Rogue One The Death Star Questions/Discussion thread

Generally I think the film tends to make the right choices about what to flesh out and what to leave vague, the problem is after you start to offer an indepth explination you really need to follow though with it to avoid plotholes but if you leave things more open ended then fans(or the books) can fill in the details for themselves.

The OT is probably THE best example of this kind of storytelling you could come up with.

 

That's where the novelization and the books fill in the voids.

 

It's possible he intended the DS to simply self destruct and he went into hiding expecting that to happen. A faulty reactor may have blown at any time.

But when they found him and he knew ultimately it would become operational he needed to get the message out it needed to be destroyed.

 

He wanted to put them there and even informed Krennic about it and he approved it.. As per notes in the RO novelization.

 

Right. Simple. There may have been other possible ways to hit the reactor, as far as Galen though. Through a team of Rebel spies embedded within the Death Star workforce, through a full-on Rebel ground invasion of the Death Star interior, etc. But after the plans were found, they determined that the exhaust port was the best chance of hitting it.

 

^^ This as well !

 

Just before the Death Star gunners start warming up the Superlaser, what is that diagram that they put up on the screen? they showed just before they fired on Jeda. It is also shown in Episode IV before they attempt to fire on Yavin IV.

 

I've always thought of that diagram to be like a destroyed planet lying on the ground in pieces or something. That's a little funny and odd but that's what I always thought that symbol was.

 

Let's see...

1. The rebels end up with the blue prints and the Imperial Archive is destroyed
2. The prototype Death Star is destroyed by Luke
3. The project manager (Krennic) is dead
4. The main scientists involved in overcoming "technical difficulties" are all dead...

Given those points above, it is even more remarkable that Death Star 2 was built as quickly as it was! How on earth did they manage to have a second one ready in just a few years? Did the imperials steal the blueprints back off the rebels at some point or did Palpatine have a back-up copy of the plans tucked up his cassock somewhere?

 

The second Death Star wasn't built all that quickly. The original Death Star was just held up by all the building permits, zoning and endless inspections. Palpatine really got tired of inspectors refusing to pass certain areas for lack of a safety rail. Everything sped up after Palps disbanded the Senate and all its stupid building codes with it. They celebrated by cancelling all those costly safety rail orders and just put up handwritten signs that said "Don't fall off. Or do. We have more of you, so it really doesn't matter."

The second Death Star was a big middle finger to the defunct building inspectors. Safety rails? Not only will those not be there, but 1/3rd of the space station itself will be missing.

 

Best reply, ever.

 

Pablo has answered this in the Star Wars Show. Basically, DS1 took about 20 years because they did not have the superlaser technology ready, DS2 superlaser was completed much faster because they already knew how to do it.

More or less like comparing the time it takes to invent the first automobile, and the time it took to make the second.

 

Yeah, it's a pretty simple concept. Once the first nuclear weapon was developed, creating more of them was lightning fast in comparison.

I have difficulty believing that this is even a topic of debate...

 

Agreed. Now how they could get the materials for the second one so fast and without bankrupting the Empire is a whole 'nother thing.

 

This is correct. In the novel, Krennic's last thought is a revelation that the "trivial" exhaust port design Galen presented to him isn't so trivial after all. He only realizes where and how far the port extends and the vulnerability it presents moments before he's incinerated by the superlaser. Assuming the Rebels got the plans and armed with Jyn's information that it's the reactors that are vulnerable, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that's where one would need to start investigating.

 

I wish the movie showed more about how the Death Star was being constructed. If i remember correctly, some wookies were part of the construction team. It would've been nice to see some construction of this thing, that is the main focus of the movie. Another miss-hit for Rogue One.

 

They should have kept this design, if it was a concept for the gate - it looks amazing!

 

So, that's a ring around the world with what looks like a rail train of sorts on top. Amazing scale at work.

 

Too busy/ convoluted a design, which conflicts with the best of the Star Wars aesthetic. I like what they went with much better.