Neil deGrasse Tyson is a smart man — perhaps too smart. After butting heads with Star Wars fans last month about BB8’s design (according to physics, the droid’s smooth metal ball would “skid uncontrollably on sand”), he’s back in the ring.
He explained on Monday’s Conan episode that the Starship Enterprise would destroy the Millennium Falcon in an outright fight — or, more poignantly, he said it would “wipe its ass” with the Falcon. See the full conversation below for even more incriminating statements, complete with hand gestures.
He cites perfectly reasonable evidence — the Enterprise has advanced tech like photon torpedoes and deflector shields, while the Falcon has… you know. But stalwart fans of the franchise aren’t likely to ignore the insult.
Tyson poked fun that fan’s reaction to his scientific analysis.
He called them “prickly”, and it’s true—even the most level-headed of fans can get blurred vision when it comes to their favorite characters and ships. Some do debate the sense of trying to apply our concepts of physics and logic to a semi-mystic universe, where Jedi and Sith practice telekinesis and mind control. But for Tyson, at least, science has the last laugh.
