Death Star
Death Star | |
---|---|
First appearance |
|
Created by | George Lucas |
Designed by | Colin Cantwell |
Information | |
Affiliation | Galactic Empire |
Launched | n/a, constructed in space. |
Combat vehicles | TIE Fighters |
General characteristics | |
Class | Orbital Battle Station |
Armaments | Superlaser |
Defenses | Turbolasers, Laser cannons, Tractor beams, and Ion cannons |
Maximum speed | Faster than light speed |
Propulsion | Imperial Hyperdrive |
Power | Able to destroy a planet with one shot of the superlaser. |
Width | 160 km (99 mi) (Death Star I); 200 km (120 mi) (Death Star II) |
The Death Star is a
Since its first appearance, the Death Star has become a
Origin and design
According to franchise creator George Lucas, his initial outline for the Star Wars saga did not feature the Death Star in the portion that would be adapted as the first film. When he set to creating the first act of this outline as a feature, he borrowed the Death Star concept from the third act.[1]
Although details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during the production of
Special effects
The grid plan animation shown during the Rebel briefing before the Death Star attack in A New Hope was an actual computer-graphics simulation developed by
After filming was complete, the original model, as well as one of the surface setpieces, were to be thrown out, but they were eventually salvaged.[11][12][13]
The Death Star explosions featured in the Special Edition of A New Hope and in Return of the Jedi are rendered with a
Depiction
The original Death Star was introduced in the original Star Wars film,
Original Death Star
The original Death Star's completed form appears in the original Star Wars film, known as the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, or Project Stardust in Rogue One; before learning the true name of the weapon, the Rebel Alliance referred to it as the "Planet Killer".[16] Commanded by Governor Tarkin, it is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon",[b] a huge spherical battle station 160 kilometres (99 mi) in diameter capable of destroying a planet with one shot of its superlaser.
The film opens with
The Death Star's schematics are visible in the scenes on
As depicted in
The 2014 book
Rogue One focuses on a band of Rebels stealing the Death Star plans just prior to the events of A New Hope. The Death Star is first used to destroy Jedha City, both as a response to a violent insurgency on the planet and as a display of the Death Star's operational status. Tarkin assumes control over the Death Star while Krennic investigates security breaches in the design project. It is subsequently revealed that Galen discreetly sabotaged the design by building a vulnerability into the reactor. After the Death Star plans are stolen from the Scarif vault, Tarkin fires the Death Star's superlaser on the base, killing Krennic, as well as Jyn Erso and her small band of rebels.[16] Rogue One also reveals that the Death Star's superlaser is powered by multiple reactors, allowing it to vary its destructive power depending on the target; both the attack on Jedha City and the Scarif base used a single reactor.
According to Star Wars reference books, the population of the Death Star was 1.7 million military personnel, 400,000 maintenance droids, and 250,000 civilians, associated contractors and catering staff.[24][25] The Death Star was defended by thousands of turbolasers, ion cannons and laser cannons, plus a complement of seven to nine thousand TIE fighters, along with tens of thousands of support craft. It also had several massive docking bays, including dry docks capable of accommodating Star Destroyers.[26]
A hologram of the original Death Star is briefly visible in a scene at the Resistance base in The Force Awakens and used as a means of comparison with one from the First Order's own superweapon, Starkiller Base.[27]
Second Death Star
The 1983 film Return of the Jedi features the DS-2 Orbital Battle Station under construction as it orbits the forest moon Endor, which houses a shield generator protecting the station. The second Death Star is substantially more advanced and more powerful than its predecessor, and the critical weakness found in the first Death Star has been removed—the Rebel Alliance's only hope is to destroy it prior to its completion. Darth Sidious and Darth Vader send the Rebels false information that the station's weapons systems are not yet complete in order to lure the Alliance fleet into a trap, resulting in the decisive Battle of Endor. In fact, the station's superlaser is fully operational, and it begins firing on and destroying Rebel capital ships during the battle.
A ground assault team led by Han Solo with the help of the Endor-native Ewoks successfully manages to disable the shield generator, allowing Rebel pilots Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian to fly into the station (using Han's Millennium Falcon) and fire on its reactor, destroying the station in another catastrophic explosion.[28]
An early draft of Return of the Jedi features two Death Stars at various stages of completion.[29] According to the Star Wars Encyclopedia, the second Death Star had at its "north pole ... a heavily armored 100-story tower topped by the Emperor's private observation chamber."[30] The size of the second Death Star has not remained consistent among the various writers for the Star Wars franchise, with some stating it shared the first Death Star's 160-kilometre (99 mi) radius and others claiming it was much more massive with a 900-kilometre (560 mi) radius.[31] The most recent figure established in 2017 by Ryder Windham gives the second Death Star a radius of 200 kilometres (120 mi).[32]
The second Death Star is featured on the cover of the book
Part of the wreckage of the second Death Star appears in
Similar superweapons
The 2019 comic Star Wars #68 reveals that the Rebels considered creating their own version of a Death Star by luring Star Destroyers to a tectonically unstable planet and setting it off with proton detonators.[35]
Starkiller Base
The name Starkiller Base pays homage to the early drafts of the original Star Wars film, referring to Luke Skywalker's original surname.[38][39] Coincidentally, the name "Starkiller" is an alias given to Galen Marek by Darth Vader in the 2008 game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. During early concept development, artist Doug Chiang envisioned the superweapon's gun as set inside a volcano, which X-wings would have to enter in a maneuver similar to the trench run on the Death Star in the original film.[40]
Sith Star Destroyers
In The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth installment in the series, the resurrected
Expanded Universe
Both Death Stars and similar superweapons appear throughout the non-canonical
The first Death Star's construction is the subject of Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's novel Death Star (2007),[44] which depicts the many politics and hidden agendas behind the massive project, from its construction up until its final destruction.
The first Death Star's hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293
DS-X Prototype Battle Station
In the Legends works Death Star (2007),
Death Star III
In the Disney attraction
Other superweapons
A prototype version of the Death Star can be found in Kevin J. Anderson's novel Jedi Search (1994).[52] It was kept at the Maw Installation, an Imperial research institute in a cluster of black holes, and later deployed by Tol Sivron after the Maw Installation was invaded by the New Republic. The prototype was ineffective, missing its target and instead destroying an Imperial garrison moon the sole time it was fired in combat. After this, the prototype was later destroyed when it was led into the black holes of the cluster.
In the original Marvel Star Wars comic series (1977–1986), a superweapon called "The Tarkin" is built. It is described as being similar to the Death Star but with more energy. Darth Vader commands it and Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 sabotage it with Lando's help. It is finally destroyed by an Imperial officer attempting to use an ionic weapon to both attack the escaping Rebels and assassinate Vader. Later in the series, a nihilistic group attempts to use a weapon to dislodge a planet from its orbit and cause others to do the same in a chain reaction, thereby destroying the entire universe.[53]
In the
In Kevin J. Anderson's novel
The novel
Cultural influence
The Death Star placed ninth in a 2008
It has been referred to outside of the Star Wars context in such examples as:
- AT&T Corporation's logo, designed by Saul Bass and introduced in 1982, is informally referred to as the "Death Star".[57] Ars Technica referred to "the AT&T Death Star" in an article criticizing a company data policy.[58] Competitor T-Mobile mocked AT&T's "Death Star" logo and "Empire-like reputation" in a press release.[59]
- In Clerks (1994), Randal Graves points out that many independent contractors would have been killed in the second Death Star's destruction.[60] In the DVD audio commentary for Attack of the Clones, George Lucas says that the inclusion of the holographic Death Star in the film implies that the Geonosians were the contractors discussed by "Jay and Silent Bob".[61]
- KTCK (SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket) in Dallas were the first to use the term "Death Star" to describe the new mammoth Cowboys Stadium, now AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. The term has since spread to local media and is generally accepted as a nickname for the stadium.[62]
- The Death Star strategy was the name Enron gave to one of their fraudulent business practices for manipulating California's energy market.[63]
- In the novels of the Bridge Trilogy, the San Francisco Police Departmentadmonishes its officers to stop referring to their surveillance satellite as the "Death Star".
- In the 1987 Star Wars parody film Spaceballs, the Spaceballs use a spacecraft called "Spaceball I", which can change shape into "Mega Maid", resembling a woman with a vacuum cleaner. A reference to the Death Star destroying Alderaan, the Mega Maid is used to drain Druidia's atmosphere of fresh air.[64]
- While mostly ground based, the Technodrome from the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and 1988 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics is based on the Death Star.[65]
- The Super Mario Bros. Z.
- Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign was nicknamed the "Death Star" by some of its members.[66]
- Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis dubbed the nickname of the team's new Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada as the "Death Star".[67]
- The Social Sciences and Humanities Building at the University of California, Davis is referred to by students as the "Death Star", due to its shiny metallic exterior and maze-like architecture.[68]
Astronomy
In 1981, following the
Merchandise
In 1979,A Death Star trinket box was also released by Royal Selangor in 2015, in conjunction with the December screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that year,[82] and in 2016, Plox released the official levitating Death Star Speaker[83] in anticipation of that year's screening of Rogue One.
Political campaigns
In 2012–13, a (
The Luxembourgish magician Christian Lavey (born as Christian Kies) submitted a petition for the construction of a Death Star to the Luxembourgish parliament.[89] In an interview with a local radio station, however Lavey admitted that this petition was just a joke and some kind of protest against the space plans of the government.
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Later titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- ^ The space station is also called "Ultimate Weapon" by the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS), who commissioned the original designs.
- ^ In Empire at War, if the Imperial fleet defending the Death Star is defeated and the hero unit of Red Squadron is present, the Death Star will be destroyed.
Citations
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- ^ a b Fashingbauer Cooper, Gael (September 29, 2016), Star Wars Death Star's famed feature was a complete accident, CNET, retrieved January 14, 2017
- ^ a b Pereira, Alyssa (September 27, 2016), 'Star Wars' star ships designer reveals inspiration behind Death Star, X-wing, and TIE fighter, SFGate, retrieved January 14, 2017
- ^ "John Stears, 64, Dies; Film-Effects Wizard". New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2013
- ^ John Stears; Special Effects Genius Behind 007 and R2-D2"". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 28, 2013
- ISBN 978-0-8118-7546-2.
- ^ a b c "Death Star II (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
- ^ Borrelli, Christopher (May 23, 2017). "Blueprints for 'Star Wars' Death Star were created at UIC". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
- ^ "The Death Star Plans ARE in the Main Computer - StarWars.com". December 11, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
- ^ Gus Lopez (December 10, 2015). "Saving the Death Star: How the Original Model Was Lost and Found". StarWars.com. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ Kevin Yeoman (December 19, 2016). "How the Original Death Star Model Nearly Ended Up in the Trash". ScreenRant. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ Julie Muncy (May 18, 2018). "Ebay is Auctioning Off an Original Piece of the Death Star". io9. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
- ISBN 978-2-200-61938-1.
- ^ Brandon, John (October 13, 2014). "Death Star Physics: How Much Energy Does It Take to Blow Up a Planet?". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
- ^ a b c Edwards, Gareth (Director) (December 16, 2016). Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Lucasfilm.
- 20th Century Fox.
General Tagge: If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it.
- 20th Century Fox.
- 20th Century Fox.
- 20th Century Fox.
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- ISBN 978-0-345-51149-2.
- ^ "Rogue One Prequel Book Reveals Secret Origins of the Death Star". MovieWeb.com. September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
- ^ Star Wars: Complete Locations
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- ^ Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy. 2004.
- ^ Windham, Ryder (2017). Star Wars: Rogue One: Death Star Deluxe Book and 3D Wood Model. Insight Editions.
- ^ Bankhurst, Adam (October 23, 2019). "Star Wars: Location Where Death Star II Crashed Identified". Retrieved October 23, 2019.
- ^ a b Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Blu-ray). Los Angeles, California: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. December 20, 2019.
- ^ Dyce, Andrew (August 7, 2019). "Star Wars Reveals The REBELS' Version of The Death Star". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ "Starkiller Base". StarWars.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- ^ Veekhoven, Tim (May 2, 2016). "It's the Resistance!". StarWars.com. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ^ Hawkes, Rebecca (February 18, 2016). "The Adventures Of Luke Starkiller': Peter Mayhew releases pages from his 1976 Star Wars script". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
- ^ Locker, Melissa (June 9, 2015). "Original Star Wars Script Found, Solves Long-Running Mystery". Time. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
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- ^ Pandemic Studios (November 1, 2005). Star Wars: Battlefront II. LucasArts. Level/area: Fall of the Old Republic - 501st Journal - Mygeeto: Amongst the Ruins.
What Ki-Adi-Mundi didn't know, however, was that our unit of the 501st was really after an experimental Mygeetan power source, that the Chancellor [Palpatine] wanted for his superlaser.
- ^ Pandemic Studios (November 1, 2005). Star Wars: Battlefront II. LucasArts. Level/area: Rise of the Empire - 501st Journal - Tantive IV: Recovering the Plans.
Vader concluded that the stolen plans have been given to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. [...We] boarded the ship, the Tantive IV over Tatooine, began looking for the plans, and waited for Lord Vader's arrival.
- ^ LucasArts (September 16, 2008). Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
- ^ Stuever, Hank (November 11, 2007). "'I've always thought that Luke felt pretty bad for a few days after it was over.': Good Morning, Mr. Vader! Author Michael Reaves Ponders the Death Star as a Truly Hostile Workplace". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
- ^ a b Slavicsek, Bill (June 1, 1991). Death Star Technical Companion. West End Games.
- ^ "Death Star (Expanded Universe)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
- ^ Mack, Eric (February 19, 2012). "Finally, a cost estimate for building a real Death Star". CNET. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
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- ISBN 9780345386250.
- ISBN 0-7566-0307-2.[page needed]
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- ^ "TheForce.Net - Jedi Council - Interviews | Curtis Saxton". www.theforce.net. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
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- ^ Sophie Borland (January 21, 2008). "Lightsabre wins the battle of movie weapons". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
- ^ "Bell System Memorial- Bell Logo History". beatriceco.com. Porticus.org. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
sterling silver American Bell logo (which we recognize as the post-divestiture AT&T "death star" logo)
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- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Event occurs at 121.
- ^ "The New Death Star Stadium – Texas Stadium". theunticket.com. September 18, 2009.
- ^ Kranhold, Kathryn; Bryan Lee; Mitchel Benson (May 7, 2002). "New Documents Show Enron Traders Manipulated California Energy Costs". Free Preview. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
- ^ August, Alexandra (January 2, 2017). "15 Reasons Spaceballs Is Better Than Star Wars". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ Mithaiwala, Mansoor (June 3, 2016). "10 Things You Need to Know About Krang". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ Jackson, David. "Trump campaign calls itself the 'Death Star'; Biden team notes it gets blown up". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ "Raiders hold practice at Allegiant Stadium: 'Welcome to the Death Star'". www.nfl.com. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
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- ^ Young, Kelly (February 11, 2005). "Saturn's moon is Death Star's twin". New Scientist. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
Saturn's diminutive moon, Mimas, poses as the Death Star — the planet-destroying space station from the movie Star Wars — in an image recently captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
- ^ Britt, Robert Roy (April 3, 2001). "Nemesis: Does the Sun Have a 'Companion'?". Space.com. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
Any one of them could be the Death Star, as Nemesis has come to be called by some.
- ^ "Death Star Space Station". SirStevesGuide.com Photo Gallery. Steve Sansweet. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ "Death Star". SirStevesGuide.com Photo Gallery. Steve Sansweet. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
- ^ "LEGO Death Star 10188 & 10143". Star Wars Cargo Bay. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on September 9, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
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- ^ "Royal Selangor - Pewter - Products - Trinket Box, Death Star". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015.
- ^ Accessories, Ninjabox Australia | Latest Tech Gadgets &. "Official Star Wars Levitating Death Star Bluetooth Speaker by Plox". Ninjabox Australia | Latest Tech Gadgets & Accessories. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ a b Shawcross, Paul (January 11, 2013). "This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For". Wired. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
- ^ "How Much Would It Cost To Build The Death Star?". Centives. February 15, 2012.
- ^ Roxanne Palmer (January 15, 2013). "White House Rejects Death Star Petition: Doomsday Devices US Could Build Instead". International Business Times.
- ^ "It's a trap! Petition to build Death Star will spark White House response". Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
- ^ "US shoots down Death Star superlaser petition". BBC News. January 12, 2013.
- ^ "Luxembourg Times - Community - Petition for Luxembourg to join the dark side, build Death Star". luxtimes.lu. January 25, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
External links
- Death Star in the StarWars.com Databank
- Death Star on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
- NASA Engineer Says It Would Be Easier To Build A Death Star On Asteroid