BobBrown's SW discussions(split from Reference Sources)

[Vympel]

I have the honor to be the first to recommend Bob Brown's Star Wars Discussions. http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/ These are a series of meticulously researched articles on various Star Wars topics (Millennium Falcon, R2-D2, lightsabre combat techniques, etc.) Also, if read in chronological order, they chronicle Mr. Brown's growing frustration with and eventual hostility toward Lucasfilm, Dr. David West Reynold, and ever Dr. Curtis Saxton! Fun for the whole family!

He's a wanker. I especially liked his Trade Federation page, where he complains that obviously we will never see the Tradefed after Episode 1 and that the canon has been 'dented'. Whoops! They're in Episode II. Why don't you wait for the trilogy to finish before you make pronouncements, you asshole?

(not talking to you currald hehehe)

[Master of Ossus]

Star Wars Essential Guide to ...
Written by various...
Published by Boxtree

These are a series of books with a compilation of Star Wars information on various subjects, it contains massive amounts of information on the expanded universe along with good illustrations. Only problem with them is some of the information has been known to be wrong, from time to time.

They appear to be starting a new line of these (The NEW EGTC is out) and anything in these will contradict the old set.

Not really contradict. It's additional material, now.

[Crayz9000]

He's a wanker. I especially liked his Trade Federation page, where he complains that obviously we will never see the Tradefed after Episode 1 and that the canon has been 'dented'. Whoops! They're in Episode II. Why don't you wait for the trilogy to finish before you make pronouncements, you asshole?

Ah, relax. Most of his articles are pretty good; he did a good job of rectifying the Corellian Corvette problem, as well as the problematic Millennium Falcon.

[Vympel]

He's a wanker. I especially liked his Trade Federation page, where he complains that obviously we will never see the Tradefed after Episode 1 and that the canon has been 'dented'. Whoops! They're in Episode II. Why don't you wait for the trilogy to finish before you make pronouncements, you asshole?

Ah, relax. Most of his articles are pretty good; he did a good job of rectifying the Corellian Corvette problem, as well as the problematic Millennium Falcon.

It's not the data, it's the sanctimonious, arrogant tone and incessant criticism.

From his tradefed MTT page:

"Whatever happened to the good old days when neither Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston wouldn't have stood for such blatant mistakes? (Is this why neither man was hired for TPM? because they'd dare to talk back to George Lucas and correct his many mistakes?)"

WTF is he talking about? What 'blatant mistakes' did Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston not stand for? He talks out of his ass and acts like he's some sort of fucking lucasfilm insider.

[Currald]

I think he was really annoyed that there wasn't room for R2-D2's shoulders in the Naboo fighter... It is pretty annoying, you must admit.

[Vympel]

I think he was really annoyed that there wasn't room for R2-D2's shoulders in the Naboo fighter... It is pretty annoying, you must admit.

Never really bothered me to be honest. Why must every fighter in Star Wars be PERFECTLY designed? I can chalk it up to peactime mamby-pamby no-nothing Naboo engineers.

[Crayz9000]

Never really bothered me to be honest. Why must every fighter in Star Wars be PERFECTLY designed? I can chalk it up to peactime mamby-pamby no-nothing Naboo engineers.

The only problem is that it physically precludes an R2 unit from fitting into the fighter... or, going by the Episode I ICS, weakens the starfighter's structure to the point of ridiculousness.

Rather like MC Escher's drawings. They look perfectly plausible at first... but just try to picture them in three dimensions.

[Vympel]

Never really bothered me to be honest. Why must every fighter in Star Wars be PERFECTLY designed? I can chalk it up to peactime mamby-pamby no-nothing Naboo engineers.

The only problem is that it physically precludes an R2 unit from fitting into the fighter... or, going by the Episode I ICS, weakens the starfighter's structure to the point of ridiculousness.

Rather like MC Escher's drawings. They look perfectly plausible at first... but just try to picture them in three dimensions.

I never said the design wasn't stupid- it just doesn't get me frothing at the mouth and railing at George Lucas and making sanctimonius declarations about the 'good ol' OT days as if I'm some kind of authority.

[Cpt_Frank]

Split from Reference Source topic (which should be kept clean from debate over the validity of Bob Brown's research)

[Vympel]

Split from Reference Source topic (which should be kept clean from debate over the validity of Bob Brown's research)

Good move. Though it's not the validity of his research, just his attitude that grates my nerves.

Example:

IG-88 was an assassin droid says the official literature. But NO, even though canon says nothing about it, Bob Brown, Lord of Star Wars, rejects that as 'gibberish' and instead says, with no support whatsoever, that IG-88 is a war droid. QED.

[Cpt_Frank]

I agree with that. Contrary to Saxton, who seeks to create an overall continuity for Star Wars that offers a reasonable explanation for everything we see in both the EU and the Canon, Bob Brown's an extreme canon purist. He will examine the movies and draw conclusions from them, presenting them as facts.
Although admittedly, some if his research is profound, I especially appreciate his examination of the CR90 Corvette.

[Ender]

His site is back up? I thought he took it down after ICS came out, he put up basically a huge flame that amounted to something about Lucas handing the reigns over to the fans (translation: I'm pissed off that I'm not the one who got to write, so I'll cry about it now)

[Cpt_Frank]

Didn't Saxton even mention his name in the Book?

[Illuminatus Primus]

Never really bothered me to be honest. Why must every fighter in Star Wars be PERFECTLY designed? I can chalk it up to peactime mamby-pamby no-nothing Naboo engineers.

The only problem is that it physically precludes an R2 unit from fitting into the fighter... or, going by the Episode I ICS, weakens the starfighter's structure to the point of ridiculousness.

We've seen worse with real life militaries. We're talking about a packward peacenik underpopulated hippie world. What'd you expect?

[Vympel]

REALLY?!

He threw a tantrum because Saxton got to do it!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

[Ender]

REALLY?!

He threw a tantrum because Saxton got to do it!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

I'm pretty sure it was him. He's the only one I know referred to as "BB". I don't know what happened afterwards because I left for Boot Camp while it was being debated and people were writing him about it.

[Ender]

Didn't Saxton even mention his name in the Book?

... Riight, when we start referring to it as "the Book", then people might be right about us holding ICS in too high esteem.

[Vympel]

Didn't Saxton even mention his name in the Book?

... Riight, when we start referring to it as "the Book", then people might be right about us holding ICS in too high esteem.

Hahahaha I missed that.

The Good Book.

[Vympel]

Apparently he dropped his site in protest sometime earlier this year- but not sure about what- and he is now impossible to contact.

[Crayz9000]

Apparently he dropped his site in protest sometime earlier this year- but not sure about what- and he is now impossible to contact.

He reopened it; anyway, he's been impossible to contact for a long while.

http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/

Guess what? He played one of the Jedi during the arena fight

And at any rate, he revised his Artoo flight page...

During the "assembly line" scenes on Geonosis, Artoo extends a small rocket from each of his main legs (when in "standing - 2 leg - mode) and FLIES ...

The discarded flight scenes from Episode I The Phantom Menace are clearly now defunct as the flight mechanism is TOTALLY revised.

WE NO LONGER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT TRYING TO "FIT" THE 'CORNER JETS' INTO EACH OF ARTOO'S SIDE HATCHES

The Kenner action figure (shown above) is now utterly obsolete!

THE QUESTION IS: why has he never done this before?
why not FLY up to the X-Wing hatch etc?

the solution lies in Dr Curtis Saxtons text for the Episode II Incredible Cross-Sections (E2:ICS) book, where he makes it quite plain that the planet Geonosis has a LOW GRAVITY. This assists the native winged warriors to fly, and it also makes it easier for Artoo to do so.

CLEARLY Artoo would probably NOT be able to fly in most environments - the jets probably serve as emergency attitude thrusters for an astrodroid which has become separated from a starship IN SPACE. (we can assume that the jets seen below are able to be angled?).

This raises an old old issue: why legs and/or wheels AT ALL?
Why do astrodroids not simply float on repulsorlift (which is cheap and plentiful in the STARWARS galaxy).

I believe the solution rests on environmental issues. An astrodroid needs to be able to operate in harsh environments, such as the CHARGED EXTERNAL HULL of a starship under hard accelleration, within the field effects of its ray and particle shielding. The droid must be able to secure itself to the hull with simple mechanical-traction methods (legs/wheels/claws) in case the hi-energy effects of its environment interfere with its repulsor lift mechanism.

Similar problems in the charged atmosphere of a BATTLE would account for the presence of COMBAT WALKERS alongside repulsor-lift vehicles ... you cannot ion-blast a walker and expect it to fall to the ground as easily as you could with a repulsor vehicle. Combat airspeeders of course rely on sheer speed to avoid these dangers.'

[Illuminatus Primus]

The Rebels are largely 'politically correct' wimps. They probably feel that the use of battle-droids is somehow wrong, that the sentients of the galaxy should fight for their own freedom, that slave-droid armies are the tools of oppresssion and not of liberation (or some such lunatic gibberish)

How are they politically correct wimps? Huh? Won't use droids because its wrong? They never say that in his precious movie canon and that's horseshit in the EU because the Balmorrians were going to sell their SD-10s and X-1 Vipers to the New Republic.

Below you will find an image from TESB, of the bounty-hunting droid IG-88. *WHY*? ... you may well ask ... everyone knows IG-88 was an assasin droid, one of five which escaped from a rouge experiment etc etc ... well, I'm going to tell you that I believe that NO IT WASNT SO ... I believe that IG-88 is typical of various forms of war-droids used in the pre-Imperium period. It was obviously a fully functional independant droid equipped for heavy combat. I believe that IG-88 is probably a 'destroyer-class' war droid who survived whatever wars it was built for, and over the years (without mind-wipes) developed a complex and cunning personality. the droid has since made its way working as a bounty hunter, a task requiring considerable intelligence.

The 'rougue assisain' story is pure apocryphal gibberish, it has NO BASIS in canon 'fact' - growing out of the relatively recent 'tales of the Bounty Hunters' anthology sponsored by KJA, it can be dismissed out of hand. Far more likely is that this droid, or indeed (if you feel attrracted to the 'multiple IG's theory) a GROUP of them, survived some war and went on to carve a career for themselves. After all, the official site write up on battle-droids makes it quite plain that the Neimoidians are not the only race to deploy military droids, ... indeed if the Droideka is the product of another planet, CollaIV. This then proves that military droid research was occuring in multiple parts of the galaxy at different times.

Asshole. No even circumstancial evidence. He accuses them of ignoring canon fact, but can't even recognize Lucas' failures nor how Lucas' SoTE said anything about IG-88 (even his name) that would make the backstory untrue or unreasonable. What a crock of shit.

[Vympel]

Played one of the Jedi in the arena fight? I'm surprised he didn't kill everyone else there who was acting like a flashy idiot. Which one was he? Do we get a good look? I already have an idea ...

[Vympel]

How are they politically correct wimps? Huh? Won't use droids because its wrong? They never say that in his precious movie canon and that's horseshit in the EU because the Balmorrians were going to sell their SD-10s and X-1 Vipers to the New Republic.

Asshole. No even circumstancial evidence. He accuses them of ignoring canon fact, but can't even recognize Lucas' failures nor how Lucas' SoTE said anything about IG-88 (even his name) that would make the backstory untrue or unreasonable. What a crock of shit.

My thoughts exactly. I quoted that passage earlier. Bit of a hypocrite.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Pilot droids 'man' the bridges of ORDINARY War Freighters as well as the Droid Control Ship. Now, we know that the rest of the blockading fleet flew away from Naboo, leaving the Droid Control Ship BEHIND, so the pilots onboard these ordinary War Freighters were clearly able to function without the DCS control signal !

Ignorance. The comic depiction, which we know Bob had access to given the scans of comics, explains that the blockade has left; it is unneeded, as the planet is theirs and the Republic has no central military.

Instead of a consistent, believable and ironically appropriate spectacle, Lucas gave us a rather weak saturday-cartoon ending that any nine year old could have penned. No amount of brilliance in post-production to allow the 'willing suspension of disbelief' can overcome an underlying flaw in the plot. It is an intense disappointment. I truly hope that the wave of criticism flowing back from the 'ten-year-old' plot of TPM will inspire Mr Lucas to actually put some effort into the details of the next two films. His biggest spending fan-base is well over ten years of age, and has a proven record of ANALYSING every frame of film! Far from dismissing and insulting such people with exhortations to ''get a life'' (as he has done) he should EMBRACE these people ... they're (ie: we're) the ones who keep him in his mansion!

No one makes Bob Brown happy. He constructed a vision of SW since ANH and TESB, and no one can tell him otherwise. We all agree that TPM had crap, but this proves Lucas can be as falliable even as EU writers are. He also interestingly concludes that the primary fan base consists of him, and his ilk. Though not without basis, it comes off quite arrogant, like most things Bob Brown says.

[Vympel]

Pilot droids 'man' the bridges of ORDINARY War Freighters as well as the Droid Control Ship. Now, we know that the rest of the blockading fleet flew away from Naboo, leaving the Droid Control Ship BEHIND, so the pilots onboard these ordinary War Freighters were clearly able to function without the DCS control signal !

Ignorance. The comic depiction, which we know Bob had access to given the scans of comics, explains that the blockade has left; it is unneeded, as the planet is theirs and the Republic has no central military.

Instead of a consistent, believable and ironically appropriate spectacle, Lucas gave us a rather weak saturday-cartoon ending that any nine year old could have penned. No amount of brilliance in post-production to allow the 'willing suspension of disbelief' can overcome an underlying flaw in the plot. It is an intense disappointment. I truly hope that the wave of criticism flowing back from the 'ten-year-old' plot of TPM will inspire Mr Lucas to actually put some effort into the details of the next two films. His biggest spending fan-base is well over ten years of age, and has a proven record of ANALYSING every frame of film! Far from dismissing and insulting such people with exhortations to ''get a life'' (as he has done) he should EMBRACE these people ... they're (ie: we're) the ones who keep him in his mansion!

No one makes Bob Brown happy. He constructed a vision of SW since ANH and TESB, and no one can tell him otherwise. We all agree that TPM had crap, but this proves Lucas can be as falliable even as EU writers are. He also interestingly concludes that the primary fan base consists of him, and his ilk. Though not without basis, it comes off quite arrogant, like most things Bob Brown says.

Tell it brother. He's a wars fundie.