Death Star

The Death Star in A New Hope

The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. In the films, the first Death Star is featured in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and a second Death Star is under construction in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

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 & Magic's modelmakers for Return of the Jedi.^[2] Only the front side of the 137-centimeter model was completed, and the image was flipped horizontally for the final film.^[2] Both Death Stars were depicted by a combination of complete and sectional models and matte paintings.^[1][2]

Depiction

The second Death Star in Return of the Jedi

The original Death Star in A New Hope, commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), is the Galactic Empire's "ultimate weapon", a space station capable of destroying a planet in a single attack. The film opens with Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) transporting the station's schematics to the Rebel Alliance to aid them in destroying it. Tarkin orders the Death Star to destroy Leia's home world of Alderaan in an attempt to pressure her to betray the Rebels. At the film's climactic battle, Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) trust in the Force allows him to destroy the Death Star. Both Darth Vader (David Prowse) and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) die aboard the second Death Star before the Rebels destroy it in Return of the Jedi. The first Death Star also appears in the Star Wars prequel trilogy: its schematics are visible in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith shows the Death Star early in its construction.

Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), left, and Darth Vader watch the construction of the first Death Star in Revenge of the Sith

The Death Stars appear throughout the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It is the subject of Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's novel Death Star. In LucasArts' Star Wars: Battlefront II, 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' Dark Forces 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 Darth Vader in an attempt to recover the plans and capture Leia. Steve Perry's 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 combat flight simulator.^{[citation needed]} Numerous LucasArts titles recreate the movies' attacks on the Death Stars, and the Death Star itself is a controllable weapon in the Rebellion and Empire at War strategy game.^{[citation needed]}

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 hangars 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]

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. Television shows, movies, and games that refer to the Death Star include Clerks, Newsradio, Muppet Babies, Futurama, Lost, Seinfeld, Family Guy, Life on Mars, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Fairly Oddparents, Pinky and the Brain, Farscape, Tripping the Rift, Twister, Metalocalypse, Crayon Shin Chan, Ogame, AstroEmpires, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2^[8].

The Death Star placed ninth in a 2008 20th Century Fox poll of the most popular movie weapons.^[9]

The Saturnian moon Mimas

The media in 1980 commented on the resemblance Saturn's moon Mimas' large crater gives it to the Death Star.^[10] Astronomers sometimes use the term "Death Star" to describe Nemesis, a hypothetical star postulated in 1984 to be responsible for gravitationally forcing comets and asteroids from the Oort cloud toward Earth.^[11]

In the US, networks that compete with FOX refer to American Idol as the Death Star due to its destructive effects on their schedules and ratings.^[12][13] Enron labeled one of the false companies used in its fraudulent manipulation of the California power grid "Death Star".^[14] 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.^[15] An AT&T logo has been compared to the Death Star.^[16] The Creative Artists Agency's headquarters has been nicknamed the "Death Star" by the entertainment media.^[17]

Merchandise

Kenner and AMT created a playset and a model, respectively, of the first Death Star.^[18][19] In 2005 and 2008, Lego released Death Star models.^[20][21] Both Death Stars are part of different Micro Machines three-packs.^[22][23] The Death Stars and locations in them are cards in Decipher, Inc.'s and Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Customizable Card Game and Star Wars Trading Card Game, respectively.^[24] Hasbro released a Death Star model that transforms into a Darth Vader mech.^[25] Estes Industries released a flying model rocket version.^[26]

See also

• List of Star Wars superweapons

References

External links

• Death Star in the Star Wars Databank
• Death Star II in the Star Wars Databank
• Death Star on Wookieepedia, an external wiki