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.
White Star Line
Meanwhile, construction on "Cedric" had proceeded as planned and she was launched on 21 August 1902. Although she was of exactly the same dimensions as "Celtic" in length and width, she outweighed her twin by a mere 155 tons, making her now the largest ship in the world. Despite their similarities, the two had distinct differences. Aboard "Cedric", First Class accommodations included more private bathrooms as well as more suites consisting of interconnecting cabins provided with sitting rooms. In all, she had accommodations for 2,600 passengers, with a slightly increased number of First Class passengers at 350, her Second Class capacity was increased to 250, while Third Class was scaled back to approximately 2,000. "Cedric" entered service later that winter, departing Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 11 February 1903.