|
|
|
|
Death Star
|
| |
|
| |
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. In the films, the first Death Star is featured in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and a second Death Star is under construction in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
ough particular details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during A New Hopes production, the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station was consistent in all of them.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Death Star' Start a new discussion about 'Death Star' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. In the films, the first Death Star is featured in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and a second Death Star is under construction in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Origin and design
Although particular details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during A New Hopes production, the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station was consistent in all of them. Portraying an incomplete yet powerful space station posed a problem for Industrial Light & Magic's modelmakers for Return of the Jedi. Only the front side of the 137-centimeter model was completed, and the image was flipped horizontally for the final film. Both Death Stars were depicted by a combination of complete and sectional models and matte paintings.
Depiction
The original Death Star in A New Hope, commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon", a space station capable of destroying a planet in a single attack. The film opens with Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) transporting the station's schematics to the Rebel Alliance to aid them in destroying it. Tarkin orders the Death Star to destroy Leia's home world of Alderaan in an attempt to pressure her to betray the Rebels. At the film's climactic battle, Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) trust in the Force allows him to destroy the Death Star. Both Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) die aboard the second Death Star before the Rebels destroy it in Return of the Jedi. The first Death Star also appears in the Star Wars prequel trilogy: its schematics are visible in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith shows the Death Star early in its construction.
The Death Stars appear throughout the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The first Death Star is the subject of Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's novel Death Star. In LucasArts' Star Wars: Battlefront II, the player participates in a mission to secure crystals used in the Death Star's superlaser. The first Death Star under construction acts as the final stage in the video game, The Force Unleashed. Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy introduces the Maw Cluster of black holes that protect a laboratory where parts of the Death Star were tested. National Public Radio's A New Hope adaptation portrays Leia (Ann Sachs) and Bail Organa's (Stephen Elliott) discovery of the Death Star's existence and Leia's mission to steal the space station's schematics. The first level of LucasArts' Dark Forces gives the player a supporting role in Leia's mission, while a mission in Battlefront II tasks the player with acting as a stormtrooper or Darth Vader in an attempt to recover the plans and capture Leia. Steve Perry's novel Shadows of the Empire describes a mission that leads to the Rebels learning of the second Death Star's existence, and that mission is playable in LucasArts' X-Wing Alliance combat flight simulator. Numerous LucasArts titles recreate the movies' attacks on the Death Stars, and the Death Star itself is a controllable weapon in the Rebellion and Empire at War strategy game.
The first Death Star had a crew of 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 30,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff, and 180,216 pilots and support crew. Its hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters. It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors. Various sources state the first Death Star has a diameter between 120 and 160 kilometers. There is a broader range of figures for the second Death Star's diameter, ranging from 160 to 900 kilometers.
Cultural impact and trivia
The Death Star is one of the better-known concepts from the Star Wars universe and is widely recognizable outside of that context. Television shows, books, movies, and games that refer to the Death Star include Clerks, Newsradio, Muppet Babies, Futurama, Robot Chicken, Lost, Seinfeld, Family Guy, Life on Mars, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Fairly Oddparents, Pinky and the Brain, Farscape, Tripping the Rift, Twister, Metalocalypse, Crayon Shin Chan, Ogame, AstroEmpires, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Metal Gear Solid 4, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Virtual Light, and Jazz Jackrabbit.
The Death Star placed ninth in a 2008 20th Century Fox poll of the most popular movie weapons.
The media in 1980 commented that Saturn's moon Mimas gives it a resemblance to the Death Star.
Astronomers sometimes use the term "Death Star" to describe Nemesis, a hypothetical star postulated in 1984 to be responsible for gravitationally forcing comets and asteroids from the Oort cloud toward Earth.
In the US, networks that compete with FOX refer to American Idol as the Death Star due to its destructive effects on their schedules and ratings.
Enron labeled one of the false companies used in its fraudulent manipulation of the California power grid "Death Star".
In Canada, the term "death stars" was used to describe U.S. Direct Broadcast Satellites capable of broadcasting signals into Canada that were not regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
The former logo of AT&T has been compared to the Death Star.
The Creative Artists Agency's headquarters has been nicknamed the "Death Star" by the entertainment media.
Merchandise
Kenner and AMT created a playset and a model, respectively, of the first Death Star. In 2005 and 2008, Lego released models of Death Star II and Death Star I, respectively.
Palitoy created a heavy card version of the Death Star as a playset for the vintage range of action figures in 1979 in the UK, Australia and Canada. Both Death Stars are part of different Micro Machines three-packs. The Death Stars and locations in them are cards in Decipher, Inc.'s and Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Customizable Card Game and Star Wars Trading Card Game, respectively. Hasbro released a Death Star model that transforms into a Darth Vader mech. Estes Industries released a flying model rocket version.
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
