Movie Moments, Part II: They could at least give them some goggles.

Today it's time to recognize a couple of guys from Star Wars who will probably never become action figures: The guys standing on that little platform on the Death Star who shield their eyes and turn away as the laser shoots past them. Now, one would think that with all of the technology that went into building the Death Star, they would have given those guys a little command center, closed off from space, maybe with a window, that they could use to do whatever it is they do. Or maybe they could just give them better helmets (the guys in the control room have more protective headgear than they do). I've never been completely sure what they're doing out there anyway. I mean, really, if something goes wrong, it’s not like they can just push the laser beam back into alignment, or hold out some mirrors to get it back on target. Then again, I guess their being there makes sense considering that when they built it they left a hole in the station leading right to where it’s the most vulnerable. And who knows, maybe that's the platform where the storm troopers and other personnel take their smoke breaks.