In movies when there’s a huge explosion in space, there’s always this ring that comes out from the explosion. No!
In space the blast wave would be spherical: it only looks like a 2d ring when observed from a telescope many many light years away, since the telescope can only pick up the outside edge of the blast.
I remember very vividly when they redid the special effects in the original Star Wars trilogy and added this dumbass ring coming out of the Death Star explosion. It completely broke immersion for me because I was like “wtf is that supposed to be?”
You could make an argument that there was some kind of huge spinning gyroscope reaction wheel system on that axis which projected the explosion that way.
My thought is that it’s revealing the construction and weak points of the death star. It may have been constructed in two hemispheres that were joined together, and that seam might have been the failure point where gassed were released when the internal pressure got too high.
Except then we should see the two hemispheres blow out from each other a bit, which they don’t.
I mean, it might have made sense if it lined up with the equatorial channel that the death star has. If the inside was exploding and that was the weakest area, material would be ejected out the ring first before the rest of the structure exploded. That might, indeed cause a ring effect. But in this scene the ring is going vertically, not horizontally. So yea, doesn’t make much sense.
Hell, in Star Trek VI, where the Praxis Effect originates, it’s a horrifying industrial accident that blows up Praxis, so for all we know there might well have been some kind of moon-sized particle accelerator that blew up and did cause that ring shape. But it seems to show up in a lot of places where there’s not as justifiable an excuse.
In movies when there’s a huge explosion in space, there’s always this ring that comes out from the explosion. No!
In space the blast wave would be spherical: it only looks like a 2d ring when observed from a telescope many many light years away, since the telescope can only pick up the outside edge of the blast.
Edit: fixed auto-incorrect
I remember very vividly when they redid the special effects in the original Star Wars trilogy and added this dumbass ring coming out of the Death Star explosion. It completely broke immersion for me because I was like “wtf is that supposed to be?”
You could make an argument that there was some kind of huge spinning gyroscope reaction wheel system on that axis which projected the explosion that way.
But we all know there wasn’t.
Honestly the original effects also had me going:
So I suppose it’s not that much worse with the ring
Edit: meant to reply one comment up. Too late now
My thought is that it’s revealing the construction and weak points of the death star. It may have been constructed in two hemispheres that were joined together, and that seam might have been the failure point where gassed were released when the internal pressure got too high.
Except then we should see the two hemispheres blow out from each other a bit, which they don’t.
All in all, the film makers had many things they could choose to make the effect look plausible, but they didn’t.
That makes it look all Loony Toons :S
I mean, it might have made sense if it lined up with the equatorial channel that the death star has. If the inside was exploding and that was the weakest area, material would be ejected out the ring first before the rest of the structure exploded. That might, indeed cause a ring effect. But in this scene the ring is going vertically, not horizontally. So yea, doesn’t make much sense.
Known as the Praxis Effect amongst movie nerds or, in the Homestar Runner universe, “those blast-wavey Saturn rings that have become so popular lately.”
Hell, in Star Trek VI, where the Praxis Effect originates, it’s a horrifying industrial accident that blows up Praxis, so for all we know there might well have been some kind of moon-sized particle accelerator that blew up and did cause that ring shape. But it seems to show up in a lot of places where there’s not as justifiable an excuse.