Well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson just scienced the hell out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in a series of humorous tweets, debunking certain scientific aspects of the film in 140 characters or less. Come on, really, doesn’t he know it’s just entertainment?
Admittedly, with the presidential race in full swing, he does get into politics along the way too.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens , I’m reminded that Red & Blue teams cooperate with one another. Rare in American Politics.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
The Inquisitr recently reported on the discussion between Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye, the science guy, about which was best: Star Wars or Star Trek . Now the debate continues on a more one-sided basis.
Warning, there are a couple of minor spoilers along the way if you are one of those rare persons who hasn’t yet seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens .
Tyson’s first comment is, admittedly, on a positive note when he says “BB-8 is waaaaay cuter than R2D2,” thus demoting R2D2 to “dwarf cute” status, but then the science-bashing begins. He says there is no way a spherical metal ball could run smoothly on sand like that.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens , BB-8, a smooth rolling metal spherical ball, would have skidded uncontrollably on sand. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Next Tyson gets into a subject which probably a lot of sci-fi fans can relate to. He talks about how the TIE fighters make exactly the same sound, whether out in space or in a planet’s atmosphere.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens the TIE fighters made exactly the same sound in the vacuum of space as in planetary atmospheres
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Neil deGrasse Tyson does have a point there, but having the fighters zooming through space in total dead silence isn’t quite so cinematically appealing with surround sound somehow.
Tyson then goes on to tweet about what would actually happen if you sucked all a star’s energy into your planet, and it wouldn’t be a good thing.
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
Not only that, but according to Tyson (and science of course), a star’s energy is enough to destroy around 10,000 planets, not just a few.
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
In a recent article, the Inquisitr included an image of Chewbacca and Han Solo from the latest Star Wars episode, which when compared to images from 1977, shows that while Han Solo has (apologies to Harrison Ford) aged quite a bit, the darn Wookiee looks exactly the same.
Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Chewbacca on the Set of Star Wars #rerun https://t.co/dKYdynEzK9
— Cool Old Photos (@CoolOldPhotos) December 9, 2015
Tyson queried the difference in aging between the hairy race and us mere humans.
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens , apparently Wookiees don’t age, or they age much slower than human actors do. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
On top of that Tyson complained, saying he felt isolated because he can’t understand Chewbacca’s lingo. Ah, but does he speak Klingon?
In @StarWars #TheForceAwakens , once again I felt isolated and inadequate for not understanding Wookiee-speak. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 21, 2015
Tyson then goes on to explain that a Parsec “is an obscure unit of distance in Astrophysics, equal to 3.26 Light Years,” saying that neither has anything to do with time.
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
Hopefully, Tyson enjoyed the movie anyway, and he did point out his wife was 19 when she saw Star Wars back in 1977 and his daughter watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the age of 19 in 2015, but he’s not really sure what that means.
[Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for FOX]
