Weekend Diversion: The Friends Star

Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all

What do you get when the Death Star meets LEGO friends?

“The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.” –Grand Moff Tarkin

There’s nothing that can stand against the magical power of friendship. Have a listen to the David Grisman Quintet’s ode to it as they play their one-of-a-kind gypsy jazz classic, My Friend Dawg.

I’ve always wondered whether the evil empire from the Star Wars franchise would’ve been as evil as they were if, you know, they had all had friends. Perhaps disaster like this…

Images credit: Lucasfilm / Star Wars: Episode IV, a New Hope. (Motion Picture); imgflip gifs by E. Siegel.

could’ve been avoided?

And perhaps the Death Star wouldn’t have had to bring so much… I don’t know… death?

Thankfully, the world of LEGO is an interchangeable place, where you can truly run wild with your imagination. If the LEGO movie teaches us nothing else, it’s that we don’t need to be bound by the rules of the LEGO suggestions, and that just because you’ve gone and invested in building a LEGO Death Star doesn’t mean it needs to be an exact Death Star.

Images credit: Steve Price of flickr, of The Friends Star (two sided view).

In fact, how much better would it have been if, instead of bringing death, it brought friendship, long ago, to a galaxy far, far away?

Image credit: Steve Price, of the “Party Room” on the Friends Star.

As the creator and photographer of this creative LEGO project, Steve Price, states:

Once The Death Star Became Surplus To Requirements, The Friends Girls Took Over To Spread A Little Love And Happiness Throughout The Universe And Give It The Ultimate Makeover!!!

Image credit: Steve Price, of what he calls the “Love Ray Room, Spreading Love And Happiness Throughout The Universe”.

How can you not simply love this project?! He calls it The Friends Star.

Image credit: Steve Price, of the Pamper Room.

Image credit: Steve Price, of the TV Room.

Image credit: Steve Price, of the “Juice Crusher”. (Remember the trash compactor from Star Wars? This is its new use!)

There is actually, if you examine all the pictures, a coherent story being told here. It’s a story about the Death Star itself, post-war, and all its surplus parts being converted into The Friends Star. Perhaps this is best illustrated by “the Stephanizer,” where battle droids are “processed” and turned into Friends Girls.

Image credit: Steve Price, of the droids preparing to enter the “Stephanizer”.

Image credit: Steve Price, of new Friends Girls exiting the Stephanizer.

And while you should definitely check out his entire Friends Star album on flickr, I’d love to point out to you my absolute favorite moment(s) here: the food service stations!

Images credit: Steve Price, of the Pizza room (L) and the Juice Bar (R).

Because, as any Eddie Izzard fan will tell you, the Death Star must’ve had a canteen…

Thanks to Justin Page of Laughing Squid for this discovery and of course to Steve Price for creating something so delightful. May the rest of your weekend be filled with joy, friends and whatever happiness you choose, and I’ll see you back here for more wonders and joys of the Universe tomorrow!

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Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all