The Last Jedi answered a bunch of extremely nerdy questions about Star Wars' space combat

Just as The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy inquired as to Itchy and Scratchy’s “magic xylophone,” so too have Star Wars fans sought to investigate the inconsistencies in the series’ space combat. Why must the Capital ships come so close to each other during combat? Why can TIE fighters fly through shields? How can a trilling bear-creature fly a spaceship? Well, YouTuber EC Henry is here with a new video essay that answers (most of) these questions, as it credits The Last Jedi for incorporating lore from the entire saga to make sense of it all.

As the essay shows, The Last Jedi drew upon bits of insight into the space combat process from the franchise’s original trilogy and its prequels to demonstrate the long-range ineffectiveness of its lasers, the limited bubble of the world’s shields, and the necessity of TIE fighters, which possess the ability to bypass those shields. The Last Jedi crystallizes these scraps of knowledge, then refashions them so they actually have a bearing on the action itself. It’s an interesting lens into the care and reverence with which Rian Johnson approached the saga and its universe, even while upending many of its conventions.

With these questions answered, you’re free to go back to complaining about Luke Skywalker now.