Why didn't the Death Star just blow up the planet and THEN the moon

[4_Legs_Good]

The planet was Yavin, right? And they had to go around it to blow up the moon with the rebel base because the planet was in the way.

Tarkin who is supposed to be some kinda military genius, right, is alerted that it's possible that the rebels might actually be able to defeat them, and instead of coming up with another plan - "Hey! Why not blow up both the planet and the moon?" He just scoffs.

Maybe it was rich in oil reserves or something.



david

[Briarius]

1. I'm such a dork for replying, but

I'd say it's either they were too close to Yavin to blow it up without damaging the station or the main weapon didn't work well or at all on gas planets. Either way the bad guys would then win, so it obviously couldn't happen :eyes:

[4_Legs_Good]

3. Ahh, I didn't know Yavin 4 (?) was a gas planet

Also maybe it took like an hour to recharge the weapon or something. It'd only been tried once before prolly.

Thanks for being nerdy and responding :)

david

[DS1]

20. Yes. but following that logic, blowing up the planet from a distance

would damage the moon significantly, and make the rebels have to fly a greater distance which would allow the TIE squadrons to intercept them halfway and "fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here"

[Deja Q]

2. It would need a lot of time to recharge; it'd be quicker to...

move the 8-ball to the corner pocket. :D

[Eugene]

4. Tarkin didn't see the rebels as a significant threat.

He thought his battle station was invincible.
Perhaps, he felt he could just cruise into
optimum range and blow them away.

[4_Legs_Good]

36. Yeah but he does say

"I think you've overestimated their chances" which clearly shows he knows there is a danger. Plus there's a great little scene not too long after where he's practically biting his fingernails.

:)

david

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. I love it when DUers post these questions in all seriousness...

:hi: It's so very cutely earnest. And, I have no idea.

[4_Legs_Good]

17. It's a very serious subject you know

:)

david

[swimmernsecretsea]

6. Just from what I recall

I thought Yavin was uninhabitable, and a huge gas-giant like Jupiter, so it would have been better to aim directly rather than try for an energy burst that would have taxed the Death Star unnecessarily. The physics of blowing up a plantoid-sized body are immense anyway--it'd be unlikely such a thing could occur.

OK. I want my nerd stripes now.

[LynneSin]

8. That's probably why they made Yavin a gas planet

or else folks like us would keep pointing out the damn obvious!

[4_Legs_Good]

11. Couldn't you just shoot straight through a gas giant?

So maybe Yavin didn't blow up, but I bet you could still get the moon. It makes it even easier!

:)

Yes you can have your stripes!

david

[Ladyhawk]

22. Even gas giants have a solid core and the great gravity would have

made finding a firing solution a problem.

However, just blowing up the gas giant would have destroyed the moon...hmmmm.

[jmowreader]

16. Yavin WAS uninhabitable

Now here's the problem: Haven't the fuckwits at the Empire's Training, Doctrine and Fealty Command heard of concussion effects?

I remember when they blew up Alderaan. Lots and LOTS of shrapnel. Yavin's a gas giant, so obviously there's no rock to throw around, but when the energy beam hits the gas cloud it should cause a massive amount of expansion and turbulence...which would create a shock wave that could take out anything within a certain number of parsecs of the explosion.

There was a more important reason to wait: Fear. In movies, only the Mafia just shoots you. Everyone else wants you to die pissing in your pants.

[4_Legs_Good]

"Training, Doctrine and Fealty Command"

I LOVE it!

I also have a hard time believing that the Empire would have named it "The Death Star" rather than the "The Liberator Star" or the "Crusade for Ultimate Peace Station"

:)

david

[4_Legs_Good]

37. "Training, Doctrine and Fealty Command"

I LOVE it!

I also have a hard time believing that the Empire would have named it "The Death Star" rather than the "The Liberator Star" or the "Crusade for Ultimate Peace Station"

:)

david

[billyskank]

41. Bush would have of course called it

The Freedom Star. Natch.

[jmowreader]

48. Did the Empire name it the Death Star?

Someone who's got the DVD, throw it in and tell me if the Empire ever called it the "Death Star."

I don't remember anyone working on the Death Star really calling it that. I vaguely remember the term "battle station" and also "space station," but the Rebels were the ones calling it a death star.

[Ladyhawk]

7. Perhaps debris from the gas giant would have interfered

with the Death Star's laser beam. Also, it's true that the superlaser on the Death Star takes awhile to recharge. The prototype in Maw Installation had that problem, too.

On edit: Yes, I am a dork.

[4_Legs_Good]

15. No fair referencing books!

:)

david

[Ladyhawk]

21. But I couldn't resist. :)

:P

[BreweryYardRat]

33. (whistle)

All right, I'm really impressed. You're a superior geek.

Your argument makes very good sense-that or the laser simply didn't have the force to punch through all the gas between it and Yavin's core, given the way an ordinary laser beam can be attenuated by fog or smoke.

And yeah, given the amount of times the Emperor had the guy who designed the original Death Star (Bevel Lemelisk?) tortured, killed, cloned, and started the process over again whenever he failed on something, it's reasonable to think that while the original station would have taken some time to recharge, the Death Star Mark II would have had a much faster recharge rate (among other improvements).

[HawkerHurricane]

9. I see it as more of a...

physics problem than a rate of fire one.
We saw in episode 6 the main gun fire repeatedly, at about 5 minute intervals.
However a gas giant (as Yavin was, Yavin 4 was the 4th moon of Yavin) it might have been just too bloody big to blow up. The weapon was designed to blow up habitable planets, not any planet. And besides, blowing up the planet wouldn't have solved the problem of guys in one man fighters.
OR
The Grand Moff Tarkin was a political appointee. Maybe he didn't think about it.

[4_Legs_Good]

14. Good point on the fighters

but still, their primary objective (as probably assigned by the ol' Emperor) was to blow up the rebel base.

Prolly right on the apointee bit, though! I always liked Tarkin, though. I'm bummed that they didn't explore his character more in the horrific prequels.

david

[DerekG]

31. "Horrific prequels?"

Surely you're not speaking ill of "Revenge of the Sith?" That movie kicked my ass in fifteen different ways.

I agree about Tarkin, though. Lucas should have made him the other Naboo senator in "The Phantom Menace," just to show he was Palpatine's right-hand man from Day 1.

[4_Legs_Good]

34. Sorry, I thought all the prequels sucked royale w/cheese

I know many people disagree. I think each of the 3 movies had about 45 minutes worth of worthwile footage in them. They coulda made one single good film instead of three abysmal ones!

Just my opinion!

david

[HawkerHurricane]

39. I aggree, the prequals were mediocre...

Episode One had plot holes you could fly a stardestroyer through; half of them could have been solved by making Anakin 15 years old (which would have improved the acting).
Episode Two was better, but still...
Look, Amadilia was 10 years older than Anakin... why is she acting like she's younger? Easy answer: because the actor playing Anakin was older.
Episode Three I found totally predictable. The biggest surprise in the whole mess was
*SPOILER*
Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) almost taking down the future Emporer (and would have if Anakin had stayed out of it), while Yoda couldn't.
*End Spoiler*
The best acting in the whole trilogy was between Samuel L. Jackson and a muppet (Nods to Frank Oz).
"You can write this crap, George, but you can't say it." - Harrison Ford to George Lucas during the filming of Episode Four

[moof]

44. Hmmmmm, spoiler alert

there was immediate speculation here at the moofhut that the scene with Windu was a set up by Palpatine to draw Anikin to the dark side. Thus all of Palpatine's actions in that scene were faked by Palpatine to trick Anikin into turning against Jedi.

That and the debate about who engineered Anikin have yet to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction at this end of the net.

end spoiler.

Also great sig image Hawker.

[YankeyMCC]

29. Ha...I like the Political Appointee theory

[tjwmason]

10. Because it would have buggered up the plot

The rebels wouldn't have had the chance to launch their attack - the Empire would have won, film ends on a massive downer without any chance for more episodes to follow.

Sorry to appear cynical next to theories about recharge or laser-beam interference - but there it is.

[4_Legs_Good]

13. I think you missed the fact that the story took place A LONG TIME AGO

so CLEARLY it's based on a true story.

Guh!

david

[nytemare]

12. Because the Emperor was growing tired of Vader

He wanted a new apprentice who didn't have robot arms so he could teach him to shoot lightning out of his fingertips. He felt a tremor in the force, and figured if he blew up an innocent planet, that would bring him out there. Patient guy, the Emperor.

Actually, I am bullshitting. I don't know.

[4_Legs_Good]

18. That shooting lighting outta the fingers is a good trick

but you know, for a dude who gave himself to the Dark Side, you'd think there'd be a few more perks than just the lightning.

You think that's why Vader couldn't do it, cuz he had robotic arms? I never thought of that.

david

[nytemare]

19. I think so.

Dooku could do it. Palpatine could. I think Maul was more into the double lightsabre than using lightning.

[Bucky]

45. Have you seen the website where Tom Cruise kills Oprah w/ lightning?

Of course, let me go on the record with saying that it is wrong to kill Oprah by shooting blue lightning bolts out of your fingertips.

[nytemare]

51. I saw that.

I don't think it would be wrong, though, to shoot blue lightning someone driving a truck recklessly if the truck has a W sticker on it.

[Ladyhawk]

23. I just realized that blowing up the gas giant would have destroyed the

moon. So why didn't the Empire want to destroy the gas giant? Maybe the Death Star wasn't powerful enough to destroy a gas giant.

[Elidor]

25. Even if it didn't destroy the moon

It would have ripped it out of its orbit, sending the rebel base on a very unpleasant ride through space. In fact, their moon would have become uninhabitable very quickly.

[Ladyhawk]

26. True. So why didn't / couldn't the Death Star just blow up Yavin? n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

24. Hey man! They can only heat up the planet blaster ray once a day!

You get a choice, the moon or the planet! I mean, come on! Everyone knows that!

[Bucky]

46. They could power it up faster if they put a 2nd monkey on the treadmill

Or maybe changed the bananas more often. Rotten bananas just don't work as well for an incentive.

[dhinojosa]

27. Too much debris from the planet....they would've waited longer

since the planet was bigger than alderan.
Am I bullshitting?
well, yeah I am.

:)

[Arkana]

28. I feel like such a geek for saying this, but...

According the official guide for "Star Wars" vehicles and vessels, the first Death Star's superlaser took about an hour to recharge after being fired--plenty of time for the Rebels to kill it.

God, I'm such a damn geek.

[4_Legs_Good]

35. Didn't the Death Staristass have some kinda manhole cover

they coulda put on the exhaust ports to try to keep the photon torpedoes out in case of an emergency?

Edit: and what if they blew up the planet the instant they came out of hyperspace. It would take an hour or so for the Rebels to come up with a strategy, no?

david

[jmowreader]

49. They thought the ship was invincible

You ever notice that the invincible enemy ship always has one piece that's...well, not QUITE up to code? In this case, it's the exhaust port leading right to the main reactor core.

I looked up "main reactor cores" in the current International Congress of Building Officials' Model Construction Code, and it very clearly states that if you have an exhaust vent attached to your reactor that, if photon torpedoes were fired down it, the whole ship would be blown to smithereens, you're SUPPOSED to put a big hunk of metal in the port to serve as a deflector.

This is what you get for using non-union laborers.

[DerekG]

30. What's everyone ashamed for?

I listen to grown men (grown men!) pontificate on a game in which baboons throw a f---ing ball around a grid iron. At least Star Wars is myth; there's bloody subtext to the proceedings...

BTW: Padme's death has actually kept me up nights.

[nytemare]

32. I am not ashamed of my love of Star Wars.

Or football!

:hi:

[4_Legs_Good]

38. OMG, people discuss Donkey Kong in serious conversation???

How can I get in on that!!!

Personally Donkey Kong Jr. was much more fun than the original. I just wish Nintendo would license the game to Sony so I could play it on my PS2.

david

[leftofthedial]

40. the script

[Yavin4]

42. HEY NOW!!

Stop talking about blowing up Yavin.

[Bucky]

43. Or maybe just fly around the planet faster. It was capable of light speed.

It's driving 100mph down the street to go shoot your mother in law, but then crawling slowly around the doghouse to sneak up on her while she gets away. But of course who thinks about these things when you're a 12 year old kid sitting in a movie theatre?

[Mutley]

47. I love this thread!

:D

It get's my nomination as best thread of the day!

[uppityperson]

50. Because it is a movie and was in the script?