When does Star Wars take place in terms of Earth's BCE/CE

[Enda801]

When does Star Wars take place in terms of Earth's BCE/CE system. I know that it takes place in the past ("long ago").

[Cej4096]

When does Star Wars take place in terms of Earth's BCE/CE system. I know that it takes place in the past ("long ago").

Although I can't confirm it, I seem to remember it being mentioned somewhere that a Star Wars roleplaying game book (I believe it was the Tales of the Jedi Companion) had a timeline in it that listed the Big Bang as having occured 12 billion years before the movies. Since we believe the universe to currently be about 13.7 billion years old, this would imply that Star Wars takes place about 1.7 billion years ago.

Of course this is a rather round-about method of figuring it out, and I have a feeling that the author didn't really mean to imply that, but to the best of my knowledge that's the only hint we have.

[Morilore]

It's irrelevant. Time is relative; there is no absolute ticking clock in the background of the universe to measure the procession of time against. It could have happened a million years ago or a million years from now.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

It's impossible to tell, although you do get props for using BCE/CE.

[Noble Ire]

It could have happened a million years ago or a million years from now.

A long time ago



But I do believe that the actual date is irrelevant.

[Gandalf]

IIRC GL said that there was no specific date, as that would ruin some of the fantasy aspect. I think it was on the "Ask The Jedi Council" on starwars.com.

My computer can't past the damn flash introduction to verify this though.

[000]

I think Lucas recently made some vague comment about it all happening about 100 years or so ago. So 1877 AD or therabouts.

[Noble Ire]

IIRC GL said that there was no specific date, as that would ruin some of the fantasy aspect. I think it was on the "Ask The Jedi Council" on starwars.com.

My computer can't past the damn flash introduction to verify this though.

They actually closed down the section anyways, but I do remember reading something similar there.

[Gandalf]

IIRC GL said that there was no specific date, as that would ruin some of the fantasy aspect. I think it was on the "Ask The Jedi Council" on starwars.com.

My computer can't past the damn flash introduction to verify this though.

They actually closed down the section anyways, but I do remember reading something similar there.

Does it exist in archival form?

[Noble Ire]

IIRC GL said that there was no specific date, as that would ruin some of the fantasy aspect. I think it was on the "Ask The Jedi Council" on starwars.com.

My computer can't past the damn flash introduction to verify this though.

They actually closed down the section anyways, but I do remember reading something similar there.

Does it exist in archival form?

Nope, its still listed, but when you click on it, it says something along the lines of "this file no longer exists."

I wonder why they would delete it. Perhaps its just tech. difficulties, who knows.

[DPDarkPrimus]

It could have happened a million years ago or a million years from now.

A long time ago

But it's never established WHEN the story is being told. "A long time ago" in the year 3000 is different than "A long time ago" now.

[Noble Ire]

But it's never established WHEN the story is being told. "A long time ago" in the year 3000 is different than "A long time ago" now.

I suppose so.

Just intentionally ambigous I guess, there would be no real point in actually telling the Earth date.

[Drooling Iguana]

It's just Lucas' version of "Once upon a time."

[Kurgan]

Last Sunday, A.D. perhaps?

[Hardy]

If the humans in the galaxy are initially from Earth, then the events can't be older than 200,000 years. Considering the time humans have been around in that galaxy, "A long time ago" shouldn't be more than 175,000 years.

Of course, it's just based on the assumption that SW humans and Earthen humans are the same.

[Drooling Iguana]

If the humans in the galaxy are initially from Earth, then the events can't be older than 200,000 years. Considering the time humans have been around in that galaxy, "A long time ago" shouldn't be more than 175,000 years.

Of course, it's just based on the assumption that SW humans and Earthen humans are the same.

And that time-travel doesn't occur in the Star Wars universe, never a safe assumption to make when dealing with sci-fi.

[Hardy]

And that time-travel doesn't occur in the Star Wars universe, never a safe assumption to make when dealing with sci-fi.

Barring relativistic problems, when has time travel ever occured in that universe? I think the default assumption is that time travel doesn't exist.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Hardy is right. We should always avoid adding that shit whereever possible.

100,000 years ago IS a long time ago, man.

[Hawkwings]

lol, I once read an interesting SW comic about Han Solo dying, and Chewie crash-landing the Falcon on a planet which turned out to be Earth. Then Indiana Jones came to the location to look for Bigfoot, which was Chewie

It was very entertaining!

[Junghalli]

It's irrelevant. Time is relative; there is no absolute ticking clock in the background of the universe to measure the procession of time against.

It might at least help us confirm or eliminate some theories as to how humans got into the SW galaxy in the first place.
My pet theory is that it actually takes place in the very far future, when humans have spread out to multiple galaxies and Earth has been long forgotten. The opening crawl fits with the whole feel of somebody telling a story about half-mythical events that happened a long time ago in a far away place. He's adressing somebody living in the far future of SW far away from the action, not neccessarily us.
Interestingly, on his site Curtis Saxton points out that the Yuuzhan Vong are similar enough to humans physically that it's probable the two species had a common ancestor. Which I tend to think supports my theory.

[Diamedes]

It could have happened a million years ago or a million years from now.

A long time ago

But it's never established WHEN the story is being told. "A long time ago" in the year 3000 is different than "A long time ago" now.

That's how I've come to interpret it also. Star Wars is a fairy tale told to a kid in the far, far future, long, long after the rebellion, and long, long, long after now.

[VT-16]

In the original drafts, SW was taking place in our galaxy and in the future, I guess you could combine it with the more vague wording at the beginning of each film.

[Ravengrim]

I had always imagined that It was in our far future and that since Correllians were the first people to get hyperdrive tech (according to the EU), and since they are human that Correllia was actually earth.

[hypernova]

i believe everyones missing somthing, 100,000 years ago might not be a long time ago, but i believe it is said long long ago in a glaxy far far away,

i believe long long ago would be the same thing as long squared.

and somone said sommthing about humans origimating form earth, nothing in the starwars universe ever says anything about earth so its an invalid statement, some how 2 humans and an a really advanced droid flew to our galaxy. 1 human was a man named adum and the other a female named Eev. the droid's model was G6-0D. they crashed on a planet, the all hit their heads, the humans had amensia and only remebered their names the droid's system malfunctioned and memory was corrupted, the 6 in its name was lost and cloaking device permantly activated. you know the story on from there.

but anyways...

[Lord Revan]

Well there's way too much evidence for Human Earth origin for that to be true.