It's a testament to Alec Guinness's acting ability that he can wear an old judo outfit with a dressing gown over the top, and we'll just buy that it's some mystic ancient bullshit.
There’s a few gadgets in star wars… that the prop of which is in most science fiction (or similar) films because the creature and prop guys always sneak them in… and at the time the group was pretty much the only guys doing that kind of work.
Some of the smartest things I've ever heard came from talking to other fanboys; we had to come up with ways to justify the most insane nonsense in our favorite works.