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.
Star Tours
The Starspeeder got caught in its tractor beam, but managed to get loose when a New Republic X-wing fighter provided assistance by destroying the tractor beam's generator. Soon the Starspeeder accompanied the Republic fleet on an assault on the Death Star III (later revealed by Leland Chee in 2013 to be a Habitation Sphere disguised as a Death Star in a plot by an Imperial Warlord to distract the New Republic). Rex used the Starspeeder's lasers to eliminate several TIE fighters while a Republic pilot destroyed the Death Star in the same manner as Luke Skywalker by firing two proton torpedoes into the exhaust port. The X-Wings jumped to lightspeed as the Death Star exploded, and a final lightspeed jump sent the Starspeeder back to the spaceport, nearly colliding with a fuel truck in the hangar and sending a Star Tours employee ducking under his desk. As the cockpit shield raised and cut off Rex as he apologized for the near-fatal flight, C-3PO instructed the passengers on the exit procedure and thanked them, oblivious to the perils they just faced. The exit doors opposite the entrance then opened and the passengers proceeded across another set of bridges into the exit hall towards the Star Trader gift shop.Yūji Mitsuya – Captain RX-24, a.k.a. Rex (voice)Muren, Gawley, and Keeler were all Industrial Light & Magic computer animation staff. One year earlier, Reubens had voiced the shipboard computer in the Disney film "Flight of the Navigator" (credited as Paul Mall), in which his character was named Max. Reubens credited this role with his being cast for the ride.