DuracellEnergizer said:

Tyrphanax said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

HigHurtenflurst said:

When the Death Star fires at the MonCalamari ship, it always bothered me that the beam didn't just punch right through like it was made of paper and keep going. It can destroy a whole planet, so a ship shouldn't have stopped it... Maybe it could even take out another ship(s) in the background.

This is a good one. I've always thought the same, myself.

I believe the official explanation is that the second Death Star had a variable energy output so they could dial it down to destroy a ship, or dial it up to destroy a planet.

Something about that explanation just never sat right with me.

Why not? It doesn't make sense to use the full power of the superlaser just to blow up something as tiny as a capital ship. Reducing the power level in exchange for a faster rate of fire not only makes sense, but would also help explain why the Death Star in Star Wars spent 30 minutes traveling around Yavin to to get in range of the Rebel base instead of blowing up Yavin and then blowing up the Rebel base two minutes later.