Alderaan Shield Significance

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-11-01 05:04pm

Unless ytour name is Darkstar..

But I digress. The truth of the matter is that even ignoreing the EU it is very hard to not have a shield over Alderaan. The prevelance of massive shield sysems in the movies its self does make the argument moot.

The Death Star is Sci-fi's first planet killer, As such dening that it has the firepower is deniing the object it danger factor. The Death Star blew up a planet, Sheilded or not it really doesn;t make much of a difference.

Rightous Fist Of Heaven · Post by **Rightous Fist Of Heaven** » 2004-11-01 08:01pm

Darth Wong wrote:If one insists on ignoring the obvious visible manifestation of a shield as well as the entire EU, one must remember that:

A) Hoth had an area-effect shield
B) TPM proved that you can link area-effect shields together
C) Endor had a global shield as described in the novelization.
D) Alderaan was said to have a planetary defense system as strong as any in the entire Empire.

Add those up, and you have an Alderaan planetary shield.

Yes, that is obvious to anyone with a functioning brain, but like Darkstar and his band of zealous followers, they lack that extremely important part. Im actually in the progress of having a debate about this with a moron over at ST.com, he insists that Endor did not have a shield (the first quote from the novelization is dismissed due to contradiction with the movie, the second one due to the fact that it didnt explicitly state it having a shield) and the fact that the shield needs to be shut down in order for anyone to land on the planet is due to the fact that inbound vessels enter the "projection" cone of the shield shown on the hologram and ride inside it to the surface of the planet. Ofcourse, he doesnt bother to think that this would make traditional landing nigh impossible. He doesnt bother to think that this would be pointless. He doesnt bother to consider that the shield would need to be shut down more than once for this to happen.

*sigh* What would I give for these dumbass twits to convert to rational thinking.

DarkSilver · Post by **DarkSilver** » 2004-11-01 08:03pm

I beg not to be misunderstood in my posts, I am not in any way, shape or form denying the lethality of the Death Star, nor the impressive amount of power it must generate to be able to destroy a planet by any efficient means. I attempt to take nothing away from the Star Wars Canon by any of my statements, and if it seems that I do, I apologize before hand.

All I am saying, concerning the nature of the Superlaser, is that there may be more than one way for a energy weapon to cause the release of explosive power other than DET, be it theoretical or practicle.

But such subjects are beyond me to enter into debate, besides, such would be taking this thread off topic.

Suffice it to say, I did not mean any of my above posts to imply that Alderann had no planetary shield, or attempt to disprove said shield exsisted around the planet.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2004-11-01 08:33pm

Isolder74 wrote:The Death Star is Sci-fi's first planet killer,

Off-topic nitpick: that's not true. The first thing that comes to my mind is Star Trek's Doomsday Device. That was a planet-killer in sci-fi before the Death Star. I dunno if any planet-killers in sci-fi ever showed the destruction of a planet on-screen before Star Wars, though.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-11-01 08:41pm

DarkSilver wrote:
All I am saying, concerning the nature of the Superlaser, is that there may be more than one way for a energy weapon to cause the release of explosive power other than DET, be it theoretical or practicle.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tec ... #DeathStar

There are also a few other things to think about.

If it had used something other than DET, we would have seen a delay between impact and explosion (much like we saw when Species 8472 blasted that planet- it was shot, the blast disappeared, then it exploded from the inside out).

There was absolutely no delay, no visible matter turning to energy, and every single bit of visible evidence suggests a DET explosion.

Cyborg Stan · Post by **Cyborg Stan** » 2004-11-01 10:54pm

Mad wrote:Off-topic nitpick: that's not true. The first thing that comes to my mind is Star Trek's Doomsday Device. That was a planet-killer in sci-fi before the Death Star. I dunno if any planet-killers in sci-fi ever showed the destruction of a planet on-screen before Star Wars, though.

I'm pretty sure I saw a multiple planet killer in some Flash Gordon DVD. (It was the kind you get at a dollar store.)

Mind you, I thought it was much more interesting that the ship can apparently cross from a remote galaxy in the universe to Earth within only a few hours on a Newtonian rocket engine, and then in the next episode while delivering a critical vote to Mars from Earth it takes them over three days to get there.

nightmare · Post by **nightmare** » 2004-11-02 01:30am

That animation really points out the "line of sight" limitation point made by Darth Wong to Darkstar. Part of the planet is illuminated where it should be impossible by line of sight.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-11-02 08:55am

DarkSilver wrote:I beg not to be misunderstood in my posts, I am not in any way, shape or form denying the lethality of the Death Star, nor the impressive amount of power it must generate to be able to destroy a planet by any efficient means. I attempt to take nothing away from the Star Wars Canon by any of my statements, and if it seems that I do, I apologize before hand.

All I am saying, concerning the nature of the Superlaser, is that there may be more than one way for a energy weapon to cause the release of explosive power other than DET, be it theoretical or practicle.

But such subjects are beyond me to enter into debate, besides, such would be taking this thread off topic.

Suffice it to say, I did not mean any of my above posts to imply that Alderann had no planetary shield, or attempt to disprove said shield exsisted around the planet.

Shit dude, you don't need to sound like a disclaimer at the end of an ad or something.

J_Cayman · Post by **J_Cayman** » 2004-11-02 12:34pm

Isolder74 wrote: The Death Star is Sci-fi's first planet killer, As such dening that it has the firepower is deniing the object it danger factor. The Death Star blew up a planet, Sheilded or not it really doesn;t make much of a difference.

Marvin

1958 -> Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

Of course there were previous ones...

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2004-11-02 12:35pm

J_Cayman wrote:
Isolder74 wrote: The Death Star is Sci-fi's first planet killer, As such dening that it has the firepower is deniing the object it danger factor. The Death Star blew up a planet, Sheilded or not it really doesn;t make much of a difference.
Marvin

1958 -> Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

Of course there were previous ones...

Ok ok I give on that point

J_Cayman · Post by **J_Cayman** » 2004-11-02 12:37pm

Isolder74 wrote:
J_Cayman wrote:
Isolder74 wrote: The Death Star is Sci-fi's first planet killer, As such dening that it has the firepower is deniing the object it danger factor. The Death Star blew up a planet, Sheilded or not it really doesn;t make much of a difference.
Marvin

1958 -> Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

Of course there were previous ones...
Ok ok I give on that point

Thanks, I've been waiting over a week to add something constructive...

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2004-11-02 03:57pm

HAh.. Even tiny out of the way nightclubs in Star Wars carry Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulators (either AOTC VD or ITW:AOTC, IIRC)! Further proof of the limitless superiority of Star Wars

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-11-03 03:55am

It's Space Modulator.

ANGELUS · Post by **ANGELUS** » 2004-11-06 01:11pm

Darth Wong wrote:D) Alderaan was said to have a planetary defense system as strong as any in the entire Empire.

Excuse me guys, where was this said? (it's a legitimate question, I honestly don't know)

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-11-06 01:12pm

ANGELUS wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:D) Alderaan was said to have a planetary defense system as strong as any in the entire Empire.
Excuse me guys, where was this said? (it's a legitimate question, I honestly don't know)

Star Wars Novelization.

ANGELUS · Post by **ANGELUS** » 2004-11-06 01:13pm

Ghost Rider wrote:
ANGELUS wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:D) Alderaan was said to have a planetary defense system as strong as any in the entire Empire.
Excuse me guys, where was this said? (it's a legitimate question, I honestly don't know)
Star Wars Novelization.

Got it, thanks.

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2004-11-06 02:15pm

ANGELUS wrote:
Ghost Rider wrote:
ANGELUS wrote: Excuse me guys, where was this said? (it's a legitimate question, I honestly don't know)
Star Wars Novelization.
Got it, thanks.

To be a tad more specific, you can find it after Alderaan is destroyed and Vader is reporting to Tarkin. He makes the comment more for how the superlaser performed.

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2004-11-06 05:10pm

So can the glow around Leia's body ( when she's fired on by Stormies on the Tantive IV ) be used as evidence for personnal shielding devices

?

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2004-11-06 05:28pm

The Nomad wrote:So can the glow around Leia's body ( when she's fired on by Stormies on the Tantive IV ) be used as evidence for personnal shielding devices ?

Joke answer: YES!

Serious answer: Of course not.

But noting odd things about shields, in the RotJ DVD, when the DS II fires its superlaser at the Mon Cal ship, it takes a little longer to make it go boom than the VHS version. Does this mean a Mon Cal cruiser has the shields to take a superlaser hit from a small time?! (it reminds me of the Alderaan incident)

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2004-11-06 05:38pm

Sort of. It does not make sense to hit the ship with a planet-killing blast--just hit it with enough energy to safely overpower the shields and destroy the ship cleanly. The shields may well resist that level of firepower for a fraction of a second.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-11-06 06:31pm

Considering how the DS fired several shots, I would guess that the DS's superlaser was set at a fraction of it's full power, just enough to kill a capship.