If you can overlook the fact that the weapon installation was responsible for the deaths of billions of people and an instrument in spreading fear and obedience of a totalitarian regime across the galaxy, the Death Star is a massive achievement in engineering.
Considering the Empire’s super weapon was confused to be a small moon, it’s hard to imagine how it was built before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. Sure, Rogue One shed some light on its construction, but it was one fleeting moment.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Fans and brothers Isaac and Benjamin Botkin recently collaborated in making a small film that showed just how the Death Star was constructed, using the magic of time lapse. Check it out in the video above!
Isaac made the visuals in Lightwave 3D, a popular graphics program commonly used for film and television effects. Benjamin composed the score, mimicking the epic style of John Williams’ iconic work.
The result is pretty stunning for a short fan film. The construction of the Death Star is glossed over in Rogue One, A New Hope, and Return of the Jedi, and though we get a sense of the installation’s scale it’s hard to gauge how much work went into it.
The video reveals how huge of an undertaking it must have been, requiring millions of people just to finish it. Seeing the panels come together to provide the bones of the structure, then seeing the vast interior being fleshed out, followed by the outer layers, really puts it into perspective.
Sure, it might have been a terrifying weapon capable of obliterating civilizations with the snap of a finger. But it is an engineering marvel! Who knows how many different construction workers had to be transported in to complete work on the Imperial superweapon.
These kinds of details boggle the mind, and really makes us appreciate the diabolical work of Galen Erso and Orson Krennic that much more.
