CT Emperor Palpatine arrives at Death Star 2 in ROTJ.

At the beginning of ROTJ, Darth Vader was transported to the Death Star in his personal imperial Star destroyer, the Devastater, and then took the shuttle to get on board.

Later, emperor Palpatine boarded the Death Star using the the same class of shuttle Darth Vader used earlier.

The question is, what mode of transportation did emperor Palpatine use to get from Corresant to the Death Star?

It most certainly was not a standard ISD that Darth Vader used.

It had to be his personal flag ship, an Eclipse class star destroyer.

If the Eclipse class star destroyer now exists in Star Wars canon, what other craft would emperor Palpatine have used for the trip to the Death Star?

 

In the newcanon the Emperor's personal flagship, the Eclipse, is portrayed as a regular Executor-class. However it's possible that the Emperor flew all the way in a Lambda-class - like his use of the shuttle in ROTS to get from Coruscant to Mustafar.

Given the risks involved if he gets waylaid however, it would make a bit more sense for him to be supported by something bigger.

 

I've always been under the impression that Palps arrived in Executor. We know that was Vader's flagship, yet he arrived on a standard SD, so where was Executor, and what was it doing without Vader on board? The obvious answer is, the Emperor was using it to travel in ostentatious security from Coruscant to Endor.

He wanted the rebels to know where he was going, so trying to travel 'secretly' in the biggest warship he had, surrounded by a whole fleet of escorts, made it reasonable for there to be a security leak about their destination.

 

Technically, the Executor super star destroyer was not Darth Vader's flag ship, even though he took command of it from time to time.

The Executor was not a ship that was built just for him.

That was the Devastator ISD that was built just for him.

The reason we did not see emperor Palpatine's ship is because the model makers at ILM would have had to have built a brand new ship from scratch, which would have to be bigger than an ISD, and because the Eclipse had not yet been concieved.

This did not happen probably due to budget and time constraints to get ROTJ done.

As a matter of fact I can only think of three ships that made their debut in ROTJ.

It was the Lamda class shuttle, Tie interceptor, and a few Mon Cal ships in the rebel fleet.

 

B-Wing , A-Wing .

 

Maybe not, but the movies gave me the impression that it was, and did nothing to contradict that impression.

 

I seem to remember the newspaper strip featuring the building of Vader's new SD The Executor in it's storyline.

 

Yea, I have to agree, Palpatine probably left Corrasant in the Executer, but if this is what Lucasfilm had in mind from the start, why did they cut corners here?

Every variant model of the Executor class SSD, had already been built at ILM for ESB, so it would not have been for budgetary reasons why we didn't see Palpatine's ship arrive

Simply reusing a previously construced model for a few extra seconds in the next film would not break the bank.

Was it an issue about screen time?

You have to admit, it would have been cool to see the underbelly of the Executor SSD slowly moving into frame, and actually seeing the emperors shuttle leaving the docking bay escorted by all of those TIE fighters!

You know, in this age of computer technology, a scene like this is possible because it can be created digitally in a fan film.

Things in films that we may not see, but know for a fact had to happen within the timeline of a film is what I call, "Shadow Canon" material.

 

I always presumed Palpatine travelled aboard the Executor and the reason why Vader was relegated to a using a run of the mill star destroyer.

 

The Emperor has the Eclipse but it was probably the Executor since we don't see it at the start of the movie and it only is shown after the Emperor arrives.

 

Was it the Devastator? Looks like an ISD-II. Is there mention of the Devastator getting a major refit prior to the events of ROTJ?

 

ROTJ:



Devastator from ANH:

 

Someone is going to have to help with the reference (maybe it was The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels), but didn't every ISD have an Emperor's throne room?

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Emperor's_throne_room

I wonder if Vader has access to these...I assume so.

 

I could understand if it was a modular set of chambers that could be optionally installed as needed. But EVERY Star Destroyer having a throne room built into it just on the off chance Palpatine wants a joyride? That seems a bit strange. Not to mention silly.

 

So are moon-sized planet destroying superweapons, and yet here we are. It's good to be at the top (e.i. Emperor).

I can't place where I first read that (25 years ago, haha), it's not in The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels.

 

Great observation!

I cannot tell the difference between these two variants, ISD1 and ISD2.

 

No,

No, I did not mean to imply that you were wrong, because there is alot of conflicting information about a lot of things, especially when you compare old canon and legends with the new stuff.

 

Aside from the array between the bridge tower domes (which is taller on the ISD1, the one chasing Leia's ship) most of the differences are hard to see from that angle - the main ones are - differences in the 4 big gun turrets either side of the superstructure (two-barrelled on the ISD1, eight-barrelled on the ISD2), and differences in the engines (the ISD1 has 3 "vanes" projecting into the 3 biggest engine nozzles, the ISD2 doesn't have any).

There's other differences but they're more subtle.

And it's worth noting that the two models (the 3 ft one from ANH and the 7 ft one from TESB) are used interchangeably to represent the same ship - the one shot by the ion cannon in TESB starts out as an ISD1, then changes to an ISD2 during the sequence of being hit by the ion cannon bolt).

 

You learn something new every day...

 

Frankly, I didn't think about this until this thread, but it makes sense. Interestingly, the only scene in which we see Vader on the Executor is when he and Piett are letting Luke's group go down to Endor because Vader sensed him. The Executor is more prestigious, and it's understandable as to why Sidious Palpatine would utilize that flagship for traversing the galaxy as opposed to other ships.

 

During the space battle over Endor Piett orders the Imperial fleet to hold where they are after arriving from hyperspace.

A lower ranking officer (probably the Executor’s captain) doesn’t question the order so much as verbally expresses surprise saying ‘we’re not going to engage them?’

Piett answers with “I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping.”

When did the Emperor give secret orders directly to Piett which the rest of the fleet seemingly does not know about?

It works perfectly if the Emperor traveled to the second Death Star on the Executor which Piett commands and during the voyage the Emperor directly gives Piett battle plans.

 

I’d never thought about this before. It makes sense that the Emperor would’ve traveled in the Executor. And throughout the movie he refers to it as the Command Ship rather than suggesting it’s Vader’s ship specifically.

 

There's a definite sense in ROJ that Vader's been demoted, Piett isn't scared of him and Sid dismisses him to the command ship in front of Jerjerrod who smiles.