Endor Holocaust Poll

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Wars
#1

So, the key here is the question is whether or not you believe the Endor Holocaust theory is accurate.

The basic gist of the theory is that, given the size of the second Death Star, its orbit around Endor and the laws of gravity, when the Rebels destroyed the Second Death Star there would have been a massive rain of debris and huge chunks of durasteel and broken Star Destroyers etc. that would have acted much like the asteroid that killed the Dinosaurs. In a matter of days of blowing the Second Death Star up all those fuzzy Ewoks (whether loved or hated) were barbecue.

I have heard (and read) a hell of a lot about this issue, and seen the cannocity argued both ways. I’ve scrolled through pages of measurements based off known values compared to angular distances and extrapolated sizes using complicated math. I have heard theories of miniature black holes appearing to suck in the debris, to saying most of the debris would be sucked into the planet of Endor (because technically the planet we think of with the giant trees and Ewoks is the forest moon of Endor).

In the end, I just wanted to know what the Alpacas on the forums thought. In the friendliest people of Sci-Fi way, of course.

#2

I agree–the shockwave alone should have done something - to say nothing of the debris. And the DS was orbiting the forest moon of Endor (that where the shield was housed), so the debris from the explosion should have ripped the planet a new one

…however…this is Star Wars…so everything is fine…yaaay!!

#3

Fascinating issue. Maybe the most profound one since the Clerks independent contractor question. What do the stories say happened?

#4

Never heard of this theory. Besides it involves math…and [barbie voice] “Math is hard!” [/barbie voice]

#5

searches memory, because I’m too lazy to travel home to where my books are, or search online

Lessee,

One could make the case that the first Death Star being destroyed around the gas giant of Yavin didn’t result on total devastation of Yavin IV, but then again, I don’t think the first Death Star was in orbit of Yavin IV.

The Endor movies with Cindel and Wicket etc. are out, because they are set roughly during the time of The Empire Strikes Back.

The fact they have their victory celebration on the planet below, rather than the onboard the ships seems to suggest their wasn’t an immediate fear of global devastation.

The Jedi Apprentice Trilogy makes mention of Kyp Durron going to Endor and trying to find some dark side emanations from Darth Vader from where Luke burned him on the pyre, but didn’t find anything since Vader had repented.

In the X-Wing novels by Michael Stackpole, Wedge Antillies visits the Imperial Museum of Natural History (or something close) and it make some mention that the Rebels destroyed life on Endor using their Death Star, but the exhibit was made as a part of Imperial Propoganda, so it’s source is questionable.

The Truce at Bakura is set within a few weeks after the Battle of Endor, and it doesn’t make any mention of huge amounts of debris hitting the moon.

I think there were also some Young Jedi Apprentice books with Jacen and Jaina Solo and Lowbacca that might have dealt around the idea, but I never read those, just heard of them.

#6

Here’s some simple links if anyone’s curious to read up on it:

From Wookiepedia:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Endor_Holocaust

Star Wars Technical Commentary (Pretty comprehensive, with screen caps, decidedly pro-holocaust)
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/holocaust.html

Download a rebuttal PDF
http://www.swrpgnetwork.com/files/endor/

and if you’re a fan of TV Tropes
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoEndorHolocaust

I couldn’t find the one I read years ago with all the screen caps and math, but it’s out there somewhere.

#7

Well, Wookiepedia clears it up for me. I say it came out mostly OK. Certainly not a holocaust.

#8

the moon did have atmo… so… could most of the debris be small enough by the time they reach the surface without doing catastrophic damage?

#9

The general argument is that the amount of debris (even if broken into little pieces) from the battlestation would have given an ice-age like result similar to a supervolcano or dinosaur killing asteriod.

#10

but those Ewoks has so much Fur… they won’t mind an iceage :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

Don’t be dissin’ Barbie, especially Secret Agent Barbie.

#12

The DSII was 900 km across. It’s unrealistic to imagine that even a fleet of starships could intercept every large piece of debris before it hit the moon. And even they did, millions of tiny pieces of debris raining down on the moon would devastate the ecosystem and probably wipe out all life. Not to mention that the exotic matter that powered the superlaser probably would have irradiated everything in the system. Bye-bye, Ewoks.

#13

LOL…not dissin’ on Secret Agent Barbie, only Teen Talk Barbie (1994). :smiley:

#14

Well if Han and his commandos had simply ‘TURNED OFF’ the feild generator on the moon instead of blowing the Frakkin thing up, they could have used it to sheild the moon from all of the debris.

But of course Lucas was never one to consider the long term consenquences of a characters actions in his stories, or to consider less flashy but far more clever answers to problems faced by the intrepid heroes.

Imagery over content, that is the Directors answer to everything. So…

“Lets have the Ewoks partying at the end!” Frak reality. :rolleyes:

#15

Have to believe, that unless the Rebel fleet were total douches, that they’d stay around to clean up. Blast larger chunks if not tow them into safe orbits.

Never mind the big question of why the DSII wasn’t built at an Imperial port facility or why the Rebels were to dumb to suspect that being built were it was couldn’t possibly be a trap.

#16

The first one was built in the middle of nowhere as well, the idea being higher on secrecy than on efficiency.

Another part of the question whether or not the rebels were douches is the argument of how high/low the orbit of the DSII was, and how much junk would fly towards Endor at what speed. Some people argue that the DSII was in a very low orbit being held up by some sort of repulsor field and that it would have started falling to Endor without that field, therefore most of the junk would fall back to the moon. Other people think it must have been high enough to be in a self-sustaining orbit because Ackbar never mentions a repulsor field holding it up. If it is in a low orbit, and the pieces are thrown out at high velocity, the Rebels might have only had minutes to move the junk away from the moon.

And, for the record, I hold that the theory isn’t true, and I’m still looking for my hand waving magic solution that saves Endor. Even to the point of a mini-black hole opening and sucking in most of the debris before collapsing.

#17

Perhaps the debris was swallowed by a gaping ‘plot hole’…:smiley:

#18

I like that idea. Any idea of how to make one to put our radioactive waste from Yucca mountain in?

#19

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository is still empty and funding has been reduced, and it may never open now.

#20

I rephrase, any idea how to make one to dump nuclear waste into so that we don’t have to come up with sites or have problems with making nuclear energy more avaialble?