Tatooine

Tatooine ( ) is a fictional desert planet that appears in the Star Wars franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life-forms. The planet was first seen in the original 1977 film Star Wars and has been seen or mentioned in a substantial number of Star Wars theatrical films and television series since.

It is the home planet of the protagonist of the original Star Wars Trilogy, Luke Skywalker, and of his father, Anakin Skywalker (who later became Darth Vader). It is also the planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi takes up residence under the name "Ben Kenobi" in order to watch over Luke during the former's exile following the events of Order 66 and Anakin's fall to the dark side. Shots of the binary sunset over the Tatooine desert are considered to be an iconic image of the film series, along with the greatest sunset scenes in cinematic history.

Development

In his early drafts of the Star Wars story, author George Lucas changed the names of planets and characters several times. In his early treatment, Lucas opened the story on the fourth moon of the planet Utapau, the home of a young warrior called Annikin Starkiller. In Lucas's rough draft, The Star Wars (1974), the escaping droids land in a desert on the planet Aquilae; in later drafts the planet again takes the name of Utapau. Prior to production, early artwork commissioned by Lucas from conceptual illustrator Ralph McQuarrie show robots lost on a desert world, scorched by twin suns and mysterious, masked Tusken Raiders riding large horned Banthas.

thumb|left|Hotel Sidi Driss, used for the Lars homestead scenes

George Lucas originally envisaged filming the Utapau/Tatooine scenes in Algeria (inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1975 film The Passenger), Libya or Iran, but these locations were rejected by 20th Century Fox. When production began on Star Wars, production designers John Barry and Robert Watts scouted for filming locations in Morocco and Tunisia. Lucas, accompanied by producer Gary Kurtz visited the Tunisian island of Djerba with them and were impressed by the desert landscape and the unusual architecture, and selected Tunisia to provide the desert planet setting. Lucas was also keen to shoot at the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata, a decision which extended the shoot, and consequently the budget, by a day. Filming in Tunisia began on March 22, 1976, and immediately ran into difficulty: the region was experiencing its first heavy rainfall in seven years, which disrupted the setting of an arid desert planet. The Matmata hotel consisted of a troglodyte dwelling in a large hole in the ground. Combined with shots at Chott el Djerid, near Nefta, this formed the setting for the Lars homestead and moisture farm. The landing site for and escape pod was filmed in sand dunes at La Grande Dune, near Nefta, and exterior shots of Mos Eisley spaceport were shot on Djerba. The name Tatooine is not actually mentioned in the final screenplay of Star Wars—Lucas was still working on his fourth draft while scouting locations, and adapted the name from a town in southern Tunisia called Tataouine (French spelling, or Tataween spelling in Tunisian Arabic).

Certain scenes filmed on Djerba were subsequently deleted from the final cut of the film in order to improve the narrative pace. The most significant material cut was a series of scenes set in the township of Anchorhead which served to introduce the characters of Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter. Lucas asked film editor Richard Chew to cut these scenes as they had been likened to "American Graffiti in outer space" by Fox executives (in reference to Lucas's 1973 film).

thumb|Dante's View, Death Valley, California

Footage filmed at Sidi Bouhlel in Tunisia was combined with 1977 second unit filming at Death Valley National Park in California to create the rocky canyon scenes featuring Jawas and Tusken Raiders.

thumb|Moisture vaporator sets from the prequel films left at [[Tozeur]]

When crews returned to Tunisia to film for the Star Wars prequel films in 1998, locations at Onk Jemal (Ong Jmal) in Tozeur, Ksar Ouled Soltane and Ksar Hadada, Ghomrassen were used for Tatooine scenes.

Film appearances

Tatooine originally featured in the 1977 film Star Wars, and was the first planet to be seen in the film franchise. In the opening scene, the planet and two of its moons are seen in space against a sea of stars, forming the backdrop of a space battle which sets in motion the events of the film. Two robots, and , jettison in an escape pod from a captured spaceship, the Tantive IV, and land on the surface of Tatooine. The droids lose their way in a sparse desert and are captured by small scavenger creatures called Jawas. When the robots are sold on to human settlers, protagonist Luke Skywalker is introduced as a young man living with his aunt and uncle on a farm. The hostility of the arid desert environment is emphasised by the depiction of sandstorms and the heat of the binary stars, as Luke watches a twin sunset over the sand dunes. Humans are constantly threatened by violent bandit creatures called Tusken Raiders. As the film progresses, various leading characters are introduced to the story in scenes set on Tatooine: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo and Chewbacca. Later Tatooine scenes take place in Mos Eisley, a gritty bustling spaceport on the planet which is a centre of smuggling and organised crime. One of the most celebrated scenes in the Star Wars saga is in the Mos Eisley cantina, a shady saloon populated by exotic alien species. Composer John Williams wrote music for the alien band in this scene in the style of swing musician Benny Goodman, and arranged with unusual instrumentation to convey an other-worldly sound. Tatooine features once again in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, in which the story's heroes return to Tatooine to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, a fearsome gangster who dominates the criminal underworld on Tatooine.

When the prequel trilogy revived the film franchise in 1999, the action returned to Tatooine for Episode I: The Phantom Menace as the setting for the childhood of Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker. Living as a slave in another spaceport, Mos Espa, Anakin competes in pod races, long-distance airborne races across the desert. The Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn meets Anakin after making an emergency landing on the planet, and helps him win his freedom. In Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), an older Anakin returns to Tatooine to search for his mother, Shmi, who has been kidnapped by Tusken Raiders. The prequels depict a vast expanse of desert with jagged rock formations. Tatooine features once more in the final prequel film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005); in the closing scene, Obi-Wan Kenobi takes the infant Luke Skywalker and delivers him to his adoptive parents on the Tatooine moisture farm while he goes into hiding by residing in the Junland Wastelands which are in Tatooine's mountainous areas, thus explaining his first appearance in that location in Episode IV.

Mos Pelgo briefly known as Freetown, was a town located in the northern hemisphere of the planet Tatooine, and has a small population of less than 50. Seen in both Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne and The Mandalorian.

Spaceports

Two major spaceport locations have been shown on Tatooine:

Mos Eisley (Star Wars, 1977) is the planet's biggest city: a bustling spaceport with an active criminal underworld, described by Obi-Wan Kenobi a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." This is the location of one of the most noted scenes in Star Wars, Chalmun's Cantina, which is shown as a busy saloon bar-style establishment, patronised by exotic and often violent alien species. The Cantina additionally features as a location in Lego Star Wars video games and Fortnite. The town is the largest hub of spice and weapons trade, and has a population of over 8000.

thumb|Mos Espa filming location near [[Tozeur]]

Mos Espa (The Phantom Menace, 1999) is home to the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace track. Anakin Skywalker spent his childhood in the city, along his mother Shmi; both were slaves under the ownership of Watto. Anakin became the first human to win the race against Sebulba and other Podracer pilots and earned his freedom in the process, due to a bet between Watto and Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn. Despite the similarities of Mos Eisley and Mos Espa of their architecture and names, they're not sister cities. The town is also significantly safer then Mos Eisley, as the economy is built on betting, trade and business.

Desert locations

Tatooine is mostly a desert environment. Characters in the films make reference to the deserts by name: the Jundland Wastes, a rocky region, is the location of the Tusken Raider attack in Star Wars (1977), and the neighboring Dune Sea (the basin of an ancient ocean) is the setting for Jabba the Hutt's palace, which has the Rancor pit inside the palace. Also situated in the Dune Sea is the Great Pit of Carkoon, the lair of the deadly omnivorous Sarlacc creature.

Appearances

Films

Star Wars (1977)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (mentioned only)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) (mentioned only)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) (mentioned only)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Television

Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020)
Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018)
The Mandalorian (2019–)
The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (2023)

Licensed parodies

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars (2014)
Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III

Video games

Theme park attraction

Tatooine also appeared in the theme park attraction Star Tours - The Adventures Continue in Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and Disneyland Park in Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Similarity to real planets

thumb| [[NASA artist's impression of , an exoplanet compared to the planet Tatooine]]

The discovery of exoplanets in the real universe gained pace in the early 21st century. In 2015, the US space agency NASA published an article which stated that many of the newly discovered astronomical bodies possessed scientifically confirmed properties that are similar to planets in the fictional Star Wars universe. Among them, the planets TOI 1338 b, Kepler-16b and Kepler-453b have been likened to Tatooine because they have been discovered orbiting binary star systems. These planets are known as circumbinary planets.

Influence

The desert planet of Jakku in the Star Wars sequel trilogy film The Force Awakens (2015) has been noted as being very similar to Tatooine.

In August 2019, rapper Kanye West announced that he was designing prefabricated homes inspired by the settlements on Tatooine seen in A New Hope to serve as low-income housing. His prototypes in Calabasas, California were torn down after he was cited for not obtaining the proper permits and receiving complaints about the "gumdrop-shaped" structures. On July 5, 2020, West tweeted a photograph of similar structures being built to promote his presidential campaign.

The desert planet of Kerona in Space Quest I is a reference to Tatooine.