Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Pre-release)

[PHArchivist]

Ladies, gents...

Is it really necessary to rationalize the build-time and size and attribute-differences of the Death Stars to enjoy the film? Yeah - a fun exercise through which to further immerse ourselves in our favorite imaginary universe (and I've performed similar exercises regarding the size of the DS1).

But trying to rationalize all this stuff will just make your head hurt and lead to frustration.

And considering how much of this is contingent upon the input of GL, it will NEVER make any sense...


So here's all you need to know..


The DSI was built in 1976 by a crew of imperials based in Van Nuys in less than one year; it is 36" in diamter.

DSII was built in 1982 by a related team of imperials in northern California over a similar time frame, and is 60" in diameter.

A prototype DS was indeed made prior to DS1 by a singular "imperial" named Colin, and was only 12" in diameter.

Construction of an unauthorized "DSIII" was commenced in November of 2008 by an unidentified renegade builder; it follows the design of DS1, is 36" in diameter, and is seemingly Under Construction Indefinitely.


These are the only tangible and indisputable facts regarding Death Star construction prior to the production of Rogue One. Focus on these facts and forget the rest - just enjoy the movies...


:cool

 

[crabra comander]

It's a movie people. And it looks pretty good. I agree the klaxon was a bit "alarming " (pun intended),but in a good way. Those batons where for what? Death Star gunners didn't need to direct hangar traffic, did they?

 

[Curmudgeon]

What I don't understand is.. if they knew that the exhaust port was a weakness that could lead to the complete destruction of the station.. why didn't they just send someone out there to weld a screen or something over the opening?

There must have been some bureaucratic nonsense that prevented it.. paperwork, forms and work orders that took so long to process that it wasn't completed before the rebels attacked.

 

[PHArchivist]

Its actually on display in Seattle, but ILM or Lucas film doesn't own it. Have you read the story on what happened to the model? Its quite an interesting story.

And how it was left outside for some time and therefore a lot of the detail is gone. Theres not a whole lot of great pics of the model back then either, which is why I guess i love that they did do such good research. To many movies today would have made it only good enough, but still not accurate.

Actually it is not. The owner has it back in his own home. It is under capable and respectful stewardship, in some of the best hands possible. I just wish the structure it is in had a fire suppression system!

The original indeed was left outside and most of the line detail on the upper dome has either faded or washed away. The lower dome however still shows incredible fidelity in its level of remaining detail.

Yes photographic imagery of the original is scarce, particularly while it was being built. And many of the images that do exist are not of great enough resolution to show much of the lost detail. For example, film stills even from Blu-ray do not reveal the detailed line structure of the finish work. Be curious to see how the film looks in 4K on an 80"-100" display...

There are however enough published images that when scanned at hi-res do reveal enough detail to substantially recreate the line patterns of the upper dome. But it is a tedious process...

 

[JediMichael]

Actually it is not. The owner has it back in his own home. It is under capable and respectful stewardship, in some of the best hands possible. I just wish the structure it is in had a fire suppression system!

Ah ok, didn't know he had it back now. How long was it on display?

 

[JediMichael]

Was the size difference intentional or did the model makers/matte artists/visual compositors simply do their thing, not realizing that people would later analyze and determine what they had done implied the DSII was bigger? I know with me just being a Joe Blow watching the movie, I can't tell it's appreciably bigger and the point that it was bigger was never mentioned in the movie that I recall...which seems like a nice detail to bring up to push the idea this one is even "badder" than the last one.

The words crawling up in the start say that its more powerful then the first death star. Guess most people just assume is was bigger as well. I like to think it was much bigger.

 

[Clerval]

Your Rogue One thought of the day:


It's a prequel.

 

[Wolfsburg]

What's odd is all the anthology movies, announced, rumored, and speculated are technically prequels. Rogue One, Young Han Solo, Exiled Obi-wan, etc...

 

[Jaitea]

Your Rogue One thought of the day:


It's a prequel.

Yeah....Prequels as they should have been

J

 

[karmajay]

Well they show in TFA that DS2 was bigger so that is canon.

 

[Jaitea]

Yes photographic imagery of the original is scarce, particularly while it was being built. And many of the images that do exist are not of great enough resolution to show much of the lost detail. For example, film stills even from Blu-ray do not reveal the detailed line structure of the finish work. Be curious to see how the film looks in 4K on an 80"-100" display...


There are however enough published images that when scanned at hi-res do reveal enough detail to substantially recreate the line patterns of the upper dome. But it is a tedious process...

What do you think of the Rogue One imagery of the Death Star?

J

 

[Jeyl]

Well they show in TFA that DS2 was bigger so that is canon.

I don't think the Death Star 2 was even referenced in TFA. Poe brought up the first Death Star that was completed and compared it to the Starkiller Base. The only thing that compared both the first Death Star, the second Death Star and the Starkiller was was in an episode of HISHE, which they used to demonstrate how all stations combined formed Mickey Mouse's head.

 

[JediMichael]

What do you think of the Rogue One imagery of the Death Star?

J

From what I can see, it looks really good. But Rob is the master at that.

 

[karmajay]

I don't think the Death Star 2 was even referenced in TFA. Poe brought up the first Death Star that was completed and compared it to the Starkiller Base. The only thing that compared both the first Death Star, the second Death Star and the Starkiller was was in an episode of HISHE, which they used to demonstrate how all stations combined formed Mickey Mouse's head.

In the scene in TFA where they are discussing how to defeat Starkiller base they put up holograms of the DS, DS2 and starkiller base for size comparisons

 

[PHArchivist]

Ah ok, didn't know he had it back now. How long was it on display?

The owner had it leased to the museum for a number of years, but I'm not sure the total number or the actual calendar years it was there. But I'm nearly 100% certain it was there in the museum before I started on my project (late 2008), and I visited it at least twice over the following years. And I believe it has only been in the past year or two that it has been taken off display.

 

[Wolfsburg]

In the scene in TFA where they are discussing how to defeat Starkiller base they put up holograms of the DS, DS2 and starkiller base for size comparisons

I think they only show a DS and the Starkiller?

 

[The Wook]

What I don't understand is.. if they knew that the exhaust port was a weakness that could lead to the complete destruction of the station.. why didn't they just send someone out there to weld a screen or something over the opening?

There must have been some bureaucratic nonsense that prevented it.. paperwork, forms and work orders that took so long to process that it wasn't completed before the rebels attacked.

Plot device. If there's no weakness, then the rebels can't very well discover it and exploit it, can they? And we have no happy ending for the movie.

It's like asking, "Why didn't the Imps shoot down that escape pod at the start of ANH?". That there were no life forms on it is irrelevant--they were looking for stolen data plans. So they let it go, which is asinine. But, if they hadn't let it go, there's no movie.

The Wook

 

[Jaitea]

In the scene in TFA where they are discussing how to defeat Starkiller base they put up holograms of the DS, DS2 and starkiller base for size comparisons

Maybe in the novel,....but not in the film



J

 

[PHArchivist]

What do you think of the Rogue One imagery of the Death Star?

J

Still processing...

Clearly digital (as if there was any question), and so it is obvious the artists used the tools at their disposal to add greater detail than existed on the original model. However, I think as a result, there is TOO much detail to correctly align with the original.

Ralph McQuarie's original approach (and I'm extrapolating here) was a "salt & pepper" speckle pattern that - in my opinion - was used to represent surface variation (think Death Star laser cannon turrets), and light and shadow. With the exception of the line patterns and the solid grey areas between the cityscapes, the surface of the original model was almost entirely unbroken cityscapes with little or not significant perceptible variation in the speckling. The pattern was pretty much consistent across the board.

But the detail in the new digital model suggests stronger variations in the cityscapes that are large enough that they would be visible from a greater distance from the model (higher altitude in the fictional world) than we see in the trailer, which is a considerably low fictional altitude/close in. The variations in the digital cityscapes are significant to the point that, for instance, on my model I'd have to go in and add more visible details and variations to my own speckle pattern if I wanted to represent the new digital Death Star (DDS?)..

Is this all making sense, or am I losing myself in detail...?

Anyway,..

I like that there is more detail to see...

I don't like that it doesn't properly align with the original model.

Sorry for the long answer - you asked!

 

[Jaitea]

Cool.....the texture was like sandpaper or emery?

J