Discussion Main / TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay

• In the original version of The Empire Strikes Back, the Rebels averted 2-D Space at the end of the film by hiding far enough "above" the galactic plane that the galaxy is recognizable as such out the Redemption's viewport. The short story "Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM" even used this as a plot point. The 2004 DVD and subsequent Blu Ray editions changed the view to a nebula, which raises interesting questions regarding Canon (though ones that have likely been answered given George Lucas' willingness to make changes to his movies and official statements where he calls the Star Wars Expanded Universe a parallel universe). If there was a Retcon made, it probably was because if the stellar object in question actually was the Galaxy, then the rate at which it was spinning would indicate that the Galaxy turns faster than light.

I'm pretty sure the swirly thing that may be a galaxy is still in the 2004 and 2012 editions. I don't have the discs here to check, but there's no mention of this on the list of changes on DVD Active, Wikipedia, or Wookieepedia. I certainly think I would have heard it mentioned somewhere. I'm taking that part out of the entry.

Let's not drop examples everywhere willy-nilly. If an example is on The Milky Way Is the Only Way as an aversion then it should be notably averting this trope e.g. scientists send years struggling to make intergalactic travel possible and make a breakthrough during the course of the show. By definition that can't be the easy intergalatic travel required for it being a Small Universe After All and the principle applies in reverse. If travelling between the galaxies isn't a big deal for the setting then it's not a big deal for us.

In the Orion's Arm World-building project, the various empires have reached other arms of the galaxy. they're honestly not that far away if you consider the amount of time that has passed within the setting.