That's good question. I also wonder why Thai chicks have screaming orgasms.
Naw, just kidding. I don't know the answer to that joke cuz I never read that book. To be honest, I really don't like post-ROTJ EU.
They made that sound for the TIE's by combining an elephant trumpeting and tires on a rainy freeway.
Originally posted by Wesker
Maybe it's a threatric effect added for the benefit of movie watchers.
Bingo.
When the original Star Trek first aired and they were creating the opening sequence--where the Enterprise zooms by our point of view--in the interest of technical accuracy, there was no swoosh sound. Roddenberry (who very much insisted on believability) found the sequence theatrically dead. So he responded to the meta-reality of Trek being a TV show and told his people to add the sound effect. Made the scene much more "alive."
We are terrestrial creatures. When something zips past us, we expect a sound. The only movie I can think of at the moment which left out any sounds, but still made for great scenes, was 2001 a space odyssey (their technique was to substitue music for sounds).