Sure, it may be unlikely that a 900-year-old Jedi master is doling out helpful advice in a galaxy far, far away but not all of “Star Wars” is so far-fetched. In Saturday night’s “Mythbusters” special on the Discovery channel, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage tested the probability of three key movie scenes and the results aren’t totally out there.
Luke’s long leap
In “New Hope,” Luke Skywalker gets all heroic when he hooks his grapple over the Death Star and swings across a giant chasm with Princess Leia holding onto him.
Hyneman discovers that it’s not easy to swing and hook a grapple from 35 feet away – but after a dozen or so tries, he does make it. And, while it’s certainly not comfortable to hang from your belt ( like Luke does, as opposed to a harness), it is possible. And, using actress Sophia Bush as a stand-in for Princess Leia, he completes the experiment, jumping across a chasm. He determines the myth is “plausible but unlikely.”
The Ewoks’ log launch
Some resourceful Ewoks tie up two giant logs to crush an imposing all-terrain scout transport in “Return of the Jedi.” The Mythbusters test just how much damage can be done to an armored vehicle with two 10-feet-long, 10,000-pound logs. The result? Quite a lot of damage.
Tauntaun fur coat
Luke faced conditions colder than winter storm Hercules in “The Empire Strikes Back.” To fend off hypothermia in -40 degree weather, Han Solo slices open a Tauntaun (a fictional reptomammal) with Luke’s lightsaber and Luke crawls in for safekeeping.
No Tauntans or people are harmed in the experiment process. Savage and Hyneman create a replica of the animal with foam, fur and 99-degree fake organs (the temperature of a polar bear’s insides). They use a sophisticated dummy to test body temperature and put the dummy-filled Tauntaun in a freezer. The dummy’s body temp only drops a couple of degrees – so turns out, Han had the right idea. Who needs down coats when you’ve got Tauntaun guts?