StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I know that this perhaps is a bit of a stretch, but still... After having read Plait's comments about ROTS in general (as well as some comments in this forum) and about Obi-Wan's announcement that the Invisible Hand had entered the atmosphere in particular, I've given it some thought. Isn't it possible that planetary shields had been raised after Palpatine had been kidnapped to prevent orbital bombardment and that the Invisible Hand made contact with the shield prior to entering the atmosphere and that shield/ship friction was responsible for the further break-up of the ship (the ship was of course already seriously damaged)?

Well, the ship shouldn't have just ignited in the atmosphere (or so says Phil Plait) so that's one theory...but the shield should have just destroyed the ship, right?

In fact, I remember hearing that in the novelization, large chunks of wreckage were raining down on Coruscant. Why would they do that if the shield was up?

I don't think the shield was up- probably they didn't activate it for fear of catching their own ships in it. Or maybe the fighting was taking place underneath the shield.

HemlockGrey wrote:I don't think the shield was up- probably they didn't activate it for fear of catching their own ships in it. Or maybe the fighting was taking place underneath the shield.

Curtis Saxton, in SW2ICS, wrote:". . . Thousands of Republic battleships engage the craft, trapping it in an upper atmospheric combat within the planet's defensive shield."

Ah, yes. More proof that I am always right.

I still prefer this theory before "Obi-Wan is a moron".

If the enemy fleet was trapped beneath the shield, then how could General Grievous escape at all from Coruscant?

Dark Primus wrote:If the enemy fleet was trapped beneath the shield, then how could General Grievous escape at all from Coruscant?

A strategic hit to a sheild generator, perhaps. Maybe they opened the shield to let OBi Wan's fleet into the battle. They arrived as a relief fleet

Since it was an inside job maybe Palpateen arranged for the shield to under go maintenance at the time of the attack.