Idea: Death Star: AOTC "vs" Rogue One

I’m roughly at the midpoint of my all-in-one PT mashup. I’m about to edit the part surrounding Count Dooku on Geonosis. Am I missing something – or is there somewhat of a conflict between the Death Star’s origin as portrayed in AOTC and the version in Rogue One centered on Galen Erso?

On a different but related front, in reading about the Death Star at Wikipedia I was reminded that the construction phase in Rogue One is called “Project Stardust.” It occurred to me: Could that make an ideal title for “Episode II” of my reedit super-series (“Episode I” being the PT mashup)…? Other title options that popped into my head:

• Stardust (no “Project”)
• From Dust to Stardust
• Dawn of Rebellion
• A Rebel Alliance
• Rogue Alliance
• Rogue Warriors

Thanks for any and all feedback!

Catalyst goes into the Death Star origins a bit. The Republic stole the design from the Geonosians during the Clone Wars, and then used them as slave labor to build it. I don’t remember for certain, but I think it’s implied that the Geonosians got the design from someone else and claimed it was theirs. And it was mostly completed shortly after the war, but they couldn’t get the superlaser to work, hence Galen Erso’s work on Kyber crystals being so important to the project.

There are canon explanations of these things in novels and such, but it does seem like the Death Star’s origins are a bit convuluted. So the Geonosians had plans for it, and then the Republic built it, and then the Wookiees built it, and then Galen Erso took over duties, and then Tarkin did?

In canon, I don’t think Wookiees were used as slave labor for the first Death Star.

It goes like this:

1. Geonosians had the design, which they may or may not have created (at the very least they modified it).
2. The Republic stole the designs during the Battle of Geonosians.
3. A secret Republic war council authorized building it because they were convinced Count Dooku was building his own with another copy of the designs.
4. Orson Krennic was assigned to oversee the project (at least eventually).
5. Krennic knows that they need a Kyber expert to make it work and recruits Galen Erso, his old college buddy. Erso is not told of the nature of the work, just that it’s about providing more efficient energy for the Galaxy.
6. The Empire happens, and work continues. Geonosians are used as slave labor. They rebel and their world is sterilized in retaliation.
7. Erso figures out what’s really going on and escapes with his wife and daughter with the help of Saw Gererra.
8. Work stalls, Tarkin is assigned to oversee the project. Krennic is still in charge of the engineering aspect, Tarkin is basically his supervisor.
9. Rogue One happens.

I think that’s it, but it’s been a while since I read Catalyst, so I may have gotten a couple things wrong. Might check Wookieepedia later and make some corrections.

Thanks, guys. You all seem to be on the same page, and that’s helpful. So in other words, Erso really only designed the laser itself, not the whole station? (Hey, I own these movies, and I’ll be rewatching them, but just thought I’d post this for some insights from the forum.)

Of course, I could just drop the Geonosis connection altogether, without negatively affecting the remaining storyline from that point all the way through A New Hope.

Yes, Erso was only involved in the superlaser. Specifically in getting the Kyber crystals to provide enough power for the laser to work, as his life’s work was in Kyber research.

ChainsawAsh said:

In canon, I don’t think Wookiees were used as slave labor for the first Death Star.

It goes like this:

1. Geonosians had the design, which they may or may not have created (at the very least they modified it).
2. The Republic stole the designs during the Battle of Geonosians.
3. A secret Republic war council authorized building it because they were convinced Count Dooku was building his own with another copy of the designs.
4. Orson Krennic was assigned to oversee the project (at least eventually).
5. Krennic knows that they need a Kyber expert to make it work and recruits Galen Erso, his old college buddy. Erso is not told of the nature of the work, just that it’s about providing more efficient energy for the Galaxy.
6. The Empire happens, and work continues. Geonosians are used as slave labor. They rebel and their world is sterilized in retaliation.
7. Erso figures out what’s really going on and escapes with his wife and daughter with the help of Saw Gererra.
8. Work stalls, Tarkin is assigned to oversee the project. Krennic is still in charge of the engineering aspect, Tarkin is basically his supervisor.
9. Rogue One happens.

I think that’s it, but it’s been a while since I read Catalyst, so I may have gotten a couple things wrong. Might check Wookieepedia later and make some corrections.

Interesting, I haven’t read Catalyst yet, so I wasn’t clear on some of this. Thanks for clearing it up.

@OutboundFlight and NeverarGreat: Thanks, guys. I think I’ll go the same route.

Awesome idea, Hal!!! I’m doing it!!