WEBVTT - From the Vault: Star Wars Alien Necropsy, Part 1 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:07.440 Hey, you welcome to stuff to blow your mind. My 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.280 name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.120 Time for an episode from the Vault. This one originally 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.599 aired on May four, and uh oh, this was the 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.000 Star Wars Alien Necropsy Part one that we I think 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.680 we ended up dissecting several alien species. Do we do 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:29.720 the minox? I'm having trouble remembering this one. I think 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.640 we did. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm it's been It seems 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.120 like a lot has happened since we did these episodes, 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.400 but I remember them being a lot of fun, and 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.400 this is gonna be the perfect time to to re 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:43.240 explore them. There's a lot going on in the Star 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:47.919 Wars uh universe out there, and we have another episode 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.520 of Weird How Cinema coming up where we're gonna look 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.280 at a Star Wars knockoff film, so that's always exciting. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:01:00.120 Oh boy, Lord Veda requires all of these necropsy is 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.200 to be completed by the end of the day. The 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:06.920 surgical Droids says these are substantial specimens. We might require 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:12.040 more time two episodes. Even Lord Vader is not a 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.280 fan of two parts. He says the anatomy of the 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.880 alien specimens are quite involved, and if we're to perform 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:23.039 a complete analysis, will need more time. Okay, fine, but 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:30.520 the results better be extremely infotaining. Welcome to st Have 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:39.959 to Blow Your Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey, 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.160 welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.240 Robert Lamb, and I'm Joe McCormick. And you know, the 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.000 last couple of years, Rob, you really leaned into the holidays. 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.480 But most of those holidays were towards the end of 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:56.760 the year, the wintertime holidays, the hibernation holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.200 of course Halloween. But we do that all the time. 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:03.120 And I think I get the sense that you are 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.440 so strongly leaning into the holidays that it has continued 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.200 into the month of May. Yeah, I guess, I'm I'm 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.000 bringing that spirit uh into May, especially for today's holiday, 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.240 uh May the Fourth, as in May the Fourth be 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.679 with you, which is of course the one day each 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:23.240 year that everyone gets to go crazy for Star Wars 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.200 in addition to plan, addition to all the other days. 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.120 I guess. But um, but yeah, I I you know, 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.280 I don't know that even though I think my son 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.120 and I had gotten super into Star Wars this at 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.200 this point. Last year, I think we kind of forgot 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.640 about May the four being a thing. Like May the 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.400 fourth was never a thing when I was a Star 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.320 Wars fan as a kid that I know of, so 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.280 it kind of blew right past me. Um. But but 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.919 this time I I kind of realized that the last minute, 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.680 Oh my goodness, May fourth is next week. It's it's 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.760 Star Wars Day. It's just uh, just open season. We 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.160 should do some Star Wars content. You know. I would 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.240 have guessed, even as obsessed with Star Wars as you 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.080 were last year, and I guess continuing into this year, uh, 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.440 that that May the fourth wouldn't be your bag. I 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:07.840 would I would expect that May the fourth would kind 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.960 of irritate you, would be one of those cute little 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.320 things that gets under your skin. Am I wrong? Um? No? No, 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.400 I mean I think I don't have any problem with it. 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.679 I mean, especially since there's like new stuff coming out. 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.480 I'm like, Okay, if that's if this sets the deadline 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.320 for for the bad Batch animated series to come out 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.240 and makes them you know, put it out, then I'm 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.240 glad that we have it. Otherwise stuff would just keep 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.200 getting delayed right right, Okay, yes, just wedge on into 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.200 our calendars. Yeah, maybe they'll come up with another Star 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.560 Wars holiday this year. Well, some say that there's we 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.560 have May the fourth and it Made the Fourth be 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.560 with you and then write. Some say there's Revenge of 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.520 the Fifth, which is tomorrow. But I don't know, Um, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.760 I don't know how how crazy they Maybe there's something 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.840 for the sixth as well, but I think I think 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.440 it's gonna be appropriate that it will continue after today, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.960 because we originally planned for this to be one episode, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:57.760 but then as we were working on the notes, we 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.800 were like, oh, wait a minute, We've got like, you know, 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.720 fifty thou pages of content or whatever it is we've 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.520 got now, So so this will definitely be at least 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.840 Tuesday and Thursday of this week. It is a it 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.200 is a week long Made the Fourth, Yes, yes, as well, 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.720 it should be. So. Obviously we've talked about Star Wars 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.479 a bit here on the show in the past, whether 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.640 it be a discussion of you know, the question, could 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.800 Jupiter be blown up by the Death Star? Uh, and 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.120 I think the answer was probably not. We've also talked 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.400 about the Mighty Sarlac, and we also did a Weird 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.599 House Cinema episode on e Walks the Battle for Indoor. 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.800 But in this episode we're gonna take the old my 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.520 monster science approach to the some of the the aliens 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.000 from the Star Wars universe, you know, using some sort 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:46.040 of some bit of fantastic biology and then using that 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.960 as a way to discuss real world terrestrial biology and 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.680 finding where things line up where they don't, etcetera. Now 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.560 standard disclaimer here we are Star Wars fans, but we 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.039 are not Star Wars experts. We're probably not going to 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:05.919 perfectly reflect cannon or legend uh with regards to the 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.760 Star Wars universe with accuracy. Here. We haven't read every 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.919 scientific meditation on Star Wars, and we don't know the 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.920 extended universe perfectly. But we'll do the best we can here, 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.000 and we'll have some fun with the topic. But we 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.240 fully invite you to get mad about it. Well, there's 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.000 no reason to get mad about it. This is all 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.919 too too fun. But yes, certainly, um, feel free to 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.120 write in if if you have any actually he's uh 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.119 to share with us regarding the creatures we're talking about 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.760 here today. Well, put, all right, Well, let's start with 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.400 your first selection Joe, what did you choose from the 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.039 the vast and exotic Star Wars universe? Okay, Well, to 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.920 set the stage the film is The Empire Strikes Back. 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.119 It's that mid movie section, the chase where han Leia, 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.000 Chewy and C three p O are on the run 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.720 from the Imperial fleet in the Millennium Falcon. This is 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.440 after they have evacuated the hath base and there are 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.120 a group of star destroyers that are chasing the Millennium 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.480 Falcon and they chase it into an asteroid field. This 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.240 was one of my favorite parts when I was a kid. 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.120 I still love it today. There's a kind of it 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.320 almost becomes like a James Bond car chase or like 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.840 Smokey and the Bandit where you know, they're like the 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.479 scene where the cars are zipping around, you know, through 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.919 obstacles and around traffic, but it's in space and instead 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.480 of other cars and a bunch of barrels and just 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.200 street you know, uh, tomato carts in the way and stuff, 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.479 it is asteroids and of course this is extremely dangerous 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.919 there space rocks crashing all around and uh. The Falcon 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:43.200 eventually manages to evade its Imperial pursuers and it hides 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.240 in a cave on a large asteroid. Yeah, this is 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.279 this is a great sequence in a just a great 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.640 Star Wars film. It's one of those like out of 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.560 the frying pan into the fire moments where actually it's 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.239 like into a third frying pan or front five because 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.719 everyone's gotten out of hot. You've had that tremendous battle 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.240 seat once with all of its ins and outs. Then 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.000 you have the asteroid field, and then what happens next 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.560 is uh, it comes from an entirely different direction. Well, 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.880 that's one of the great things about the story structure 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.560 of the Empire Strikes Back is that you know you're 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.080 cutting between the different characters and the things they're doing. 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.960 But when you're with han Leia, Chewy and c three 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.600 p Oh, it's just one frying pan to another. Every 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.480 time they get to a new place, they think that 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.920 they're finally safe now, but then they realize that the 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.440 floor is teflon and things start heating up, and it's 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.640 just on to the next crisis. But in this cave 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.000 we get some creature encounters. So first the Millennium falcon 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:43.000 is swarmed by a flock of nasty winged creatures with 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.000 ring shaped sucker mouths and there they look sort of 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:52.160 like sulfurous leech bats. These are called minox Han, and 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.280 Chewy seem to be familiar with them like that they 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:59.440 once they see them, Hans says, uh my Knox, Yeah, yeah, 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.720 like he talks about them like they're very common nuisance 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.720 animals for space travelers. He says that they're chewing on 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.240 the power cables, like, yeah, that's what they always do. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.080 And so our heroes they leave the ship, they go outside, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.040 go down the ramp and start walking around outside with 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.400 these little oxygen masks on while they're trying to blast 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.680 the mineox off. But then they encounter and it's another 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.960 realizing you're actually in another frying pan moment when it 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.720 is revealed that the cave that they're hiding in is 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.320 no cave at all. It is a giant carnivorous worm 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.240 of some kind and they have essentially parked down its gullet, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.640 And of course there's a great escape sequence where they 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.360 have to rock it out between its closing jaws just 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.840 in time. Is the teeth are coming together. Yeah, and 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.680 it's a fabulous looking creature to this big alien whalish 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:54.120 worm monster. Yeah. One of the best. This giant worm 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.400 creature on the asteroid is not named in the movie. 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.360 I mean they say what the minox are. It's like, 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.600 it's like, it's almost as if in Star Wars it's 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.960 like saying, oh, rats, we've got rats here, We've got 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.880 my knox, but they never say what this thing is. 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.600 I looked it up and some plenty of the Elder 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.360 of the Galaxy has given its species of designation. It 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.840 is called an exo gorth or alternately a space slug. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.560 And Rob, I've got some pictures attached here for you 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.520 to look at. Of course, we've seen the movie, so 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.559 we know what it looks like. It's is this giant Uh? 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.640 Have have to be honest and say, somewhat phallic looking 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:31.880 worm comes up out of the hole. It's got the 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.960 big jaws clamping after the ship, so it seems to 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.000 be actively wanting to eat the space ship. Uh. And 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.320 then I found another image that I think is from 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.320 one of the Marvel Star Wars comics, and it's a panel. 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.960 I really don't know the context of how this happens, 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.520 but there's a panel in a comic somewhere where a 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:55.120 star destroyer flies into a giant Exo Gorth's mouth. That 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.480 doesn't look like it's going to end well for for 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:02.040 anybody involved there. That's something that the extra it looks 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.360 like that's that's too big of a mouthful. Yeah. Now, 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.640 there's something very interesting about both of these alien species, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.079 the min Ox and the Exo gorths uh. And it's 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.320 something that I've actually thought about for a long time. 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.240 I remember having this thought, maybe not when I very 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:18.880 first saw Star Wars when I was a kid, but 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.880 at some point it occurred to me that these are 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.440 the only aliens I can think of in the Star 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.720 Wars movies that are not found on a planet, but 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:33.000 in outer space itself, on the barren terrain of an 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:37.520 asteroid with no atmosphere, living in the vacuum. These are 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.880 vacuum dwellers. Yeah, and I think it was that way 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.760 for a long time. Eventually, they also introduced a creature 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.400 called a Purgle that came around. I think it was 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.040 introduced in Star Wars Rebels, one of the animated series, 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:51.920 and I have a feeling it's going to show up 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.800 in some live action stuff in the near future. But 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.360 they're like a deep space whale like organism with its 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.280 kind of a squid, like a combination betwe in, a 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.760 space squid and a space whale. And they're capable of 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.559 entering hyperspace even but they're kind of they have a 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.240 lot in common with the design of the Exo Go. 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:14.800 They're kind of like the Noble Exo Gorth. The picture 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:18.080 you attached looks mad. He's got like the downturned eyebrow. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.760 He looks like he's he's looking for a fight. Well, 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:24.160 they they explore this kind of like whale like nature 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.080 where if you're if you're not treating them right, if 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.840 you're abusing them, then yeah, they can be quite dangerous, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.120 but if you try to understand them, then you realize 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.320 that they have this very passive and beautiful nature. Oh, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:37.960 I can see that. So it's like the you know, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.920 somebody says about the dog, like, oh, he doesn't like strangers, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:42.920 but when you warm up to him, you know, he's 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.839 a he's a real cuttlebug. Yeah. So, anyway, for this 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.000 entry of our Aliens Star Wars Alien Neck Cropsy, I 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.679 wanted to to think about the idea of vacuum dwellers 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.240 as a as a proposal as a concept. Now Star 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.600 Wars obviously it is not hard science fiction. You know, 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:05.559 it's not trying to create a scientifically grounded experience. It's 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.600 a fantasy. And that's fine. I mean, you've got no 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.920 problem at all with with soft science fiction and space fantasy. 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.560 I love that stuff. Uh, And there are plenty of 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.959 elements in this sequence that are really nothing like what 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.320 we'd expect to find in reality. So I wanted to 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.000 mention a couple of other examples of that before we 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.080 get back to the idea of a vacuum dwelling organism 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:29.200 and consider the plausibility of that. One example of how 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.320 this doesn't really resemble reality in any recognizable way is 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.400 the idea of how dense the asteroid belt in the 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.319 Empire Strikes Back is how it's just crammed with rocks 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.480 that are moving really close to each other and slamming 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.640 together all the time, And how this compares to the 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.200 one example of a real asteroid belt that we know about. 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.800 And this is a standard feature of sci fi movies. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:55.800 It's not just Empire Strikes Back. I mean, I think 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:57.679 a lot of times there are space battles in an 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.200 asteroid belt that is just a mind field. This densely 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.040 packed obstacle course of of giant boulders that are going 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.320 to smash into your ship and kill you, and the 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.280 ships have to frantically dodge around through the slamming rocks 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.000 while they dog fight. Yeah, it's a great sequence, but 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.840 it is just um maddening, just how how tired everything is, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.520 and and it just seems like a complete nightmare that 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.000 anyone would I mean, it seems like it should be 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.719 a Butcher Cassidy and the Sundance Kid kind of moment, right, 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.680 Like why would the Thai fighters even chase them in there? 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.480 Like how because how could you expect to survive unless 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.160 you were like a fourth sensitive pilot of some sort, 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.800 you know, or like the greatest pilot of all time, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.520 like like a Han Solo. Yeah, they'd be crazy to 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.920 follow us, wouldn't they. And I know when I was 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.440 a kid, I pictured the asteroid belt of our solar 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.440 system being like this, probably because of especially Empire, but 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.560 more generally movies like this that it's just you know, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.160 it's just tight with rocks. But now we know that 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.160 is not the case. I was trying to find what 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.400 is the actual density of the asteroid belting terms of 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:04.240 asteroids of an appreciable size. I found an explainer about 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:08.040 this from Scientific American that's older. It's from nine so 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.320 our our our knowledge might be a little bit updated 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:12.959 since then. But this, I feel it gives you a 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.760 good idea to asks several experts about this, this question 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.440 of the density of the asteroid belt. First of all, 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.920 there was an interesting story in it that's relayed by 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.240 Tom Garrels of the University of Arizona, who said that quote. 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:30.440 Some scientists were seriously concerned about the possible high density 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.440 of objects in the asteroid belt, which lies between the 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.040 orbits of Mars and Jupiter, when the first robotic spacecraft 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.000 were scheduled to be sent through it. The first crossing 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.360 of the asteroid belt took place in the early nineteen 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:46.720 seventies when the Pioneer ten and Pioneer eleven spacecraft journey 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.120 to Jupiter and beyond. The danger lies not in the 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.240 risk of hitting a large object. In fact, such a 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.360 risk is minuscule because there is a tremendous amount of 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.680 space between Mars and Jupiter, and because the objects there 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.840 are very small in relation. Even though there are perhaps 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.560 a million asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter, the 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.480 chance of a spacecraft and not getting through the asteroid 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.760 belt is nearly negligible. And then there was an updated 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.840 thought that came in after that from David Morrison of 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.800 NASA AMES who said, quote, there were more than a 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.560 hundred thousand asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter, but 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.440 these objects are distributed within the huge volume of the 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:33.239 asteroid belt. Their average spacing is several million kilometers. Collisions 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.320 are thus extremely rare. An average one kilometer asteroid suffers 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.880 one collision every few billion years, or maybe one or 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.360 two collisions over the lifetime of the Solar System. The 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.920 spacing is also so large that seen from one asteroid, 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.440 even the nearest one kilometer asteroid would likely be too 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.800 faint to be visible without a telescope. Uh So, yeah, 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.720 extreme distances between these objects now because there aren't a 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.040 lot of objects. There are, but the you know, space 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.440 is gigantic, so the space between them is also gigantic. 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.160 If you were to fly into an asteroid belt, it's 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.560 actually unlikely you would even notice it. You probably wouldn't 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.480 see any asteroids while you were flying through it. Though, 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:17.920 I did think about something that could make another interesting 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.080 I'm sure some movie has done this but it could 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.000 make a different kind of threat of traveling through an 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.760 asteroid belt interesting. I think the more likely risk while 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:28.680 flying through an asteroid belt is not that you would 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.440 be smashed between giant space rocks while you're trying to 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.880 dodge through them, but the chance that you would hit 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.760 an invisibly tiny micro asteroid at high speed, and it 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.440 would be like a bomb because of the kinetic energy 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.920 of the impact because it's going so fast and you're 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.240 going so fast. Though I guess, of course, it would 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.600 depend on how fast you were going and what angle 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.360 you hit it at relative to its own trajectory. I mean, 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.120 a head on collision with a with a tiny asteroid 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.960 could be catastrophic. But there's another thing in the sequence 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.640 that doesn't make sense if you try to bring hard 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.960 sci fi rules to it, which is the part where 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.040 they're in the cave and the minox show up in 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.200 that great moment where I think Leiah is looking out 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.560 the window and then suddenly the big sucker comes down 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.880 and he got which I was talking to Rachel about 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.639 this earlier this morning, and she says, when she saw 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.240 that part in the theater, when the Star Wars remasters 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.920 or remake not remakes, the whatever you call him. The 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.639 remasters came out in the nineties or the earlier. I 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:31.960 guess it was the nineties. Yeah, that she just like 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.760 screamed in the theater, just like Bloody Murder screamed. Yeah, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.800 it's startling and gross totally. It's like, it still gets 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.000 me when I watched the movie. It's very suddenly that 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.640 noise it makes. It's like when the head pops out 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.200 of the boat and Jaws, you know, and when Richard 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.560 Dreyfuss is like down in the water looking at it. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:53.160 It gets you every time. But anyway, so there's yeah, 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.960 the minox come out, and so Han and Chewy and 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.720 Leah walk outside of the Millennium Falcon in their regular 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.919 oaths wearing little oxygen masks. So this is another one 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.280 of those space fantasy things, because this would not work 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.560 on a real asteroid. The vacuum would kill you pretty quickly, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.879 even if you had a little oxygen mask. So I 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.879 found a good explainer on this. This was also a 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.199 Scientific American article. This was written by Anna Goslin in 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.760 two thousand eight, and and of course one thing we 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.760 should be clear about is that a vacuum in as 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.639 the term is generally used is defined as a region 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.840 of space with extremely low gas pressure. Uh. It's sort 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.560 of a conventional definition because even in outer space, there's 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.600 not nothing in space. You're still going to have a 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.440 few random hydrogen atoms floating around and stuff, but it's 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.760 pressure so low that it's negligible. So once you walk 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.280 out of the Millennium falcon, once you are exposed to 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:54.199 the low pressure environment of a vacuum of space, several 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.960 things are going to happen pretty quickly. One is that 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.400 because of the lower pressure, gas is tend to expand, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.520 and this includes the gases that are trapped in your body, 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.040 trapped in your lungs. So if you're holding your breath 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.640 or inhaling, this expanding gas is going to cause trauma 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:17.040 in the lungs, tearing up gas exchange tissues. Also, the 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.560 low pressure will cause water to boil at a lower temperature, 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.520 and in the case of a vacuum, this means water 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.520 boils at a temperature lower than your body temperature, which 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:32.000 translates to swelling in the body, rapid evaporation of water 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.840 vapor from the easiest escape roots in your body, and 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.919 primarily this will be things like the holes in your face, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.240 like your mouth, nose, and eyes, and this rapid boiling 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.120 off of water will of course cause very low temperatures 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.560 around these holes in your face. I think about the 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.040 way that you know, the rapid evaporation of water cools 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.960 your body through sweat, except take that to the extreme, 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:58.439 like literally your tongue might freeze. And if records of 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:00.399 what has happened to animals that are opposed to a 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:05.640 vacuum or any indication, you also might simultaneously defecate, urinate, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:10.520 and projectile vomit. Wow, So even event horizon scaled back 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.920 a little bit on what this would be like. Yes. Now, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.639 on the other hand, sometimes movies make it look like 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.840 if you were exposed to a vacuum, you would explode, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.560 and that doesn't seem to be true. It actually does 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.800 seem like you could survive being in a vacuum for 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.560 maybe a few minutes. I mean, it would depend on 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.120 a number of factors, but you could. Most people could 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.280 probably survive being exposed to a vacuum for some amount 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.600 of times, like a few minutes, less than five minutes maybe, 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.600 but it would require somebody else who is not exposed 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.040 to a vacuum helping you because we have seen this 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.399 in in sci fi. I think that's basically what happens 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.399 an event horizon. And I think the and yeah, the 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.800 expanse has has has explored this as well. Yeah, because 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:56.960 like one of the reasons you would need somebody to 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.520 help you is that you would you would very rapidly 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.280 lose anciousness. The low pressure would also cause bubbles to 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.920 form in your blood vessels, which would interfere with oxygen circulation. 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:09.639 And I think the estimate is that this leads to 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.200 rapid unconsciousness, probably in something like ten to fifteen seconds 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.119 after you're exposed to the vacuum, and then so you 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.199 lose consciousness, you probably collapse and it would go on 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.800 to kill you within a few minutes if you're not repressurized. 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.679 This article by Anna Goslin shares a story of a 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.960 human who actually survived vacuum exposure. Uh So, I just 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.840 want to read this part quote. In nineteen sixty five, 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:37.320