Star Wars Minute 115: The Actual Blowing Up

←Previous Minute

Next Minute→

Date

November 8th, 2013

Summary

The Death Star bursts into a supernova, creating a spectacular heavenly display.

Guests

Tim Kreider

Notes

Film

• What a minute this is!
• Starts with Darth Vader spinning off into space after being clipped by Tag or Bink and ends with Luke Skywalker arriving safely back at the rebel base on Yavin 4 after blowing up The Death Star.

Podcast

Note - The hosts misspeak in this podcast episode and confuse Yavin, Yavin 4 and the moons of Yavin / Yavin 4. The various points have been amended in the notes below.

• There is a shot of Chewbacca in this sequence, although he does look like he's just woken up - maybe he had a nap after they left Yavin 4. Or he knew that he wasn't going to get a medal if they won.
• The proton torpedoes and how they work.
  • They make a 90 degree turn into an exhaust port.
  • The gravity on The Death Star plays a role in this.
  • In the pilot briefing before the attack the torpedoes are shown taking this path so it was certainly part of the plan.
  • Are the torpedoes heat seeking?
  • There is no real consensus on this matter in Star Wars fandom.
  • The targeting computers may be linked to the torpedoes and the distance they travel before turning "south".
  • If so, does this mean that Luke is controlling them with his mind (using The Force) when he turns off his targeting computer?
  • Or is it just to do with when he (or Ben) fires / releases them?
  • They're certainly very cool and are not seen very often in Star Wars.
• Luke's face when he fires the torpedoes reflects someone that has just had a 'welcome release'. There are a lot of connotations in this scene.
• The rebel spaceships then flee The Death Star. The Millennium Falcon, Luke, Wedge and the mysterious Brown Squadron Y-wing. There was terrible attrition for the rebels in the battle of Yavin (90%).
• A nice detail would have been seeing multiple Imperial spaceships fleeing The Death Star as well. However they didn't know what had happened, even though the rebel ships had plenty of time to fly away.
• The last shot before The Death Star blows up is Tarkin with a very pensive look on his face.
• The Death Star explosions in Star Wars and Return of the Jedi are very different processes; the RotJ process is much slower. Or maybe Tarkin is the last person left on The Death Star.
• Presumably there are still Imperial Officers on The Death Star pulling levers and getting ready to fire the laser.
• Referenced: O. Henry's The Gift of the Maji. The Death Star blowing up Yavin 4 just before The Death Star itself exploded, or the explosion of The Death Star somehow destroying Yavin 4 at the same time.
• Luke is mouthing something to himself just before Ben speaks to him for the last time. "Please, don't let me hear any more Ben Kenobi."
• Luke's X-wing is bouncing gently up and down as he flys away.
• Ben's line is used in the Star Wars arcade game when (if) you blow up The Death Star.

Meta Minute

• 26:34 podcast episode length.

 Tim became obsessed with explosions between the ages of 10 and 12 (or the ages of 10 and 42) because of this scene.
 He created a great drawing of the Death Star explosion.
 This image became very important to his sub-conscious.
 It is why he is here (on Star Wars Minute) - its all about the Death Star explosion.

• Talking about the actual blowing up:
  • It is the same chemical composition used for when the Jawas attach the restraining bolts to the droids.
  • However it is a much bigger explosion that is shot 300 frames per second (so very slowed down).
  • Also, the explosion is shot from below so that the fragments spread out and fall down.
  • The explosion is superimposed over a model (The Death Star model is only basketball size).
  • There is plenty of footage on YouTube of people blowing up Death Stars.
  • Pete had a Death Star model that was just eight grey segments to assemble into a sphere. It was the lamest model ever; no wonder people blew them up.
  • In the special edition a purplish shockwave ring is added to the explosion.
  • Tim is anti this addition as:
    • a) Its swiped from a Star Trek explosion.
    • b) More importantly, it ruins the effect of the tension being released (that is, the long still camera shot of the explosion fading to nothingness) by adding too much violence to the scene.
• Tim talks about drawing explosions:
  • Its very difficult to portray the kinetic energy of an explosion in a drawing.
  • Tim's preferred genre of drawings is 'space explosions / battles', and he's very good at them. They're his specialty.

Quotes

• Tim: This is the minute I signed on for!
• Pete: Impersonates The Death Star blowing up.
• Alex: Its not a suck port.

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2013/11/08/minute-115-the-actual-blowing-up/

---

Back to the list of episodes