One of the most enduring features of the Star Wars mythos are its starships, more specifically the way they’re designed within the context of a galaxy far, far, away.
Admittedly many of the ships do not follow real world industrial design standards. Nearly none of the ships in Star Wars canon would be aerodynamic enough to fly in an an earth-like atmosphere. And given what we know about automation, it seems superfluous, if not cruel to actually have living pilots controlling spacecraft they could easily die in.
If you can spot any other design flaws, tell us in the comments below. But first, here’s Scott Park’s ridiculously awesome rundown of all the vehicles in the Original Trilogy, in full flat-aesthetic glory.
If you liked this video, check out Scott Park’s illustrations and the Sploid channel, the group that animated his illustrations.
Why Star Wars’ “Bad Designs” Don’t Matter.
Say what you will about the supposed lack of design realism, or even the plot holes in the Star Wars Universe, but in the end, the whole franchise is a product, and not meant to be 100% faithful to physics — certainly probably not meant to be overly consistent if it got in the way of the story.
The design quirks on these ships and vehicles are a feature of the Star Wars Universe, not a defect. The ships are above all else, meant to look cool in an acceptably plausible way.
Ignoring the supernatural aspects of Star Wars, few of the objects in the universe made any real sense when it came to industrial design as we know it in the real world.
But that’s all good, because when it came to the actual purpose of capturing the collective imaginations of billions, they did alright.
Express your nerdrage below.