When it comes to anything related to space, it would be foolish not to listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson. The man of many scientific hats knows more about astrophysics, cosmology and the general scientific world than most of us could ever dream of knowing. So of course we take notice when he decides to analyze space-related things in pop culture, most especially Star Wars.
Tyson [spoilers ahead] took to Twitter [spoilers ahead for real] and critiqued Star Wars: The Force Awakens with his special brand of humor and scientific perspective that we love him for. If you haven’t seen the movie, now would be the time to stop reading and instead just ogle the picture above until you do. But for those of you that have seen it, prepare for a delightful roundup of NDT tweets.
Happy to share my observations of @StarWars Episode VII #TheForceAwakens (with mild spoiler alerts) if anybody is interested.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 19, 2015
The tweets ranged from analysis of Starkiller Base…
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, if you were to suck all of a star’s energy into your planet, your planet would vaporize.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, the energy in a Star is enough to destroy ten-thousand planets, not just a few here & there.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
…to everyone’s new favorite astromech, BB-8.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, BB-8 is waaaaay cuter than R2D2.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, BB-8, a smooth rolling metal spherical ball, would have skidded uncontrollably on sand.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
As one could expect, Tyson even voiced his opinion about a common gripe with a certain smuggler’s badge of honor.
Unashamed of inanity, #TheForceAwakens repeats the Millennium Falcon boast of completing the Kessel Run in "under 12 parsecs"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
( A Parsec is an obscure unit of distance in Astrophysics, equal to 3.26 Light Years. Neither has anything to do with time. )
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
As with most of Tyson’s critiques of pop culture, it was all in good fun. The replies to these tweets–as you can imagine–were varied with some participating in his critique and way too many people trying to remind him that it is, after all, a fictional universe. However there is one observation that he made that you would think in 30+ years of tactical uniform design that The Empire and First Order would would have at least tried to solve by now.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens, the Storm Troopers still run as though they’re carrying a full load of poop in their diapers.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Did you have similar musings about the film? Let us know in the comments below! And if you have seen the movie already (spoiler alert), make sure to check out our favorite moments from the film below!
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HT: Polygon
IMAGES:Â Neil deGrasse Tyson; Fox
