I freely confess I am a Star Wars geek (and Star Trek and a number of other sci-fi shows). Oddly, we share an interesting behavioral trait with creationists, especially the Biblical literalists.
One of the things SW fans like to do is spin stories to cover or close apparent contradictions and plot holes. For example, when Han Solo boasted of the Millenium Falcons's speed he said it made the "Kessel run" in less than 12 parsecs (a parsec is a unit of distance, not time). How do we clear up this apparent gaff? We SW fans have decided the "Kessel Run" is actually a contest in which a transport ship must take a route between two randomly moving points in space, thus the contest's premium is on minimizing the distance traveled, not the speed in completing the task.
Yeah, I know, we're reaching.
We SW fans even argue over what is acceptable canon. Some say only the 6 Star Wars movies define what has happened in the Star Wars universe. Liberals also count the fan novels as acceptable canon. Harsh words and heated emotions characterize this debate.
Of course, the real explanation for why there are plot holes and contradictions in the Star Wars trilogies is that they are just movies written by men who occasionally make a mistake or an oversight.
If this sounds familiar it is because this is the same way Biblical literalists behave regarding Genesis, except they take it much more seriously. They painstakingly craft strained explanations for each and every contradiction and scientific impossibility Genesis gives us. Yes, they tell us, Noah really was 950 years old and 11 feet tall because, uh, there was more oxygen in the atmosphere then. Yeah! The first Genesis creation story says plants and animals came before man, but the second one says just the opposite. This isn't a contradiction because....well...because the Bible is infallible! And so the creationists go, spinning a strained explanation for every scientific absurdity and every contradition in Genesis.
Of course, the real explanation for these absurdities and contraditions is that Genesis is just a story written by men to entertain people around the campfire and maybe teach them a moral or two in the process. Three thousand years from now will there be an army of idiots insisting the events in Star Wars really took place?
) too. I remember a run-in with a rabid Trekkie many years ago in good old FidoNet, in a discussion about "Could Darth Vader's Executor win a battle against the Enterprise D?" where at some time I posted something about those TIE Bomber squadrons aboard the Executor, and Mr Trekkie almost literally replied "Get it, dammit, lasers cannot pierce the E-D's shields!!!".
