odd it is the universe is filled with humanoids?

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ThePopMachine
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  • Related: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/85602/what-is-the-most-widespread-numerous-alien-species-in-star-wars-other-than-huma?s=1|1.1333 – Wad Cheber Sep 19 '15 at 03:24
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    "Basically everyone" isn't really true. There are many sentient species that aren't human shaped and/or sized. – Rogue Jedi Sep 19 '15 at 04:04
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    @RogueJedi, hey, I just migrated the question. I supposed it's still valid if you ignore the hyperbolic 'basically everyone' – ThePopMachine Sep 19 '15 at 04:07
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    In the EU, humans could produce hybrids with members of some other humanoid species...just a speculation, but maybe species that could hybridize this way actually evolved from a common ancestor at some point in the past? Also see this question. – Hypnosifl Sep 19 '15 at 04:26
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    Why are you singling out Star Wars for this question? – Mr Lister Sep 19 '15 at 17:52
  • "Humanoid" is somewhat of a broad term. All humanoid really means is that the creature somewhat resembles that of a human (typicall 2 arms, 2 legs, head sitting above the torso), so even things like Ithorians are considered humanoid, but aren't simply a human with facial make-up. – onewho Sep 29 '15 at 20:34
  • I remember people being upset when SWTOR came out because all the playable races where extremely human like. – Ghostship Sep 29 '15 at 20:38
  • @MrLister: There is another question, for Star Trek. In fact, I split them out because it's too broad if you include multiple universes. – ThePopMachine Sep 29 '15 at 20:46
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    I won't give a formal answer since I can't cite the necessary sources, but I expect the in-universe answer (and perhaps the answer for the Star Trek version too) to be similar to what Earth scientists believe about potential extra-terrestrial life today: Life anywhere wouldn't differ by too much because we're all built from the same building blocks. Because we're all carbon-based life, the chemical makeup that influences so much of evolutionary directions is the same. Nitrogen-based life is the only other possibility, and so would be expected to evolve down a markedly different path – thegreatjedi Jan 17 '16 at 18:54
  • @thegreatjedi, I don't think scientists generally believe that at all. – ThePopMachine Jan 17 '16 at 18:58
  • @ThePopMachine They do. Carbon-based life is the only known form of life as we know it, but nitrogen is chemically similar enough to carbon that they believe it is possible to be the other candidate besides carbon for forming life in other worlds. Putting nitrogen aside, however, life is expected to occur at similar Earth-like planets. Given the general similarity of planetary circumstances, life is expected to evolve similarly, with slight variants in adaptations based on localised planetary parameters. – thegreatjedi Jan 17 '16 at 19:02
  • At the least, they expect alien life to not be so outlandish as to possess two heads or any anatomical configurations we haven't already seen. Note, however, that the Cambrian explosion at the start of multicellular life on Earth saw many now-extinct genuses that popular culture today would consider truly alien-looking, but they did exist once. Given the right differences from Earth, it is still possible for another planet to evolve differently enough for a very alien-looking lifeform to exist, but it's not expected to be a general expectation of other life-bearing worlds. – thegreatjedi Jan 17 '16 at 19:06
  • Sentient life in Star Wars would fit such a model. Most species aren't actually human but categorised as human-like, although there are enough species out there that look completely different from humans but still a recognisable form of life - Hutts, for example. – thegreatjedi Jan 17 '16 at 19:08
  • @thegreatjedi: Sorry, no. In the most polite way possible, you don't know what you're talking about. Scientists might generally be looking for 'habitable planets' which generally means planets with a similar temperature to Earth and the presence of liquid water as a solvent. But this is eons away from the idea that there would be humanoids all over the place. Even looking at the history and diversity of life of Earth, you can see that there are no other humanoids or the sort generally considered to be "humanoid" in the Star Wars or Star Trek sense. – ThePopMachine Jan 17 '16 at 19:30
  • ... (cont'd) people who try to argue similar chemistries and convergent evolution and not really serious and are more likely trying to come up with an 'explanation' for the prevalence of 'humanoids' in popular culture, not a serious scientific belief that an alien lifeform in the actual universe is likely. TL;DR: scientific story behind 'humanoids' = wish to justify the SF properties we love. – ThePopMachine Jan 17 '16 at 19:32
  • @onewho: Certianly there is room for intepretation, but I don't think most people would consider your example to be humanoid. If it is, then so are koalas, pandas, bears, apes and maybe even dogs. – ThePopMachine Jan 18 '16 at 17:10
  • Is there anyway I can improve my question? – Rogue Jedi Jun 20 '16 at 00:38

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No, it is never commented on because most non-humans in Star Wars don't really resemble "a human with facial make-up."

Here are some large gatherings of non-humans sentients from across the main films.

As you can see, due to extensive use of prosthetics, puppetry, CGI, costumes, etc. very few non-humans in Star Wars significantly resemble humans. Star Wars had a much higher budget than Star Trek, so this makes sense.

As for the few species that do resemble humans, there are several reasons for this:

  1. Their ancestors bred with humans.
  2. The species was a sub-species of humanity.
  3. The species simply looked like each other due to coincidence.
Rogue Jedi
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