Give Me Those Star Wars 15: The Death Star

With only two weeks until the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ryan Daly and guest Pat Sampson discuss the film's signature icon: the dreaded Death Star! Also, your listener feedback from episodes 13 and 14.

  • Introduction begins at 0:00:40
  • Star Wars Current Events (potential spoilers) begins at: 0:05:07
  • Death Star discussion begins at: 0:10:30
  • Galactic Questionnaire with Pat Sampson begins at 0:30:18
  • Listener Feedback begins at 0:34:18

Check out Pat's podcast The Longbox Crusade at: http://www.longboxcrusade.com

Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com.

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Music: "Star Wars Main Theme" and “End Title” by The Evil Genius Orchestra (with Ryan and Shag).

Thanks for listening, and May the Force Be With You!

8 responses to “Give Me Those Star Wars 15: The Death Star

  1. Nice discussion. I agree that the Death Star has become one of the saga’s signature visual icons. It along with the Imperial March just screams “EVIL!” like few cinematic elements do.

    I’ve always been puzzled by the critter in the trash compactor as well. My theory is pretty close to Pat’s’ that it started out as some small creature that was basically flushed and grew in the environment for some reason. Maybe it was some kind of weird space bacteria that evolved down there?

    I do think the Death Star is something that has been revisited too often. My biggest gripe with Force Awakens remains the unoriginal Starkiller Base. I don’t mind Rogue One giving us the back story on the rebels who stole the plans since that’s established canon. But I hope we never see another “new” Death Star-like plot device again.

    Chris

    1. The critter in the compactor looks like a weird foot with an eyeball attached to it. Maybe it’s the Death Star equivalent of the albino alligators in NYC sewers? Someone got one as a pet, it got too big, they flushed it down the space toilet, and it’s been living there ever since, looking for the owner it loves and misses…

  2. The reuse of super weapons hasn’t really diminished the original Death Star for me, but it does make me go “really again??” at each new iteration and not get as invested in that. And it’s worse when you take the expanded universe stuff into account with the sun killer or whatever the hell that thing was (I’m not looking it up, but I know it was a thing.) That said, I’m actually 100% ok with the second Death Star in Jedi. To my thinking that was part of the Emperor’s trap: presenting them with something they’ve defeated before would increase they confidence that they could beat it and therefore do exactly what he wanted them to. If it’d been a whole new sort of base or weapon there might have been those in the Rebellion going “I dunno, we need to find out more about this thing first” but with it being another Death Star they thought “cool, we knock out the shield and we’ve got this.”

    Lastly here’s my question to anybody who gets snooty about the destruction of the Death Star by a single torpedo: Do you walk out of the theater every time a car is blown up because somebody shot the gas tank? Because if not, sit down, shut up and watch the pretty explosions in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.

  3. Fun episode!

    As you can see rom this pic, I loved the whole concept of the Death Star from an early age: http://www.fwpodcasts.com/rk/xmas.jpg

    That said, I hope that R1 is the last SW film we have where the Death Star is the focal point for the Empire. It’s now been the centerpiece of FOUR films, and R1 feels like the natural place to end it. The Lucasfilm screenwriters need to come up with a new way for the Empire to be threatening, not just because they can build an ever-bigger Ball of Metal Doom.

    Pat was a good guest, nice to hear new voices on the show! That said, please have me back.

  4. My favorite bit of the Death Star is how the planet-destroying beam roasts the bums of those technicians in that open tunnel. Who puts a weapons monitoring console INSIDE the gun turret? I only wish we saw a guy vaporized for trying to warm his hands or something.

    Best Death Star scene is the one in Clerks where Randall expounds on his theory about the Rebels murdering a bunch of contractors in Jedi.

    Or am I doing this wrong again?

  5. A very timely topic! Nice bandwagon jumping, Ryan!

    For me, I always assumed the trash compactor monster was there by design. Right before the walls start collapsing, you hear a sound like a metallic grate closing. I always assumed the creature was released intentionally to eat any pests or organic matter in the trash. Then just before it compacts, it returns to it’s cage (hence the metallic gate closing sound) where it’s protected from the compacting. Otherwise, it would simply be crushed every time the compactor… well, compacts.

  6. Can I ask a goofy nerd question? Ok. Thanks!

    How does gravity work on the Death Star?

    I mean, I’m watching the film now on TNT. The Millennium Falcon’s been drawn into the Death Star. Everything has a very top-down design. Magnetic north is up and magnetic south is down. Except for the structures on the outside surface or the shaft that Luke’s missiles go.

    I think it was SW:TFA that showed that their Death Star was a mechanized planet, so gravity works perpendicular to the planet surface.

    I’m sure someone’s already brought this up before, but it only just occurred to me recently. I mean, the idea of a Death Star that’s like a mad Escher design with pockets of individual gravity sounds delightful, but I guess the Death Star is set up like a giant version of Lego’s giant play set?

    Thoughts and clarifications are most welcome.

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