Pyramids on Star Wars Day

The Rebel Base on Yavin 4
I concluded Happy Star Wars Day from North Star and NASA by promising "I'll be back with more Star Wars Day entries later, just as I did last year."  It's time to make a down payment on that promise with something light-hearted.

I ran a poll of my readers yesterday about which story I should use for my lead at Overnight News Digest, the latest news about pyramids or Star Wars Day.  It wasn't even close; Star Wars Day got every single vote.  So I compromised.  I used the NASA video I posted last night after Midnight and then the story about pyramids I already had on hand to yield Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Pyramids on Star Wars Day).

Here's the pyramid story from the Washington Post: The surprisingly simple way Egyptians moved massive pyramid stones without modern technology by Terrence McCoy.

Few have traveled to the pyramids of Egypt and not wondered how an ancient civilization without modern technology could have constructed structures so large they can be viewed from space. Some have theorized they were built inside out.

On the flakier side, some say aliens did it.

Perhaps the most confounding mystery of all involves how incredibly large stones made their way to the middle of the desert without massive mechanical assistance. No camel, even the Egyptian kind, is that strong.

It turned out the ancient Egyptians just wet the sand in front of their sleds to keep it from piling up.  It's the same principle that allows the building of sand castles.  Very simple, really.

To tie the two together, I then wrote "To combine the topics of pyramids and Star Wars day, here is a pyramid in Star Wars: The Old Republic."


Welcome to Korriban AKA Evil Space Egypt.  Unfortunately, that's the wrong music for the planet.  This is the right music.

Title: Korriban, The Homeworld
Composed by: Mark Griskey

So, is this, albeit from KOTOR II.


And, yes, there are pyramids in the very first film on Yavin 4, as seen in the first image, but that's a Mayan pyramid, not an Egyptian one, which is what I wanted to go with the story.  Speaking of which, I leave my readers with a better view of the pyramid on Korriban.


As for the connection to my usual theme of decline and collapse in entertainment, all of these pyramids are the relics of a fallen civilization, the original Sith Empire.  As was said of Korriban in KOTOR II, "The call of Korriban is strong, but it is the call of the dead."

I'll be back with reactions to the Star Wars VII cast announcement later this week to complete the rest of the promise and live up to my usual standards for my Sunday evening entertainment-themed entries.