What advantages does being Human have?

[Konig15]

We all know Humans rule the Galaxy, but why?

Wookies are stronger
Sullistans have better eyesight
Mon Cals can breathe underwater
Columi are smarter

Humans only seem to live about 120 years, though aging seems to have been slowed down somewhat. They aren't big, they aren't fast, they aren't long lived and no mamillain speicies can out reproduce retiles and insects. So what's the deal? Why do Humans dominate the Galaxy?

[Blizzard]

Purely by numbers. There are more human ruled planets than any other alien species.

[Cassus Fett]

Possibly because (we) humans desire power more than anything else

[MandalorianJF]

It's probably because Humans made the movie. GL had to make more humans because he new that Humans will be watching the movie not Wookies.
And would you like all the main characters to be Geonosians?

[Cassus Fett]

would be interesting...

[Jedi Master Harrison]

I think GL thought that the audience would be more receptive to a film in which humans were dominant, rather than humans being dominated by aliens.

Also, simply because when the OT was produced it would have been far more difficult and expensive to have the film contain mainly alien characters. Konig and Blizzee are correct though, other species have many advantages over humans but humans were dominant in the SW universe due to numbers.

[Solo]

I think GL thought that the audience would be more receptive to a film in which humans were dominant, rather than humans being dominated by aliens.

Also, simply because when the OT was produced it would have been far more difficult and expensive to have the film contain mainly alien characters. Konig and Blizzee are correct though, other species have many advantages over humans but humans were dominant in the SW universe due to numbers.

Well, I won'T be able to agree with the first part of your post, because animations like Ant Z or Ice Age are quite popular and humans are rarely seen in them.

I agree with the second part. During the period when OT was made it would have been nearly impossible to have many many alien species on the film. Costumes were hard to make and really expensive. You may remember than Lucas could't shoot some scenes, because he encountered serious problems with Jabba.

[Lord Tesla]

We all know Humans rule the Galaxy, but why?

Wookies are stronger
Sullistans have better eyesight
Mon Cals can breathe underwater
Columi are smarter

Humans only seem to live about 120 years, though aging seems to have been slowed down somewhat. They aren't big, they aren't fast, they aren't long lived and no mamillain speicies can out reproduce retiles and insects. So what's the deal? Why do Humans dominate the Galaxy?

Off the top of my still-groggy head, several possibilities:

1. Humanity is the Elder Race of the galaxy: Other species may be faster/stronger/smarter/longer-lasting, but they got there first, and nabbed all the prime locations and built and populated the political structures before anyone else could get the jump on them. Inertia kept things that way.

2. Humanity may generally be more adept with the Force than other species. The most powerful Jedi (before Anakin) might have been a hairless cousin of Fozzie Bear, but if the difference between a human Jedi and a non-Jedi human was less than that between the Yodas and the general run of the hairless kin of Fozzie, then humans might well have been possessed of insights and instincts superior to those of other species, which would have allowed them to operate more effectively in matters of conquest and organization, especially among varied, varying, disputatious species.

3. Ever notice that humans almost never seem to need a translator? Superior language skills as a road to power!

[Sluggo]

Exterior answer: George was making a Flash Gordon style space opera, not some bizarre experimental film. The movie was about people in an epic adventure that happened to be located in a galaxy far, far away. Besides, he didn't have the budget for anything like that.

Interior answer: It probably has something to do with the range of human emotions like compassion, risk, imagination etc. Just watch any good old Star Trek episode. Kirk is always talking up the advantages of the human condition.

[Darth Nameless]

maybe cause humans are better than the rest of the galaxy...i mean come on, the death star...hello

[Lord Tesla]

maybe cause humans are better than the rest of the galaxy...i mean come on, the death star...hello


Designed by Geonosian bugs...hello!:)

[Darth Nameless]

but who built it...oh crap it was mostly wookies...uhhhh...who was in charge?? :rofl:

[Lord Tesla]

but who built it...oh crap it was mostly wookies...uhhhh...who was in charge?? :rofl:

Who was in charge? No, Who's on First!

[Darth Nameless]

whos on second??

[Miasmo]

Well, I won'T be able to agree with the first part of your post, because animations like Ant Z or Ice Age are quite popular and humans are rarely seen in them.True, but those films were release some 30 years after A New Hope. Audiences are quite comfortable now with the notion of watching such a film, but it wasn't done often back then except in cartoons.

Obviously it's easiest to have humans be the main/dominant species in the films, technically speaking. But if I were to speculate on a story-based reason, I might be inclined to say humans are dominant in part because of the quest for power as someone has said, but also the quest for knowledge and need for exploration to provide them that knowledge.

[Solo]

True, but those films were release some 30 years after A New Hope. Audiences are quite comfortable now with the notion of watching such a film, but it wasn't done often back then except in cartoons.



You may be right, but movies like "Escape from Planet of Apes" was also shot during the same period and became a quite popular movie and apes were the dominant specie in that movie where people were slaves. Therefore I do not think this has much to do with people, but with technique and special effects. During 1970's it was almost impossible to do anything without building a model. It was relatively easier to build static models of buildings and ships, but models and costumes for living species was another story. I think Lucas wanted avoid scenes, like the ones from old Godzilla movies where Godzilla acted like a techno dancer, because almost every motion of it was shot with stop motion technique.

[RollaFett]

Also don't forget that it always helps any story to have the main character/hero be someone that the audience can relate to.
Yes, we can like Chewie, but can we truly relate to him throughout the films? No. Chewie can have the same struggles as Han, but we we feel like we could be Han. That's in no small part due to his appearance as a human being.
solo - You bring up "Planet of the Apes" as having apes as the dominent species. That is correct, however, the hero is a human. Again, while there may be only one human character in the film, the one is the hero. The character that human audiences can most relate to. I'm sure it pissed off the primate audience, though. :wink:

[Solo]

^Yeah, I'm sure Orandhite was very unhappy when he first saw it.:nahnah:

[thepepgal]

Humans are the cockroaches of the universe. There are millions of us, we spread everywhere, even where we shouldn't be. We multiply easily. Squash us and more seem to turn up.

IE: we adapt better than every other species to new situations.

Pure numbers meant we voted ourselves into power since the Republic is a demoracy.

No species did that better.

[jedimasterElizabeth]

Humans are the cockroaches of the universe. There are millions of us, we spread everywhere, even where we should be. We multiply easily. Squash us and more seem to turn up.

IE: we adapt better than every other species to new situations.

Pure numbers meant we voted ourselves into power since the Republic is a demoracy.

No species did that better.

:rofl:. Cockroaches... Humans have brain to rule the galaxy like Palpatine for a point?

[Lord Tesla]

Also don't forget that it always helps any story to have the main character/hero be someone that the audience can relate to.
Yes, we can like Chewie, but can we truly relate to him throughout the films? No. Chewie can have the same struggles as Han, but we we feel like we could be Han. That's in no small part due to his appearance as a human being.
solo - You bring up "Planet of the Apes" as having apes as the dominent species. That is correct, however, the hero is a human. Again, while there may be only one human character in the film, the one is the hero. The character that human audiences can most relate to. I'm sure it pissed off the primate audience, though. :wink:

Hmm. By the one human character, I'm assuming you mean Charlton Heston, is the hero? IN POTA, sure, that's the structure, and it plays that way, effectively, too. But those films sold a lot more gorilla masks than they did Chuck Heston masks. People, especially the younger portion of the audience, liked the apes. I did; my friends did. And we kept right on watching the sequels as the apes became the intentionally sympathetic characters.

I'll grant the hero of the flick, any flick, has to be sympathetic in some fashion, but doesn't necessarily mean human. An ape, an elf, a robot or a computer program will do, if portrayed carefully.

[RollaFett]

Sure, there are exceptions. However, even in most exceptions, there still will be a prominent human or humanoid type character that the audience can relate to, even if they are not the main character or hero.
Like my Star Wars example of Chewie. I bet there were always more people who wanted a Chewie mask or tried to imitate his voice, but in the end, Han was simply more relatable.

[Lord Tesla]

Sure, there are exceptions. However, even in most exceptions, there still will be a prominent human or humanoid type character that the audience can relate to, even if they are not the main character or hero.
Like my Star Wars example of Chewie. I bet there were always more people who wanted a Chewie mask or tried to imitate his voice, but in the end, Han was simply more relatable.

Is it that the character has to be human or humanoid, or is it merely that the character has to be sympathetic to us humans in the audience? (To become our focus, that is.) I don't really think it makes much difference the outward form of the character--whether it's a big walking carpet, a little green gnome, or a spaceship (think HAL 9000, the only sympathetic, and most nearly human, voyager on Discovery)--or whether or not the character is meant to be the focus or not, or the hero or not (such as Darth Vader, more-machine-than-man who ran away with the Star Wars Saga; or the inhuman Terminator in that trilogy). It's what appeals to us, the audience, as human beings, in the characters that determines how we relate to them. In other words, a human appeal, rather than mere humanity. Given that, just about anything else goes, I think.

[Cassus Fett]

Humans are the main species in the movie because the film was made by a Human (suprise, suprise) so if GL and the population of Earth was lets say a Wookiee, then the main species would be Wookiee's.

[RollaFett]

That's a great way of simplifying my earlier point. Good job, Cassus. ;)

[Lord Tesla]

Humans are the main species in the movie because the film was made by a Human (suprise, suprise) so if GL and the population of Earth was lets say a Wookiee, then the main species would be Wookiee's.

This prompts a question: If George Lucas had had the technology in the middle '70s that he had in the middle '90s, would the main species still have been humans?

I am not so sure.

[RollaFett]

No, I still think humans would ultimately drive the film, for reasons I have previously explained. However, I would definately agree that there would be a helluva lot more alien beings represented, as was the case with the entire PT.

[Darth Nameless]

well one thing that i dont think anyone brought up is that palpy was against having aliens in his empire...so it would only make sence that the main person was human in all the films

[Lord Tesla]

well one thing that i dont think anyone brought up is that palpy was against having aliens in his empire...so it would only make sence that the main person was human in all the films

Palpatine was against aliens?

What about Darth Maul? What about all his aides in the senate and later in the chancellery?

[Jedi Master Harrison]

Palp's dislike of other species is explicitly stated in EU sources, just for reference. My opinion is that he simply used the various aides to get into power and then once he became Emperor he needed them less and less and so could promote humans to most high ranking positions. Now Darth Maul, there is a good question. To my mind it much be that obviously he needed someone who was strong with the force and it just so happened that Maul was the baby he found and he simply wasn't human. It does seem that Palpatine had pretty much brain-washed Maul and that he didn't really treat him with as much respect as say, Dooku.

[Lord Tesla]

Palp's dislike of other species is explicitly stated in EU sources, just for reference.

Indeed. So far as I know, that is the origin (or, at least, original appearance) of the idea, and I've always believed it was put there as a rationalization of the all-human Imperial forces seen in the films. And, being EU, Darth Plaid had no reservations about ignoring it.

My opinion is that he simply used the various aides to get into power and then once he became Emperor he needed them less and less and so could promote humans to most high ranking positions.

Possible, certainly. But they were there even after he had declared himself Emperor, and had a good opportunity to purge them - "These alien demons were in league with the Jedi plot against me!," in that vein. And that still leaves the us with...

Now Darth Maul, there is a good question. To my mind it much be that obviously he needed someone who was strong with the force and it just so happened that Maul was the baby he found and he simply wasn't human. It does seem that Palpatine had pretty much brain-washed Maul and that he didn't really treat him with as much respect as say, Dooku.

Perhaps he was merely making lemonade, but you'd think someone with a profound, for lack of a better phrase (it's early), anti-alien bias, he wouldn't have been willing to overlook non-humanity in such a close and important associate.

As to the difference in treatment between Maul and Dooku, well, considering Maul had always been the junior member of the operation, and had been raised and instructed by Palpatine, it seems unremarkable that he should be treated differently from a fully-formed and senior Jedi Master who had been enticed into the Sith Order late in life, and was accustomed to being treated as a master.

And the real measure of Palpatine's respect for Dooku is easily inferred fom Palpatine's treatment of him in the final moments of Dooku's life: it seemed to have been no more than, if as much as, was given Maul, and entirely feigned.

[Cassus Fett]

Palp's dislike of other species is explicitly stated in EU sources, just for reference. My opinion is that he simply used the various aides to get into power and then once he became Emperor he needed them less and less and so could promote humans to most high ranking positions. Now Darth Maul, there is a good question. To my mind it much be that obviously he needed someone who was strong with the force and it just so happened that Maul was the baby he found and he simply wasn't human. It does seem that Palpatine had pretty much brain-washed Maul and that he didn't really treat him with as much respect as say, Dooku.

Darth Maul was used merely as a Tool, like Count Dooku was and you could say like Darth Vader was.

[Darill Cyllem]

I'll have a stab at what makes humans so prolific, tackling it from the perspective of biological anthropology, as is my wont....
Humans reproduce much more quickly than other apes because we have "weaning foods" - we don't need to nurse our children as long as chimps (e.g.), and we don't. This shortens the inter-birth interval and allows for one human female to produce more children than most female chimpanzees. Also, humans are "cooperative" breeders, offspring can be, and often are, cared for by individuals who are not the infant's genetic mother. Ends up the kids tend to turn out just fine. What this means for individual women is that, again, the inter-birth interval is reduced, because the burden of care for a single child does not tend to fall exclusively on her.
If other species are lacking one or both of those features (for either cultural or biological / physiological reasons), they may not reproduce as quickly as humans - thus resulting in a relatively large population of humans throughout the galaxy relative to other species.

Also, there's an interesting idea called "variability selection," which is the hypothesis that some organisms aren't necessarily adapted for a specific environment, but for a changing environment - individuals have to be able to figure things out and learn in a variety of different environments. This makes range expansion possible, and is an idea that's easily applied to humans (at least to a point).

:geek:

[Solo]

We are like bugs. We increase in numbers very quickly and we wipe out other species like a virus. This sounded like Matrix.

[Orandhite]

^ And also...rather depressing. :not:

[Solo]

But this what we do. Whenever people enter a virgin area, they redocrate it according to their needs and they do not care about the ecosystem. After they are done with that place, they move to another.

[Orandhite]

I don't disagree at all. People are stoopid. I just thought it was rather depressing as well!

[Solo]

Thank God, I'm not human. Ooops, I shouldn't have said that.:doh:

[Darth Nameless]

I'll have a stab at what makes humans so prolific, tackling it from the perspective of biological anthropology, as is my wont....
Humans reproduce much more quickly than other apes because we have "weaning foods" - we don't need to nurse our children as long as chimps (e.g.), and we don't. This shortens the inter-birth interval and allows for one human female to produce more children than most female chimpanzees. Also, humans are "cooperative" breeders, offspring can be, and often are, cared for by individuals who are not the infant's genetic mother. Ends up the kids tend to turn out just fine. What this means for individual women is that, again, the inter-birth interval is reduced, because the burden of care for a single child does not tend to fall exclusively on her.
If other species are lacking one or both of those features (for either cultural or biological / physiological reasons), they may not reproduce as quickly as humans - thus resulting in a relatively large population of humans throughout the galaxy relative to other species.

Also, there's an interesting idea called "variability selection," which is the hypothesis that some organisms aren't necessarily adapted for a specific environment, but for a changing environment - individuals have to be able to figure things out and learn in a variety of different environments. This makes range expansion possible, and is an idea that's easily applied to humans (at least to a point).

:geek:

ive got 2 things to say:

1. WOW
2. huh?

[Darth Nameless]

palpy used aliens to gain power and to keep power...other than that he had no use for them

[Darill Cyllem]

palpy used aliens to gain power and to keep power...other than that he had no use for them
Indeed - seems to me he did that with humans as well.

[Darth Nameless]

your right...answering the age old question of how much of a :censored: is palpy :rockon:

When did i become a senior member??:cookie:

[Solo]

your right...answering the age old question of how much of a :censored: is palpy :rockon:

When did i become a senior member??:cookie:

Right after you 100th post. Congratulations.

[Darth Nameless]

sweet :herebeer: