Death star

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Model of the death star
Model of the Death Star (upside down)
Saturn moon Mimas, recorded by Cassini-Huygens on August 2nd, 2005

Death Star (in the English original Death Star ) is originally the name of a giant space station from the Star Wars films whose firepower sufficient for a whole planet to be destroyed. Since the first Star Wars film in 1977, the term "Death Star" has been used with various meanings in the media and in popular culture . Even reputable organizations sometimes use the term, such as NASA as a popular name for the Saturn moon Mimas, which looks similar to the fictional Death Star .

The Death Star in Star Wars

In the Star Wars trilogy from 1977 to 1983, two death stars appear. You are under the control of the Galactic Empire. In Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith you can see the first Death Star under construction at the end. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens , the concept of the Death Star is used for the so-called Starkiller base - a planet that has been converted into a super weapon around 50 times the size of the Death Stars. Unlike the Empire's Death Stars, the base uses solar energy, which gives it greater range and greater destructiveness.

The first death star

The first Death Star, led by Grand Moff Tarkin, destroys the planet Alderaan , home of the rebel leader Leia Organa , in Star Wars . In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story he first destroys the city of Jedha-City, the holy city on the moon Jedha, after completion, in order to eliminate the extremist rebels around Saw Gerrera. It is also used during the Battle of Scarif to destroy the radio antenna of the Imperial Archive Tower, but by this time the rebel Jyn Erso had already sent the construction plans of the first Death Star to the orbiting MC-75 cruiser. Jyn Erso and Cassian Jeron Andor died at the foot of the archive tower from the pressure wave generated by the super laser.

It has a diameter of 160 kilometers (earlier information: 120 kilometers). However, after a planet is destroyed, it takes the reactor a full day to recharge enough energy for a new shot. At the end of the film, the space station is destroyed in a rebel attack by Luke Skywalker .

The second death star

In Return of the Jedi , the sixth part of the Star Wars saga, is building the Empire a new, even bigger and more dangerous Death Star - its diameter is 900 km (former Information: 160 km) - which the forest moon of Endor by a protective shield against rebel attacks is secured. In the course of the plot, however, the rebels manage to deactivate the protective shield and destroy the Death Star. The battle for the second Death Star represents the final battle of the Jedi and the rebels against the Sith and the Empire. The victory of the rebels also lays the foundation for the new republic.

Mentions of the death stars

The death star in the media and in popular culture

Quotes in music and film

  • In the film Clerks - Die Ladenhüter (1994) by Kevin Smith, there is a longer dialogue in which the craftsmen philosophize who perished in the destruction of the second, still unfinished Death Star, even though they were actually not involved in the interstellar conflict.
  • In the catastrophe film Twister (1996) a tornado researcher spontaneously shouts "This is not a moon - this is a space station" - a direct quote from Obi-Wan Kenobi when looking at the Death Star in Star Wars .
  • The second part of the satirical Austin Powers film series Spy in a secret missionary position from 1999 shows how much Dr. Evil, the antagonist of the title hero, is isolated from modern culture by "cold sleep" by threatening him with an absolutely new weapon of the same name, similar to the Death Star.
  • The song Death Star by the US-American music group The Presidents of the United States of America on the album Freaked Out & Small from 2000 is named after the original English name and plays through the lyrics “Somewhere deep inside / Shifty to the core / The tank is full and filled / By the Dark Side of the Force. ”on the subject from the Star Wars films.
  • In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a member of the trio , Buffy's main enemy in season six, paints the emergency vehicle with a picture of the Death Star. He removes it again when it is pointed out that this painting is unsuitable for an undercover operation.
  • In the film Under the Spell of the Roulade Queen (2012) Sven suggests to his friend Gilli that they sell the Death Star's plans. This is supposed to give him the financial means to impress Jeanette or her father.

Quotes in the press

  • In the press, the Death Star is often used as a metaphor for a great (supposedly) destructive force. The Berliner Zeitung described Bill Gates in 1998 as "The Man from the Death Star".
  • In the Discovery Channel documentary "James Cameron's Dive to Bismarck" the battleship was described as the "Death Star of its time".
  • Even Enron or its corporate headquarters was more common than "death star" means, including in the mirror .
  • In March 2006, the TAZ wrote about the "Death Star Chernobyl".
  • In several television productions on astronomy, destructive forces in space such as gamma-ray flashes were referred to as the " death star ", for example in the production Death Star by the American PBS or comparable productions by the BBC .

Quotes on the Internet

  • In the MMOG OGame , the most powerful combat ship is named after the Death Star. The similarity is underlined by its low speed, enormous impact and the ability to destroy moons reserved for it. In addition, one of the older designs featured the image of the original Death Star I for the corresponding ship.
  • In 2013, critics of the conspiracy-based film Loose Change posted the seven-minute parody Luke’s Change: An Inside Job online. In it, closely following the style of Loose Change - tracking shots over photographs, emphasized serious language, music - the thesis is put forward that the destruction of the Death Star could not be attributed to the terrorist organization called the Rebel Alliance, but rather was an "inside job" must, that is, deliberate action by a high-ranking agent of the Empire itself: Darth Vader.

Quotes in computer games

  • In the computer game The Longest Journey there is an object (which was probably part of the sewer system) that is visually similar to the Death Star. If you click on it, the protagonist reproduces film quotes from Star Wars .
  • The strategy game Master of Orion II has Death Stars as the largest class of spaceships (after frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and titans), which can also be equipped with a "star converter", a beam weapon that can be used to destroy a planet.
  • The Galactic Civilizations game series uses space stations upgraded to "terror stars" to wipe out entire planetary systems.

Petition to build a Death Star

On November 14, 2012, an American citizen filed an online petition to the White House for the US to provide funding and resources to begin building a Death Star in 2016. The petitioner promised from the project strengthening of the financial crisis subscribed US economy and the improvement of national defense . By December 14, 25,000 US citizens had to sign the petition. The necessary number of supporters was reached on December 13th. The US government has now had to comment on the petition.

Economics students at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania calculated that the cost of building a Death Star 140 kilometers in diameter just to buy steel would be 13,000 times the world's gross domestic product . They used the steel price from 2012 as a basis. It would take more than 800,000 years to produce the required amount of steel at the current production rate.

The government's response referred, among other things, to the enormous cost of US $ 850 quadrillion (the equivalent of 710 quadrillion euros) calculated by Lehigh University; In addition, it was doubted that it would make sense to spend such an amount of taxpayers money on the construction of a Death Star, whose defenselessness could be exploited by a single one-man spaceship; moreover, the government does not support the demolition of planets.

This action has meanwhile also found imitators in Germany. YouTube partner LeFloid submitted a petition to build a Death Star for Germany.

The Luxembourg magician Christian Lavey (born Christian Kies) submitted such a petition in the Luxembourg parliament. In an interview with a radio station, however, Lavey let it be known that this was a joke and that he had submitted the petition out of boredom.

Web links

Commons : Death Star  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Designation "Death Star" Moon for Mimas ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on a NASA site @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
  2. ↑ The man from the Death Star strikes back . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 4, 1998
  3. ^ Spiegel Online on October 16, 2002
  4. ↑ the daily newspaper on March 29, 2006
  5. ↑ Nova Online (English)
  6. ↑ Michael Brake: The Death Star Conspiracy on taz.de, accessed on March 22, 2013.
  7. ^ John D .: Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016. (No longer available online.) In: petitions.whitehouse.gov. November 14, 2012, archived from the original on December 12, 2012 ; accessed on December 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / petitions.whitehouse.gov
  8. ^ Patrick Beuth: Online petition. US government to build a death star. In: Zeit Online. December 5, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  9. ^ A b Petition to the White House: "Build a Death Star". In: The press. December 6, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  10. ↑ How Much Would it Cost to build the Death Star? In: Centives. February 15, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 .
  11. ^ Paul Shawcross: This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For. Official White House Response to Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016. (No longer available online.) White House, archived from the original on January 12, 2013 ; Retrieved January 12, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / petitions.whitehouse.gov
  12. ↑ Link to the German petition on openPetition .
  13. ↑ Eldo.lu - Petitioun fuerdert en Doudesstäer fir Lëtzebuerg . ( eldo.lu [accessed January 24, 2018]).
  14. ^ Petition for Death Star over Luxembourg: "The power be with you" . In: Wort.lu . January 24, 2018 ( wort.lu [accessed January 24, 2018]).
  15. ↑ L'essentiel: Will Luxembourg get a Death Star in space? In: L'essentiel in German . ( lessentiel.lu [accessed January 24, 2018]).
  16. ↑ RTL NewMedia: RTL.lu - Petitioun fürdert Konstruktioun vun narrow "Doudes strengths" . ( rtl.lu [accessed January 24, 2018]).