CT Reports of the Ewoks' demise had been greatly exaggerated

I'm familiar with Dr. Curtis Saxton's treatise on the "Ewok Holocaust" following the destruction of the second Death Star because of the explosion fallout and took notice of this Tech Insider article that revisited the issue last December:

http://www.techinsider.io/endor-holocaust-star-wars-science-physics-2015-12

(I don't mind this one being merged with the original JCF thread)

The basic premise of the article is that the moon of Endor had no protection from the Death Star debris and the radiation from its explosion, the remains of the Rebel fleet would have been severely damaged and there could have been no victory party on the planet's surface - and Lucasfilm merely responded it's not to be taken too literal.

I couldn't help but think: Really?!?

To me it looks as if the authors and contributors overlooked one tiny but very important detail, that's even obvious in the article's illustrations: The holo schematic from the briefing room merely reveals the deflector shield projected from a small surface area to protect the Death Star.

ACKBAR You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest Moon of Endor.
Although the weapon
systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does
have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield,
which is generated from the nearby forest Moon of Endor.

GENERAL MADINE We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship, and
using a secret
Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the
shield generator.

Well, the deflector shield generator area is rather small, so any intruder or invasion force could simply land beyond the shield generator area and close in from the north, south, west or east to take it out, right?

But pretty soon we learn

HAN Shuttle Tydirium requesting deactivation of the deflector shield.

CONTROLLER (over radio)
Shuttle Tydirium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage.

They didn't want to land on the Death Star, they wanted to land on the moon of Endor!

The obvious conclusion apparently is that the moon of Endor itself has a planetary deflector shield, that makes covert operations on the moon's surface impossible, hence the trick with the stolen shuttle carrying "parts and technical crew for the forest moon."

Later on they successfully manage to destroy the deflector shield generator protecting the Death Star, but there is no indication whatsoever, that the planetary deflector shield was damaged, too.

When the Death Star exploded both the Endor natives and the Rebel commandos on the surface were well protected by the planetary shield generator.

Reports of the Ewok holocaust or radiation poisoning of our protagonists were greatly exaggerated, or so it would seem.

 

I don't know where all these reports of a Ewok holocaust appear. I know many Ewoks were massacred by Stormtroopers.

 

the Death Star and Imperial/Rebel fleet debris formed a ring around Endor.

 

I think that the Endor holocaust was propaganda from the remnants of the Empire, if memory serves me. Let's get Iron Lord on that.

 

Well when the UARS satellite fell out of its low earth orbit about a 10th of its mass made it through the atmosphere.

This corroborates the estimated 15% of the DS mass hitting Endor in that paper.

10-15% of a Death Star falling out of the sky would not be a teddy bear's picnic. Even less than 1% of its mass landing as hot burning metal would cause carnage.

I'd suggest it would be optimistic to assume that a separate planetary deflector shield (if it existed at all) survived the rebel attack. Why would the Empire not have included it in the one military complex? Surely if there was one it would have been destroyed at the same time?

 

Yup - first reference to Imperial propagandists portraying the Ewoks as extinct is in the X-Wing novel Wedge's Gamble:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Endor_Holocaust

However, Saxton's overviews of each novel that brings up Endor or Ewoks, seem laden with a fixation with trying to canonise his theory.

Perhaps it was part of his degree coursework?

 

/\History is written by winners I guess.

X-wing novels aside,

I always saw Saxton's suggestion more as a real world 'what if' than as a serious piece of SW lore, though.

I'm happy to believe the Ewoks were all fine - however improbable the Science.

 

Those Imperial propagandists always spreading malicious falsehoods about the Ewoks.

 

I agree that it is more about science than tring to rewrite the story. It is similar how the construction of a real life DS would take more material that is available on Earth.

As for the shield, the film isn't really clear about that. Ackbar's holo map shows the shield only protects DS2, and a small circle on the moon's surface were the base is. However the imperal controller's words indicate there is some sort of shield to prevent unauthorized landings on the moon somehow. Sometimes the films aren't as clear about some details as we would like them to be. If their was a planetary shield around Endor, it would probably have been knocked out with the DS2 shield. I think the rebels had to land inside the shielded circle where the base is. Even with the Hoth base, I think the rebel's shields only protected the area around the base as a screen, but ground forces could still march under the screen.

 

Slicer87

Although we do not know which area a planetary shield would have covered, I'd be rather certain that the Empire kept both shield generators (i.e. one to protect the Death Star, one to protect the moon or an area of it) separate.

I think it's also noteworthy that the deactivation of the shield protecting the Death Star was controlled by the Death Star itself (Vader's arrival at the beginning of the film) while the "other" shield was later controlled from the Emperor's Super Star Destroyer.

The other question you brought up (which had recently been on my mind, too) is where all the construction materials for DS II came from. Certainly the most economic thing would be a production facility close by and my favorite candidate would be the mother planet Endor itself.

IIRC, the original ROJ novelization suggested that the mother planet didn't exist anymore, but the Ewok TV movie Caravan of Courage featured a matte painting that according to Kevin J. Anderson in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe revealed the planet Endor in the sky (see above)

I'm not up to date about the current status of "canon", maybe Iron_lord has the details or more to add.

 

In the newcanon - the planet still exists:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Endor_(planet)

 

Of course the original DS had an onboard shield that needed to be deactivated before the Falcon could take off as well. I think there is simply a standard deflector shield on board the DS preventing craft from landing or taking off - and this would be the deflector shield that was shut off when Vader landed in ROTJ.

However, the Planetary based deflector shield was policed at its perimeter via the Fleet, which would have been some distance from the DS itself.

Makes sense. If the Executor was responsible for intercepting Space traffic a mobile command would be the best place to organize chasing down unwanted intruders. I imagine the Planetary Shield would have encompassed a great volume of space as well.

So landing on the unfinished DS was a two stage approach

1. Crossing the main shield beamed up from the forest moon on the outside perimeter of the shield where the Fleet intercepted all comers.
and
2. Requesting permission a second time to dock on the DS itself, requiring a lowering of the DS's internal shields.

That's my take anyway.

 

ImpreciseStormtrooper

Wasn't the whole point that the second Death Star had no deflector shield at all but totally relied on the deflector shield generated on Endor (by the way, neither did the first one have a deflector shield, just a "magnetic field")?

Also notice the difference in lingo:

SHUTTLE CAPTAIN Command station, this is ST 321. Code Clearance Blue. We're starting
our approach. Deactivate the security shield.

DEATH STAR CONTROLLER
The security deflector shield will be deactivated when we have
confirmation of your code transmission. Stand by... You are clear to
proceed.

The "security shield" is the one protecting the Death Star.

HAN Shuttle Tydirium requesting deactivation of the deflector shield.

CONTROLLER (over radio)
Shuttle Tydirium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage.

Looks like it's just another deflector shield, apparently the one protecting parts of the planet.

 

It's possible.

The key for me is that the whole point of the shield (as described in the Rebel briefing) was that the weapon defences were not completed. That could mean that the basic shield were operational, and that it simply lacks a full compliment of turbolaser batteries and such. Mon Mothma says as much in the screenplay.

MON MOTHMA The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battle station. We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial Fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected. But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star.


I doubt the security shield we saw in ANH would be regarded as a weapon. So there is nothing to suggest it wouldn't have been one of the first things working when the lights went on. Shields would be pretty important in space to protect the superstructure from debris etc.

 

ImpreciseStormtrooper wrote

Shields would be pretty important in space to protect the superstructure from debris etc.

That is why I don't rule out the possibility that the Death Stars had an artificial atmosphere, designed to burn up smaller debris, kept inside that "magnetic field" first mentioned when the Falcon is being pulled in and later when the Rebel snubfighters penetrate this "magnetic field".

"Deflectors double-front" may be a snubfighter maneuver to prevent burning up in an atmosphere upon entry.

 

More importantly how many Stormtroopers did the Ewoks eat?