DEATH STAR

'']]
'Death Star's are space stations in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe, appearing in '', '', '', and ''. The planet-destroying battle stations also appear in the Star Wars Expanded Universe's books, comics, and video games.

Contents

Origin and design

Depiction

Cultural impact

References

External links

Origin and design

Although particular details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during ''A New Hope'''s production, the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station was consistent in all of them.^[1] Portraying an incomplete yet powerful space station posed a problem for Industrial Light and Magic's modelmakers for ''Return of the Jedi''.^[2] Only the front side of the 137-centimeter model was completed, and the image was flipper horizontally for the final film.² Both Death Stars were depicted by a combination of complete and sectional models and matte paintings.¹²

Depiction

The Death Star, commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), is the Galactic Empire's planet-destroying weapon in ''A New Hope''. The first ''Star Wars'' film opens with Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) ferrying plans to the station to aid the Rebel Alliance in destroying it. At the film's climax, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) trusts in the Force and fires a pair of proton torpedoes from his X-wing that destroy the space station. The Rebels send space and ground forces to destroy the Empire's second Death Star in ''Return of the Jedi'', and both Darth Vader (David Prowse) and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) die aboard the station before it is destroyed.
'']]
The first Death Star also appears in the second and third ''Star Wars'' prequels. In ''Attack of the Clones'', Poggle the Lesser (Marton Csokas) -- who initially designed the Death Star -- gives the designs to Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) to prevent them from falling into Jedi hands. Dooku then gives the design to Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid). Once the Clone Wars was underway, the Confederacy of Independent Systems began to finance and build the weapon. Near the end of ''Revenge of the Sith'' shows Palpatine, Vader, and Tarkin (Wayne Pygram) view the Death Star early in its construction.
The space stations' superlaser can destroy an entire planet in a single blast; the first Death Star in ''A New Hope'' destroys the planet Alderaan, and the second Death Star in ''Return of the Jedi'' destroys several Mon Calamari cruisers. The first Death Star has a crew of 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 30,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff, and 180,216 pilots and support crew.^[3] Its hangers contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters.^[4] It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors.⁴ Various sources state the first Death Star has a diameter between 120 and 160 kilometers.^3[5] There is a broader range of figures for the second Death Star's diameter, ranging from 160 to 900 kilometers.^[6][7]
The Death Stars appear throughout the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In '', the player participates in a mission to secure crystals used in the Death Star's superlaser. Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy introduces the Maw Cluster of black holes that protect a laboratory where parts of the Death Star were tested. National Public Radio's ''A New Hope'' adaptation portrays Leia (Ann Sachs) and Bail Organa's (Stephen Elliott) discovery of the Death Star's existence and Leia's mission to steal the space station's schematics. The first level of LucasArts' '' gives the player a supporting role in Leia's mission, while a mission in ''Battlefront II'' tasks the player with acting as a stormtrooper or even Darth Vader in an attempt to recover the plans and capture Leia. The novel ''Shadows of the Empire'' describes a mission that leads to the Rebels learning of the second Death Star's existence, and that mission is playable in LucasArts' ''X-Wing Alliance'' flight simulator. Numerous LucasArts titles recreate attacks on the two Death Stars, and the Death Star itself is a controllable weapon in the '' and '' strategy games.

Cultural impact

The Death Star is one of the better-known concepts from the Star Wars universe and is widely recognizable outside of that context. It is frequently referenced in other mass media, even where the context is radically different. Television shows, movies, and games that refer to the Death Star include ''Clerks'', ''Newsradio'', ''Muppet Babies'', ''Futurama'', ''Lost'', ''Family Guy'', ''Life on Mars'', '', ''The Fairly Oddparents'', ''Pinky and the Brain'', ''Tripping the Rift'', ''Ogame'', ''AstroEmpires'', and the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
The media in 1980 commented on the resemblance Mimas' large crater gave it to the Death Star. Astronomers used the term "Death Star" to describe Nemesis, a hypothetical star body first postulated in 1984 to be responsible for gravitationally forcing comets and asteroids from the Oort cloud toward Earth.
During Enron's scandalous California power shutdown, one of the communicators nicknamed the project "Death Star". In Canada, the term "Death Stars" was used to describe U.S. Direct Broadcast Satellites capable of broadcasting signals into Canada that were not regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and unscrambled with equipment not specifically authorized for use in Canada, contrary to Canadian law.^[8][9][10] These Direct Broadcast Satellites were seen as a potential threat to undermine Canadian television providers.^[11] Political cartoon and comic strips, including ''Doonesbury'' and ''Bloom County'', have referred to AT&T employees' practice of referring to their logo as the "Death Star". The logo of the Illinois Central Railroad was also nicknamed "the Death Star" after ''Star Wars''' 1977 release, even though the logo had been in use since 1972.
In American English slang, a ''death star'' is an obese person. A Swedish industrial metal band named is called "Deathstars", and the alternative metal band Sevendust have a song called "Deathstar".
The headquarters of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has been nicknamed the "Death Star" by the entertainment media.^[12][13] The University of Toronto's Robarts Library is sometimes nicknamed "Death Star" for its blockish appearance. The Fisher Body Plant in Lansing, Michigan, is often referred to by employees as "The Death Star". Tottenham Hotspur supporters have taken to calling the the new stadium the rival Arsenal play in as the Death Star. The titanic former Bell Labs facility in Holmdel, New Jersey, now owned by Alcatel-Lucent, is called the "Death Star".

References

1. Death Star (Behind the Scenes)
2. Death Star II (Behind the Scenes)
3. Death Star (Expanded Universe)
4. Death Star Technical Companion, , Bill, Slavicsek, West End Games, ,
5. Incredible Cross-Sections of Star Wars, Episodes IV, V & VI: The Ultimate Guide to Star Wars Vehicles and Spacecraft, , David, Reynolds, DK Children, ,
6. Death Star II (Expanded Universe)
7. Inside the Worlds of Star Wars, Episodes IV, V, & VI: The Complete Guide to the Incredible Locations, , , , DK Children, ,
8. "DEAD" DEATHSTAR MAY RISE AGAIN [1]
9. Implications of technological change for business strategies [2]
10. Reception of non-Canadian services in the CRTC article.
11. details under section entitled "DBS" [3]
12. http://datelinehollywood.com/archives/2005/10/17/caa-building-death-star-in-century-city
13. http://defamer.com/hollywood/agents/a-big-week-for-caa-244882.php

External links

★

★

★