Death Star
Although details, such as the superlaser's location, shifted between different concept models during production of "Star Wars", the notion of the Death Star being a large, spherical space station over 100 kilometers in diameter was consistent in all of them. George Lucas gave the original task of designing a "Death Star" to concept artist and spaceship modeler Colin Cantwell, who had collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on the 1968 film "". In a 2016 interview, Cantwell related that "I didn't originally plan for the Death Star to have a trench, but when I was working with the mold, I noticed the two halves had shrunk at the point where they met across the middle." As it "would have taken a week of work just to fill and sand and refill this depression," Cantwell suggested a trench to Lucas to save the labor. Lucas liked the idea, and the Death Star model was created by John Stears. The buzzing sound counting down to the Death Star firing its superlaser comes from the "Flash Gordon" serials. Portraying an incomplete yet powerful space station posed a problem for Industrial Light & Magic's modelmakers for "Return of the Jedi". Only the front side of the 137-centimeter model was completed, and the image was flipped horizontally for the final film. Both Death Stars were depicted by a combination of complete and sectional models and matte paintings.
Death Star
The "Star Wars Rebels" episode "Twilight of the Apprentice" features a forbidden planet called Malachor, home of an ancient Sith Temple. This temple contained a superweapon capable of destroying life, and could only be activated by placing a special Sith Holocron in an obelisk at the summit of the pyramid inside the temple. Thousands of years prior, a battle was waged on Malachor that resulted in the deaths of its inhabitants. Somewhere between the events of his last appearance in "" and this episode, Darth Maul had become stranded on Malachor. When Ahsoka Tano, Kanan and Ezra arrived, Ezra was separated from them. He was discovered by a character who later revealed himself to be Maul. Together, they solved a series of test chambers that required cooperation between two Force wielders, and retrieved a Sith Holocron. With the help of Kanan and Ahsoka, they fought three Inquisitors, all of whom were killed by Maul. Maul then betrayed his allies, blinding Kanan, and proceeded to activate the superweapon. Once Maul was defeated by a sightless Kanan, Darth Vader arrived with the intention of retrieving the holocron, but was challenged by Ahsoka Tano, his former Padawan. While the superweapon was preparing to fire, Kanan and Ezra retrieved the holocron themselves and escaped, preventing this weapon of mass destruction from being used. Even though the temple was destabilized, Ahsoka and Vader kept fighting to the death within the rapidly-crumbling building, until it eventually exploded, wounding Darth Vader and almost killing Ahsoka, who ended up being rescued by Ezra through a portal on Lothal, that he saw the battle occurring through.