Why Does The Death Star Need A Trash Compactor?

[Mal12345]

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/on-the-implausibility-of-the-death-stars-trash-compactor

"BY JOSHUA TYREE

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I maintain that the trash compactor onboard the Death Star in Star Wars is implausible, unworkable, and moreover, inefficient.

The Trash Compactor Debate turns on whether the Death Star ejects its trash into space. I, for one, believe it does. Though we never see the Death Star ejecting its trash, we do see another Empire ship, the so-called Star Destroyer, ejecting its trash into space. I therefore see no reason to suspect that Empire protocol dictating that trash be ejected into space would not apply equally to all Empire spacecraft, including the Death Star.

The Death Star clearly has a garbage-disposal problem..."

 

[Mal12345]

Here is the original thrilling scene from Star Wars.

 

[kelric]

I therefore see no reason to suspect that Empire protocol dictating that trash be ejected into space would not apply equally to all Empire spacecraft, including the Death Star.

Assuming I'm taking this seriously would be a bit unwise, but... gravity. The death star is as big as "a small moon" and presumably has a greater escape velocity than any pokey star destroyer. So it doesn't jettison garbage much in the same way that you don't throw a spoiled cheeseburger straight up in the air to get rid of it.

Answer #2 : Mr Fusion.

Answer #3: The story's not about the death star's sanitation logistics.

 

[Mal12345]

Assuming I'm taking this seriously would be a bit unwise, but... gravity. The death star is as big as "a small moon" and presumably has a greater escape velocity than any pokey star destroyer. So it doesn't jettison garbage much in the same way that you don't throw a spoiled cheeseburger straight up in the air to get rid of it.

Answer #2 : Mr Fusion.

Answer #3: The story's not about the death star's sanitation logistics.

#1 : The size of this "small moon" doesn't matter. What matters is its mass. And you can tell that it's mostly empty space.

#2 : Doc Brown wouldn't have been born yet.

#3 : It's more exciting to have two walls smashing together, not just one wall which would be more efficient; plus, throw in a garbage monster to remind the audience, at least subconsciously, of the movie Jaws which was only 2 years fresh in people's minds at the time Star Wars came out.

 

[Laurie]

Maybe the same people who designed it with a flaw that lets one little shot take down the whole thing had trouble with mass.

 

[Mal12345]

Maybe the same people who designed it with a flaw that lets one little shot take down the whole thing had trouble with mass.

Napoleon Dynamite could destroy it in 5 seconds, without using the Force.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

My guess is that the Empire has a series of strategically located subjugated planets that serve as landfills. I doubt they would eject trash into space. Space junk is a problem for us here on Earth, and we've only been in space for 50 years...I can only imagine how bad the problem is for experienced spacefaring worlds. Therefore, the trash compactor is probably necessary to reduce volume for loading onto landing vessels.

I hate you people for making me think seriously about something like Star Wars. Grrrr.

 

[ZPowers]

My guess is that the Empire has a series of strategically located subjugated planets that serve as landfills. I doubt they would eject trash into space. Space junk is a problem for us here on Earth, and we've only been in space for 50 years...I can only imagine how bad the problem is for experienced spacefaring worlds. Therefore, the trash compactor is probably necessary to reduce volume for loading onto landing vessels.

Our space junk is an issue because we're confined to and mostly stay around a very specific and small area in space. In Star Wars, they travel between solar systems and seemingly can travel at the speed of light. Over that amount of space, junk shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe it has something to do with recycling the resources that are already onboard the ship.*

*though the real reason is clearly that they wanted a trash compactor scene and they didn't really think about.

Another thing that bugged me in that scene: how does that monster apparently survive the compacting process?

 

[RaptorWizard]

The Death Star destroys all, from your daily dumpload to your galactic civilization.

 

[Mal12345]

Our space junk is an issue because we're confined to and mostly stay around a very specific and small area in space. In Star Wars, they travel between solar systems and seemingly can travel at the speed of light. Over that amount of space, junk shouldn't be a problem.

Maybe it has something to do with recycling the resources that are already onboard the ship.*

*though the real reason is clearly that they wanted a trash compactor scene and they didn't really think about.

Another thing that bugged me in that scene: how does that monster apparently survive the compacting process?

Apparently there is a free space below the walls that the garbage monster lives in.

 

[The Ü™]

Who knows? Maybe Mr. Fusion is technology brought from a galaxy far, far away.

 

[Ponyboy]

The Death Star needed a trash compactor so that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) could have a place to put his next movie into.

It was called "Corvette Summer", a classic to be told through the ages!

 

[Blank]

#2 : Doc Brown wouldn't have been born yet.

...You know he had a time machine, capable of time travel, right? Capable of traveling to the past, even. Also: Doc Brown didn't invent Mr. Fusion; he stole it from the future. If anything in Star Wars, technology advanced more the further back one went, so I think it's safe to say they had something like Mr. Fusion.

The reason why the Death Star needs a trash compactor is so that George Lucas can take the easy way out of writing why something of similar design but different utility would be in the Death Star for Luke & Co. to get trapped in.

 

[Mal12345]

...You know he had a time machine, capable of time travel, right? Capable of traveling to the past, even. Also: Doc Brown didn't invent Mr. Fusion; he stole it from the future. If anything in Star Wars, technology advanced more the further back one went, so I think it's safe to say they had something like Mr. Fusion.

The reason why the Death Star needs a trash compactor is so that George Lucas can take the easy way out of writing why something of similar design but different utility would be in the Death Star for Luke & Co. to get trapped in.

So Doc Brown traveled to the future, stole Mr. Fusion, and brought it back to a galaxy far, far away?

They should have gotten trapped in a septic tank. That way Princess Leia would have a real excuse to say "What a wonderful smell you've discovered."

 

[Qlip]

Does this truly bother you? Will you think the worst of me if I don't bother giving it any thought? If go down the path of finding technical inaccuracies in a space fantasy, I feel that I'll end up in a madhouse.

 

[Mal12345]

Does this truly bother you? Will you think the worst of me if I don't bother giving it any thought? If go down the path of finding technical inaccuracies in a space fantasy, I feel that I'll end up in a madhouse.

It's just something to yack about.

 

[Turtledove]

What would you think the Death Star would do for plumbing? You know them soldiers would have to go to the little troopers room. Oh! The sewage comes out the other end of the Death Star! Yes, I have ruined countless fan's lives of saying such things for ignorance and toilet humor's sake.

 

[Mal12345]

Don't the individual clones you see running around everywhere have families? Do they have such needs?

 

[Within]

The Trash Compactor Debate turns on whether the Death Star ejects its trash into space. I, for one, believe it does. Though we never see the Death Star ejecting its trash, we do see another Empire ship, the so-called Star Destroyer, ejecting its trash into space. I therefore see no reason to suspect that Empire protocol dictating that trash be ejected into space would not apply equally to all Empire spacecraft, including the Death Star.

That's simple, in the future they find out that space is not vast, in comparison to the waste that the combined lifeforms of the universe produce. They blew their budget on that research instead of finding a more efficient way of disposing of their shit.

 

[huntpeter]

Trash compactor is needed to dispose the waste.