In defense of George Lucas, extrapolating from the technology base of the late 60ies/early 70ies, the idea that some highly developed future society wouldn’t have some more effective way of transmitting a huge amount of data than feeding them into the internal memory of some robot and physically sending it halfway across the galaxy wasn’t quite as far out as it appears from today’s viewpoint. Back then, it had some basic degree of plausibility, and just was an convenient plot-device on top of that.
Nowadays, the idea is completely ridiculous…but still a convenient plot-device. And if you value plausibility over convenience, you’re really not fit to be a B-movie scriptwriter. …well, actually not an A-movie scriptwriter either, these days. …and, well, probably not even a journalist anymore. Try scientist, it’s really the only remaining option. >_>
Anyway, here it shows up as a plot-device pure and simple…and since the Barbicianessor had already declared himself a specialist in magic/technology fusion in an earlier strip, there aren’t even any obstacles to having all of the necessary technology show up in his fantasy setting.
And Mopey really hasn’t much right to be that snarky about it, she’s done worse. >_>
More on Thursday.
If you send a valuable data by e-mail, the bad guys can hack the internet and get their hands on your data in ten seconds flat.
But if you send a data with a physical courier, the only way they can hack it is with an axe.
That’s True – but the Empire didn’t actually want those secret plans back (I mean, it’s not like they didn’t know the contents), they only wanted to intercept them. And that’s definitely easier with a single physical copy than with a data daump. Which, admittedly, is what makes the physical version a much more useful McGuffin…
There is a going theory, backed up by some documentation (though much of it classified), that ibn Ladin coordinated the attacks on America 11/09/01 by physical couriers so that they wouldn’t be intercepted and the plot foiled. So it’s not without precedent.
Sicilian Mafia bosses have been doing that for a long time – the small notes they use are known as ‘pizzini’. For added security, they are written on typewriters with typical quirks, folded in an elaborate and specific fashion, and formulated in a mix of Italian and Sicilian that’s hard for an outsider to read. But…the Empire actually didn’t want those Death Star plans back, after all they knew the contents. They only wanted to stop them from reaching the Alliance, and sending a single physical copy played right into their hands…but then, the plot required it, so…