Starkiller Base:
- The most overt rehash in TFA
- Even though it’s the size of the planet our characters move through it like a small base (which admittedly is a problem with the 1st Death Star too)
- Felt like a lazy plot device to destroy the Hosnian System
- Didn’t feel as threatening as either Death Stars
- It’s able to fire beams that travel through hyperspace
I more or less agree with everything except nr. 5. I’ve never understood why science should be that important. We are after all talking about a series that gave us this.
Frank also has a good point about the base on Starkiller being smaller than the actual “canon”. Also Starkiller is mostly just a planet with a few bases scattered on it, and a large trench housing the canon. All in all it has roughly the same amount of technology as the two Death Star’s had, only stretched out over a whole planet.
Also the abilities to move about the DS on foot, and Starkiller, is more or less a plot necessity, or at the very least a way to make the plot more “grounded” and interesting. Thrre’s plenty of Sci-fi ways of doing it, but it would have felt slow and boring, and not have had the dynamic action that SW is known for.