Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who built the Death Star?
The Death Star began as a Geonosian design, but became operational after nearly two decades of work by a team of brilliant scientists sequestered on the rainswept world of Eadu. Led by a reluctant Galen Erso, the Death Star scientists seek to fuse kyber-crystal shards into larger structures and use those crystals to amplify energy into a stable beam powerful enough to destroy an entire planet.
The 2014 book "" detailed the life of Grand Moff Tarkin, and prominently featured the first Death Star. The theme of the construction of the Death Star is continued in the 2016 book, "", which tells the story of the development of the Death Star's superweapon by the scientist, Galen Erso and Krennic's deception of him. It also reveals how Poggle worked with Krennic on the Project but then turned on him.
To estimate the effects of the second Death Star, Minton looks into its mass. According to estimated data from some students of Lehigh University, the steel mass needed for building one would be around 770 kilograms times the mass cubed in weight. This would give the Death Star of about ten to the power of nineteen kilograms in mass. Using this data, Minton produces equations that lead him to conclude the fragments would hit the moons surface so hard causing craters almost four times the size of the Chicxulub crater in Mexico. This impact would cause a planetary firestorm and vaporize all lifeforms on the moon.
The first Death Star is depicted in various sources of having 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. Its hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters. It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors. Various sources state the first Death Star has a diameter of between 140 and 160 kilometers. There is a broader range of figures for the second Death Star's diameter, ranging from 160 to 900 kilometers.
Darth Vader (the titular Sith Lord) hires bounty hunters (including Brazzo, Selle, 4-D, Mala Mala, B-6, and Ban Papeega) to find out who was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. Thurlow Harris, a captured and tortured Rebel pilot who survived the Death Star battle, who returned to his homeworld of Centares, informs him of the pilot's identity—Vader's son, Luke Skywalker—and Vader sets up a plan for catching him, which eventually fails on Jazbina. This series depicts the first meeting between Luke and his father, and a Rebel pilot, Jal Te Gniev, is jealous and resentful of Luke destroying the Death Star, due to having measles during the Battle of Yavin.
Star Wars Rebels is an American 3D CGI animated television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation. With its story beginning fourteen years after "" and five years before "A New Hope", "Rebels" takes place during an era when the Galactic Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy. Imperial forces are hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights while a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking form. The visual style of "Rebels" is inspired by the original "Star Wars" trilogy concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.
Tag and Bink are two soldiers aboard the Rebellion flagship "Tantive IV" when the Star Destroyer "Devastator" captures it. After almost being captured, they dress up as stormtroopers and are transported to the Death Star. They try to leave by stealing TIE fighters... twice. Darth Vader realizes his need for two TIE pilots as wingmen for his fight against the Rebel starfighters attacking the space station. As the comic illustrates, it is not the "Millennium Falcon"s fault that Vader is almost killed in the trenches of the Death Star, but due to Tag and Bink's lousy piloting.
Superman is born Kal-El on the alien planet Krypton. His parents, Jor-El and Lara become aware of Krypton's impending destruction and Jor-El begins constructing a spacecraft to carry Kal-El to Earth. During Krypton's last moments, Jor-El places young Kal-El in the spacecraft and launches it. Jor-El and Lara die as the spacecraft barely escapes Krypton's fate. The explosion transforms planetary debris into kryptonite, a radioactive substance that is lethal to superpowered (as by Earth's yellow sun) Kryptonians.
"Star Wars Rebels" is an American 3D CGI animated television series produced by Lucasfilm and Lucasfilm Animation. Beginning fourteen years after "" and five years before "A New Hope", "Rebels" takes place during an era when the Galactic Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy. Imperial forces are hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights while a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking form.
R2-D2 (), or Artoo-Detoo, is a fictional robot character in the "Star Wars" franchise created by George Lucas. A small astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character and appears in nine out of the ten "Star Wars" films to date. Throughout the course of the films, R2 is a friend to C-3PO, Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga.
One of the more popular "Star Wars" characters, Leia has been called a 1980s icon, a feminist hero and model for other adventure heroines. She has appeared in many derivative works and merchandising, and has been referenced or parodied in several TV shows and films. Her "cinnamon buns" hairstyle from "Star Wars" (1977) and metal bikini from "Return of the Jedi" have become cultural icons.
Leia was created by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, who in 1999 explained his early development of the main characters:
In the rough draft of "Star Wars", Leia is the spoiled teenage daughter of King Kayos and Queen Breha of Aquilae, with two brothers, Biggs and Windy; Biggs returned to the fourth draft as a childhood friend of Luke. Leia was at one point "the daughter of Owen Lars and his wife Beru ... Luke's cousin–together they visit the grave of his mother, who perished with his father on a planet destroyed by the Death Star." A later story synopsis establishes Leia as "Leia Antilles", the daughter of Bail Antilles from the peaceful world of Organa Major. In the fourth draft it was established that "Leia Organa" came instead from Alderaan.
The first book presents some of the earliest concept sketches of a number of now-familiar characters of the "Star Wars" universe, including early impressions of the helmet of Darth Vader, the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, Imperial stormtroopers, and the alien clientele of the Mos Eisley Cantina on the planet Tatooine. The concept sketches and matte paintings of Ralph McQuarrie feature heavily, alongside sketches by Joe Johnston, set design drawings by John Barry, costume design sketches by John Mollo, storyboards by Alex Tavoularis and photographs by Bob Seidemann and John Jay. McQuarrie's work was considered highly influential in the production of the first three Star Wars movies; Journalist Jonathan Jones wrote of McQuarrie: ""Looking at his "[McQuarrie's]" paintings, you can recognise that the appeal of this art is similar to that of 19th century Orientalist paintings of harems and sandy vistas."" The illustrations are accompanied by the text of the Revised Fourth Draft of George Lucas's script, "Star Wars Episode IV — A New Hope, from the Journal of the Whills", dated January 15 1976. Later chapters feature the artwork of film posters by Tom Jung, Dan Goozee, Drew Struzan, John Berkey, Tom Chantrell, the Hildebrandt Brothers, Howard Chaykin, Wojtek Siudmak and Ralph McQuarrie; and the art of spin-off products such as the Marvel Comics series, "Star Wars"-themed cartoons such as "Berry's World" and "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies"; and fan art.
Mollo subsequently moved into costume design. In 1975, for his first film, Mollo unexpectedly found himself working not on a historical military drama but in a genre he had no knowledge of: science fiction. He was commissioned by a young filmmaker named George Lucas to devise uniforms and outfits for a fantasy space war film, "Star Wars". When asked at the time by a friend about the project, Mollo said that he thought it was a "sort of a space western and one of the heroes is a dustbin". Lucas's project envisioned a cast of heroes battling an evil Galactic Empire, and he briefed Mollo to design costumes that would not resemble the stereotpyical "spacey" look of earlier science fiction productions such as "Flash Gordon" — " I don't want the audience to notice any of the costumes. I just want to see light versus dark." The aim was to make Lucas's fantasy universe appear authentic — Mollo considered that his total ignorance of science fiction was advantageous in achieving this. Lucas provided Mollo with sketches and concept art by Ralph McQuarrie to work from, working McQuarrie's designs for Imperial stormtroopers and the malevolent character of Darth Vader into functional costumes for actors to wear. McQuarrie's image of Darth Vader had developed from Samurai armour, and Mollo built up a costume using a combination of clerical robes, a motorcycle suit, a German military helmet and a gas mask from Bermans and Nathans costumiers in Camden Town. Mollo intentionally designed the uniforms of Imperial officers to resemble German Nazi officers' uniforms; by contrast, the heroes of the film were dressed in costumes resembling Wild West outfits. One of Mollo's biggest challenges on "Star Wars" was to create a plethora of exotic aliens to feature in the Mos Eisley Cantina scene. Mollo worked with George Lucas to compile a chart of visual designs for a range of character types. He collaborated with make-up artist Stuart Freeborn, who designed the masks and prosthetics to match each of the costumes, along with Doug Beswick, Rick Baker and Phil Tippett.
In addition to the standard TIE/ln fighter (also available as the TIE Light Duty training craft, as seen in the "Jump to Lightspeed" expansion pack to "Star Wars Galaxies"), a variety of other TIE craft appear throughout the films. Darth Vader flies a TIE Advanced x1; its prototype precursor, the TIE Advanced v1, was retroactively featured in "Star Wars Rebels" (the v1's variable-geometry wings, like Darth Maul's shuttle "Scimitar"'s, were inspired by Ralph McQuarrie's original sketches for the x1). "The Empire Strikes Back" introduces a TIE shuttle and TIE/sa bombers, which ferry Captain Needa (Michael Culver) to Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer and bomb asteroids in the hunt for the "Millennium Falcon", respectively. Both TIE craft have a design that stems from an unused "TIE boarding craft" concept developed for "A New Hope". The TIE bomber's double-hull design led ILM's modelmakers to dub the ship a "double chili dog" fighter. The TIE/sa was also the inspiration for the triple-hulled TIE lander, featured in "Star Wars" #60 and in "Star Wars: Complete Locations". TIE/IN interceptors — faster TIE fighters with dagger-shaped wings and four laser cannons — appear at various points in "Return of the Jedi". Two scales of TIE interceptor models were used during filming. In the "Legends" continuity, red modified TIE interceptors are also used by the Emperor's Royal Guards, as featured in "Rage of the Wookiees", another expansion of "Star Wars Galaxies". "The Force Awakens" features First Order TIE/fo "space superiority fighters" (this definition was later adapted to the TIE/sf and TIE/ln, too) that have deflector shields and Special Forces TIE/sf fighters with heavier weapons, a hyperdrive, and shields. "Flatter, fang-like" TIE striker atmospheric fighters appear in "Rogue One" (2016). "" also features the TIE silencer, the Advanced-like personal starfighter of Kylo Ren.
Star Trek is an American space opera media franchise based on the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. The first television series, simply called "Star Trek" and now referred to as """", debuted in 1966 and aired for three seasons on the television network NBC. It followed the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the starship USS "Enterprise", a space exploration vessel, built by the United Federation of Planets in the twenty-third century. The "Star Trek" canon of the franchise includes "The Original Series", an animated series, five spin-off television series, the film franchise, and further adaptations in several media.
Kryptonopolis is also the home of Jor-El and Lara, the parents of Kal-El. When Jor-El's researches discover that Krypton is fated to explode, Jor-El constructs an escape rocket for his young son. Jor-El launches Kal-El (the future Superman) into space shortly before the destruction of Krypton. Kryptonopolis is also destroyed in the explosion.
A YT-2400 light freighter also appeared within the "Star Wars Rebels" Season 3 episode "Iron Squadron". It was piloted by Mart Mattin, who was a nephew of Rebel Commander, Jun Sato. It is unknown if the ship is meant to be same as the one in "A New Hope". According to Gary Whitta, who served as writer of "Rogue One", Dash Rendar is a controversial character among Lucasfilm Story Group, which decreases the chances of the character becoming part of Canon.
A Kryptonian, Jor-El is Superman's (birth name Kal-El) biological father, the husband of Lara, and a leading scientist on the planet Krypton before its destruction. He foresaw the planet's fate but was unable to convince his colleagues in time to save the inhabitants. Jor-El was able to save his infant son Kal-El (Superman) by sending him in a homemade spaceship towards Earth just moments before Krypton exploded. After constructing his Fortress of Solitude, Superman honored his biological parents with a statue of Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton.
Lucas decided to invest in creating his own animation company, Lucasfilm Animation, and used it to create his first in-house "Star Wars" CGI-animated series. "" (2008–2014) was introduced through a . Both were accepted to the highest level canon in 2014; all series released afterwards would also be canon. In 2014, Disney XD began airing "Star Wars Rebels", the first CGI-animated series produced in the new era. Set between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope", it follows a band of rebels as they fight the Galactic Empire and helped close some of the arcs in "The Clone Wars". The animated microseries "Star Wars Forces of Destiny" debuted in 2017, focusing on the female characters of the franchise. The animated series "Star Wars Resistance" debuted in late 2018, is anime-inspired, and focuses on a young Resistance pilot shortly before "The Force Awakens".
Vader appears in the first anthology film "Rogue One", played by Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous, with James Earl Jones once again voicing the character. In this film, Vader meets with Imperial weapons engineer Orson Krennic, who asks him for an audience with the Emperor regarding the Death Star which Krennic lost command of to Tarkin. Vader refuses, however, and uses the Force to choke him as a way of putting him in his place and orders him to ensure the Death Star project has not been compromised. At the end of the film, Vader boards the disabled Rebel flagship "Profundity" with a cadre of Imperial stormtroopers and kills several Rebel soldiers as he attempts to recover the plans. However, the Alderaanian blockade runner "Tantive IV" (which was docked with the "Profundity") escapes with the plans, setting the stage for the events of "A New Hope".
There are several differences between the fighting machines as described in Wells' novel and those in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film, which come from an undisclosed alien world. In this version the tripods were long ago brought to Earth, having been buried underground sometime in its distant past. The aliens instead travel in capsules to their buried machines by some kind of "beaming" process resembling lightning (from where or what is never revealed), which transports them underground. The lightning containing the capsules travel faster than the human eye can see, and the unearthing of the first fighting machine suggests they may have each been kept in something similar to a cylinder (which might have been part of a rocket or other transportation that brought them to Earth long ago). In a published interview screenwriter David Koepp stated his belief that they were planted by these extraterrestrials as a part of some kind of alien "contingency plan" (said plan never being revealed to the audience).
In the Disney attraction "", guests can travel inside an incomplete Death Star during one of the randomized ride sequences. In the original Star Tours, a Death Star III is seen and destroyed during the ride sequence by the New Republic. Leland Chee originally created the third "Death Star" to explain why a "Death Star" is present on the "Star Tours" ride when both of the stations in the movies were destroyed. The station being built near the Forest Moon of Endor like the second "Death Star" before .It is similar to an original concept for "Return of the Jedi", where two "Death Star"s would have been built near Had Abbadon (then the Imperial capital world). The "Habitation" spheres, based on the Imperials' suspicious claims that they were designed strictly for peaceful purposes, were suggested by some fans to have been the origin for the Death Star III. This was later revealed to be the case in Part 2 of the StarWars.com Blog series "The Imperial Warlords: Despoilers of an Empire". In the "Legends" game "Tiny Death Star", a random HoloNet entry states that one of the residents of the "Death Star" is simply staying there until he can afford to stay at the third "Death Star".
Kenner and AMT created a playset and a model, respectively, of the first Death Star. In 2005 and 2008, Lego released models of Death Star II and Death Star I, respectively.
In 1979, Palitoy created a heavy card version of the Death Star as a playset for the vintage range of action figures in the UK, Australia and Canada. Both Death Stars are part of different Micro Machines three-packs. 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. Hasbro released a Death Star model that transforms into a Darth Vader mech. Estes Industries released a flying model rocket version.
"" features Starkiller Base, a planet converted into a superweapon built by the First Order. Significantly larger than either the first or second Death Star, and unlike either of those cost-prohibitive space stations, this superweapon cut-costs by terraforming an existing planet and draws its fire power directly from a sun (by extracting a kind of Dark Energy called Quintessence and turning it into another type of dark energy called Phantom Energy), but it requires time to draw enough energy. Once fired, it has the power to destroy up to five planets within the same star system simultaneously, making it a far deadlier superweapon than the Death Star. General Hux gave an intense speech while Starkiller Base demonstrated its lethality by obliterating the five planets of the Hosnian Prime system (the location of the Republic government, which rotates every few years), the cataclysm witnessed by Han Solo, Chewbacca, Rey and Finn from Maz Kanata's castle. After Rey was captured by Kylo Ren, he interrogated her within the base. Han, Chewbacca and Finn approached the base at light-speed because the Starkiller's shield kept out anything going under the speed of light. They found Rey and successfully lowered the protective shields, enabling an X-wing assault led by Poe Dameron and Nien Numb to destroy the planet-converted superweapon, with Poe firing the crucial, destructive shots. The name Starkiller Base paid homage to the early drafts of the original Star Wars film, referring to Luke Skywalker's original name as Luke Starkiller.
The anthology film "Rogue One" focuses on a band of Rebels stealing the plans for the first Death Star prior to the events of "A New Hope". The Death Star project was overseen by Orson Krennic, the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial Military. Under Krennic's supervision, the project was beset by constant delays, and he forcibly recruited weapons designer Galen Erso (the father of Jyn Erso, the movie's main protagonist) to complete the design; nevertheless, it was another fifteen years before the Death Star was operational. The Death Star's primary laser was powered by kyber crystals mined from the desert moon of Jedha, and is first used to destroy Jedha City both as a response to a violent insurgency on the planet, and as a display of the Death Star's operational status to restore the Empire's confidence in the project. Grand Moff Tarkin assumes control over the Death Star while Krennic investigates security breaches in the design project. It is subsequently revealed that Galen discreetly sabotaged the design by building a vulnerability into the reactor. This is the same vulnerability that Luke Skywalker takes advantage of during the events of "A New Hope". After the Death Star plans are stolen from the Scarif vault, Tarkin fires the Death Star laser on the base killing Krennic, as well as Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor.