The Road to Episode Infinity: January 2013

Star Wars, more than any other Sci-Fi franchise, is all about the planets. Lucas likes to keep things simple by giving each planet its own unique terrain. Desert Planet, Ice Planet, Sky Planet, etc. That's why these world's are so iconic. So let's get into the countdown, shall we?

#10 Kamino (Ocean Planet)

Kamino is a stormy, watery world located beyond the outer rim. Kamino is what NASA would call an exoplanet! Its sun burned out long ago and now it is just floating through space on its own. It is constantly stormy on Kamino. The Kaminoans who live there are cloners and they are some of the weirder aliens of the saga. The greatest Kamino moment, of course, is the battle between Obi-Wan & Jango out in the rain.

#9 Geonosis (Rock Planet)

Geonosis is a rock planet and very Mars-like. The termite-alien-locals are called Geonosians and it is here that we will witness the first battle of "The Clone Wars". The battle in the arena was one of the high points of the prequels for me. For the first time we got to see dozens of Jedi in a battle at the same time- Lightsabers blazing! You won’t find anything else like it in the entire Star Wars Saga (so far). The only thing that put a sour taste in my mouth about Geonosis was Threepoio's stupid puns (I'm Quite Beside Myself).

#8 Bespin (Sky Planet)

Bespin is the planet that is home to Cloud City. We all remember it from “Empire” but it can also be seen briefly in the Special Edition of “Return of the Jedi”. Bespin is a gas giant with floating cities, which makes it quite different than all other Star Wars planets. The residents of the cities mine for tibana gas, which apparently is essential for ships and blasters to function. Have no fear though, the planet is on the outer-rim and is too small for the Empire to notice…. right?

#7 Naboo (Gungan Planet)

The coolest thing about Naboo is it’s watery core, which is not entirely unscientific. Many of Jupiter’s moons are thought to have sub-terrain oceans that may contain life. The swampy parts of Naboo are also kind of cool. Giant statues falling apart like a civilization that is crumbling. The city of Theed, where the queen rules, is the most boring part of the planet. Naboo is also the first planet to betray the Star Wars concept of “One Planet, One Terrain”. Lucas should know that all planets should comprise of a single terrain! Naboo plays a major role in the prequels and is briefly glimpsed in the 2004 update to Return of the Jedi where Jar Jar can be heard saying “Weesa Free!” (Boo!)

#6 (Forest Moon)

Endor is not a planet, but a moon. Scenes were filmed in the redwoods of California & it is the only Star Wars planet that I can think of in which its name is taken directly the Bible (Joshua 17:11). For me, the best Endor scene was the speeder-bike chase. It was before the little teddy-bears showed up.

#5 Mustafar (Lava Planet)
Mustafar is Lucas’ vision of hell. It is a violent place (like Jupiter’s moon, Io). It was originally to be the final meeting ground between Luke & Vader in “Return of the Jedi” until Lucas thought, “Hey, why not just bring back the Death Star”. It seems to me that I knew about Mustafar and the duel between Anakin & Obi-Wan years before the prequels came out, so many of us had been waiting a long time for the lava planet and that final duel.

#4 Dagobah (Swamp Planet)

Dagobah is Yoda’s swampy home and can be seen in “Empire”, “Jedi” and a deleted scene from “Sith”. There are no battles on Dagobah, but there is something magical about the swamp planet. As I said in previous blogs, Dagobah was built as a giant elevated stage and Mark Hamill was the only human on set. I think it is Willaims’ music that really gives this planet life.

#3 Coruscant (City Planet)

The idea of the capital of the galaxy being a giant city was rooted deep within the first drafts of episodes IV & V, but Coruscant would first appear in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 book, "Heir to the Empire". It was first seen on screen in the 1997 release of Return of the Jedi, and played a major role in the prequel films. The population is a trillion people and is the capital of the galaxy. If you control Coruscant, you control the galaxy. I was pleased with the representation of Coruscant in the prequels and I think it is likely to reappear in Episode VII!

#2 Hoth (Snow Planet)

You voted for it and here it is! Hoth is another iconic planet of the Star Wars universe. There isn’t much native life, but the Tauntauns and Wampas are a few. The Battle of Hoth is probably my favorite of Star Wars battles. Many of us have an intimate relationship with the conflict, having failed to defend the Echo Base time and time again across several gaming consoles (Empire Strikes back for Nintendo & Super Nintendo, Shadows of the Empire for N64, Lego Star Wars for Wii, etc.). The Empire always wins! Hoth was filmed in Norway.

#1 Tatooine (Desert Planet)
Tatooine is the most frequently visited location in the Star Wars saga and most developed. It is featured in 5 of 6 films so the culture and species of Tatooine are fully fleshed out in the films. From the Tusken Raiders, to the Hutts, Tatooine is a rough terrain, a hive of scum and villainy. Tatooine is also a real place. It was filmed in Tunisia, a north African country, near a town called Tataouine. Sandstorms were a real phenomenon that the crew had to deal with whilst filming the three films. As a world traveler and a life-long Star Wars fan, I would love to visit it someday. Too bad there aren’t really two suns.

What I left out and why: Utapau is a dry world made of sinkholes which is seen in Episode III, but we didn’t get to see much of it. Neither did we get to explore the Jungles of Yavin 4 in "A New Hope" (although a jungle planet would be a great addition to future Star Wars films). I decided that Kashyyyk was too similar to Endor and that Alderaan was too blown-up.

Thanks for reading!