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Bad handling of guns on television


Shadowchaser
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In The scene in Star Wars where Ben Kenobi discover Lukes uncles farm has been attacked he says something along the lines of look at the accuracy of the shooting this must have been Imperial Stormtroopers. For the rest of the film the Stormtroopers show they couldn't hit a barn door at 10 paces.

They do use Sterling SMGs so can be forgiven.

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11 hours ago, Dibble said:

In The scene in Star Wars where Ben Kenobi discover Lukes uncles farm has been attacked he says something along the lines of look at the accuracy of the shooting this must have been Imperial Stormtroopers. For the rest of the film the Stormtroopers show they couldn't hit a barn door at 10 paces.

They do use Sterling SMGs so can be forgiven.

In the industry it is literally known as the stormtrooper effect aka the principle of evil marksmanship - the accuracy of the bad guys is directly proportional to the dramatic purpose of the action, so if our plucky hero’s need to storm the d day landings in order to have an adventure then the evil ones will not be able to hit a barn door. If you are unlucky enough to mention the girl you plan on going back to and the children you are going to raise then a random henchman will be able to head shoot you from several miles away despite you being in the bottom of a concrete bunker.

its the close cousin of the hundred versus one fight where all the hundred take it in turns to attack and be despatched one at a time instead of an unstoppable mob

narrative needs must, it’s only a story as we keep telling ourselves...

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As we're on about Star Wars I was always disappointed to find that the Stormtroopers were armed with Sterling Submachine guns and others with what look like MG38's or 40's?  For such a lavish production I 've always thought this unforgivably lazy. I'm always disappointed when I see arms and equipment not contemporary with the period. 

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3 hours ago, Scully said:

As we're on about Star Wars I was always disappointed to find that the Stormtroopers were armed with Sterling Submachine guns and others with what look like MG38's or 40's?  For such a lavish production I 've always thought this unforgivably lazy. I'm always disappointed when I see arms and equipment not contemporary with the period. 

Don't forget, it wasn't originally a lavish production - it was intended to be a cheap space opera, with a lot of the cast paid on a profits basis. A lot of the props are recycled bits of other stuff - like the light sabres.

Once the first film was a runaway success, they kept the weapons and stuff the same for continuity.

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19 hours ago, CaptainBeaky said:

Don't forget, it wasn't originally a lavish production - it was intended to be a cheap space opera, with a lot of the cast paid on a profits basis. A lot of the props are recycled bits of other stuff - like the light sabres.

Once the first film was a runaway success, they kept the weapons and stuff the same for continuity.

Absolutely, it was very hobbyist from the craft team - don’t forget there hadn’t really been anything like it before so couldn’t call up a prop house and order 100 blaster like you can now. If you’re interested have a look at the many films about the crafting of the models, they used bits of existing model kits and some of the bits were made so rare the kits became valuable.

everyone involved pretty much thought it was going to flop but arguably went on to be one of the most influential pop culture events in history.

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On 05/01/2019 at 22:20, The Mighty Prawn said:

Oh god I’m such a sad case but unfortunately I have something of an answer to this, George Lucas alleges what he intended was that the reference was to distance rather than time so making the journey in that distance was the achievement like crossing the Sahara in 100 miles via a very direct but dangerous route.

im off back to my sci fi trivia hole now...

Your reply got me thinking - which is never a good idea, to be honest ! I had a tenuous grasp on your answer, but I've talked myself out of it.........

Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, surely the only way  to measure the Kessel Run would be in time ? It's 71 miles from my house to my mum's, going the shortest route........what would be the point of me saying that I'd done the journey in 71 miles ?

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38 minutes ago, Blackbriar said:

Your reply got me thinking - which is never a good idea, to be honest ! I had a tenuous grasp on your answer, but I've talked myself out of it.........

Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, surely the only way  to measure the Kessel Run would be in time ? It's 71 miles from my house to my mum's, going the shortest route........what would be the point of me saying that I'd done the journey in 71 miles ?

I think it assumes a straight line is not possible, just for the thought experiment assume the Kessel run is from one side of a lake to the other, everyone else has a car and the route is x distance in parsecs, however the millennium falcon is a speedboat and therefore takes a shorter route and therefore did the run in less parsecs.

im chuckling to myself at the nerd levels of this conversation but I’m also really enjoying it!

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3 minutes ago, The Mighty Prawn said:

I think it assumes a straight line is not possible, just for the thought experiment assume the Kessel run is from one side of a lake to the other, everyone else has a car and the route is x distance in parsecs, however the millennium falcon is a speedboat and therefore takes a shorter route and therefore did the run in less parsecs.

im chuckling to myself at the nerd levels of this conversation but I’m also really enjoying it!

All I'm getting is a headache ! A speed boat is useless in space !

I'm joking of course - I think I get your analogy...........

Edited by Blackbriar
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21 hours ago, Dibble said:

If all space ships can move at the same maximum speed the fastest ship between two points is the one that takes the shortest route.

The shortest route without hitting anything like planets which move?

You're forgeting the infinite improbability drive.

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On 06/01/2019 at 17:20, Blackbriar said:

See, that kind of makes sense, even to me, as Life President of the "I don't do technical" club (even if it is still 39 light years !).

Now, I have one less thing to get annoyed about..........

A Parsec is a Parsec......  and Han Solo is fiction..... Simples😁

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I saw a programme yesterday where kids where shooting old Lee Enfields, they where simulating what would have been taught in schools pre war.

They where obviously shooting off blanks, but targets had been put out to add a bit of realism. What got my back up was 2 things. The first, behind the dummy targets was at least 150m of flat field, not a backstop in sight. The second is when the kids posed for a pic, all had fingers on triggers.

Perhaps I'm over sensitive, but it really ground my gears 

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On 7 January 2019 at 20:38, Scully said:

As we're on about Star Wars I was always disappointed to find that the Stormtroopers were armed with Sterling Submachine guns and others with what look like MG38's or 40's?  For such a lavish production I 've always thought this unforgivably lazy. I'm always disappointed when I see arms and equipment not contemporary with the period. 

Ah yes, the ol' DLT-19 heavy blaster ( MG34). And the fore mentioned Blas tech E11 Blaster rifle  (Sterling 9mm sub machine gun). And Mr Solo's Blas tech DL44 heavy blaster pistol (Mauser C96). 

 Those hours in the playground weren't a total waste of time.

 Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

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11 hours ago, Pistol p said:

Ah yes, the ol' DLT-19 heavy blaster ( MG34). And the fore mentioned Blas tech E11 Blaster rifle  (Sterling 9mm sub machine gun). And Mr Solo's Blas tech DL44 heavy blaster pistol (Mauser C96). 

 Those hours in the playground weren't a total waste of time.

 Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

Quite. Lazy. 

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On 10/01/2019 at 02:16, MarcMaxus said:

I saw a programme yesterday where kids where shooting old Lee Enfields, they where simulating what would have been taught in schools pre war.

They where obviously shooting off blanks, but targets had been put out to add a bit of realism. What got my back up was 2 things. The first, behind the dummy targets was at least 150m of flat field, not a backstop in sight. The second is when the kids posed for a pic, all had fingers on triggers.

Perhaps I'm over sensitive, but it really ground my gears 

Did you see how they were holding the guns, if they hadn't been blanks there would have been some bruised faces and shoulders!

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