User:Kwenn/Continuity

After reading a Blog over at The Official Site purporting to detail a number of "inconsistencies" in the Expanded Universe brought on by the Prequel Trilogy, I thought I'd list these supposed discrepancies and explain just why they aren't as such. Surprisingly, for such a large entity, the EU is very well kept, especially with wise Jedi Masters like Ryan Kaufman, Leland Chee, Dan Wallace and Pablo Hidalgo keeping the peace.

The Death Star
Ooh, this is a biggie. OK, backstory: obviously, the Death Star first appeared and was destroyed in A New Hope, and its backstory was later fleshed out in the Jedi Academy trilogy, introducing the Maw Installation and the Death Star Prototype. Fair enough. Then we are treated to Attack of the Clones years later, into which Lucas inserted a small scene featuring Count Dooku transporting plans for the so-called "Ultimate Weapon" from Geonosis to his Master on Coruscant. Now it appears the Geonosians are responsible for creating the Death Star&mdash;backed up by a tongue-in-cheek reference to the musings of Jay and Silent Bob by Lucas on the DVD commentary. So, we have a moon-sized mess, right?

Not so. Retcons are wonderful things, and can easily sort out this kind of thing. Now, the origins of the Death Star begin with Raith Sienar's superlaser-less Expeditionary Battle Planetoid, introduced to an awed Wilhuff Tarkin in Rogue Planet. This design was taken by Tarkin to Palpatine, presumably around the same time the Geonosians were developing their ultimate weapon, either for the Separatist movement or actually, unknowingly for Palpatine himself. The ultimate weapon also saw a number of off-shoots, such as the Planet Killer destroyed by Mace Windu and the secret Republic-funded superlaser that destroyed Equanus and the weapon itself when it misfired into the system's star. As of 20 BBY, the designs for the Ultimate Weapon were apparently being advanced on Zaadja, though that facility was destroyed by Tohno. Later in the Clone Wars, the 501st Legion was tasked with retrieving a power source from Mygeeto for use with Palpatine's superlaser&mdash;though no specific details, such as whether there was actually a functional model at that time, are known.

What is known, however, is that the framework of a Death Star was under construction following the formation of the Galactic Empire, since Palpatine and Darth Vader oversee its construction from onboard a Venator-class Star Destroyer. There is some debate over the placement of this scene; Revenge of the Sith's final montage allows for a shift in time, so it may actually be set a number of years after Obi-Wan hands over baby Luke to the Lars&mdash;although bear in mind Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader introduces the Imperator-class Star Destroyer shortly after the end of the movie, so it is unlikely Vader and Palpatine would be using a Venator model for too long after that point.

Whatever the case, construction had begun. Tarkin was charged with overseeing the operation, and slaves were gathered from Kashyyyk to help build the battle station. However, years of sabotage and supply problems would mean the Death Star, presumably only needing around four years to achieve completion judging by the timespan of the second Death Star's construction, is a work in progress for almost two decades.

But what of the Maw Installation? Well, that story hasn't been dropped; rather, it is here the superlaser is developed, along with the proof-of-concept model known as the Death Star Prototype, which features a working superlaser. With the superlaser fully operational, the two projects were combined, and the Death Star finally completed over Despayre prior to the events of A New Hope. The Death Star's first kill was Despayre itself, shortly followed by its last, Alderaan.

The forthcoming novel, Star Wars: Death Star, will no doubt explore this convoluted history in full detail.

Death Star plans
Leading on from the previous Death Star discussion, here we have a number of stories all purporting to explain how the Death Star plans were beamed aboard Tantive IV, leading to the frenetic battle that opens A New Hope.

Perhaps the most well-known account is the subject of the Dark Forces videogame, in which Rebel agent Kyle Kararn steals a set of partial plans from an Imperial research facility on Dantua. Katarn delivered the plans to the Rebel Alliance, and followed up by foiling the Dark Trooper Project. However, these plans were, as mentioned, only partial, and no weakness in the battle station's design could be gleaned from them.

The Star Wars: X-wing videogame also presents a scenario in which the Death Star plans are recovered, this time intercepted in an Imperial transmission by a Rebel outpost on the asteroid AX-235. However, this scenario is inconsistent with the opening crawl of A New Hope, which states the Alliance's "first major victory" was secured in the battle that saw the capture of the plans. It was later revealed that AX-235 did not recieve the full plans, or only learned of their existence, and the plans stolen during the Battle of Dantua were those beamed aboard Tantive IV.

Recently, a new element has been added to the mix, again in the form of a videogame plot. Star Wars Battlefront II sees a jailbreak onboard the newly-completed Death Star, during which partial schematics are stolen by Rebel rioters and beamed to two separate locations; Tantive IV and a Rebel base on Polis Massa. The 501st Legion responded by storming Polis Massa, though the plans were again beamed out of Imperial reach. Finally, the plans were tracked to Tantive IV, which has by now recieved two sets of data.

And finally, Rebel Dawn reveals that Bria Tharen and her Red Hand Squadron beamed another set of plans to Tantive IV from Toprawa, at the cost of their lives. These plans, for the superlaser, were stolen by Havet Storm and passed on to Tharen's unit. Presumably the plans are collated onboard into a full schematic, which is then stored in R2-D2's memory banks by Princess Leia.

Additionally, the existence of the Death Star was likely made known to the Alliance following the Death Star jailbreak, though a wounded Rebel soldier rescued on Ralltiir later informed Leia of this new superweapon.

More soon....


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