Of course you didn't...

Thou talkest from oust thine arse....

Star Wars was several hours of Lucas product-placement advertising for kids' toys.

Anything else read into it [Star Wars] is the mindless ranting drivel of obsessive pre-pubescent mostly male rug-rats.

Oh....was I a little harsh?

Nah....quite reserved critique of the pinnacle [?] of Hollywood S/F craptology...

It's Saturday night and Jafo has his sarcasm detector set to low.....

It fell off from over-use...

Oh. I thought that was that other thing...

Yes, but WHY? Gots no problem with the idea of very strong transparent materials. Having the guts of the Enterprise contain some mashup of a brewery and a water park, that is just inexcusable.

Now if you flushed some glittery Twilight brats all the way through to whatever dangerous thing needed water cooling, that could be fun. 

I agree. Especially that sharp spinny turbine. Let's see Mr. "Immortal" make it through that with his hairdo intact...

Let's sey Mr immortal try and act first. Iv'e seen planks of wood with more emotion. maybe they should have sat Keanu Reeves in that role!!!

How about David Caruso....2 emotions....sunnies on...and sunnies off.

It weighs less. It didn't have to be as thick as plexiglass or other alternatives. It was stronger.

That was the entire reason they had to have it to enclose the whales in STIV.

And get used to it because apparently it's become a reality.

 (PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.

Well then why was it only used in aesthetically relevant sections of the piping and not the entire system? (Mind you, I'm not quibbling because I'm some Star Wars cultist or even convinced that all the 'science' in science fiction needs to be as realistic as possible. I'm quibbling because details like that were an extremely painful counterpoint to the good casting and generally good dialog in Abrams' Star Wreck.)

Cool news about the real zapped aluminium, but that pic only shows a transluscent substance, not a transparent one. Aerogels might be the more likely route to something super-strong and nearly invisible, maybe something like a diamond meringue.

C'mon thought, Transluscent Aluminium is at least on the right path. It's not like Scotty is there to dish the atomic structure to them or anything!

Perhaps you answered your own question.