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do you guys have any reasoning behind this, or is it something you simply accept?

seeing as this site is devoted to the scientific explanation of Star wars phenomena, i expect some answers. cuz seriously, aliens should NEVER look like teddy bears (damn you Ewoks! ), or have pronouncable names (especially when they can't frickin pronounce english letters, Chewbacca!).

Seriously, what should an alien look like?

I just accept it. Suspension of belief. It can be possible for an alien species, on some distant planet, to evolve as an anthropomorphic sapian. It no more unlikely than having human with green skin or bumpy ridges on their forehead. Maybe it's all a brain bug, but sci-fi writer need a template to design an alien race.

As for pronouncable name, like Chewbacca. Best bet, it's his Basic name. In wookie, it might be prounced *growl-woof-bark* or something. It makes it a lot easier for the viewers if we can refer to a wookie character by a name that can be spoken in english.

Names get mangled and changed in translation all the time. No problem there.

As for being bipeds, obviously some SoD goes on. But our ancestors didn't start developing really big brains (by primate standards) until they started using stone tools. So it is not unreasonalble to suppose that an alien will have some means of mobility, a reasonably large brain, and some kind of manipulatsor. Bipeds do that quite nicely.

Of course, Pierson's Puppeteers fill all those requirements and aren't bipedal.

I think there are plenty of exotic species in star wars. Check out the cantina scene sometime. You got that crazy looking purple guy with glowing eyes, Ithorians, and that worm thing thats with the wolf man.

that's just the problem. far too many starwars creatures are described as "reptilian" or "snake-like". the fact that they resemble earth creatures is scientifically laughable.

surely there can be no reptiles anywhere but earth in the galaxy, so Trandoshans and Falleens are impossible.

even if all of these species originated from Earth-like planets (which they seem to have; why are all the planets so Earth-like?), its crazy to have them all bipedal.

of course, for the convienience of the story, i guess they had too. but they could have at LEAST gone to the trouble of creating incomprehensible alien cultures. the fact that there is a "galactic society" which all species are part of is just....dumb.

i read a book once: What would martians look like?

it wasn't written by an amateur, mind you, so this isn't just crazy speculation. He proposed that life-forms could be formed out of Magnetic Vortices, with the equivalent of DNA being the topology of the weave. such creatures would live in places like the earth's mantle, or the sun.

that's the kind of imaginative alien that no Hollywood producer would ever come up with; though titan AE has some pretty cool aliens (made of energy).

Well, a lot of the lesser known Star Wars species are VERY original and different, like the Priapulin, or B'rknaa.

Of course, there are only about 5 people around who know what they are...

yeah, not all of them are hollywood actors in suits. i was mostly referring to the movies. the books have the freedom to do more with the aliens.

still, i have yet to see an alien that is not carbon-based. i mean come on, not even a Silicon based life-form.

why are all the planets so Earth-like?

Many of the planetss visited in SW are Earth-like because those are the planets that the Humans who are the main characters can go to. Having all the main characters in an Oxygen Suit for a whole sequence wouldn't work out to well on the silver screen. There are plently of nonEarth-like planets in the SW galaxy, but they aren't visited in the films.

Then again, look at Tatooine, Geonosis, Dagobah, the only thing they have in common with Earth is their atmospheres.

unbeataBULL wrote:yeah, not all of them are hollywood actors in suits. i was mostly referring to the movies. the books have the freedom to do more with the aliens.

still, i have yet to see an alien that is not carbon-based. i mean come on, not even a Silicon based life-form.

Actually there are silicon based aliens. IIRC space slugs and mynoks are both silicon based.

And why shouldnt aliens look like teddybears? If it works for them in thier enviroment thats gonna be how they evolve. Its not based off that it would be cool if they were magnetic vorticies, but if it works for them to be shaped like teddy bears.

unbeataBULL wrote:still, i have yet to see an alien that is not carbon-based. i mean come on, not even a Silicon based life-form.

You haven't seen The Empire Strikes Back? What are you doing posting here? Shoo, and don't come back until you've watched it.

oh yeah, those....

i meant a whole planet's ecosystem would be silicon based. it would be interesting to see how the food chain would develop.

of course, this is star wars, not biology class.

"And why shouldnt aliens look like teddybears? If it works for them in thier enviroment thats gonna be how they evolve. Its not based off that it would be cool if they were magnetic vorticies, but if it works for them to be shaped like teddy bears." -Darth Mall

i fail to see how the forest environment of endor's moon encouraged the development of humanoid, furry forms.

let's take a look at earth's forests: most creatures here are small, and don't reach the size of those in northern latitudes or the plains. this is because the evironment is cramped. the ewoks fit that part. but why bipedal? the only reason we are bipedal is because we evolved from tetrapods. if squids were the first to make the jump onto land, we'd have a totally different scenario. it just seems like too much of a stretch to have them as recognizable teddy-bear forms.

The Original Nex wrote: Many of the planetss visited in SW are Earth-like because those are the planets that the Humans who are the main characters can go to. Having all the main characters in an Oxygen Suit for a whole sequence wouldn't work out to well on the silver screen. There are plently of nonEarth-like planets in the SW galaxy, but they aren't visited in the films.

Then again, look at Tatooine, Geonosis, Dagobah, the only thing they have in common with Earth is their atmospheres.

all of the environments presented can be found somewhere on earth. maybe that's just because of the filming, but they could AT LEAST make a reference to some race from an human-hostile world.

while they have done so in the books (the gand are an example; they come from an ammonia filled world, i believe), i just wish they would extend this to the movies.

of course, none of the public hungers for imaginative aliens in their sci-fi movies, so maybe i'm just ranting

That's why we have the EU.

You have to see how does this add to the movie's story?

In the aspect of what we've seen on screen is basically maybe eight, or nine planets and really given there are apparently twelve million systems, this is not even a percentcile to consider.

even the EU doesn't go all out.

what REALLY was bothering me is the many species that look far too manlike. that's all.

unbeataBULL wrote:even the EU doesn't go all out.

what REALLY was bothering me is the many species that look far too manlike. that's all.

well some "Aliens" were Humans (the Chiss and The Zabrak for example) and some other changed more human like to interact better with humans (the Twi'leks and the Falleen for example).

unbeataBULL wrote:even the EU doesn't go all out.

what REALLY was bothering me is the many species that look far too manlike. that's all.

Giant force weilding floating mushrooms?

You do understand that the EU also covers only so much because the writers still ahve the limitations at where it just cease being indentifiable.

Who wants to read about a mathmatical formula that only droids can see?

One potential explanation could lie with the Rakata from KotoR, who we know engaged in massive planetary terraforming operations and kept a variety of slave species.

They could well have cultivated species that they could relate to and eliminated those they couldn't, which would lead to a prevalance of sentient species with similar characteristics.

unbeataBULL wrote:that's just the problem. far too many starwars creatures are described as "reptilian" or "snake-like". the fact that they resemble earth creatures is scientifically laughable.

surely there can be no reptiles anywhere but earth in the galaxy, so Trandoshans and Falleens are impossible.

Why?

Ghost Rider wrote: Giant force weilding floating mushrooms?

You do understand that the EU also covers only so much because the writers still ahve the limitations at where it just cease being indentifiable.

Who wants to read about a mathmatical formula that only droids can see?

it can be surprisingly interesting. there have been numerous sci-fi novels about incredibly imaginative aliens. the more imaginative it is, the more realisitic.

Stofsk wrote:

unbeataBULL wrote:that's just the problem. far too many starwars creatures are described as "reptilian" or "snake-like". the fact that they resemble earth creatures is scientifically laughable.

surely there can be no reptiles anywhere but earth in the galaxy, so Trandoshans and Falleens are impossible.

Why?

because they're described as reptiles, basically. they have cold blood, scales, lay eggs, the works.

Petrosjko wrote:One potential explanation could lie with the Rakata from KotoR, who we know engaged in massive planetary terraforming operations and kept a variety of slave species.

They could well have cultivated species that they could relate to and eliminated those they couldn't, which would lead to a prevalance of sentient species with similar characteristics.

that almost sounds stolen from Trek. wasn't there a "designer race" for all the inhabitants of the galaxy?

well, the Star Wars version sounds more realistic, and better plot-wise.

unbeataBULL wrote:that almost sounds stolen from Trek. wasn't there a "designer race" for all the inhabitants of the galaxy?

well, the Star Wars version sounds more realistic, and better plot-wise.

Oh, I'm sure that somebody came up with that concept in Golden Age science fiction long before Star Trek came up with it.

In Star Trek they're known as the Preservers, as I recall. The Shatner ghostwritten novels go into them a bit, at least the one I read, but of course that's not canon.

As for the Rakata having a similar influence on Star Wars, that's purely my own conjecture.

unbeataBULL wrote: because they're described as reptiles, basically. they have cold blood, scales, lay eggs, the works.

And this is only possible to be evolved on Earth... how?

to above: because of the EXTREME unliklihood of such lifeform arising, even on an earthlike planet.

if earth started over again, you wouldn't find insects, crabs, mammals, birds, reptiles, nothing would be familiar.

now if you repeated earth a million times, you might see some similarities between them. but its still quite a low probability.

Petrosjko wrote:

unbeataBULL wrote:that almost sounds stolen from Trek. wasn't there a "designer race" for all the inhabitants of the galaxy?

well, the Star Wars version sounds more realistic, and better plot-wise.

Oh, I'm sure that somebody came up with that concept in Golden Age science fiction long before Star Trek came up with it.

In Star Trek they're known as the Preservers, as I recall. The Shatner ghostwritten novels go into them a bit, at least the one I read, but of course that's not canon.

As for the Rakata having a similar influence on Star Wars, that's purely my own conjecture.

well it would make the most sense.

note: the existence of the Preservers is the ONLY possible way to make Spock's Vulcan/Human ancestry even remotely possible.