Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:
How does "the Good guys partying at nightime" override Saxton's notion that the darkness was caused by "dust" in the atmosphere. Couldn't it have been that the dust was saturating the sky, but it was getting towards nighttime anyway? Between the two, the sky's dark.
Would YOU throw a party at night a substantial amount of time after the DS2 exploded and you knew it was going to kill the moon and everything on it? (I also don't buy that the Ewoks were dumb enough to *NOT* notice what was going on, and that they would be so friendly about things with the Rebels.)
Its not really the "Good guys partying at night time" that contradicts Saxton, its the fact that both the script and novelization SAY it occured at night. The debris from the Death Star would have started affecting the moon minutes after it exploded. Saxton already said that its probable the Rebel fleet protected the area around that Ewok village, which would account for the lack of effects. However, the MOOD
Regardless of the implications of the celebration: whether or not there was dust in the atmosphere, though, the darkness was due to night time, not the dust itself. And both sources also cited fireworks (which Saxton attributed to "shooting down debris") being released by fighters.
This alone does not disprove the Endor Holocaust, but it suggests some of Saxton's supporting interpretations post-explosion were incorrect (the actual data and observations involved in the death star's destruction itself remain unchanged by these details) and is suggestive that the holocaust itself did not occur (which is itself only an indirect implication, as Saxton also notes.)
When the DS blew up and spewed its own fragments all over the place, THAT by itself states the Holocaust would occur unless something (and given the magnitude of that disaster, it'd have to be something BIG) stopped it. Also remember that in the worst emergency, even the canon novelization is under the canon visual...
What in the movies proves that Endor having multiple shield generators is impossible (or a full planetary shield - something Saxton himself noted in the "Endor Holocaust" page.)
You propose the planetary shield as a defense. It is one of the better theories. Certainly it is MUCH better than the Rebels somehow managing to set up their own planetary shield in the region in time, or somehow manging to stop the debris themselves.
What he is proposing is that the REbels blew OUT a single section of the Endor PLANETARY SHIELD - the one covering the area around the Death Star and the Death Star itself, and the Rebels screened the gap itself. Why would the destruction of one generator neccessarily knock down the whole planetary shield? (Or are you saying the novelization is in fact wrong and the planet was NOT covered by the same shield covering the Death Star, or that there was only a single generator protecting both? Are you denying the official evidence that some if not most planetary shields encompass multiple generators?)
But Endor of itself is not particularly important. It has no industry, no agriculture, no real value to humans. It is only important because the Death Star happens to be right next to it. Thus the idea that the Empire would spend special resources just protecting it is silly, IMHO.
Naboo nor Alderaan were important, and THEY had planetary shields (and if its to be believed, most core worlds were similarily defended - like Caamas.) Nar Shaddaa is not important (in a military sense) yet it has a
planetary shield. Kessel, IIRC as well had a shield generator. And there are strategically important worlds that do not have a shield at all (Balmorra from Dark Empire 2, for example, even though Balmorra was a major manufacturing facility. I don't recall Corellia having a planetary shield, either, but I could be wrong there. And there's Mon Calamari - one fo the Rebel's most IMPORTANT shipyards both during the civil war and after - it never once used planetary shields when the Reborn Emperor attacked, nor when Daala attacked.) Obviously, your criteria is not a valid enough reason to assume that multiple shield generators would not exist.
Besides which, if the Illustrated guide to the SW universe is to be believed, Endor's system had other that were mineral rich, and the Empire had mining facilities established there. They could very well have intended to build MULTIPLE Death Stars (or other warships) there as a secret shipyard, which would technically make it an important facility.
And even IF we conclude that the planet is in fact useless strategically, so what? The Emperor could very well have placed a full planetary shield network there to give it the APPEARANCE of importance to the Rebels as part of the trap. Planetary shield networks are not exactly an uncommon technology, and the resource investment is a trivial issue for the Empire (and if the Emperor wanted it, or demanded it, as the canon novelization would imply, fuck logic.)
The Coruscant shield, IIRC, had about two main shield sections. The Ukio shield system had about 30.
I believe you are correct ab out Ukio. Coruscant had two "layers" of shielding that were mostly independent of one another and they could open small sections without lowering the whole shield (plus, they have been indicated to have multiple generators - refer to Star by Star and the Vong taking down a section of Coruscant's planetary shield during their attack.) There was also Bothawui (Hand of thrawn duology - Imperial agents destroyed one section of the planetary shield, allowing other agents to stage a sneak attack on the planet itself.) In canon, we know the Hoth shield and Endor shields allowed for sections to be opened without taking down (which suggests at least two segments to it, if not more) In short, there is plenty of precedent to assume that shields can be taken down sectionally without knocking the entire thing down.
If there are two shield sections, then the one they destroyed would probably unmask about half the planet. That's way beyond the ability of the Rebel fleet to plug.
Read above. I just said (and you reinforced the assertion) that multiple sections of shielding can and do exist in both canon and official literature. You can take down specific segments without taking the whole thing down (much like with capital ships.) It doesn't NEED to have only two generators - we know Ukio had as many as thirty.
If the shield had many, many sections, then the Imperials are total morons. In that case, the Death Star should be unbreachable. There should be more than one shield sector within arc to protect the big Death Star. Protecting the Death Star, after all, is about a trillion times more important than protecting Endor. I'd gladly cluster a group of six around the main protective generator just to protect the Death Star. Who cares about the rest of the planet. Short of it going BOOM altogether, I as an Imperial don't care about it, and the Rebels have no ability to make a planet just go BOOM.
What makes you think re-angling and re-deploying shields from another generator is an easy matter, or that the Imperials weren't surprised and would instantly respond and be able to protect the Death star BEFORE the Rebel's fighters got to the second DS? Have you ever heard of overconfidence (IE Tarkin.)?
By the way, this basically amounts to you countering official evidence with your own speculation. I'd try harder if I were you.
Not to mention there were no firm evidence of further shield generators. There is no evidence that it must even require two, but if we take Coruscant as an example (no more extras than absolutely necessary,) there would be two, and Endor is still screwed.
But there IS indirect evidence to prove that ther eis, and there is (to my knowledge) NO evidence whatsoever that a single shield generator could cover both a planet and death star. We CAN conclude that because multiple shield generators are used to cover other planets, and that we know "gaps" can be opened in shield networks, that multiple shi elds exist. You are again attempting to counter official evidence with little more than speculation.
Lets reiterate the theory. Endor, for whatever reason (which we can't know for certain) was protected by the same shield the Death Star was. We know from official evidence that all known (at least to me) examples of planetary shield typically require multiple generators (this is true even of capital ships like an ISD - they have multiple generators by default and multiple facings - I fail to see why this would not be true on a larger scale.) We know that the Endor shield was capable of opening gaps in itself without lowering the entire shield (also speaking towards multiple sections and generators.) We know the REbels took down ONE generator, thus uncovering the Death STar.
The argument is that the Rebels knocked out ONE section of shielding (that protecting the Death Star and the area of Endor under it) and then positioned their fleet over that gap to minimize destructive effects.) To my knowledge, this does not contradict with ANY known direct evidence to the contrary.
The ONLY point this argument disagrees with Saxton on is whether or not Endor was protected by a single shield generator (or a network) - and there is no direct evidence to my knowledge saying that the sanctuary was protected by only a single generator (the one the Rebels destroyed) - hence it is a matter of interpretation.
However, if there is evidence that Endor AND the DS2 were both protected by a single generator, then the theory does indeed fail. (note that the key is that both MOON AND DEATH STAR msut be indicated to be protected by the shield - a source saying that the shield generator protected the Death Star does not necceasrily create a contradiction.)
The DSII is huge!
