Pet Peeve: The Carbonite Catastrophe

[Deejon_Loy]

As we all know, there are very few things nowadays that George Lucas has not contradicted in his long-running Space Saga, however there is one element that he was always consistent in, but the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe has been contradictory to is "Carbon-freezing". According to the Movies, Carbon-freezing (CF) living organisms was never attempted until 3 ABY, the process was exclusively used for "packaging" mined gases, and CF technicians would readily tell you that to freeze a living organism "might kill [it]". However, throughout the Expanded Universe, especially in events/scenarios that take place well before 3 ABY, or involving Hutts, CF is frequently used and "displayed".

 

SPOILERS: In TOR, not only do the Hutts use it relatively frequently on Hutta, but we discover that the entire Tarisian government CF themselves to keep them alive; thus implying that this is in fact a common practice.

 

The first person to realistically conceive of the notion to CF a sentient being was Darth Vader, for the purpose of ensure that young Luke Skywalker would neither escape, nor purposely hurt himself during "his journey to the Emperor". With the high risk of "the Emperor's prize [being] damaged" Vader needed a test subject, and sense he was turning Han Solo over to Boba Fett upon Skywalker's capture, and in turn to Jabba the Hutt, Vader wouldn't lose anything if Han died in the CF process. CF had no relation to the Hutts, or any criminal/underworld syndicate, it was the "invention" of one sole Sith Lord.

 

The only relation the Hutts did have with it is that when Fett delivered Solo in his CF state, Jabba, being any good gangster and knowing that the best way to keep order is to instill fear in his underlings, and that a "poor victim on display for all to see" is an EXCELLENT way to instill fear. Jabba would have no doubt left Han their until the Hutt died of old age (however long into the future that may have been) and there is no reason to believe that he would have CF'ed anyone else later on... he didn't even bother freezing Han again when Leia woke him.

 

Now Leia's knowledge of "Hibernation Sickness" shows that there must be some other method(s) of induced hibernation in-Universe.

[Rikalonius]

Lucas broke spades, as it were, on that by making it a relatively pedestrian procedure in The Clone Wars T.V. show where Anakin, Obi Wan, jailbait, and some clones used it as an infiltration method to bypass life scanners at a prison.

 

They all emerged with just a yawn and no hibernation sickness. It's just part of the lore now. It used to anger me, but I'm used to this sort of thing in SW now.

[CFourPO]

it is not unusual for people just to forget about technology. Even in a mass information age, I remember in the 1990s people acting like hydrogen fuel cells were new technology for cars. I could have sworn I thought they'd already been used by NASA and thought the idea dated to the 50s. Yep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

[raelimar]

The explanation that I've read is that the Cloud City facility in particular wasn't set up for freezing human life forms. Carbon-freezing a human as a general practice didn't seem that outlandish - C-3P0 seemed familiar with the process, in any case.

[JawaJedi]

it is not unusual for people just to forget about technology. Even in a mass information age, I remember in the 1990s people acting like hydrogen fuel cells were new technology for cars. I could have sworn I thought they'd already been used by NASA and thought the idea dated to the 50s. Yep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

 

The electric car was more popular than a car that ran on gas until Texas Oil Fields were found making gas incredibly cheap in the 1920s!

The Steam Engine was invented twice-thousands of years apart!

There are plenty of examples actually.

[Deejon_Loy]

C-3PO new about the Carbon-freezing process, and that it was efficient for "protecting" transported goods. His matter-of-fact manner of stating "if he survived the freezing process" implies a scientist suggesting a theoretical outcome, rather than a repeatedly proven fact.

[Deejon_Loy]

Oh, and Lando said "Lord Vader, we only use this facility for carbon freezing. If you put [Luke] in there, it might kill him." thus implying that carbon freezing itself might kill him, not that specific Carbon Freeze Chamber

[Viera]

As we all know, there are very few things nowadays that George Lucas has not contradicted in his long-running Space Saga, however there is one element that he was always consistent in, but the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe has been contradictory to is "Carbon-freezing". According to the Movies, Carbon-freezing (CF) living organisms was never attempted until 3 ABY, the process was exclusively used for "packaging" mined gases, and CF technicians would readily tell you that to freeze a living organism "might kill [it]". However, throughout the Expanded Universe, especially in events/scenarios that take place well before 3 ABY, or involving Hutts, CF is frequently used and "displayed".

 

SPOILERS: In TOR, not only do the Hutts use it relatively frequently on Hutta, but we discover that the entire Tarisian government CF themselves to keep them alive; thus implying that this is in fact a common practice.

 

The first person to realistically conceive of the notion to CF a sentient being was Darth Vader, for the purpose of ensure that young Luke Skywalker would neither escape, nor purposely hurt himself during "his journey to the Emperor". With the high risk of "the Emperor's prize [being] damaged" Vader needed a test subject, and sense he was turning Han Solo over to Boba Fett upon Skywalker's capture, and in turn to Jabba the Hutt, Vader wouldn't lose anything if Han died in the CF process. CF had no relation to the Hutts, or any criminal/underworld syndicate, it was the "invention" of one sole Sith Lord.

 

The only relation the Hutts did have with it is that when Fett delivered Solo in his CF state, Jabba, being any good gangster and knowing that the best way to keep order is to instill fear in his underlings, and that a "poor victim on display for all to see" is an EXCELLENT way to instill fear. Jabba would have no doubt left Han their until the Hutt died of old age (however long into the future that may have been) and there is no reason to believe that he would have CF'ed anyone else later on... he didn't even bother freezing Han again when Leia woke him.

 

Now Leia's knowledge of "Hibernation Sickness" shows that there must be some other method(s) of induced hibernation in-Universe.

 

Easy. In a few thousand years the Republic goes through this thing called a "Dark Age" where tons of planets and technology are lost along with the entire Republic itsself.

 

The republic in the movies is only 1,000 years old.

 

Edit: There is also this.

 

The Empress Teta system was a source of carbonite. The discovery that carbonite could be used to freeze spacers for their long journeys among the stars put an end to the generation ships. Koros Major became a boomworld and one of the strongholds of Mining Guild.

 

Generation ships were an ancient class of vessel used to colonize worlds prior to the advent of hyperspace travel. They were massive ships utilizing different compartments for growing food, primary and secondary power generators, living quarters, and entertainment modules. The main purpose of its design was for the primary and future generations to teach their progeny how to run the ship and colonize worlds. The knowledge was passed down until the destination was reached and the colony was established

Edited January 4, 2012 by Viera

[Deejon_Loy]

The republic in the movies is only 1,000 years old.

 

In Episode I, Senator Palpatine states that "the Republic has existed for a 1,000 Generations" which a generation has been accepted as being about 20 years over the past Century (in the real-world). Then in Episode III, Chancellor Palpatine restates that the Republic was founded 25,000 years ago.

[Viera]

In Episode I, Senator Palpatine states that "the Republic has existed for a 1,000 Generations" which a generation has been accepted as being about 20 years over the past Century (in the real-world). Then in Episode III, Chancellor Palpatine restates that the Republic was founded 25,000 years ago.

 

Unfortunately for you, The Republic Dark Age is Canon.

 

The Republic Dark Age was the term given to the last century of the New Sith Wars, from around 1,100 BBY to the Ruusan Reformation of 1,000 BBY. During the Dark Age, the Republic, in the eyes of later centuries, had essentially ceased to exist.

 

Since the start of the Draggulch Period in 2,000 BBY, the Republic had been in decline. During the series of conflicts known as the New Sith Wars, thousands of worlds were abandoned to the New Sith Empire, while more were abandoned during the Republic's retreat. Thousands of longstanding corporations went bankrupt; lawlessness spread as the Republic government became increasingly overburdened and ineffectual; and numerous mines of valuable minerals dried up. The collapse escalated following the Sith victory at the Battle of Mizra in 1,466 BBY

 

However, all these events were merely a prelude to the Dark Age. The Senate granted almost all of its authority to the Supreme Chancellor, many of whom were Jedi at that point, such as Jedi Master Genarra. Throughout the galaxy Jedi joined in bands to defend individual worlds, and even regions of space, from Sith, pirates, slavers and warlords. In some regions, the Jedi supported existing governments, though in others, Jedi became rulers themselves in order to protect the population from external threats. The more troubled regions of the galaxy were divided by the Supreme Chancellors into Jedi baronial sectors, in an attempt to coordinate the continuing war against the Sith. Although the unity of the Sith seems to have been broken by infighting, and the ongoing conflict was officially portrayed as merely a series of clashes against an illegal organization, the situation wore down the Republic Navy and Army, which likewise fell under increasing Jedi control.

 

The Republic could no longer afford to maintain the HoloNet beyond the Core Worlds, so communications between worlds outside the Core had to be maintained through couriers. Even worse, a galaxywide epidemic of Candorian plague killed off as much as two-thirds of the population of some worlds

 

It ultimately ended in the Ruusan Reformation.

 

The Ruusan Reformation was introduced in the timeline in order to explain several differences between the Old Republic as presented in the comics, and the one which appeared in the prequel trilogy.

 

In the Expanded Universe, the Republic is well established to be extant for 25,000 years, based on Obi-Wan Kenobi's line in A New Hope that the Jedi had been "the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic" "for over a thousand generations." For a long time, EU sources were the only works set during the Republic era—most notably the popular Tales of the Jedi sagas. However, in Attack of the Clones, Palpatine mentioned the Republic had "stood for a thousand years." This at first seemed to conflict with both the C-canon EU history and the G-canon internal continuity in the films. However, the Ruusan Reformation—in which the Republic is reorganized following the already-established defeat of the Sith a thousand years prior to the films at the Seventh Battle of Ruusan—was invented by subsequent writers to give an alternate explanation on Palpatine's line, thus bringing all these sources into relative harmony through a retcon. It also explains how Sio Bibble could claim, in Attack of the Clones, that there had not been a full-scale war since the formation of the Republic.

[Alyria]

Yeah, I'd basically explain it more like that, while the Republic in Episodes I - III isn't the original Republic, it has existed in some form or another for "a thousand generations", just going through several falls and revivals over the course of centuries. So, a lot of technology and knowledge could easily be lost during any of those periods.

[Gerdo]

I think they mention in a quest on Tython that the jedi order were formed 25 000 years ago. maby that's what mr kenobi had got it wrong, he presumed the republic was as old as the order?