Why not just shoot Yavin

when tarkin has the death star rotate around yavin to get to Yavin4, why not just shoot yavin. Being a gas planet and a lot bigger than Yavin4 im sure that the exposion would have taken care of the moon or at least the rebel base, and if it didnt, then theres nothing blocking the death star super laser now.

Time saved: 28 vital minutes

 

Then the explosion would have also taken care of Episodes V and VI.

 

The Death Star isn't quite as effective when the planet is made up of gas.

 

lol

really tho?

 

I think I'll agree with Go-Mer-Tonic.

However, if you used the non-canon Sun Crusher on Yavin, I bet it would at least destroy Yavin and the moons.

 

Its not as effective? i would have thought that it would have made a huge blast, cnsidering gas is exetremely flamable

 

Possibly... but chances are, that would have then destroyed the Death Star as well...

 

and then there is the thing that the laser takes a day to recharge.

 

i would have thought that it would have made a huge blast, cnsidering gas is exetremely flamable

Um....

 

Yavin being a gas giant like Jupiter, it's basically a star that never got started. If you ever saw 2010, you know you don't want to be in the neighborhood when the pilot light is lit.

 

I'd like to take this moment to direct you here where our friend, Mr. Sansweet, has a go at answering the very same question.

I only point it out 'cos that's my question he's answering. Yeah, baby.

[/crap version of 15 minutes of fame]

Oh, and personally, I reckon that if the Superlaser was effective on a Gas Giant, the resulting explosion would have taken out the DS1 as well.
Plus it's a plot device.

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Heh well I guess that settles that.

 

was the super laser long range, if so they could have shot and hyper spaced away. result: Rebels crushed, laser inactive for a day.
Im not really satusfied with it settled like this.

 

I'm not really satusfied with it settled like this.

Erm, well you'll have to be. We can speculate all day but the fact is the Empire didn't blow Yavin up, they circled it.
Anything after that is you vs. Steve Sansweet and a treatment for an Infinities story . All we can do now is work out why else they circled it, other than the obvious.

What if the Empire wanted to do a scan of the moon just to be sure before they blew up an entire system. They tracked the Falcon to Yavin IV, but they could have switched ships there. What if the Empire wanted to do a surface scan of the moon but couldn't because a Gas Giant was in the way. I'd imagine Yavin is going to block any signals going through it

Carry on...

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Then the explosion would have also taken care of Episodes V and VI.

End of discussion.

 

'end of disscusion'

ok, thanks everyone for the help.

 

one more alternative is to think of it like a bond film baddy approach.

"Yeah, we could blow the big planet up and thus wipe out the little one with all the rebels on. but instead we will fly all the way around and blow the little one up since we are so supremely confident in our grand plan."

vader stood stroking a white cat is optional to this.

 

Ummm, in order to shoot Yavin to blow up Yavin I-IV, it would have to be close enough to shoot it. Wherein, i believe just as Yavin I-IV would of been destroyed, the mighty death star would of been destroyed.


But, i dont think the "Gas Planet" would of exploded like you all think. It would depend on what gas it was made of. And i doubt it was a flammable gas then any astoroid that crashed into the atmosphere of that planet would of ignited it.

And i dont think Jupiter is flammable either...

 

The Death Star could certainly destroy Jupiter sized worlds, but the explosion would not be anywhere near as dramatic as the Alderaan blast.

The power needed to blow up a planet with such violence is even enough to disrupt a star and eject any planets that might be orbiting it out into the galaxy over some period of time.

At a rough guess, if Alderaan took a few seconds, a Jupiter sized planet might take hours or even a day or two to fully dissipate. A star like ours may take days and would wind up as a nebula over a time period of months.

When a movie maker dismisses things like this they either don't actually know or really don't care. No biggy.

 

Why would the Empire blow up Yavin? The rebels were on Yavin 4.
The Empire is composed of professional soldiers, not hyperactive teenagers. They don't blow things up just because they can.

Why not ask; In WWII, why didn't the USA nuke all of Asia instead of just 2 cities?

 

If it did then there wouldn't be epi.'s 5 and 6.

 

Then the explosion would have also taken care of Episodes V and VI.

Then the explosion would have also taken care of Episodes V and VI.

Then the explosion would have also taken care of Episodes V and VI.

 

Why not just destroy the Death Star with Han, Luke, and the others still on it? Sure you sacrafice a lot of Imperials, but Vader, and Tarkin would evacuate and be safe.

 

I'll bet the Death Star could have blown Yavin to bits, thereby destroying the moon with the Rebel base on it, but GM Tarkin seems like such a heartlessly ruthless character that he didn't just settle on destroying the moon, but the superlaser was going to hit the moon where the rebel base was.

 

That wouldnt be smart, destroying Yavin would help the Rebels more than it hurt them, sure a base is destroyed, but then people would see how truly evil the Empire is and thus join the Rebellion.