"How Many Times Was "Stun" Used in Star Wars Films?" Topic

This question has been bugging me. I only recall one time, when a stormtrooper stuns Leia in New Hope. Were there any other times when a character in the films uses the 'stun' setting?

It feels like one of those throw away moments just to advance the plot, like the 'clone wars' throw away reference among others in New Hope.

The Jawas stun droids with their ion guns. The training remote Luke practices with also has a form of stun blaster.

I don't see how it should be able to… reading the blurb in the SW wiki, the 'blasters' are plasma/laser hybrid weapons – various versions either using energised plasma to generate a laser beam, or using a laser to energize a plasma discharge.

Don't think either of those things would have a specific 'stun' effect per se.

I'd just put it down to "the plot called for it, and it happened."

The 'Clone Wars' thing wasn't exactly a throwaway reference, BTW – Lucas had three trilogies planned out in obsessive detail even before the first movie.

Perhaps the boarding party had modified weapons or maybe an over and under deal with a stun feature added to the blaster?

To answer your question, none that I know of or remember.

If there's a laser involved, pulp science allows a stun gun-like charge to be sent along the ionized path. ZAP!

" Lucas had three trilogies planned out in obsessive detail even before the first movie."

That's actually a myth. He had a rough outline explaining where some of the main characters came from, and a sketchy history pre-Empire. He had the original three movies sketched out, SW – later called A New Hope was such a big hit he knew he'd be able to make the next two. Researching those films he fleshed out his background some more but not nearly as much as some would think. There were never 6, or even 9 movies planned originally. In fact, he wasn't convinced the first one would make any money, much less allow him to go on to make more.

If he had planned the movies in obsessive detail, that would make the Luke & Leia make out sessions extra disturbing.

You apparently watched the Star Wars that was made in your head. No such thing ever happened in the movies.

Vader mentions setting weapons to "stun" at the end of Jedi.

Hmmmm… George Lucas:

"It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and the Jedi knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell, and I realized as I was making my way through the backstory and afterstory, that I was really setting out to write the middle story."

They should use that stun setting a bit more often. One of the rare times a Stormtrooper actually hit what he was aiming at.

When it came to plotting SW, Lucas has always been flying with the seat of his pants. He made up things as he went along. He decided in ESB that Luke and Leia were going to have a love affair and that the "other" Ben and Yoda mention was indeed another person not yet introduced to the story.

Come ROTJ, he figures that it makes for good drama that Leia is the other one and just conveniently avoided mentioning the kiss.

Lucas noticed that the plot police didn't show up on his doorstep to beat the crap out of him with a rubber hose, so he figures that the great unwashed audience isn't interested in plot and he can get away with cheap incest and bedding our collective childhoods all wrapped in expensive CGI.

As for the stun setting blasters have an ion accelerator that can project an electric blast and stun people.

"It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars.."

He's always been a bit of a BS artist.

There are, in various places, drafts of "The Adventures of Luke Starkiller" which wanders through various iterations before ending up at the script for SW.

Eg; link

It's pretty clear that the early drafts simply don't fit the chronology. And that the chronology is hence unlikely to have come first…

i thought in the first movie, when han and luke were rescuing leia, the hapless stormtroopers mentioned setting to stun….

Yep. It's there. I watched the saga recently and was notably surprised when it came up, thinking for a moment that I had perhaps put in a ST DVD and not noticed.

I'm with the OP. It's just a convenient plot-point-mover-alonger. :)

- Rod

When it came to plotting SW, Lucas has always been flying with the seat of his pants. He made up things as he went along. He decided in ESB that Luke and Leia were going to have a love affair and that the "other" Ben and Yoda mention was indeed another person not yet introduced to the story.

Come ROTJ, he figures that it makes for good drama that Leia is the other one and just conveniently avoided mentioning the kiss.

Lucas noticed that the plot police didn't show up on his doorstep to beat the crap out of him with a rubber hose, so he figures that the great unwashed audience isn't interested in plot and he can get away with cheap incest and bedding our collective childhoods all wrapped in expensive CGI.

As for the stun setting blasters have an ion accelerator that can project an electric blast and stun people.

Except that Leia tells han she loves him just before he is frozen in carbonite toward the end of ESB…

They can cross the glaxy in nothign flat.

They have laser swords.

They have The Force.

A stun setting bugs you?

If you have an energy gun, why is it so hard to consider that that energy could be retuned to disrupt a person's normal body functions to stun them.

We have stun weapons today and have for decades. And all without the benefit of super movie space opera science to back us up.

Really…

BTW, stun is used a whole once in pretty much all the movies. Twice if you count R2 but there has been a suggestion that that is a special anti-droid tool.

-Eli

In best Palpatine voice:"Giant walking tanks with freakin' lasers on their heads!"

BTW, I am pretty sure Lucas hadn't planned on C3PO being DarthVader's handiwork. Cha-ching. In best Yogurt voice (from Spaceballs):"Merchandising!" BTW, I do like StarWars, but I don't think we can expect ANY level of internal consistency in something like that…

I only positively remember the scene in New Hope, but certain blasters in the RPG do have a stun capability.

With today's technology, I can make a laser-based stunner. You use a pair of beams to ionize paths to the target, making a nice complete circuit across their skin.

We are talking something more than a laser pointer in power, though.

Sure, but Star Wars carries the assumption of ridiculous power storage densities, so enough power to "stun" shouldn't be a problem for a gun that can store a hundred lethal shots.

Don't forget all ships in Star Wars are VTOL capable. And as the stun debate goes on it reminds me of a strip from PvP online.

link

Which is my view of the stun setting.

Debate? The question was answered six times over.

How many times is it used?
ONCE.

How does it work?
Ionized pathways. That's simple High school physics nowadays. Nothing special.

Most high school students don't know what an ion is….:)

He might have made it up as he goes along, but it's still a damn sight better than any of the storylines Star trek ever threw up / carped out

"Most high school students don't know what an ion is"

True.

It's disgraceful. They rely on their mum to do their ioning.

I learned about ions in high school.

Cat ions (which are positive) and An ions (which are negative).

You can generate negative ions by stroking a cat's fur, but this does not make them CATions. :D

How many times is it used?
ONCE.

Update. Having a Star Wars marathon at home today. At the end of ESB, when they're escaping on the Millenium Falcon and discover the hyperdrive is disabled, Vader is on board the nearby Star Destroyer and specifically orders the boarding party to have their blasters set to stun. The boarding party doesn't get its chance, but it's another instance.