via Lucas film
Writing science fiction is like walking a tightrope; you want the stories to be unbelievable and supernatural, but somehow within the realm of believability. Star Wars has always had this problem (explosions in space?), but some fans tend to pick apart the most obvious in-universe questionable decisions.
Case in point: On the r/StarWars subreddit, user fired-raptor posed a question about the structural integrity of an underwater base, and fans had a blast.
The fortress in question is the Inquisitorius Fortress which is featured heavily in the Disney Plus show. Obi Wan Kenobi. As for why it has windows, some people seem to think it’s because they look cool, like CritMasterFlex.
“Lord Vader, having windows would seriously undermine the structural integrity of t-“
“RULE OF FRESH”.
“… Yes my lord.”
It could be that the Empire is pretty lax on regulations, according to Atrobbus.
“I mean… There are no railings on the Death Star either.
Maybe the Empire really hates workplace safety standards and would assume Stormtroopers aren’t unionized enough to change them.”
User ZenMonkey47 also pointed out the lack of safety rails.
“It seems to be in line with the whole Empire philosophy of ‘no railings over the chasms.'” User jondoe550 actually has a very good explanation for the lack of railings.
“I love the joke, but it’s a fun fact. The Death Star doesn’t have railings because it was designed by the Geonosians in ROTS, and they have wings so they don’t need to worry about falling over.” Good to know.
Unfortunately, many of the explanations of things in any Star Wars The property turns out to be “fits the plot”, as illustrated by user Nova_Hazing. (The following comment was edited for conciseness.)
“I want to say that the entirety of Kenobi is for “PLOT” reasons. How is Riva alive? plot reasons. Why didn’t Vader just kill Kenobi when he had the chance? plot reasons. Yeah, this one made sense, he wanted to hit him properly, but Vader’s anger would push him too far and break his neck.
How did the only ship of the empire get away? plot reasons. Why didn’t Vader just take the second ship as he easily could with his power in the force? plot reasons. Why did Riva and the Grand Inquisitor have an argument when he could clearly see that she was busy, maybe even found Kenobi and didn’t just say, ‘Oh hey, well done, you found Kenobi’ like the Grand Inquisitor would ? plot reasons. Why did the Grand Inquisitor have such a change of character with respect to his depictions of rebels? plot reasons.
Using that train of thought, the plot called for the glass to be broken, and it was. Could it really be that simple? Even if that were the case, the appalling lack of security is jarring for everyone.
UserRecommendationOk253 said “…as for glass, I don’t know about it. They don’t even have blinds or anything in case of an emergency.” User applejackrr said: “My only thought was that they were pretty sure no one was going to break in.” The central user pointed out that things don’t even seem to be sealed in an emergency.
“And the doors that are supposed to be airtight to seal off the compartments in the event of a breach are clearly leaking water when closed.”
Another user, inmartinwetrust, pointed out that this is not even the first time the installation has been flooded.
“Especially crazy when you realize, just a few years before, Cal de Jedi: Fallen Order it also infiltrated the same base in the same way, and also flooded the base when a window was broken. I guess the empire never learns, or better yet, the writers never learn.”
User Dontfrown said what we’re all thinking: maybe it’s just bad storytelling.
“Honestly, even though I’m only four episodes in, I’ve personally found this show to be one of the worst culprits for plot holes and overall inexplicable and sometimes downright blatant bullshit storytelling.”
Also the fact that it only took a single blast from a standard stormtrooper blaster raised a lot of eyebrows, user fredagsfisk said.
“Yes, I feel that if the structural integrity of your base depends on something, I said that something should at least be strong enough to survive a single shot of the ranged weapons of the soldiers who patrolled said base.
Does it break with a lightsaber or direct application of the Force? Penalty fee.
Is it broken by a heavily modified weapon that someone smuggled in? Penalty fee.
Does it break with the standard Generic Stormtrooper 532549 blaster? Nope.
When you put it like that, there’s always another explanation, according to user WeirdMeatinSpace.
“The dark side is not the brightest.”
Check out the entire thread at Reddit.
