Physics of Star Killer Base

If you haven't seen the latest Star Wars ("The Force Awakens", episode 7), stop reading immediately! :)


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Apparently, there has been some griping about the physics of Star Killer Base.

For example, if the planet can't move, and even one shot substantially drains their sun - then you've only got a few shots from your super-weapon (not to mention everyone on the planet will freeze).

Also, if the weapon drains the whole star, then it is really massive overkill (about 12 trillion times according to one site).


There is a much more reasonable explanation!


The photosphere is the region of the Sun which emits visible light.  The key idea is "It [the photosphere] extends into a star's surface until the plasma becomes opaque"

If you strip off the photosphere, then the star will appear opaque i.e. black (at least, until it regenerates).

Ok, so how much energy can you get from the photosphere (we'll assume the Empire, err, First Order, has sufficient tractor beam and shield technology to extract it quickly and safely).


All of my calculations are in a Google Drive spreadsheet.


Final result?  Yes - there's about 1700 times more power than you need to blow up one planet just from fusing the hydrogen in the photosphere into helium (you could get more power by fusing up to iron).


And how rapidly could you fire such a weapon?

I'm not sure of the fluid dynamics, but keep in mind the regions of the photosphere last about 8 minutes (they are upwellings of cooling plasma).  Which implies it might recharge very rapidly indeed!

Amanda Knox

I just finished watching the Lifetime movie about Amanda Knox (the American student charged with murder in Italy).

First off, way too soon. The appeal is still underway!

Second, I admit to going into it thinking she was totally guilty (yea, I'm a cynic - I prefer the term "realist"). If the goal of the producers was to portray her as guilty (which seemed to be the complaint some people had), the producers failed.

If the goal of the producers was to make the Italians look inept and corrupt, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

My biggest take away was that the Italian police MO is similar to that of the Inquisition. Round up some likely suspects, torture them into confessing and implicating others; pick up those implicated; rinse, torture, repeat.

Riverworld

I finally saw the Sci Fi channel movie adaptation of Riverworld (by Philip "The Outlaw" Jose Farmer).

I was mostly impressed. The story is fairly true to the original (including the important aspect of grail slavery). They even managed to fit in the airship, although some characters were shuffled.

The most disappointing aspect for me was the not-so-fabulous riverboat. It looked like an ordinary riverboat. And instead of steam-driven machine guns, it had a small cannon on the front (like an age of rifles cannon).

I was also surprised by the ending. Although the books didn't exactly end well either (I don't even remember the ending!)

Fixing Star Wars - Episode 2

Wow, were in the home stretch now. I think it was about 2 in the morning at this point... :)

Episode 2 is in pretty good shape. Mostly trimming for time and tempo, and patching to fit in the other changes we've made:

• Cut Obi-wan's bartender friend, and reduce the library search. It slows everything down. Remember any scenes of Jedi training should have them older than five years old.
  
• Remove the factory fight (and flying R2). It adds nothing.
• Shorten the interrogation of Obi-wan and monster arena fight. The action doesn't climax until after the Jedi arrive, and then the stormtroopers arrive. This leads to some amount of saturation.
• If that isn't enough time savings, the asteroid chase can also be removed. It adds little, and Obi-wan can still need Anakin to relay his message (Ben's ship is too small, or has a random failure).
  
• Put in some conflict between Anakin and uncle Owen. That had to be the easiest connection back to the original trilogy, and Lucas dropped it on the floor.
• Remember that Count Dooku is Darth Maul (per Episode 1). This can help to maintain the suspense on whether Dooku is good, evil, or just independent.
  

That is most of the changes. I will put together all the changes for 3, 4, and 5 into a final post.

Fixing Star Wars - Episode 1

(See the previous post: Fixing Episode 6)

Flush with success, we asked ourselves: "Could episode 1 be fixed?" It seems impossible, but let's look at the problems:

1. Gungans
2. Confusion in the final act (four disparate settings)
3. Amidala, the eleven year old politician
4. Anakin, the five year old love interest
5. Slow start (the fate of the whole galaxy rests in trade negotiations at a backwater world?)
6. Darth Maul -> Count Dooku issues
7. C3PO (a protocol droid) built by a five year old for his enslaved mother?
8. Light treatment of slavery on Tatooine
9. Midichlorians (or was it mitochondria?), 'nuff said
   

Ok, that's a lot of issues. But we can tackle them one-by-one.

1. One, two, and five are somewhat related, and can be solved together. I think everyone can agree the treatment of the Gungans falls somewhere between atrocity and poorly done. More subtly, they slow down the story at the beginning, and overly complicate the story at the end. It seems Lucas was trying to show that the rebellion includes metropolitan and rural interests. This can be done better by reducing the footprint of the Gungans to a minority population in the cities (on top of cleaning the material). This quickens the introduction, and eliminates one setting in the finale. A handful of Gungans can help Amidala to retake the palace.
2. Handled mostly above. Also improvement needed in how Anakin influences the battle.
3. Amidala needs to be either: a beauty queen (like American idol for a position more like England's queen, i.e. public relations) or the daughter of a more senior politician. She should also be older, maybe early twenties. This gives a lot of room to play a smart, rebellious youngster against older politicians.
4. Ok, I think Anakin was supposed to be closer to ten; but you put him next to Liam Neeson, and he's going to look tiny. A lot of the problem is Lucas is very fuzzy/odd about the Jedi order. From episode 4, Luke is "too old". He was about twenty. But Anakin is "too old" too! Clearly, you have to be about three to be a Jedi! That's kind of creepy. Actually, that's a lot creepy. Combined with 3, Anakin can be about 16. Say 13 is the cutoff.
5. Handled mostly above. The pod racing scene also could be reduced. Time savings should be converted into deepening characters, settings, and politics.
6. The Count Dooku issue will raise its head again. But the first step is to stitch together Maul and Dooku. There are supposed to be two Sith (master and apprentice). Instead we get master, old apprentice, new apprentice, and robot apprentice (General Grievous). The solution is to make Maul the mask for the public figure of Dooku (you can even keep both actors). Hmm, now you can't kill Maul at the end of Episode 1, but that's ok. Maul kills Qui-Gon, knocks out Obi and makes his escape.
7. C3PO is clearly part of Amidala's staff. If you want to show off Anakin's skill, he can create a robot we don't see in the late trilogy (or one we know less about).
8. There is room in Episode 1 to deepen this. But resolution should probably wait until 2 or 3.
9. I said 'nuff said!
   

Ok, that was painful. But we made it! Epsiode 1 is fixed! Now finish them!

Fixing Star Wars - Episode 6

So, a co-worker and I got to talking, and we decided to fix Star Wars. I mean, everyone likes Star Wars, but with just a little fixing, it could be great!

We started with Episode 6 (Return of the Jedi). An episode with a lot of good stuff, but showing the beginnings of Lucas' mad ego trip. A trip ending in the horror that is the prequel trilogy...

Ok, what problem(s) are we solving?

1. Two death stars (episodes 4 and 6) are just silly and irritating


2. The whole Luke-Leia brother-sister thing is kinda icky


3. How dangerous is this whole rebellion thing, if no major characters die?


4. Ewoks should of been wookies

The solution set is like this:
For #1, Episode 4 should probably keep its climactic ending. So, something big needs to blow up. Might as well leave it the Death Star, as originally filmed. The Empire should realize one, big capital ship is less useful than many (the whole "systems slipping through the fingers" statement). The project in Episode 6 should be a fleet of super star destroyers (probably best to remove the SSD from Ep 5). Or you could keep the Death Star in 6, and have Luke help to knock out a Star Destroyer using the force.

For #2, simply remove it. There are ways of resolving a love triangle beside declaring one leg illegal. More in point 3.

#3, kill Han. Probably at some point in the shield generator mission. This doesn't mean that Luke and Leia have to be together. It's ok for Leia to feel some grief and not be with anyone...

#4, 'nuff said.


That is on top of a lot of minor fixes. All the characters need de-cardboarding. The construction site makes no sense (a no-tech world in the middle of nowhere - should be a ship yard some where). We are not concerned with fixing, or remaining consistent with the books (most of which were terrible). You can keep Leia's encounter with the cute ewok as a young wookie.

Movie Review

"Krull"! (1983) starring a bunch of people you have never heard of, and will never see again (except IMDB lists Liam Neeson, who I don't remember being in the movie...).

I haven't seen Krull recently, but this is the sort of movie one never forgets. Krull is a classic. Krull is the kind of classic most people have never heard of. Krull is such a classic, most people would deny its classicity.

Maybe the proper word is "cult classic". But that is what people who don't think it is a classic call it...

Krull has a typical "epic" outline:

1. Evil guys kill hero's family, kidnap hero's girlfriend, leave hero for dead
2. Old, smart guy nurses hero back to health, shows hero how to get even
3. Hero gives evil guys what's coming

Krull is an unusual mix of science fiction and fantasy elements. The evil guys are alien invaders from outer space. They use a form of high tech musket, which has a single energy blast, and then can be used in melee to deliver devasting energy pokes. The hero's band includes a magician, cyclops, and a bunch of mooks with axes and swords.

In giving the evil guy his what's coming, Krull gave birth to the term "flaming marital death". It includes the direct (hilarious) quote, "We're your family now!"

Movie Review

"City of Angels" (1998) starring Cage-olas Nick, and Meg Ryan
On the face of it this is a story about how great love is. But it is (probably unintentionally), a story about the making of a demon.
Nick is well cast as an emotionless angel (Seth). During the course of the movie, Seth becomes obsessed with Meg Ryan's character. By the end, he decides to "take the fall", to give up his role in eternity to spend a lifetime with Meg.

This is a refreshing take on evil. Evil is so often portrayed as a guy in a black hat, a laughing monster who delights in evil. Rarely do we see the true definition of evil: seeking what would be considered good - in the wrong way.

Genesis 6:2
Matthew 22:30
Revelation 12:4