Repulsors Revived

December 1, 2013 7:01 PM

Long on speed but short on style, Luke Skywalker's X-34 Land Speeder has been handsomely improved by subsequent generations — more in the Air Drive gallery by photographer Renaud Marion.
posted by cenoxo (16 comments total)

Also Lucas sucks as a storyteller (except for the first Star Wars movie), his visual aesthetic cannot be improved upon.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:41 PM on December 1, 2013

It's now become clear to me that I'm not driving the car I was looking for.
posted by arcticseal at 7:56 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Look, you cannot make a landspeeder out of a vehicle that doesn't at least have a stainless steel body. And if it doesn't come with a time machine you got hosed.
posted by localroger at 7:58 PM on December 1, 2013

With a couple of exceptions, most of these look too wrong and clunky without wheels. Maybe I'm just not used to seeing them like this, but I'm more inclined to think that designers created these models to look good with wheels, and that without that requirement they'd come up with very different concepts. Still, it's a neat idea and an interesting set of images.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:02 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

...most of these were featured in Coruscant scenes in Episode II...

Those were airspeeders (images), not land speeders. Flashy, but style has to drive by slowly (and at ground level) to be appreciated.
posted by cenoxo at 8:02 PM on December 1, 2013

they'd come up with very different concepts

Such as this, for instance.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:05 PM on December 1, 2013

hey look i did one too
posted by mullacc at 8:59 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Such as this, for instance.

in the future the sexxy women at car shows will be robots
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:08 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe if they didn't keep it chained down, it'd float off like a balloon. One of them shark balloons.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:56 PM on December 1, 2013

It's odd that he left the wheel arch visible on the back door in this image.

It's a pretty fun little series, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:02 AM on December 2, 2013

That robot is actually a family pet chained to the bumper and may be in store for some National Lampoon's Vacation inspired shenanigans.
posted by history_denier at 7:59 AM on December 2, 2013

These make me uncomfortable in the same way a photo of a face with the mouth airbrushed out does.
posted by aught at 8:06 AM on December 2, 2013

Pretty slick, at least until your right front mirror shears off at speed.
posted by steef at 12:10 PM on December 2, 2013

1937 Auto Union Type C Streamliner with shrouded wheel covers — squint your eyes a bit and it's hovering.
posted by cenoxo at 6:25 PM on December 2, 2013

I actually felt a little slightly ill when I saw the mint green Mercedes 300SL, the alteration of which is akin to chain-sawing the legs off the Venus de Milo.

However, the old red El Camino would look right at home in a Star Wars movie, and I would give my eyeteeth for that Lincoln.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 8:24 AM on December 3, 2013

So you're telling me that my flying car will still have to deal with windrows. Great, thanks a whole lot "world-of-tomorrow".
posted by flyingfox at 1:02 PM on December 3, 2013