SW Medtech question

[Bounty]

Anyway, there could be simple limb replacement kits with easy-to-follow instructions that any simple surgeon could perform, or something.

In ROTS when Vader is getting his robotic legs attached, it is hilariously fast and easy. The lower leg is set next to the knee, and the medical droid simply screws it on and it starts moving immediately.

1:40-1:48. Whole thing takes 8 seconds.

Why do you think they didn't do prep work on the knee first? There's got to be some sort of interface with the remaining nerves in his legs at the very least, human anatomy isn't exactly plug 'n' play.

[Lord Revan]

IIRC there's a quite clear metalic "cap" at the end of the stump even before the prostetic limbs get attached (at least for the arm), so it's probable there's alot prep work we're not been show (since it would be quite frankly extremly boring to watch them do it for minutes).

[Swindle1984]

Not to mention kinda gross.

[Darth Ruinus]

Why do you think they didn't do prep work on the knee first? There's got to be some sort of interface with the remaining nerves in his legs at the very least, human anatomy isn't exactly plug 'n' play.

True, there probably was some work on the knee first, but even still, the robotic leg itself is still attached very fast.

[Shroom Man 777]

They didn't even take the time to remove the burnt clothes on him, which does carry a risk for infection. Man... that's so weird. And it makes those artificial limbs (and everything else) out to be, like, magic.

[Ba'al's Thunderbolt]

Anyway, there could be simple limb replacement kits with easy-to-follow instructions that any simple surgeon could perform, or something.

In ROTS when Vader is getting his robotic legs attached, it is hilariously fast and easy. The lower leg is set next to the knee, and the medical droid simply screws it on and it starts moving immediately.

1:40-1:48. Whole thing takes 8 seconds.

Why do you think they didn't do prep work on the knee first? There's got to be some sort of interface with the remaining nerves in his legs at the very least, human anatomy isn't exactly plug 'n' play.

People also don't become sociopathic mass murderers because they have bad dreams either, but we're not exactly talking about reality or even potential reality, here.

[FSTargetDrone]

They didn't even take the time to remove the burnt clothes on him, which does carry a risk for infection. Man... that's so weird. And it makes those artificial limbs (and everything else) out to be, like, magic.

The non-removal of the burned clothing is troublesome, but perhaps it was stripped off and the tissue cleaned up just before Anakin was dressed with the new suit's leggings and such.

Another thing, Vader's armor was (presumably) a custom job, so who designed it? When was it made? Why was it available relatively quickly? Presumably the Emperor foresaw a need for it or he sent instructions from his ship while returning to Coruscant with Anakin. I don't know if this is addressed in any novelization or elsewhere, but the armor seems to have been ready to go right away. I don't see quick manufacture of the armor being particularly problematic, but there must have been some sort of extensive medical scan while Anakin was still in transit to prepare for the unique requirements of his new suit.

[Havok]

One plausible option for that, is that it is an old Sith design that is readily available to be manufactured. I can't imagine Vader was the first Sith to need a life support suit and with the kind of damage Palpatine took in his own battle with the Jedi, I can see why he and previous Sith would want to have it on standby.

As far as the burned on clothing, it is possible that they left it on temporarily to allow the skin underneath to heal on it's own and that it was removed later during one of his cleanings. Even in the Star Wars Uni, wounds like that would have to have some follow up.

[FSTargetDrone]

One plausible option for that, is that it is an old Sith design that is readily available to be manufactured. I can't imagine Vader was the first Sith to need a life support suit and with the kind of damage Palpatine took in his own battle with the Jedi, I can see why he and previous Sith would want to have it on standby.

It's interesting to picture others wearing a style of helmet similar to Vader's. Perhaps it wasn't a unique design or it may be a variation on a theme.

[Havok]

One plausible option for that, is that it is an old Sith design that is readily available to be manufactured. I can't imagine Vader was the first Sith to need a life support suit and with the kind of damage Palpatine took in his own battle with the Jedi, I can see why he and previous Sith would want to have it on standby.

It's interesting to picture others wearing a style of helmet similar to Vader's. Perhaps it wasn't a unique design or it may be a variation on a theme.

Well, I wasn't really considering the helmet design itself, but more the life support style suit and possibly the prosthetics, (lightsabers looping off limbs and all) but I would wager that it probably is a variation on old Sith icons/lore/themes.

[Shroom Man 777]

As far as the burned on clothing, it is possible that they left it on temporarily to allow the skin underneath to heal on it's own and that it was removed later during one of his cleanings. Even in the Star Wars Uni, wounds like that would have to have some follow up.

Medical treatment of burn injuries doesn't work that way! You have to remove the clothing precisely to allow the skin underneath to heal. How would your skin heal if there was a piece of dirty burnt cloth stuck on it? Ew. Removing it later, after the skin has healed with the cloth on it, would be difficult and would just ruin skin integrity. It's like peeling off tape from your skin, except that your skin has healed on the tape and has assimilated it into your flesh.

You sociopath.


As for his armor... it would be stupid if the most badass Sith Lord in the galaxy was walking around in the galactic standard equivalent of futuristic space wound-dressing. Imagine, going to a SW-verse medical ward and all the burn-victims are clad in Darth Vader-esque armor.

Maybe Palpatine had access to some fancy fast-working fabricator machines that built the armor on the quick. Or the actual-factual life-support systems are under all that stuff, and all the black armor and the cape and the helmet are some Sith regalia Palpatine found in his closet and he decided to put them over Anakin's life support stuff. So he would look badass.

[Lord Revan]

People also don't become sociopathic mass murderers because they have bad dreams either, but we're not exactly talking about reality or even potential reality, here.

with jedi, who are known to have visions of the future (well potential future) your "bad dreams" aren't always exactly just that, also there's more to Anakin's fall then just what we see in EP2 or 3.

[FSTargetDrone]

Though it's in need of some obvious updates since ROTS was released, I forgot all about Saxton's "Injuries of Darth Vader" discussion that is worth looking at.

As for his armor... it would be stupid if the most badass Sith Lord in the galaxy was walking around in the galactic standard equivalent of futuristic space wound-dressing. Imagine, going to a SW-verse medical ward and all the burn-victims are clad in Darth Vader-esque armor.

Maybe Palpatine had access to some fancy fast-working fabricator machines that built the armor on the quick. Or the actual-factual life-support systems are under all that stuff, and all the black armor and the cape and the helmet are some Sith regalia Palpatine found in his closet and he decided to put them over Anakin's life support stuff. So he would look badass.

Well, the mask and helmet clearly seem to have been designed to be a bit more than purely utilitarian, that's for sure.

The suit and the pieces of armor that cover it may have been take from "off the shelf" items and suitably modified.

Whatever burn treatment was involved (it's too bad that we didn't see Anakin dunked into bacta--that would have made a nice parallel scene with Luke's bacta treatment 20+ years later), the flesh on his head was somewhat normal-looking by the time of TESB and ROTJ. He was badly scarred, of course, but there were significant portions of the skin on his face that were almost normal looking, if not a bit paler than earlier in his life. So, some flesh was restored. When he was on the table in ROTS, he was pretty much a crispy critter with no undamaged skin.

People also don't become sociopathic mass murderers because they have bad dreams either, but we're not exactly talking about reality or even potential reality, here.

And of course we are discussing it here as if it were real.

[Havok]

Medical treatment of burn injuries doesn't work that way! You have to remove the clothing precisely to allow the skin underneath to heal. How would your skin heal if there was a piece of dirty burnt cloth stuck on it? Ew. Removing it later, after the skin has healed with the cloth on it, would be difficult and would just ruin skin integrity. It's like peeling off tape from your skin, except that your skin has healed on the tape and has assimilated it into your flesh.

You sociopath.


As for his armor... it would be stupid if the most badass Sith Lord in the galaxy was walking around in the galactic standard equivalent of futuristic space wound-dressing. Imagine, going to a SW-verse medical ward and all the burn-victims are clad in Darth Vader-esque armor.

Maybe Palpatine had access to some fancy fast-working fabricator machines that built the armor on the quick. Or the actual-factual life-support systems are under all that stuff, and all the black armor and the cape and the helmet are some Sith regalia Palpatine found in his closet and he decided to put them over Anakin's life support stuff. So he would look badass.

Sorry Shroomy. I have no idea how burns of that magnitude are treated. However, inspiring fear and terror are always a design thought when Sith make something.

[Bounty]

I don't see the suit as much of a problem. The TIE fighter pilots' helmets already look vaguely similar to it, so it's not hard to justify as, perhaps, an EV mask that was fitted with a more stylized (traditional Sith?) helmet. The rest of the suit is either off-the-shelf armour parts, or life support equipment that could easily have come from the standard SW burns ward.

The burnt clothing bugged me tremendously when I saw the film. So you go through the trouble of showing the surgery, but you ignore the absolute basics? That and Amidala's death is almost enough to convince people Lucas has never set foot in a hospital... or even watched and episode of ER.

[Darth Hoth]

People also don't become sociopathic mass murderers because they have bad dreams either, but we're not exactly talking about reality or even potential reality, here.

with jedi, who are known to have visions of the future (well potential future) your "bad dreams" aren't always exactly just that, also there's more to Anakin's fall then just what we see in EP2 or 3.

Ruusanite bouncers can dream the future with certainty and a degree of accuracy. Of course, Anakin was not one. . .

I don't see the suit as much of a problem. The TIE fighter pilots' helmets already look vaguely similar to it, so it's not hard to justify as, perhaps, an EV mask that was fitted with a more stylized (traditional Sith?) helmet. The rest of the suit is either off-the-shelf armour parts, or life support equipment that could easily have come from the standard SW burns ward.

Per the latest retcon, Vader's helmet is supposedly a salvaged part from an old Sith war 'droid. This because a robot in an early TotJ comic had similar-looking samurai headgear. . .

[FSTargetDrone]

The burnt clothing bugged me tremendously when I saw the film. So you go through the trouble of showing the surgery, but you ignore the absolute basics? That and Amidala's death is almost enough to convince people Lucas has never set foot in a hospital... or even watched and episode of ER.

Which is why it was very disappointing to not see any use of Bacta. He's sealed into the suit looking like a charcoal briquette. I don't want to think about what the chafing of the flexible parts of his suit was doing to what remained of his body. Can you imagine what must have happened as those leggings were pulled over what remained of his thighs? Ouch. Showing just a few seconds of Bacta therapy would have taken care of this problem, at least in part. I wonder if it was ever even considered? I realize this was at the end of the film and things were hurrying along to be wrapped up, but still. If the filmmakers had taken just a little more time showing some sort of medical treatment before the legs and arms are bolted on, well...

[Shroom Man 777]

Maybe the suit had bacta inside it?

[FSTargetDrone]

Maybe the suit had bacta inside it?

Possibly. Maybe the fabric of the soft parts of his garments sort of oozed the stuff on his burns, but I it seems somewhat impractical. Where is the bacta stored before it's oozed out, how is the dead tissue and other mess cleared away? It would have been hell to walk around like that, I fear.

I would have liked to have seen him undergo physical therepy of some kind (he was up and on his feet pretty damn fast, after all!) and bits of different surgical procedures cleaning him up and such. I guess for the sake of time (cinematically), they just showed him being toasted and then stuffed him into his gear. Too bad.

[Bounty]

Cinematically, it may have intended to convey the idea that they never even tried to "heal" Anakin in a way that would have left him a recognizable human, leaving the damaged tissue to rot and be cleaned out later for the sake of grafting on the artificial limbs faster. They didn't try to "fix" him as much as he stuff him into his life-support prison ASAP, further pain and tissue damage be damned.

[Winston Blake]

Palpatine has asthma and he wears the Vader helmet as a respirator. The original ROTS script has the Windu Squad barging in on Palpy, and he turns around in his swivel-chair and is wearing the Vader helmet and wheezing, *coooor-cah... coooor-cah*.

*cocked head* So it's... *cooor-cah*... treason then?

Seriously though, the helmet is the only questionable part. Summarising this thread:

Arms/legs/torso? Perhaps an TIE fighter life-support suit, for injured pilots. Hotshot pilot Anakin spends the rest of his days in a gussied up flight suit.



Cape? An artistic flourish.

Now the helmet? Well the sub-helmet can be a TIE fighter helmet variant. The samurai helm thing is, if anything, LESS outrageous than the Death Star trooper helmets:



'Devin Cant', I salute your courage in dressing up as a giant black weeny.

[Samuel]

Obviously shrapnel was a big concern for the Empire's finest aboard the Death Star. Or is there some other reason to wear such a big ass helmet?

[DesertFly]

Obviously shrapnel was a big concern for the Empire's finest aboard the Death Star. Or is there some other reason to wear such a big ass helmet?

Perhaps they were part of some elite unit that wore the headgear as a sort of status symbol, like green berets or beefeaters.

[Winston Blake]

Obviously shrapnel was a big concern for the Empire's finest aboard the Death Star. Or is there some other reason to wear such a big ass helmet?

Perhaps in combat, they're supposed to flip it around backwards to act as facial armour (which might require a Stormtrooper-esque holodisplay). Or perhaps it generates an energy shield. Or is a phased array antenna. Or perhaps it magnifies their psychic powers. Or magnifies their hearing ability. Or makes them immune to Jedi mind tricks. Or sucks out their life force to sustain Palpy.

The only real possibility I can think of is that it's possible for some kind of exotic technology (energy fields?) on the Death Star to fail catastrophically, and those wacky helmets are the best way to offer adequate protection.

[Batman]

Or we could always go with something that happens all to often in the real world: The people in charge of deciding wether or not to buy that ludicrous helmet are paid by and/or related to the people owning the company making them.