CLASSIC IMAGE: THE WEAK SPOT!

In an unused angle not seen in the film, General Dodonna (Alex McCrindle) goes through the Death Star schematics with his Rebel pilots, to show the battle station's weakness point, in a scene filmed at Shepperton Studios for the original Star Wars. This shot is also further interesting as it shows a moment from what available computer generated image footage (created by Larry Cuba) could be back projected live on-set, presumably during filming on May 17th, 1976- the last day of filming on the briefing room.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: MOON OF DESTRUCTION!

Out in the depths of an unknown space region, the soon fully operational Death Star battle station will be ready to inflict gargantuan terror across the universe- its first weapons tests at low dispersion power on Jedha and Scarif having already proved mightily effective.

This particular eerie and detailed image of the Death Star was never used in the film- an early matte painting circa 1976-indeed the circular dish is in the wrong place - literally through the equator line. This painting would be used by animator Larry Cuba as reference for the computer generated imagery of his Death Star schematics before the visual location change were made, some of that Cuba footage would be used and displayed on projection screens at the Rebel briefing room scenes filmed during at Shepperton Studios in 1976, and later HD recreated by ILM guru John Knoll for the ending to ROGUE ONE.

FXRant: The Death Star and the Final Trench Run