30 Years of Star Wars Technology

An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this month, Computerworld Australia checked out the exhibition of 30 years of Star Wars history at Sydney's Powerhouse museum. They also have a pictorial look at what's on display: one of the largest collections of Star Wars memorabilia combined with real-life examples of how such technology is being applied for business and social advancement."

sorry to be pedantic but...

[owlnation]

It hasn't been 30 years. It's been 31. The movie was released on 25th May 1977 in the US, and 27th October 1977 in Australia.

Phasers are for sissies...

[fruviad]

I'd rather have a sonic screwdriver any day of the week...

Re:You have not watched the movies, have you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fail! [wikipedia.org]

Exhibit's Been Around for a While

[darthservo]

The "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit [wikipedia.org] has been going on for quite some time (three years now). It was in Portland two years ago where I got some pics of the same exhibit [flickr.com].

Re:Star Wars tech?

[flosofl]

Whoops, my bad. Lucas used Campbell's work to help create the first three. He didn't actually meet him until after Jedi was done.

Still the main point stands.

Re:It's not sci-fi

[fartrader]

The whole genre of "Hard Science Fiction" rabidly disagrees with your sentiment. Try reading some more.

Re:Star Wars tech?

[Rick Bentley]

... I disqualify Star Wars as sci-fi.

Right, and I disqualify the Pope as a Catholic. Next I disqualify Obama as President Elect. Then I disqualify Earth as a planet and Claudia Schiffer as hot.

Dude, for an entire generation Star Wars has defined Sci-Fi. Transporters on Star Trek were no better explained than hover-craft in Star Wars. Ray guns in War of the Worlds were no better explained than Light Sabers.

Besides, before George Lucas was abducted by aliends and replaced with a replicant, he made the two best movies in the world (Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars, in order of greatness). In all good humor I hereby accuse you of blasphemy and disqualify you as a geek.

Re:Han trolled first

[Arthur Grumbine]

I call "idiot". The "sec" actually stands for arcsecond (an angular quantity), as in "the parallax of one arcsecond" [wikipedia.org].

Re:Phasers are for sissies...

[westlake]

Which is of course totally different from when spock reconfigures his tricorder...

Star Trek makes three simplifying assumptions common to space opera: The FTL drive. Teleportation. Artificial Gravity.

This draws viewers into your story quickly and cheaply without distractions.

But once there reliance on technobabble is unforgivable. Firing off a gun within the tight confines of a spacecraft is lunatic.

The energy weapon that can be powered down to disable but not kill - a sophisticated alternative to a Taser - makes perfect sense. This isn't something you have to explain to your audience, they can work it out by themselves.