Star Wars, aka Star Wars. Before the franchise was bought by Disney, the Star Wars universe was one of the most interesting and thoughtful in world cinema.
The Star Wars universe is interesting not only for its twisted plot and mythology invented by George Lucas but also for large-scale filming without the use of pavilions.
The planets that had a life "a long time ago in a distant galaxy" are, of course, actually on Earth. From the forest planet of Endor to the sandy Tatooine-the shooting took place, as the filmmakers say, "on location". In some places of filming, there are even traces of the fact that aliens once lived here.
Ever since the release of the first film of the saga, the film crew has masterfully found memorable places for filming, digging into the memory of fans and just viewers. Star Wars filming locations – a separate article, worthy of mention and respect for the film crew.
The places where was Star Wars filmed are worth visiting by themselves. The fact that the great film saga was born here is a separate reason to visit distant planets, despite the fact that they are on Earth.
The forest planet of Endor. Redwood National Park in California
Endor is a gas giant in the Iblim star system. The planet Endor is poorly explored due to its difficult reach and strong gravity, and it is located in Mondell-a fairly remote sector, accidentally involved in a Galactic Civil War.
But we are not interested in the planet Endor itself, but one of its nine moons-the Reserved Moon, most often also called simply Endor. Here was perhaps the most important part of the Galactic Civil War – the Battle of Endor.
Wooded Endor is home to a hard-working race of Ewoks, small furry creatures about a meter tall. At the time the planet was discovered by the Empire, the Ewoks were just preparing to emerge from the Stone Age. But they were smart enough to quickly learn the techniques that the aliens from other planets had introduced them to. By and large, the Empire has defeated thanks to the participation of the Ewoks in the battle.
The climate of the planet is temperate, the landscape is mostly forested with occasional deserts and lakes. Attractions include caves, cliffs, Ewok villages, and the Salma Desert. If you do not take into account the battle of Endor, the planet had always been a calm and peaceful place in the Universe. It would be a popular tourist destination if our technology allowed us to fly to the Iblim star system.
In the meantime, Elon Musk is just developing a suitable engine, you can visit another place. In a place where the atmosphere of the Wooded Satellite of Endor was recreated for the filming of the movie saga.
California, Del Norte County. It is not surprising that this place was chosen for filming with giant trees that came down either from the pages of fairy tales or from the screens of films about distant planets.
In fact, the Del Norte Redwood Forests are just a small part of the U.S. National Forest known as Redwood.
Here is a Giant Forest, aka the Grove of Titans. Giant trees taller than the Statue of Liberty and with a huge diameter. Their age can be one or two thousand years, and they are rightfully considered one of the tallest and oldest on Earth. Unfortunately, at the time of the development of America, many of the giant trees were cut down, and now the location of the tallest natural skyscrapers is classified in order to save the natural beauty of Endor.
George Lucas, when looking for a place to shoot, expected to find a wild place, untouched by humanity and other catastrophic phenomena of nature. The redwood forests of Del Norte proved to be the best candidate, but even here it took about a year to bulldoze the wild landscape and plant the trees of the planet Endor.
The ice planet Hoth. Norwegian glaciers
The planet Hothis inhabited by a small population of carbon-based life forms, despite its harsh conditions. The planet has an oxygen-rich atmosphere that allows most of the intelligent and not-so-intelligent species in the universe to exist, but its conditions are so harsh that the planet is not only not developed, but is also absent from most reference books and guidebooks. However, this point is often used by smugglers and rebels, from time to time using this planet as a transit point. Here, in the midst of endless glaciers and a few unfriendly fauna, was the rebel base. Due to the remote location of the planet, the base was chosen as the main one, but in the end it was still discovered by the Empire, which defeated the base. The equivalent of a planet on Earth is also the territory of infinite ice. So this territory is located in Norway, near the Finse railway station, located at the Hardangerjokulen glacier. In fact, George Lucas and his colleagues have been looking for a very long time for a suitable location for filming, where there will be a vast area of ice the size of a planet. The search was so difficult that it was supposed to start shooting right at the North Pole. But the planet Hoth was closer than the crew had imagined. In addition, Norway, in contrast to the proposed locations at the North Pole, provided a hotel and transport for the film crew, which could easily reach the city of Bergen.
The desert planet of Tatooine. Tunisia, Sahara Desert
Sahara is the place where Star Wars was filmed. People who are interested in Star Wars filming locations are usually primarily interested in where Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia. Because here is the greatest place. The greatest desert where Star Wars was filmed. The greatest marks filming, which can be imagined.
The planet Tatooine is one of the key locations in the Star Wars universe. Anakin Skywalker, better known as the Sith Lord Darth Vader, was born here, and his son Luke Skywalker spent his childhood there.
It is also a very remote planet with an unfavourable climate. During its colonization, many criminal elements settled here and created their own system.
In addition to adventurers, smugglers, mercenaries, and bounty hunters, Tatooine is populated by a decent number of poor people. These are miners and farmers whose ancestors were born here during the colonization, but could not leave it.
Despite its desolation, Tatooine and the area of the Sahara itself, where Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia, is one of the most interesting Star Wars places to shoot a movie epic. The fact is that the bustling central quarter of Mos Espa, and indeed all residential buildings exist on Earth. Actor Mark Richard Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, said about the shooting: "I didn't even have to imagine that I was on Tatooine. I really was on Tatooine." This is the magic of the place where Star Wars was filmed.
The terrestrial equivalent of the city center of Mos Espa is the city of Tatavin. To the south of it is the old Berber granary, built back in the XV century. Even if it were not for the filming of the movie, this place would still be highly visited among tourists as an example of Berber architecture. It was this building that became the center of the city of Mos Espa, where the young Anakin Skywalker said goodbye to his family for the last time.
The other buildings of Mos-Espa are located a little further away and, unlike all the other mentioned terrestrial analogues of the Galaxy, were built specifically for the film and still exist today.
Thanks to the lack of precipitation in the Sahara and the extremely dry climate, the buildings of the urban part of Tatooine are well preserved and even constantly come under the gun of the ubiquitous tourists. On the sand dunes of the largest desert on Earth, the local people arrange excursions. The road is long and difficult, but it's worth it.
The desert where was Star Wars filmed is a truly amazing place. So if you want to visit the remnants of Tatooine on Earth and the place where Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia, you should hurry up a little. Constantly moving dunes can fill up buildings within the next few years. Lars' lone farmhouse also exists, and it stands alone near the oasis town of Nefta.
Even the home of Luke Skywalker is quite possible to visit in our time. His house is another example of the architecture of the Berber culture. Hotel Sidi Driss in the small Berber town of Matmata. The hotel still retains the props from the time of filming to deliver the cosmic atmosphere of the confrontation between the Empire and the rebels to visiting tourists.
For the most part, the Star Wars locations associated with Tatooine were filmed in different parts of Tunisia, and even the poison desert races took place in the sands of the Sahara. Only a few scenes were shot on the territory of the US national park, known as Death Valley. But only because there wasn't enough African material at the end of the shoot. This will be the second desert where Star Wars was filmed.
The place where was Star Wars filmed is one of the greatest pavilions in the history of the film industry.
Yavin-4. Mayan Ruins in Guatemala
There is a picturesque place in the vastness of the Universe Yavin-4-a satellite of the gas giant Yavin. Yavin-4 is very rich in fauna and wild tropical flora and is also better suited for life than many other planets on which various categories of intergalactic individuals once hid from persecution.
Many thousands of years before the events of the movie saga, the dark lord of the Sith Naga Sadow took refuge here from opponents in the Great Hyperspace War.
To focus energy for Sith magic and the dark side of the Force, the lord ordered his minions to build a system of huge temples. He hid the ship under one of the temples and created many dangerous creatures.
As time passed, the dark energy of the temples was then concentrated, then released, life on the planet was then destroyed, then restored, and the temples over time turned into numerous ruins located throughout the entire surface area of the planet.
The main rebel base was located here, from where the fighters took off to destroy the Death Star and dealt it a crushing blow.
As for the analogue of these ruins on the planet Earth, they belong to the ancient Mayan civilization. The ruins of the Tikal settlement, to be more precise. Now the temples are protected by UNESCO, however, it is unlikely that they were included in the list of the foundation because of the former Galactic Civil War.
Tikal is part of the town of El Peten, in the northern province of Guatemala. For a long time before its discovery by European civilization, the city of 16 square kilometers was abandoned and absorbed by tropical forests. Scientists on Earth are still at a loss as to why this large Mayan city was suddenly abandoned. No wars or catastrophes – people just left their homes.
It is worth noting that the city of Tikal was filmed in many other works of cinema. The most famous of them are "Apocalypse" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".
Planet Ech-To. The Island of Skellig Michael
From the world of eternal film classics, let's return to the modernity of recently thundered movie hits, even if they were shot under the sign of Disney and Mr. Mickey Mouse. You can argue as much as you like about whether the "trilogy of sequels" is the canon of the universe, but when analyzing the best Star Wars places, you can not fail to mention this island. When, at the end of the story from George Lucas, Luke Skywalker went on a voluntary wandering, he settled on the picturesque rocky island of the planet Ech-To. Here, in an ancient island monastery, young Rey began to learn the art of the Jedi, with difficulty persuading Luke Skywalker to become her teacher. The island where Star Wars: Episode VIII was filmed is located in Ireland, next to County Kerry. It is the largest of the Skellig Islands, Skellig Michael. It, like the previous example, is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The picturesque island where Star Wars was filmed in the middle of the sea is an interesting attraction not only because of its natural beauty but also because of the ancient monastery where Rey learned her skills. The monastery adorns the island where was Star Wars filmed since the VI century. The monks lived in cells hollowed out of the rocks-which in itself is a great setting for the Star Wars universe.