10

In the Star Wars universe, everything technologically seemed possible, i.e. and not limited to: members transplantation, interplanetary travel, holographic communication, supreme medical capabilities (Vader), gravitational levitation, artificial intelligence etc..

Bottom line, any thing from our technological fantasies today, literally existed.

Have there been any evidence in the Star Wars universe of situations where there were technological challenges, or any mention of technological aspirations that didn't exist at the now and the then, where the characters were hindered?

user931
  • 115,946
  • 150
  • 581
  • 1,075
Ray
  • 1,790
  • 2
  • 14
  • 21
  • 13
    For starters their medical science wasn't able to cure Padmé's "broken heart" – Valorum Feb 26 '14 at 00:04
  • 4
    Noooooooooooooooooooo! – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 00:05
  • 1
    Best. Scene. Ever. – Paul Richter Feb 26 '14 at 00:29
  • 3
    Is the answer 'midichlorians'? – Valorum Feb 26 '14 at 00:40
  • The first thing came to my mind: Time Travel – user931 Feb 26 '14 at 02:20
  • 3
    They couldn't fix Jar-Jar Binks, could they? – DVK-on-Ahch-To Feb 26 '14 at 03:04
  • 3
    possible duplicate of What technology have we not seen in Star Wars? – The Fallen Feb 26 '14 at 03:27
  • Neutering Jar-Jar Binks would be far too late. Someone should have sterilized his parent(s). – John O Feb 26 '14 at 03:47
  • 1
    @SSumner Not a similar question, not even close. My question is not what technology is not in the story, like some of the answers here might imply. it's rather about what technological challenges faced the characters, like we have our own today. I'm not asking what story is not in the story! – Ray Feb 26 '14 at 04:01
  • @Richard You are right, the condition that caused her death was rather unexplained... Good point! – Ray Feb 26 '14 at 04:03
  • Interesting that I think @SSumner is correct that this is a near duplicate of http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/39467/what-technology-have-we-not-seen-in-star-wars ... yet that question is a -4, this is a 5. – joshbirk Feb 26 '14 at 05:37
  • @joshbirk - yes, this one is worded better – The Fallen Feb 26 '14 at 13:51
  • 1
    "...any thing from our technological fantasies today, literally existed." I disagree. There are a lot of things we have today that Star Wars doesn't have. For example: the media, the Internet, guided weapons or autopilots, genetic modification. It seems to me that Star Wars is a futuristic version of the 1920s. Things are more "techno" (lasers instead of machineguns on the fighter planes) but not more advanced. – Greenstone Walker Feb 27 '14 at 03:40
  • My question is not too broad. I asked for any events in the star wars universe where the technology limits the characters from acting like I pointed out earlier. Not malfunctioning or breaking down for what it's worth. I'm not also looking for technology that existed in other sci-fi stories that weren't in this one, despite the fact that some insist. Or any other technology that didn't appear in star wars for that matter, which would indeed be broad. I'm against the hold and I hope you see through my point. – Ray Mar 01 '14 at 18:55
  • The Force perturbations can't travel faster than 6.7 parsec per second.. – user931 Jan 02 '15 at 00:35

3 Answers3

12

Probably the biggest "sci-fi" technology that does not exist in Star Wars is Time Travel. Sometimes Time Travel happened incidentally, like was described in the novels Crosscurrent and Riptide, and certain Force objects were known to open rifts in spacetime. Hyperspace travel did indeed cause the common "time dilation" effect (a mild form of time travel, if you can call it that at all), but ships used relativistic shielding to counteract this.

Cloaking technology existed, but not only blinded ships outside the cloaking field to the ship being hidden, but blinded the hidden ship's sensors and vision to the outside world, making it essentially blind. The use of cloaking devices was outlawed in the New Republic and Imperial Remnant soon after the Thrawn crisis.

Other things from Star Trek, such as Replicators did not exist in Star Wars, though Teleporters may have existed in some form during the reign of the Rakatan infinite empire. Other things, such as the technologies Richard mentioned in his answer, seem to be of low technological levels.

Community
  • 1
The Fallen
  • 16,481
  • 13
  • 83
  • 107
8

Off the top of my head, their lightsabers seem to have a relatively limited battery life. On several occasions we see Jedi turning their lightsabers off (presumably in order to preserve the battery) rather than running them constantly.

enter image description here

Additionally, their holographic technology seems quite clumsy. The images projected are translucent, blue and seem to flicker violently.

Help me Obi Wan

Their scanners have limited range and are easily blocked

It's a trap!

Their automatic doors tend to stick when opening:

Stormtrooper hits head

Their medical technology is insufficient to cure someone who's "lost the will to live":

enter image description here

Oh, and what the heck is that wheezing sound coming from Darth's suit?

Valorum
  • 689,072
  • 162
  • 4,636
  • 4,873
  • 16
    I always thought the frequent turning off of lightsabers was more of an OSHA thing. – joshbirk Feb 26 '14 at 00:30
  • 3
    Lightsabers' batteries don't drain unless they're actively cutting something. Qui-Gon was meditating, turning off his lightsaber was almost certainly because of that. – Kevin Feb 26 '14 at 00:31
  • 7
    Some awesome answers there. Just a note about the lightsabers: while I agree that sounds like a likely explanation for turning them off, according to the wookiepedia entry for the lightsaber, the Sith were credited with an energy-saving modification which carried in to future designs: "With this modification, the power cell would only expend power when the energy loop was broken, such as when the lightsaber cut something". So power usage while the blade was active is probably minimal, or non-existent. – Paul Richter Feb 26 '14 at 00:31
  • @Richard +1 Yes and they couldn't do plastic surgery to fix Vader either :) Nice pics btw! I think your answer hit the mark most. Your holographic example reminded me of another thing; When Obi Wan was caught up in Geonosis and couldn't transmit the message far enough to the council in coruscant. I'm curious to see other examples here too, so I will leave it open for now.. – Ray Feb 26 '14 at 04:21
  • 1
    To be more serious: Lightsabers don't run on batteries, energy consumption was something that was a problem in early models and solved by the Sith around 3600 BBY. Holographic tech varies greatly, you are using an image from a damaged R2 unit. Assuming ship sensors are equal to the events of Battle of Endor is greatly overgeneralizing. I really don't see what is up with the door, and Vader's wheezing sound emanates from his suit... – joshbirk Feb 26 '14 at 05:50
  • 1
    @joshbirk Lightsabers do run on batteries, at least in the film novelization. – Mr Lister Feb 26 '14 at 08:25
  • 2
    @joshbirk - The stormtrooper bashes his head because the door hasn't come all the way up. – Valorum Jan 02 '15 at 00:22
6

I fear my answer might lead the question towards being a duplicate, but I can't find the original question I'm thinking of right now.

Technology in the Star Wars Universe is degrading generation after generation

Which is in of itself creating more and more limitations as the years go by. If you compare the technology of the Rakatan's Infinite Empire compared to what the Republic fights against at the end of Episode VI and even in the Expanded Universe ... they barely compare. The Death Star is considered a superweapon by the time of the New Republic, but it's really nothing compared to the Mass Shadow Generator or the Star Forge. Most of the truly powerful items in Star Wars are old if not ancient.

The relevancy here is that things which seem impossible in the Star Wars Universe currently is probably possible through some kind of ancient artifact or being. For instance, the now oft quoted lack of time travel was actually achieved in Star Wars via Splendid Ap who sent Leia Organa 8,000 years into the past. Splendid is a near omnipotent ancient being. Teleportation is possible, but only via Rakatan technology.

Counter to this, specifically when it comes to time travel, is Jacen Solo's use of flow walking - a form of time travel, but still modern ... just rare among Jedi.

So I would answer no - if it seems technologically impossible in Star Wars, it can be done either through a) ancient technology or artifact, b) some omnipotent being or c) The Force.

joshbirk
  • 12,739
  • 4
  • 52
  • 74
  • After the Death Star came the Death Star II, bigger, more precise and faster recharging. After the Death Star II came the Starkiller base. Bigger and capable of destroying multiple targets at interplanetary distances. There's a clear technological progression happening.... – Valorum May 06 '19 at 18:46