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"It was my preferred entertainment when I was a kid, so when I set out to be a writer, it was perfectly natural that I should write the sort of stories that I used to enjoy reading."
- John Brunner
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| Landspeeder | ||
| A small repulsion-based hovercraft capable of high speeds over flat terrain. |
Okay, tell the truth: when you first watched Star Wars, did you carefully scrutinize the area underneath the landspeeder? It looked distorted, like heat waves on a hot pavement.
| For a moment Luke hesitated at leaving the machine behind -- but, he argued to himself, it's vital components were obviously shot. So he jumped into the landspeeder, causing the recently repaired repulsion floater to list alarmingly to one side until he was able to equalize weight distribution by sliding behind the controls. Maintaining its altitude slightly above the sandy ground, the light-duty transport vehicle steadied itself like a boat in a heavy sea. Luke gunned the engine, which whined in protest, and sand erupted behind the floater as he aimed the craft toward the distant town of Anchorhead. |
| Technovelgy from Star Wars,
by George Lucas. Published by Del Rey in 1976 Additional resources -
|
This device is one of the simple ways (although it wasn't so simple to film in those pre-CGI days) that Lucas establishes that you really are in a galaxy far, far away.
(Model landspeeder from Star Wars movie parked in suburbia)
If you are interested in the subject of hovercraft, be sure to see the entry for hovercraft from Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson. He didn't invent hovercraft, but he did make them look cool.
Finally, check out the original idea for this kind of craft - the flitter from 'Doc Smith's 1941 story Vortex Blaster.
Compare to the flying platform from Locked Worlds (1929) by Edmond Hamilton, the gyrotomic from Ra For The Rajah (1938) by John Victor Peterson, the hoverlimo from Steel Beach (1992) by John Varley and the hovercraft from Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Star Wars
More Ideas
and Technology by George Lucas
Tech news articles related to Star Wars
Tech news articles related to works by George Lucas
Landspeeder-related
news articles:
- Hover Chair Like Star Wars Landspeeder
- AirMule - A Star Wars Landspeeder By Urban Aeronautics
- Hoverbike Is Stuff SF Dreams Are Made Of
- Hover Bike Like Star Wars Landspeeder - With Video!
- HOVER Scorpion Speeder Bike!
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
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'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
