For Kevin Smith Fans: Ethics of the Death Star Battle, Revisited

[sleeve]

*BIG FAT EPISODE II SPOILER WARNING* (sorry LordPerrin)

I was thinking about the famous "Death Star ethics puzzle" from Clerks while driving in my car the other day, in light of Episode II which I had just seen for the second time the night before.

For those of you unfamiliar with the issue, let me summarize. The Battle of Yavin in Episode IV, a.k.a. the First Death Star Battle, was undoubtedly a just battle. The Death Star was 100% evil, filled top to bottom with stormtroopers, Empire stooges, Grand Moff Tarkin and the like. So it was not unjust for the Rebels to blow it up, along with the thousands of people inside. But the Battle of Endor in Episode VI was fought over an incomplete Death Star, one filled with (presumably) construction workers, independent contractors, and neutral parties to the Rebel conflict. Before Episode II came out, one could argue that destroying the Death Star when all those thousands of non-combatants were on board was an unjust act.

But Episode II changes the debate! In Episode II, we learn that the Death Star was conceived and constructed not by neutral engineers and construction workers, but by the Geonosians, an unscrupulous insect race which had clearly sided with the Sith. The evidence supporting this conclusion is pretty indisputable: we learn that the Trade Federation's droids and ships were manufactured by the Geonosians, plus the architectural similarities between the Death Star and the TF's ships (not to mention the conversation between Count Dooku and the Geonosian leader during the big showdown with the Clone Troopers) are unmistakeable.

So Kevin Smith's ethical debate has been resolved: It was just for the Rebels to destroy the second Death Star, because it was created by the evil Geonosians.

Discuss.

[Nash]

um... i only watch star wars for the special effects.

[Despair]

[amerlop]

I loved that Randel referred to the Rebel Alliance as "a bunch of left wing radical"


makes me laugh

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Ah, but you see... we DON'T know that the Geonosians built either Death Star, only that the design came from them. (Nice lack of spoiler warning by the way, I'm sure there are some poor saps who haven't seen AotC yet, and would be quite pissed to wander in here and learn about the Death Star's origin...) Remember, at the end of the film, the plans (presumably the only copy in existance, since the Geonosians were so concerned about the Jedi finding the plans, they probably erased them from the computer after copying them to Dooku's holographic Palm Pilot thingy) are now in the hands of the Sith. Where they go from there is anybody's guess; the whole Geonosian species could get wiped out in Ep 3, but the Death Stars would still be built because Palps has the plans.