MovieChat Forums > Rogue One (2016) Discussion > Was a "planned weakness in the Death Sta...

Was a "planned weakness in the Death Star" story really necessary?

posted 7 years ago by watcher101
27 replies | jump to latest

There's been a lot of criticism over the years about how the Death Star had a very stupid design flaw, and so to solve this, they made Rogue One to explain that away (and to make money). But seriously though. lets just think about this so-called flaw/trap.

A small one-man fighter needs to travel miles down a trench (considering the traffic beam is turned off), while guns shoot at them and enemy fighters likely attack them, then fire a proton torpedo into a tiny hole only 3 meters, somehow making a shot that causes the missiles to curve 90 degrees, and then have them travel literally miles in a perfectly straight line down a narrow shaft while exhaust is pouring out (which should push the missiles away, or even into the wall), and then hit the main reactor.

Ok, seriously, what kind of "trap" is that? The target is like impossible to hit UNLESS you're a Jedi, and even then, come on. Was there really an explanation needed? This so-called trap is so astronomically impossible that making it a "flaw" in the design actually makes more sense than Jyn's father putting this impossible to exploit weakness.

For a funny video of this, click the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agcRwGDKulw

[–] SuperFist (6) 7 years ago

Hahahahaa! I just watched this blu-ray last night and before it was halfway through, I was done with it. It was like a home work assignment or something where I had to "force" myself to watch it just so I can say, "I watched the whole thing." Only Donnie Yen kept me going. The CGI was painfully obvious as well as extremely disturbing and they could've did without it... not that it would've made me like it, but still... It's good I got this movie with Amazon Rewards Points!

[–] Karl Aksel (1451) 7 years ago

If not a trap, it absolutely would have been a stupid design flaw. Doesn't matter if you had to be super skilled to make the shot, the point is that the Death Star could be destroyed from a single shot from outside. Or from within, if someone were to infiltrate the Death Star and plant an explosive right next to the reactor.

The thing is, if we look at real life mega structures, whether military bases, battleships, even nuclear submarines, they do not have such a flaw. They have certain weak spots, sure, but a flaw such as the Death Star had is something which could potentially be triggered even by accident given enough time. It was a catastrophic weakness which absolutely did not have to be there. And really, if one was to deliberately design such a flaw, how big could that flaw be before someone would notice? What sort of trap would you expect to get away with? Placing the reactor on the outside with a big target marked "aim here"?

Edit: MC formatting still sucks

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 6 years ago

Exactly. Like a hacker's backdoor to a computer system. The harder it is to find, the better it is. The key is to know where to look. If the weakness was too obvious, you risk it being found during construction. He had to make it complicated to work.

... and beside it was not that hard to hit as young Luke arrogantly tells his fly bodies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVdhAJr1So