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"There's no point in making a mistake unless you understand the mistake so that you don’t make it again."
- Alfred Bester
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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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and Technology from Star Wars
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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!
| Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels' |
| Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft |
| The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist |
| Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
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'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
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