Deflector shields

"Raise the shields." "A superlative suggestion, sir, with just two minor drawbacks: one, we have no defensive shields; and two, we have no defensive shields. Now, I realize, technically speaking, that's only one flaw, but I thought it was such a big one, it was worth mentioning twice."

- Qui-Gon Jinn and Ric Olié

Deflector shields were great things. They were walls of glowing energy that surrounded starships, or buildings, droids, or sometimes even whole planets. Really, there's nothing simpler. Just turn electricity into a wall of glowing energy. Easy. Only a planet full of morons wouldn't know how to make a deflector shield.

Oh, and apparently, deflector shields were also the reason that weird-shaped starships could fly around in a planetary atmosphere without getting ripped to pieces by the stress. Although completely invisible, shields formed themselves into a nice sleek shape around the ship, making it fly like an SR-71 even though it might be shaped like a rhinoceros sticking out of a boxcar.

There were only two ways to take down deflector shields. And, no, you couldn't adjust your photon torpedoes to match the shield modulation, because this is not Star Trek. Way #1: blast them with turbolasers until they fall, which is generally preferred, especially in MMORPGs and flight simulators. Way #2: destroy the shield generator. Destroying shield generators was often the only way to launch a big assault on something hidden behind a shield. There were only two ways to take down a shield generator. Way #1: send a strike team into the facility and blow it up with explosives. Han Solo and Leia did this at the Battle of Endor because George Lucas didn't have anything else important for them to do. Way #2: completely break the laws of physics and shoot the shield generator through the shields. This happened a lot in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

The pink gooey shields used by the Gungans were completely different. They were powered by friendship and dreams. The Gungans made them by capturing My Little Ponies and grinding them into a paste.