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Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I have a giant problem with Star Tours, the ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, you board a Star Tours 1000 starship for a likely tour of the galaxy when...

Darth Vader appears and takes hold of the ship using the force, demanding a "Rebel spy" on the ship must be turned over to him. During the exit, you clearly see Imperial Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters and other Galactic Empire type ships from the original trilogy.

After the jump into hyperspace...

You wind up in a podrace, which absolutely makes zero sense how (a) you enter the planet's atmosphere so quickly and (b) a starship carrying 20+ people has to be much larger than a podracer. But I digress. It's safe to assume podracing still exists in the original trilogy area, so this isn't my issue. Admiral Ackbar shows up via holocom and asks us to deliver the "spy" to him at the given coordinates.

Again, we make a hyperspace jump and...

We wind up at a giant battle above Coruscant that involves Republic-era warships, fighters, and droids. Considering we know that this "tour" takes place during Darth Vader's lifetime, the appearance of original-trilogy era TIE and Star Destroyer designs are being used and Admiral Ackbar is a leaderhead in the Rebel Alliance, this makes no sense. Also, why would Ackbar need a Rebel spy delivered to Coruscant? The Rebel Alliance would not likely be operating on the planet during the rebellion.

Considering Disney owns the canon to Star Wars now, and this ride is at their park, how does any of this fit into the actual Star Wars universe? Because it really seems like it cannot at all (not including the obvious violations in physics). The time frames of events make absolutely no sense.

Michael Irigoyen
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  • i missing why ackbar, vader, and original trilogy tech all together makes no sense(as their all the same timeline already?), also its a kids ride. outside of cannon. – Himarm Dec 24 '14 at 14:35
  • Republic v. Empire ships is what makes no sense. – Michael Irigoyen Dec 24 '14 at 14:36
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    Easy: it doesn't. – phantom42 Dec 24 '14 at 14:36
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    Why do you expect it to make sense? – CodesInChaos Dec 24 '14 at 14:37
  • you talking republic as in 20 years prior , the prequel republic, or do you mean the republic as in the knights of the old republic thousands of years ago tech. – Himarm Dec 24 '14 at 14:38
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    It fits into canon by the magic of leeching people of their money – DVK-on-Ahch-To Dec 24 '14 at 14:39
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    also disney has had a star wars ride for over 20 years, back when lucas was still in charge of cannon, and even then the story was just a cute little fake story made for the ride. – Himarm Dec 24 '14 at 14:43
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    It's an amusement park ride. I'm not sure that fitting it into canon was anywhere on anybody's list of priorities. –  Dec 24 '14 at 15:09
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    When I went there, there was a Disney employee dressed like an X-wing pilot talking to a lady dressed like a TIE-fighter pilot. How does that fit into the canon? – Valorum Dec 24 '14 at 20:47

2 Answers2

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It does not exist within the primary canon.

Exactly what level of canon it is, has not been specified, but it is likely of The Infinities level, though it could be Legends.

Last year, Disney specified exactly what is or isn't fully canon..

This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.

(snip)

In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded.

The events of Star Tours does not fall within any of the mentioned fully canon works, add in the logical issues of the possible events during Star Tours, and you have a work that should not at all be considered to exist within either of the two main canons.

phantom42
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Tours%E2%80%94The_Adventures_Continue also theirs 56 possible options during star tours, so that its random and you can get a new viewing every time. – Himarm Dec 24 '14 at 14:47
  • @Himarm - Which is why you need to go round it a bunch of times. – Valorum Dec 24 '14 at 20:47
  • @Richard i did the original one about 15 times, in a row, to my parents displeasure when i was 6. – Himarm Dec 24 '14 at 20:48
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    @Himarm - I'd be displeased too. Only 15 times? Quitter. – Valorum Dec 24 '14 at 20:52
  • doesn't star wars rebels fall also into the new canon? (as its directly made by disney as far as I'm aware of) – Thomas Dec 27 '14 at 18:03
  • @Thomas yes. Anything created since that press release (rebels and a few books, but not Yoda stories) are fully canon. I was just quoting the press release. Star tours was done a few years prior, so it was lumped all of the other material. – phantom42 Dec 27 '14 at 18:42
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This is a thrill ride (for suitably loose definitions of "thrill"), not a new "Star Wars" movie; it uses characters and situations from the Star Wars movies as a framing device for the ride, but it's not trying ot advance the story or canon in any way. You might as well ask how "Toy Story Midway Mania" or "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin" fit into the "Toy Story" universe, or how "Radiator Springs Racers" ties into the "Cars" universe, or how "Mission:Space" ties in with "Mission to Mars".

BTW, you only apparently caught one permutation of the ride. Each section of the ride has multiple scenarios; there are like 54 possible combinations.

Secondly, you're not going to bitch about physics in a "Star Wars" context, unless you are prepared to discuss the physical principles behind lightsabers, FTL travel (along with instantaneous FTL communications), artificial gravity, planet-killing lasers, The Freaking Force, etc.

John Bode
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