Phantom Menace: How The Battle Droids Got Through The Gungan Shield
During the climactic finale of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the Trade Federation’s battle droids manage to walk right through the Gungans’ shield even though their E-5 blaster rifles and Armored Assault Tanks aren’t able to penetrate the dome. It was a surprising twist that certainly left audiences confused at the time as they watched the battle take a turn that no one was expecting. Though it might seem like a plot hole, there is actually an explanation for why the piece of technology works this way. The mechanics of the Gungan ray shield are explained in the official novelization of the episode and the way other ray shields function in the Star Wars canon do support the novelization’s explanation.
After Star Wars' Queen Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) convinces the Gungans to provide a distraction for her troops to take back the palace, the amphibian race takes to the battlefield and readies themselves for the Trade Federation’s assault. As they ignite their individual personal energy shields, the command is given to start up the large ray shield that will create a blue dome over the entire Gungan army. The Trade Federation begins to fire upon the dome with its Armored Assault Tanks, but the artillery is no match for the ray shield. At this point, the battle droids are deployed and while their E-5 blaster rifles can’t penetrate the dome, they are able to walk right through it, forcing the Gungans to adjust their tactics.
The advanced technology in the Star Wars universe can be confusing and is oftentimes inconsistent throughout the canon as well. In the novelization of the first prequel trilogy episode, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks, a detailed account is given regarding how the Gungans’ ray shield only deflects certain objects and not others. In addition, there are some examples throughout the Star Wars canon that support this explanation, like in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. As the Terry Brooks’ novelization explains:
The Gungan shield wall was designed to deflect large, slow-moving objects of density and mass such as artillery vehicles and small, fast-moving objects generating extreme heat such as projectiles from weapons fire. But it would not deflect small, slow-moving droids—even massed together in such numbers as they were here.” This explains why the battle droids’ blaster rifles were deflected, given that those projectiles are energy-base, generating heat and fast-moving. Similarly, the Armored Assault Tanks’ laser cannons would be unable to break through the shield for this reason as well.
The novel’s explanation appears to be very specific, addressing exactly the situation in The Phantom Menace, but in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, season 4, episode 17, “The Box,” it is further depicted that a ray shield will fatally electrocute someone. In Revenge of the Sith, a ray shield comes down and traps Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). If they were to move through it, they would be killed in the process. The battle droids in The Phantom Menace most likely could have endured a little zap to their circuits without being destroyed.
The Gungans’ ray shield in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is an interesting piece of technology that makes more sense when coupled with the explanation provided in Terry Brooks’ novelization. The battle droids bursting through the dome is an unexpected twist that heightens the stakes for the Gungans. Perhaps this scenario convinced the Gungans to use their ray shields in conjunction with particle shields, which deflects physical objects.