Oh, those poor ancillary workers on the Death Star, what did they do to deserve such a fate? How many innocent cleaners, shoe shine boys, and line cooks were reduced to ashes in that climatic moment? And don't even think about the unfortunate (and probably conscripted or enslaved) building contractors on the second Death Star. It's the ultimate truism in Star Wars that the bad guys must be defeated with some massive, overwhelming show of force, but how many regular people get caught up in the devastation? This is a point that's deliberately never considered within the stories, but are all the workers in these Imperial facilities really so evil? It's fair to assume that many are there by force. Even within the ranks of those who voluntarily signed up, many presumably are only there to find a better way of life - perhaps the Empire offers college funding to officers and technical training to the lower ranks. In addition, are these volunteers able to tell that the Empire is evil? In the beginning, the fleet existed at the behest of the Senate (through Palpatine) to protect the Republic. Since then, the Emperor must have tightly controlled the flow of news in the media; if everyone is spoon fed propaganda 24/7, are they in a position to know about Imperial atrocities committed out of sight on faraway worlds? And thus, can they make truly informed and moral choices? Naturally, to prevent these light-hearted films from getting bogged down in needless moral complexity, the consequences to the wider universe of the good guys wiping out vast numbers of people are rightfully glossed over, and long may that continue. Besides, the rebels are clearly concerned with the greater good; murdering a few thousand civilians on a Death Star means that millions of equally innocent people are spared on those worlds that otherwise would have been annihilated. Still, here's hoping the ancillary workers and building contractors died painlessly, eh? That thought might help Luke sleep at night. What do you want to see in Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
