That's No Moon!: Star Wars & the Importance of Locations

“That's no moon!”

Remember that line? The Millennium Falcon approaches the Death Star; the ghastly mechanical image fills the frame. That's no moon! It's iconic. That location from the original Star Wars trilogy is so well engraved in the cultural memory. The Death Star is instantly recognizable as Star Wars - it's an amazing feat of creating something so memorable. Star Wars is filled with things like this - these instantly recognizable images associated so strongly with the franchise. One of the most prominent being its locations.

I love Star Wars. Who doesn't? It's a classic. The films hold a high place in our collective cultural conscious; a spot that would be next to impossible to replace. I grew up with the first six movies. I first saw the original trilogy with my father when I was ten years old. I've watched the Star Wars saga over and over again. It doesn't matter if I loved the movie or hated the movie: if it's Star Wars, I'll keep watching it until I die.

One of my favourite parts of the series is the inventive, fantastical worlds that it brings alive. The series has, especially the original trilogy, created iconic location after iconic location. The worlds of Tatooine, Hoth, the Cloud City, Coruscant, and the Death Star are all instantly recognizable as Star Wars. I have noticed, however, that despite the newer films sporting even more incredible worlds, the new locations haven't been etched on our consciousness in the same ways as the ones featured in the original series. Why are the settings of the original films, especially A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, so recognizable, and why can't the new films repeat that same success?

Let's start with some numbers.

Altogether the ten live-action Star Wars films feature a total of 38 different planets. The worlds are often done-in-one, but there are a few recurring locations. The original trilogy features eight individual worlds: Tatooine (featured in 4 and 6), Yavin 4 (4), the Death Star (4), Hoth (5), Bespin (5), Dagobah (5 & 6), the Death Star II (6), and Endor (6). By movie, Episode IV features 3 new planets, Episode V includes another 3, and Episode VI introduces two new ones and brings two others back.

The prequel trilogy features 12 different planets. It brings back Tatooine from the original trilogy, but otherwise features new worlds. Naboo and Coruscant are the only worlds to feature in all three prequels, with Tatooine appearing in the first two.

Then we get to the sequel series and the anthology series: the Disney era. With four movies under their belt so far, this new era has features 21 different planets, only three of which return from the other films. Yavin 4 features heavily in Rogue One, with Mustafar from Episode III returns for one short scene, and Coruscant appears in a dream.

Perhaps this new trend of featuring more and more planets is leading to an overabundance worlds and makes them stand not nearly as much. Or, maybe the over-saturation has lead to a decline in quality of the overall design., Maybe using fewer but more diverse worlds would make them all more memorable. This would make sense. this isn't the case. Modern technology and higher budgets has allowed filmmakers to create more and more creative worlds. The quality of design has arguably only gotten better since A New Hope in 1977.

Take a look at these examples of the planets featured in Star Wars. In the top row, we have three of the most iconic worlds of the original series - Tatooine, Hoth, and Bespin. The designs of the worlds are incredibly simple. A desert, the arctic, a city in the clouds. These are all locations that can be simulated on Earth. In all four of its appearances, scenes involving Tatooine were shot in the deserts of Tunisia and the parts set on Endor were shot in the California Redwoods, or easily created in a studio.

With the rise of CGI in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the worlds in the prequel trilogy grew in number and complexity. They could become more and more visually stunning. The worlds of the prequels could scarce be replicated on Earth, and were buy-in-large shot in studio. Take a look at a few. Top row, left to right: Felucia, Coruscant, Geonosis. Bottom row, left to right: Kamino, Kashyyyk, Mustafar.

Then we get to the Disney era. Disney's planets serve as a crossover between the hyper-sci-fi locale of the prequels with the gritty, tactile worlds of the original trilogy. Often real world locations are used as the base of the planets, which are further enhanced through CGI. Some of the best looking planets have come from this era. Top row, left to right: Crait, Jakku, Ahch-To. Bottom row, left to right: Scarif, Lah'mu, Wobani.

So maybe design isn't everything. Maybe the simplicity and the 'blank-canvases' of the original trilogy works exceptionally well and the more complex designs aren't as memorable. I think there is one more thing we need to look at before drawing any conclusions. Let's look at the planets on a thematic level. How well do they work within the context of the narrative?

The planets of the first two movies, A New Hope and Empire, all fill a specific thematic purpose. Their designs are beyond 'looking-cool' - they have been created to serve a very specific purpose and impose a certain mental picture of the mindset of the characters. The planets serve the purpose of being the physical manifestation of the emotional climate of that part of the story.

A New Hope uses three simple locations: the desert of Tatooine, the mechanical inner workings of the Death Star, and the jungles of Yavin 4. Tatooine is where we meet Luke Skywalker. Luke is a farmer, but at heart is a dreamer and is tired of the desert that is his life. The scenes could have been shot on a farm on a planet not all that dissimilar to Lah'mu, another farming planet, but the dessert represents the boring, barren state that he finds his life in. Something lush like Lah'mu wouldn't work here.

The Death Star represents the ideals of the Empire. It features a repetitive, uniform, militaristic design - the hallmarks of the Empire. It's mechanical and lifeless. The Death Star is the perfect visual ideal of what the empire is. A New Hope has to establish what the empire is. Further movies can introduce bases on planets like Edu and Scarif, but it wouldn't work for the empire’s first appearance.

Yavin 4 is the polar opposite of the Death Star, just like the Rebel Alliance is the opposite of the Empire. The Rebels use the resources around them, like the natural cover of a jungle and the abandoned temples of the moon, to build their headquarters. The Alliance isn't some terrifying vision of a totalitarian future; it's a human lead, natural push for a better world.

Empire repeats this same thing. Hoth is a cold wasteland. The Alliance has to be desperate to build a base there. It shows their need to hide from the Empire, and the cold, unforgiving weather serves as a metaphor for the cold, unwelcoming, threatening world that the galaxy is for the Rebels.

Dagobah is a physical representation of the mystery surrounding Yoda and the Jedi order. The Cloud City on Bespin is purposely misleading. It takes on some heavenly imagery to make the place out to be a haven for our heroes, somewhere they can be safe. But as the true nature of the city is revealed, we get lower down into the city’s many levels,the image gets darker, and higher contrast lighting is used.

These intentionally thematically designed planets fail to make an appearance in the rest of the series. The subsequent films tend to use whatever planet looks the best. The only exception being Coruscant from the prequels which is used very intentionally. On Coruscant, a planet made of a worldwide city and the primary setting of the prequel series, the idea of the multipurpose use of the city is purposeful. Real cities are like this. They are filled with arts, business, crime, politics, and culture. Coruscant can be anything it needs to because real cities are like this.

Compared to the original trilogy, the newer Star Wars films fail to make their locations as memorable as the originals. But why exactly? I don't think there is any one real reason. The originals use a handful of locations in the trilogy which makes each one stand out more. The planets in the originals are tactile and gritty. You can see the dirt of them. They aren't made on a computer and were instead build practically. Maybe the thematic significance makes the planets of the original trilogy inseparable from the storyline.

It can't be denied that the Star Wars saga has produced some of the most famous locations in film history. Their thematic significance and iconic designs make them stand out. Film locations can so often be regarded as 'just a backdrop', but when the backdrop is uninteresting, the story won't pop. We can all learn something from Star Wars. Maybe if greater attention to other locations is paid, our stories will be just as famous as Star Wars.


Image credits:
1. X-Wing fighters leave Yavin 4 in A New Hope
2. Jabba's Palace on Tatooine in Return on the Jedi
3. Anakin Skywalker overlooks Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith