Rogue One The Death Star Questions/Discussion thread

It being "much much larger" was in an interview - but it also contradicted the novelization. Since then, there has been a lot of flipflop on the size (WEG followed the novelization, Complete Locations, co-written by Curtis Saxton, followed the interview).

Eventually Legends retconned Saxton's figures away.

The newcanon has taken the same figures that the very late Legends era has - 120km DS1, 160km DS2.

 

Can I get some love for the trailer scene I recreated in Illustrator/Photoshop to the best of my abilities?



(I can provide links to 16:9 and 16:10, as well as phone-wallpaper sized files)

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Here we go again...

Iron_lord wrote

The newcanon has taken the same figures that the very late Legends era has - 120km DS1, 160km DS2.

And this is the reply I posted in the OT thread - http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...the-second-death-star.50036735/#post-53052176 - but unfortunately misplaced the link you provided that "explained" how these "120 km" and "160 km" figures came about (the author of that article never bothered to put the equal equatorial ring heights on both Death Stars in relation to the actual equatorial ring height on the VFX models, where the one on DS II is only half as tall as the one of DS I.....).

Good thing is that ILM's John Knoll probably knows DS I has an "ILM" diameter of 100+ miles, and that it will probably be difficult or impossible to tell whether the Death Star in RO is 120 or 160 km in diameter...

 

Regarding the "official" Death Star cutaway illustration I wrote in post # 288

I would have rather loved to have seen the original Death Star schematics from ANH (and displayed in the Emperor's throne room in ROJ) thoroughly examined and translated into a more realistic schematic. Apparently considered to be too much of a research effort, unfortunately.
http://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi-1983/35/
http://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977/45/

Well, I just discovered by accident that a certain Carlos Pardo actually did create Death Star schematics, which - while not incorporating the actual onscreen displays seen in ANH and ROJ - nevertheless are remarkably faithful to the style of the ANH and ROJ monitor readouts:





And here is a link to the website featuring his plans, but unfortunately the picture links appear to be broken: http://www.geek-art.net/carlos-pardo-death-star-ii-the-lost-blueprint-poster/

(for obvious reasons these couldn't be cutaway views of the second Death Star...)

 

The Death Star was a force of destruction in this movie. Wow..

 

The Death Star gets into a low orbit around it's victim planets.
I wonder what would happen if it had completely destroyed Jedha at such a close range.

Perhaps it would have pulled back for ALL REACTOR DESTRUCTION.

 

They made the Death Star better in this movie. By using the laser to destroy two cities, they built upon the weapon's reputation for causing terror. It's no longer just a one shot and that's it type of deal, even though wiping out Alderaan was devastating.

 

The Death Star is a character in its own right in this film .. I loved the way that the scale was depicted and having read Catalyst, it was uttterly fitting that Krennic would be destroyed by it (though equally bittersweet that Galen's kid would as well). I've just started reading the novel and there are these somewhat humerous exchanges between Krennic and Tarkin in the form of dunno - futuristic emails, discussing it's function. Tarkin wants a "crude but functional" weapon to terrorise "placate" the galaxy with .. Krennic is going for some sort of weirded out Elon Musk vision

 

I loved this movie but one thing doesn't add up. In ANH, the Imperials act like the Death Star is not yet ready, not yet operational and they make it seem like Alderaan is the first test yet in this film, the death star is already used twice and Krennic even states it is fully capable of destroying an entire planet already.

What am I missing?

 

The whole emphasis on "1 reactor test" and the much more limited destructive power of the two shots made in RO probably are meant to cover that hole, but they do open the door for this criticism fairly widely.

 

Just beacuse the weapon is partially functional doesn't mean the station has finished all trials and test or was fully staffed. Defensive weapons, etc. might not have been completed etc. I'm ok with this.

 

What if multiple ignitions caused a backfire and failed? They didn't know if it was 100%

 

They covered it well I though. I have no issue with this.

 

Okay with this too. Tarkin even says something like "we need a statement, not a manifesto" before the first shot.

 

Krennic boasted that the Death Star was complete, but you know how he is

Besides, kyber crystals are needed as fuel. Perhaps they need a refill?

 

Krennic says "And its capable of more." The first two test runs are not even close to the damage Alderaan receives. It's vaporized.

 

Until people see that it can actually destroy a whole planet & thereby instill fear & submission into the galaxy then the Imperials are vulnerable, as the Battle of Scarrif that just occurred was proof of. Note that General Tagge made the statement in your thread title. He then said the Alliance was well equipped & dangerous. Motti correctly replied "dangerous to your Starfleet General, not to this battle station". Which works perfectly with the losses the Imperial fleet had just taken at Scarrif.

 

it doesn't blow up an entire planet until alderaan.

 

I didn't like R1 but I think Motti was right when he said they weren't in danger. From the blast capability demonstrated in R1 the Death Star could still easily destroy a starship like in RotJ. The Rebel fleet would still be sitting ducks. Besides this, the Rebels didn't have anything that could damage the Death Star. An entire super star destroyer flew into the second Death Star and didn't make a dent. The Rebels could kamikaze their whole fleet and not stop the Death Star.

Also Tagge sounds like he's had bad encounters with the Rebels and he fears them. He doesn't understand the power of the Death Star because nothing has ever existed that is close to its power that he's aware of.

 

Compare it to the F-35... You can fly one you can shoot missiles from it, but you would definitely not say it is fully operation and if caught in a real battle it could be vulnerable.

In the military we use the terms IOC(Initial operation capable) and FOC(Full operation capable). The Death Star is IOC in Rogue One once they install the dome thing (when we 1st see Tarkin), it is declared FOC in ANH when they test its full power against Alderan.

 

Lest we forget: "A young Jedi, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."

This was basically changed in the next movie with the certain point of view thing.

 

Yes but let's also remember that change was a stroke of genius and vastly enhanced that scene from then on.

 

I don't think there is an issue here, they didn't test it to its full capacity