Anyone else notice that the Star Wars universe is full of very deep pits?

 

Ep 1 the whole fight with Darth Maul, then the pit he eventually falls in.

 

Ep 4, Luke and Leia swing over one.

 

Ep 4, Obi-Wan deactivates the tractor beam over one.

 

Ep 5, Luke falls in one after he learns who Darth Vader is.

 

Ep 6, Darth Sidious is thrown in one by Darth Vader.

 

SWTOR, the pit around the Darth Malgus fight, that has steps into it for no reason.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, and if I am please let me know, but you get the jist. Who ever is engineering the structure's in the Star Wars universe defiantly isn't being regulated by OSHA.

the one on cloud city was one of the shafts used to draw in gasses to mine and the one's on the Deathstar were shaft to run power lines, pipes and whatnot through... they make sense a lot on large structure like space station or cloud city where less mass is a plus and thus filling them in would be bad and while it makes sense to have them for ease of access and construction why they couldn't have grate floors over them or better railings I don't know.. but yes it's enough to make OSHA cry... Edited September 17, 2012 by Liquidacid

It's the same reason why, despite AT-AT's being impervious to the blasters on the snow speeders, the rebels blow one up -with blaster fire from a snow speeder- after dropping it with a tow cable. I believe the quote from the director (or maybe the producer?) of ESB was, "People like to see things blow up." The reason is as simple as that.

 

People like to see things blow up. People like bottomless pits. That's why the Emperor's death is so great. He blows up AFTER being thrown into a bottomless pit.

 

-Macheath.

It's the same reason why, despite AT-AT's being impervious to the blasters on the snow speeders, the rebels blow one up -with blaster fire from a snow speeder- after dropping it with a tow cable. I believe the quote from the director (or maybe the producer?) of ESB was, "People like to see things blow up." The reason is as simple as that.

 

People like to see things blow up. People like bottomless pits. That's why the Emperor's death is so great. He blows up AFTER being thrown into a bottomless pit.

 

-Macheath.

 

Actually the AT-AT blew up because the snow speeders hit the weak point in the neck.

 

 

Watch it carefully, you see the speeders aiming for the neck causing it to blow.

Anyone else notice that the Star Wars universe is full of very deep pits?

 

Ep 1 the whole fight with Darth Maul, then the pit he eventually falls in.

 

Ep 4, Luke and Leia swing over one.

 

Ep 4, Obi-Wan deactivates the tractor beam over one.

 

Ep 5, Luke falls in one after he learns who Darth Vader is.

 

Ep 6, Darth Sidious is thrown in one by Darth Vader.

 

SWTOR, the pit around the Darth Malgus fight, that has steps into it for no reason.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, and if I am please let me know, but you get the jist. Who ever is engineering the structure's in the Star Wars universe defiantly isn't being regulated by OSHA.

 

Darth Maul fell down an energy line drawing power from Naboo's core for the city of Theed. They didn't have safety railings over it because given the giant laser walls I'd assume they wanted to discourage people from checking it out.

 

In the Death Star, despite what the other guy said about them being large power conduits, I think given their locations and features they may have been security check points in case of, say, a Jedi-led strike team trying to take down the tractor beams and rescue prisoners of war. Narrow and retractable walkways over bottomless pits leading to an airlock or some sort of exhaust port. The exception to that would be Emperor Palpatine's throne room on Death Star II. He was right over the main reactor because he's the Emperor and he does what he wants.

 

SWTOR did it because OMG MOVIE REFERENCE.

Actually the AT-AT blew up because the snow speeders hit the weak point in the neck.

 

 

Watch it carefully, you see the speeders aiming for the neck causing it to blow.

 

Sure, someone came along and wrote that in long after. The reason the guy running the show said that he made the decision for the AT-AT to blow up, was because he felt it needed to. Toppling the giant walkers with tow cables wasn't enough. The audience likes it when they see things blow up, so he made things blow up.

 

That decision was made long, long before there was anything like "canon" for the Star Wars universe. Hell, there was no Star Wars universe, just 1 movie, with hopes that the second movie would be just as successful.

 

Make no mistake. Lucas and the other producers/directors of his movies made decisions from the view of, "What would look cool here," not, "What would be accurate to the lore we're establishing, here." Not until the prequels anyway, where we suddenly had too much lore, like midichlorians and "She's lost the will to live!"

 

Lucas doesn't know why there are so many pits on the Death Star, nor why the Empire would fail to install basic safety features like, oh I don't know, railings. All he knew was that making all of his characters walk out on precipitous ledges was dramatic.

 

-Macheath.

Maybe there is a cultural significance?

The pits were added as cool-factor, as well as the AT-AT explosion.

 

In-universe, however, is totally different.

 

I'd think the AT-AT was either hit at a weak spot, or the laser-deflecting shields went out after the AT-AT crashed to the ground.

 

The pits... maybe they have some ventilation or technological purposes.

I think it's not a question of "Why are there pits?" but a question of "Why aren't their guard rails or grates over the pits??"

 

Sure, Naboo needs a deep shaft for energy or whatever. Put a rail around it. Yeah, the Tractor beam is in a giant chasm. Give it a floor so the maintenance guy can service it without risking life and limb! Cloud City? Well they were fighting like way out by some sensors. That would like fighting on top of a cell phone tower or something. Besides, there were railings there leading up to where Luke jumped from.

 

I will say, I recall a safety railing over a deep pit in the Endor Bunker--but that one guy got pinwheeled over it and fell. That could've happened to anyone, really.

Anyone else notice that the Star Wars universe is full of very deep pits?

 

Ep 1 the whole fight with Darth Maul, then the pit he eventually falls in.

 

Ep 4, Luke and Leia swing over one.

 

Ep 4, Obi-Wan deactivates the tractor beam over one.

 

Ep 5, Luke falls in one after he learns who Darth Vader is.

 

Ep 6, Darth Sidious is thrown in one by Darth Vader.

 

SWTOR, the pit around the Darth Malgus fight, that has steps into it for no reason.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, and if I am please let me know, but you get the jist. Who ever is engineering the structure's in the Star Wars universe defiantly isn't being regulated by OSHA.

 

Oooh. Oooh. Don't forget the massive pit right in front of the entrance to Denova, Explosive Conflict, in the Gav Daragon. Ah, we have had some raid members fall in by accident.

 

Also Carrick Station: PvP quarter versus PvE quarter. The PvP quarter has deep pits. The PvE quarter has beautiful fountains.

Everytime I kill Malgus I always say "when will the Sith learn not to have a throne room above a death pit?"

It's a METAPHOR mannnn. You never know when you're going to lose your cool, and fall off the precipice deep down into the dark side.

It's the same reason why, despite AT-AT's being impervious to the blasters on the snow speeders, the rebels blow one up -with blaster fire from a snow speeder- after dropping it with a tow cable. I believe the quote from the director (or maybe the producer?) of ESB was, "People like to see things blow up." The reason is as simple as that.

 

People like to see things blow up. People like bottomless pits. That's why the Emperor's death is so great. He blows up AFTER being thrown into a bottomless pit.

 

-Macheath.

 

Yeah, then again you can think of it as something being exposed from the armor plating after suffering such a huge crash. Honestly a car wouldn't be in one piece with fall like that, what makes you think a giant walking camel made of metal would far any better without any cracks.

 

A lightsaber can do it, so why can't a blaster bolt to exposed armoring?

 

Also large stations can't have huge pits or elaborate walkways in a era where you can cross star systems in hours to establish settlements? Remember space isn't a huge restriction for a galaxy.