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Death Star

For other uses, see Death Star (disambiguation).

The Death Star is a fictional space station appearing in the Star Wars movies and Star Wars Expanded Universe. 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.

Contents

Origin and design

Although particular details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during A New Hope's production, the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station was consistent in all of them.[1] Portraying an incomplete yet powerful space station posed a problem for Industrial Light and Magic's modelmakers for Return of the Jedi.[2] Only the front side of the 137-centimeter model was completed, and the image was flipped horizontally for the final film.[2] Both Death Stars were depicted by a combination of complete and sectional models and matte paintings.[1][2]

Depiction

The original Death Star, commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon" in A New Hope. 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 climax, Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) trust in the Force allows him to destroy the Death Star. Both Darth Vader (David Prowse) 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. It 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. 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.[citation needed] 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 games.[citation needed]

The first Death Star has 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.[3] Its hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters.[4] It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors.[4] Various sources state the first Death Star has a diameter between 120 and 160 kilometers.[3][5] There is a broader range of figures for the second Death Star's diameter, ranging from 160 to 900 kilometers.[6][7]

Cultural impact

The Death Star is one of the better-known concepts from the Star Wars universe and is widely recognizable outside of that context. It is frequently referenced in other mass media, even when the context is radically different. Television shows, movies, and games that refer to the Death Star include Clerks, Newsradio, Muppet Babies, Futurama, 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, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2[8].

The media in 1980 commented on the resemblance Saturn's moon Mimas' large crater gives it 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.[citation needed]

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.[9][10] Enron labeled 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.[11] Political cartoon and comic strips, including Doonesbury and Bloom County, have referred to AT&T employees' practice of referring to their logo as the "Death Star". The logo of the Illinois Central Railroad was also nicknamed "the Death Star" after Star Wars' 1977 release, even though the logo had been in use since 1972.

The Creative Artists Agency's headquarters has been nicknamed the "Death Star" by the entertainment media.[12]

The Death Star came ninth in a 2008 20th Century Fox poll of the most popular film weapons. Approximately two thousand film fans took part in the survey.[13]

Merchandise

Kenner released a Death Star play-set.[14] AMT created a model of the first Death Star, and Lego in 2005 released a model of the second Death Star.[15][16] Both Death Stars are part of different Micro Machines three-packs.[17][18] 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.[19] Hasbro released a Death Star model that transforms into a Darth Vader mech[20]. Estes Industries released a flying model rocket version in 1997, with the Death Star as a nose cone of a thin black rocket. On parachute ejection, the nose cone would split into many pieces, depicting the destruction of the Death Star in A New Hope.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Death Star (Behind the Scenes). Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  2. ^ a b c Death Star II (Behind the Scenes). Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  3. ^ a b Death Star (Expanded Universe). Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  4. ^ a b Slavicsek, Bill (1991-06-01). Death Star Technical Companion. West End Games. 
  5. ^ Reynolds, David (1998-10-05). Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars, Episodes IV, V & VI: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft. DK Children. ISBN 0789434806. 
  6. ^ Death Star II (Expanded Universe). Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-08.
  7. ^ (2004-08-16) Inside the Worlds of Star Wars, Episodes IV, V, & VI: The Complete Guide to the Incredible Locations. DK Children. ISBN 0756603072. 
  8. ^ Sonic & Knuckles, "The EggStar
  9. ^ Carter, Bill (2007-02-20). For Fox’s Rivals, ‘American Idol’ Remains a ‘Schoolyard Bully’. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-13. “If any of Fox’s rivals had hopes that this year might signal some hint that the monster — NBC favors the term Death Star — would finally betray some sign of weakness, those hopes were dispelled in just a week.”
  10. ^ Bauder, David (2007-01-30). 'Idol' Attracts More Than 32M Viewers. The Associated Press. Retrieved on 2008-03-13. “Rival television executives not-so-fondly refer to Fox's American Idol as the "death star."”
  11. ^ Hoskins, Colin; Stuart McFadyen and Adam Finn (1994). The Environment in which Cultural Industries Operate and Some Implications. Canadian Journal of Communication. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. “Their strategy has been to paint a doom-and-gloom scenario with respect to the effect of expected U.S. DBS services, dubbing the satellites "death stars."”
  12. ^ Agents: A Big Week for CAA!. Defamer. Gawker Media (2007-03-16). Retrieved on 2007-09-09. “We're told that most of the agency is away on a weekend retreat in Ojai, leaving the Death Star defended solely by some call-rolling drones”
  13. ^ Sophie Borland. "Lightsabre wins the battle of movie weapons", The Daily Telegraph, 2008-01-21. Retrieved on 2008-01-26. 
  14. ^ Death Star Space Station. SirStevesGuide.com Photo Gallery. Steve Sansweet. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  15. ^ Death Star. SirStevesGuide.com Photo Gallery. Steve Sansweet. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  16. ^ LEGO Death Star. Star Wars Cargo Bay. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  17. ^ #X: T-16 Skyhopper, Lars Family Landspeeder, Death Star II (1996). Star Wars Cargo Bay. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  18. ^ #XIV: Landing Craft, Death Star, Speeder Swoop (1998). Star Wars Cargo Bay. Lucasfilm. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  19. ^ Star Wars Customizable Card Game Complete Card List (PDF). Decipher, Inc. (2001-08-23). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
  20. ^ Star Wars TRANSFORMERS Darth Vader Death Star. Hasbro. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.

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