15 Nov 2003 :: Deluxe Tour of the Death Star

Presenting the cardboard Death Star in all its aged glory. Replete with a cast of 25 vintage figures, this is a closer look at the Toltoys/Palitoy Death Star the way it was meant to be remembered: vintage-style!

This hemispherical playset is divided up into 5 sectors. Some of these sections represent sets from the Star Wars movie...others originated from the minds of the toymakers. The largest sector is often referred to as the 'Hangar'. Instead of a second floor like the other chambers, the hangar is bridged by a hexagonal tunnel that intersects the central tower. Two faux doors decorate the opposing walls, leaving our plastic heroes only one means of escape, into the Death Star core!

The core tower that runs up the centre of the playset is a little tight for effective play. This is unfortunate, because on the second level, the two doorways (one from the hangar tunnel) have small balconies, allowing the re-creation of Luke and Leia's perilous escape across the Chasm. The playset instructions proclaim that the Tractor Beam resides in this central column.

Moving clockwise around the space station, we see on our right a 2-level sector with a command centre on the ground level, and the cell-block antechamber atop (referred to as the "Guard Room" in the playset instructions). It is clear from this perspective that the hexagonal tunnel, visible from the hangar, joins the prison antechamber with Princess Leia's cell. 2-dimensional stormtrooper artwork forms the basis of a prison guard, whilst below in the command room, similarly planar Death Squad Commanders man the computer consoles. It is interesting that such characters that are elements of the artwork are not movie accurate, but perhaps more aptly, are close representations of the vintage figures themselves.

The two rooms in the next sector (clockwise again) are a little more generic. A couple of features do characterise them though: a ladder on the surface of the central core joins the upper and lower decks, and the lower deck, which has a standard door through to the command centre, is almost completely open to its leftward neighbour. This highlights the fact that this playset is not merely a grouping of identically laid out compartments, but is instead an imaginative aggregation of diverse architecture.

We move next into a slightly more open configuration. This room has but a mere walkway for its upper level, which comprises the second access point to the 'swing across the chasm'. This whole section, and the generic rooms described above, are officially denoted "the Main Complex". Another memorable scene resides between these cardboard walls: having escaped the prison chambers, Leia directs her rescuers down a plastic garbage chute. Unlike the movie version, this escape route is clearly sign-posted. Would you willingly jump through a small hole marked 'trash compactor'?...those stormtroopers behind you can't shoot straight enough to hit you anyway!

Immediately below, a wide-open arena is the room into which the trash compactor exits (if you can get the pop-out cardboard door open in time...otherwise "one thing's for sure; we're all going to be a lot thinner").

Two important compartments complete the playset. Arranged vertically, we conclude the tour with a visit to cell number 2187 (of Detention Block AA-23), and the famous Trash Compactor (number 3263827, for those of you interested in numerical trivia). The Trash Compactor is one of the more interactive sections of the Death Star's offerings. A clever design means that wall of the garbage compactor is movable, allowing kids of all ages to recreate that particularly dramatic and seemingly inescapable crisis.

Princess Leia's prison chamber is a simple little ensemble, with expected bed represented by a 2-dimensional image on the floor, and a plastic garbage chute protruding from one wall, highlighting the fact that the garbage repository lies below. Curiously, this prison cell has no door.

Although a couple of minor playsets, from the modern age of collectibles, have since featured Death Star elements, the Imperial Space Station has yet to be re-imagined to this extent by Hasbro. Should that day come, I hold no fear that 1970's cardboard version will be unable to retain its value to collectors, its library of nostalgic memories, and its title as the Vintage Playset Heavyweight Champion!

Previous page: New Zealand Toltoys Death Star.

Matt G