SPECULATION An alternative threat for ROTJ?

It's hard to think of anything more terrifying than the Death Star. "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe!". This technological terror became the most powerful force in the galaxy as the power of the Force waned at the hands of the Jedi.

In the EU they tried to top the Death Star with the galaxy gun in Dark Empire 2, World Devastators in Dark Empire, and the Hutt built Darksaber battlestation.

The Death Star is the greatest weapon of mass destruction ever conceived. You can't top perfection, you can only make it bigger.

 

Great question!

The Emperor leaks his whereabouts to the Bothans. He'll be on a ship at a certain location at a certain time. But what the Bothans don't know is the ship is a gravity well generator, and Palpatine is actually on an escort ship nearby. When the Rebel Fleet jumps through hyperspace to the coordinates they're caught in the gravity well and their ships are slowly torn apart. They can't escape into hyperspace due to the gravity. Torpedoes and blaster fire are harmlessly sucked into the gravity well. All the rebels can do is watch each other's ships break to pieces, hour after hour. Life support systems are running out. Panic ensues. But comm systems are functioning perfectly.

Palpatine, Vader, and Luke are together on the observation deck of the escort ship, watching and listening to the suffering and dying of the rebels. Luke hears their screams. The more anguished Luke becomes, the more Palpatine gloats. Instead of offering Luke's lightsaber, Palpatine offers Luke a comlink. "Join me, young Skywalker. Surrender yourself to me. Join your fleet to mine. Order your ships to surrender. Or resist and listen to them die. Choose, young Skywalker. Choose their fate!"

 

The 1980s era Marvel Comics Star Wars plots had a few epic story arcs.
In one, the entire Rebel Aliance fleet tried to "hide" in a huge sun.
Another had the Imperial Fleet try to harness a huge "energy being" then use it's electric/elaborate technology to fabricate a communications system that was "speed of thought" fast anywhere in the galaxy, anytime.
Imagine a internet connection or speed that fast? Or a cell phone?
Luke & a small squad of pilots destroyed it by posing as high tech TIE fighters.
Marvel also ran a story with The Tarkin, a massive "Death Star" like battle station/weapon.
It's strange that neither Lucas or anyone at ILM/Fox didn't advise Marvel Comics not to do such a plot for the series considering how soon; ROTJ was being released.
Vader was pretty good in the Tarkin issues too. The writing was like a script.
And no there were no Ewoks on The Tarkin.... .

 

From a current perspective (having seen all the PT movies and TCW), I would say have Palpatine revisit the cloning facilities on Kamino, only this time giving them a sample of his own DNA and creating legions of Force-sensitive clones like the Reborn in Jedi Knight II. That would have forced Luke, Obi-Wan & Yoda's hands, making Luke take on the mantle of teacher (to teach others how to use the Force and fight against Sith clones) when he was barely a Jedi Knight himself at that stage.

From an OT-only perspective, I would say the best thing would be not to have a threat at all, but to have the Emperor feign weakness in his power over his empire after his defeat in the last two movies (perhaps a rising lack of confidence in him as a leader, as in Chancellor Vallorum) and lure the Rebels to his palace, where he could then try and destroy the heroes, only to find that they have him right where they want him.

 

I remember when I first saw ROTJ, I was a bit disappointed that they were reusing the Death Star. I thought they should've had an Imperial planet with (for lack of a better word) a palace that Palpatine resided in, and Luke and the Alliance had to fight their way into it. Ultimately setting up Luke vs Vader, and then perhaps Luke and Vader vs Palpatine. But after watching ROTJ and seeing how the story unfolded, I think Lucas got it absolutely right. And of course now I couldn't imagine it any other way!

 

I could not think off another threat other than the emperor.

 

Actually, according to Wookieepedia (Behind the scenes section), Marvel writers DID plan to use a second Death Star for that story. When they submitted the script to Lucasfilm for approval, Lucasfilm didn't allow Marvel to use the Death Star name and shape (because Lucasfilm was secretely already planning to use the Death Star in ROTJ), so Marvel changed it to the Tarkin instead

 

Smart move it would be been a Marvel mugging.

 

Actually, that's not too far off of what Lucas had in his first rough draft for ROTJ.

 

One of many great stories from the original Marvel run, IMO. With the subplot about Imperial Officers' hatred for Vader, culminating in a failed assassination attempt...

Which is rather ironic, because the rivalry between Vader and the Imperial moffs was another subject ROTJ was originally going to explore.

Or Zeltrons.

What could be a bigger threat than one Death Star? Two Death Stars...

The rough draft of ROTJ is fascinating. I mean, I can understand all the variations and development that went on before the first movie was made... But considering how much had been set in motion and established by the time ROTJ came around - the rough drafts are just insane, I don't quite understand how it actually became the movie it did in such a short space of time (speaking as someone who loves ROTJ, by the way).

 

Maybe three Death Star @Get In Gear it was eventually destroyed near Endor a eu plot off course I doubt another superweapon would match it.

 

To whomever put the "pathetic" tag against my post: Explain to me how it makes sense to have full access to a cloning facility years beforehand, and not come up with the idea of, you know, continuing to use it? "Hmm, I've got to get from Coruscant to Mon Calamari pretty quickly. I could take the Star Destroyer, what with its defensive shields, laser turret batteries, TIE-Fighter squadrons and hyperdrive.... But I think I'll take this TIE-Fighter on its own instead." A pretty retarded outlook, I feel.

 

I'm very fond of the second Death Star personally! I think the fact that there is a smaller, rougher looking Death Star almost represents the Empire's diminishing grasp on the Galaxy at the hands of the Rebellion throughout the OT.

Not only that, but the first Death Star was set in motion in AotC and only finished over 20 years later. The fact we see one built much quicker is indicative of the empire's established navy (less resources going elsewhere) and trade routes.

The smaller size but equivalent fire power also suggests the technological advancements in those 20 odd years. They would have been tied down to that original plan once it was set in motion so the technology would be very out dated. In that respect, we see the kind of technological progression the Empire brought with it.

 

Yeah, if they are going with the notion that it wasn't all "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" among the Imperial hierarchy after the death of Palpatine, the rebels would have had to take back Coruscant particularly, unless the forces on that planet held shaky loyalty toward the Emperor. You'll note that in the 'war room' on Death Star 1, the Imp fellas who are so impatient with Vader do not directly mention his Supreme Wickedness Emperor Palpatine at any time in the discussion. We don't even know that there is an Emperor until ESB. To me this means that they had their own loyalties and their own power aspirations and struggles, and they might not have been so quick to side with the rebels for whom they recently had such disdain.

Surely the Empire had multiple weapons R&D facilities throughout the galaxy, and no doubt they had some wicked things up their sleeves besides just the second Death Star. I think they built another one prior to ROTJ because it was such an effective, terrifying weapon, and the vulnerability was easy enough to repair. Call Death Star 1 the beta test. The Rebels/Republic also might have forged alliances with a highly advanced technological society that was capable of producing new and terrifying weaponry - perhaps too terrifying for the 'good guys' to countenance using to achieve their goals.

The rebels would have been lucky to take a few worlds that they could defend with their (comparatively few, and even less after the battle to destroy the second death star) own forces. I think if they managed to take Coruscant as a result of previous infiltration and the building of alliances and so on, good for them. Alderaan was dead. Tattooine and other 'Wild West' planets would be in a better position to throw off imperial rule. A world like Naboo might have gone back and forth a dozen times between the former Empire and the Republic, with a large refugee population from Alderaan and from other worlds damaged by the war. WookieeWorld would surely go with the Republic, just becuz. Moraband might, interestingly, be a strangely independent Sith world, taken back by the Sith when the Empire's leadership went to a non-Force-using but iron-fisted Moff, who might have forbidden ALL Force usage on his worlds, to protect his own position.

Perhaps some of the power aspirations of the Sith are aimed at toppling this Moff/Emperor and taking control of the Imperial forces. Failing that, perhaps the goal is to ensure the victory of the Republic, then to do as Sheev did and worm their way through betrayal into placing a false Jedi/Sith Lord back on the Imperial throne. That, btw, could be Darth Driver's role, should TPTB choose to accept it.

 

Smaller? What? Did I miss an official memo or something?