Star Wars question about the death star?

As a die hard fan myself this very subject puzzled me also so I started digging into the question to see if I could come up with an answer that might "work" in the general scheme of things. The theory I have come up with is not "official" in the "canon" of the story but I can back it us with lots of data from the movies and the SW EU (Expanded Universe of Books).

First, think back to ep II when Poggle the Lessor gave the plans to a battle station to Count Dooku for "safe keeping" and so the Jedi wouldn't find out about what they were planning to build. They briefly showed a hologram of it and it looked like the Death Star ... BUT ... it's only on the screen for a few seconds ... if you pause the movie and actually look at it you'll see that it is basically only a skeleton of framework in the form of a circle. It also shows the reactor core and the super laser with it's focusing disc on the outside of the sphere shape of it. At the end of ep III we see just about the same thing when they show a battle station being built. The question is ... was this actually the first Death Star under construction. My theory is that it was NOT the first Death Star. This theory is backed up by info found in the EU books, specifically the Jedi Academy Trilogy set 7 years after the events of ep VI. It is in these books that we first learn of a super secret Imperial "Think Tank" hidden inside a black hole cluster called the Maw in the Kessel system. This "Think Tank" was set up by Grand Moff Tarkin in secret, so secret in fact that he was able to keep its existence a secret from even Palpatine although there is really no evidence to suggest that he knew or didn't know about it. When the Maw Installation is discovered there is the same kind of metal skeleton like battle station with a reactor core and super laser. My "theory" is this: what we see being built at the end of ep III is actually that prototype of the battle station not the actual Death Star. While this prototype was being built Takin has his scientists working on improving the design and making it so it could travel through hyperspace at will moving from system to system scaring the hell out of everyone. After the prototype was finished and proved to be a viable, working, weapons platform Tarkin gave Palpatine the results of the Maw Installation design as something to be incorporated into the overall design of the Death Star. The prototype was taken to the Despare system to be used as a kind of working blue print for the construction of the first Death Star. In the book titled "Death Star", set just before the events of ep IV, several times it is mentioned that some people have seen something matching the description of the prototype "hiding" in the asteroid field that surrounds Despare. When the construction of the Death Star was nearing completion Tarkin had the prototype taken to the Maw Installation for more study.

Granted, we're still taking about the 19 year window but if they actually built both the prototype & the Death Star in that 19 year period it makes it a little more believable. Another thing to remember is that Palpatine still had the Imperial Senate to deal with when it came to money expenditures. Yes, the Senate held little real power as it had been basically turned into a "rubber stamp" for any and all the things that Palpatine wanted but even so ... if it had been found out that Palpatine was diverting trillions of credits to build a battle station that could take out a planet with one shot the "rubber stamp" senate might have grown a backbone and opposed Palpatine so he had to be very careful to cover up all the funding for the Death Star and this could have slowed its production quite a bit. The building of the Death Star II wouldn't have faced those problems because if you remember, Palpatine dissolved the Senate about the same time as the beginning of ep IV ... with them gone he didn't have to worry about "hiding" anything and that would increase the speed in which Death Star II was built.

May The Force Be With You ...

@ "ocularnervosa": Lucas didn't drop the ball in this respect ... YOU did by not doing any kind of research before you gave an answer like you did. Almost every single thing that you mention HAS been explained ... facts are a scary thing aren't they.

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While I applaud Jedi Dudes theory as Eu relatively sound, i prefer a more simple, "they started on DS2 just a few years after Ep 3 ended, and it was never located or known about by the alliance until ep 6'. No, not as cool of a theory, BUT it doesnt require EU help or knowledge.

ocularnervosa clearly doesnt pay enough attention to realize his questions have simple answers:

Luke ages 18 years and Obi Wan ages around 30.(Obi was already in his mid 20s before ep 1 started. Add 13ish years to that to put you at the end of the prequels, and then 19 to that to put you at ep 4, and hes in his mid to late 50s.)

Why didn't Darth remember building C3PO. (Can you think of any scene in any of the three movies where Vader and 3PO are at the same place at the same time? I can think of 2, but protocal droids are pretty common, and obviously he wasnt gonna be the only golden one. Anyway, why would Vader care?)

How come he didn't remember his brother lived on Tatooine. (Why would he care? Also, step-brother...)

How come Obi Wan didn't remember R2D2 or C3PO even though he spend so much time with them. (his words were, "I dont seem to remember ever owning a droid", which is true. he didnt own either of those, and the only other droids you see him with in the movies are the ones in his jedi fighters, which are likely not HIS property.)

How come neither of the droids remembered him. (3PO had his memory wiped at the end of Ep 3, as ordered by Bail Organa. R2 DID remember him. How else do you explain him knowing who to look for on tatooine?)

whaaaat? CHRIST four hundred FOR LEGO? Come on.. get some thing respectable my pricey.. I swear lego is normaly like fiver greenbacks.. Seriously i proposal so much individuals stoped gambling lego via 10? Obviously i've been tested flawed my buddy. But yeah get some thing valued at whilst do you truthfully see your self in need of a four hundred greenback wad of plastic in three years time..

Because Lucas really dropped the ball with Part three. Heck, Luke ages 18 years and Obi Wan ages around 30. Why didn't Darth remember building C3PO. How come he didn't remember his brother lived on Tatooine. How come Obi Wan didn't remember R2D2 or C3PO even though he spend so much time with them. How come neither of the droids remembered him. And so on.