Spoilerized to be safe:

Maybe they had it ready for a while and just bought it out in Ep4

I guess it takes a while to build a structure in space the size of a moon, huh?

Seems long to me too... but you're correct. There's 18 years between III and IV.

I'm just going to rationalize it by saying that the structure itself was created relatively quickly, but it took a good decade to perfect the weaponry. Lots of QA testing!

Once they had that down, they could make the second one a lot quicker, ala RotJ.

I haven't read the books, but wasn't the Death Star ready for a couple of years before it was used on Alderan?

considering the fact that it would extremely complex, it doesn't seem very long. It takes a few years to build an air craft carrier. It takes around 20 years today to design a fighter plane for the air force. 18 years for a huge space station isn't that long.

With that logic you are then to believe that there would have been no advancement between 2005 and the time(s) depicted w/in the movies.

I had a huge problem with them showing the construction site. They should have been looking over the plans via a holographic image. Come on, we are not even introduced to the person that 'obtains' the plans to this mega-structure.

18 years does seem too long when you consider that there was another battlestation built for Return of the Jedi. It definitely wasn't 18 years between A New Hope and ROTJ. The only argument I could see is that they were building another battlestation at the same time...but I doubt that.

I had a little problem with the amount of time that Obi Wan was supposed to age in 18 years. My assumption that the Obi Wan character is in his mid 30's, but in A New Hope he is considered an old man - maybe in his 60's. And of course the original Anakin Skywalker in ROTJ was an older man. I guess that has changed with the new editions.

Wasnt it a long time ago though??

Someone did the math on this in an earlier thread and it really doesn't work out that bad. The character of Obi-Wan turns out to be only a couple of years younger than actor Guiness was at the time of filming. Late 50s/early 60s.

I could see the DS taking 18 years to perfect. Complications on technology, union strikes, etc. The second DS was closer to completion in 6 years some think, who's to say they didnt start it before ANH and even if they didnt, then they had already built one so it was easier to construct a second since all the bugs and union problems had been worked out by then.

Not to mention that in ROTS/ANH the Republic was still the power, Palpatine only had emergency power due to the war and not the complete undeniable control he posses in ROTJ.

Oh yeah, forgot about that... they didnt remove the senate until ANH.

Just in case:

In regards to Obi Wan...he is supposed to be 25 in TPM...then 35 in AOTC...38 in ROTS...and then 57 in ANH.

Sir Alec was 61 when ANH filmed in 75...so it is not that off...

That's the math I was looking for... thanks!

"This is not the math you are looking for..." *waves hands*

I do not buy this, why would the 2 be different designs? The 2nd one was different due to the first one blowing up, and the changes were signifigant, not cosmetic. My bigger complaint would be how long did it take the rebels to get the plans to the original DS.

IN Jedi, the Death star was only 60-70% complete. They just finished the weapons sooner. It is not totally off the time line.

What?

my thoughts exactly. Somebody apparently never took a basic world government class in junior high.

After seeing the scene at the end of the movie, the one question I have is... are we sure that scene in the creation of the Death Star happens soon after the transformation of Vader? Here's what I mean...

We see the bridge of a Star Destroyer, (from what I remember in the scene, not too far off in the design of one seen in the OT) and we also see OT-style imperial officers manning it. I don't believe that the empire would have these officers immediatly after being formed??? We never saw anything but clones piloting ships prior to this in Ep3.

I think this scene is more like 5 years after the formation of the empire, and at least, making it more like 10 or so years in the Death Star construction. Mush more believeable.

If that were the case shouldn't that have been the last scene in the movie? The last scene was Luke being delivered to his relatives, right (correct me if I’m wrong)? Why would they jump forward and then back again?