Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Questionable Star Wars vol. 11

The tour guide says the Star Wars universe is crawling with cool and fascinating places you can visit, from the inside of space worms to the inside of the Sarlak.

Question: "What is the coolest planet/city in the series?"

Scott's Answer: I love a big city so I will go with Coruscant. I only wish we had been able to explore more of it in the films. There are no doubt many different parts - some good, some bad - not to mention public transit, recreational areas, and various other amenities you'd expect to find in a bustling metropolis. Incidentally, there's no media presence. (Tor.com did a story on this, asking if the characters in the films ever read!)

Andrew's Answer: There is only one right answer to this question. . . sorry Scott: BESPIN. Yeah, Bespin rocks. Bespin was just amazing. It was beautiful and felt so real and I cannot imagine how amazing it would be to live among the clouds. :)

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both Scott and Andrew's answers were the first two things that sprung to my mind. A city that spans a whole planet and is the seat of the universal government or to live in the clouds would be amazing in its own right though you do have to worry about empire taking over at any time.

If we can travel through time I'd would have liked to visit Alderaan, every description of it and it's people make it sound like a great place to live.

Sticking with the time travel theme I'd pick one of the Death Stars to live in. The name alone is awesome, your city can travel and you can destroy planets, no one would mess with you ever.

Scott.

Dave Olson said...

Scott: Yeah, but those snub fighters will mess up your day. I think you underestimate their chances.

Anyway, I racked my brain for all of 5 seconds and all I could come up with were the aforementioned Coruscant and Cloud City. I mean seriously, a city in the frickin' CLOUDS! With Art Deco styling! What more could anyone ask?

And Coruscant...an entire planet that is a city. Now that Star Wars is out of the hands of George Lucas, there are boundless opportunities to explore that universe. If there are a million stories in the naked city, imagine how many there could be in a city like that.

rlaWTX said...

Ewok village, of course! :)


(and that's a whole lotta info on that city, ScottDS)

tryanmax said...

I think objectively, Hoth is the "coolest" planet or, more precisely, the coldest.

Rather than going with someplace top-of-mind, I found a list of all the locations that appear in the films. After strolling down memory lane, I have to go with Pau City, a spaceport built in a sinkhole, just for the sheer tenacity of it.

I almost went with Otoh Gunga before I remembered that it's populated with Gungans.

Anonymous said...

Scott -

Apparently, great minds think alike. Living on the Death Star would be cool but I'd probably get sick of the black/white/gray color scheme after a while!

And ditto on Alderaan - there is no doubt plenty of fan-made artwork depicting that particular world.

Anonymous said...

Dave -

I believe Lucasfilm was developing a live-action Star Wars series which would have told many of those stories in the naked city.

It doesn't look like the show is happening any time soon but they spent years with writers working on scripts.

Anonymous said...

rla -

Of course! (And yes, there is a ton of info out there on every minute detail of the Star Wars universe.) :-)

Anonymous said...

tryanmax -

I couldn't handle Hoth for obvious reasons, though it might be nice without the wind chill!

One of the prequel concepts for an alien world involved a "ringworld" type of planet, with the cities located on the planet's rings - this would've been pretty cool.

Tennessee Jed said...

somewhere in a galaxy far, far away no doubt! ;)

BIG MO said...

ScottDS - we get a small hint of what that "ringworld" could have been in Ep III when the clones kill Jedi master Plo-Koon. It's about a 5-10 second shot showing the clones shooting down the Jedi's fighter while he weaves through a massive curved "bridge city."

Personally, I'd visit Naboo -- assuming that Alderaan was already blasted -- just to get away from everything. Or Kashyyyk, the Wookie homeworld, if I wanted to go native and swing around with Chewie's pals.

I'd pobably also visit Coruscant, just to see it. When I first heard of that planet (in the Star Wars EU) I thought it must be Azimov's "Trantor" come to life -- the cityworld seat of power of his Foundation series.

Anonymous said...

Jed -

Where else? (I'm partial to the final frontier myself.) ;-)

Anonymous said...

BIG MO -

I forgot about that - I'll say one thing: the "Order 66" montage was very effective and probably the most emotional moment in the prequel trilogy.

Kashyyk would be cool, if only to hang out in a large treehouse. (I never had one as a kid.) :-)

AndrewPrice said...

OT: By the way, if anyone has a Kindle and you want to download "The Da Vinci Code" for free, it's free today at Amazon: LINK.

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, The problem with the Death Star is that people will keep trying to blow up your home. :(


Dave, I concur... a fricken city in the clouds! And I love the art deco look!

AndrewPrice said...

rlaWTX, That is one pretty impressive forest.


tryanmax, Anywhere full of Gungans is not a place for me.

AndrewPrice said...

Big Mo, I thought of Trantor as well, but it turned out just to be the Los Angeles of the future. How disappointing.

tryanmax said...

The problem with the Death Star is that people will keep trying to blow up your home.

I'd probably get sick of the black/white/gray color scheme after a while!


As long as the food court has a Sbarro, it doesn't matter.

AndrewPrice said...

You know the Death Star would be crawling with food courts!

K said...

Mainly I'd like to live on some earthlike planet with a low population density and high standard of living where the odds of having a Death Star blast or Imperial Fleet drop by would be nill.

AndrewPrice said...

Montanaba.

Anonymous said...

tryanmax and Andrew -

A Sbarro, a Chick-fil-A, and a Mrs. Fields Cookies and all will be right in the universe. :-)

Anonymous said...

Andrew -

As an aside, speaking of LA of the future, I read this article literally last night about what the LA Times of 1988 thought LA of 2013 would look like.

Robot butlers? Not yet!

Anonymous said...

K -

Sounds like the kind of planet Captain Reynolds and the Firefly gang might've landed on at one point. :-)

tryanmax said...

Well you know, you can't have a Death Star food court without a Darth Mall (badda-bing!) where you can shop at stores like:

- Abercrombie and Sith
- Bantha Body Works
- The Wookie Candle Company
- Endor Outfitters
- Helmet Hut
- The Darker Image
- Old Imperial Navy
- Droid Barn
- JC Palpatine
- Frederick’s of Coruscant
- Binks Brothers
- Mos Eisley Imports
- The Apple Store
- Bed, Bath & Far, Far Away

Anonymous said...

tryanmax -

Click here, then click on the big red dot. :-)

The Apple Store... ha!!

K said...

Andrew: Sounds like the kind of planet Captain Reynolds and the Firefly gang might've landed on at one point. :-)

Yes, but closer to the Star Trek movie technological earth cities and a lot less like a set from "The Rifleman". Let's just say I'd like to avoid any "Imperial entanglements".

K said...

Tyranmax: Frederick’s of Coruscant

The mind boggles, given the number of species there.

Anonymous said...

If I did live in the Death Star I would do some modifications, I'd fix a few flaws in the design that let fighters blow it the hell up. I'd also throw around some coloured paint and some plants to liven things up.

And yes there would be food courts and (Darth) Malls. In fact tryanmax gave me an idea, I'd turn away from the dark side and not try to take over the universe and turn the Death Star into the moving hotel, kind of like the QE2 but in space. People could go on a cruise or live on it, they could eat, shop and for an added fee blow up uninhabited planets and meteors.

Scott.

Anonymous said...

Two other places that come to mind as potential homes would be Corellia, some of my favourite characters come from there or Mon Calarari which sounds great (especially if you like sailing).

Scott.

AndrewPrice said...

Or if you like sushi. :P

Good thinking on the modifications. I'm sure there are some after-market "exhaust tube upgrades" you could buy for only a few credits.

Darth malls. LOL! Nice!

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I really like Droid Barn. Nice!

And of course, "The Apple Store." LOL! Bravo!

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, You should read the LA Times review of Smokey and the Bandit. They talk about empty highways by the 1990s and how we will all be forced to ride bicycles because all the gas is gone.

K said...

Andrew: Have you got a link to that review? It would be a hoot to read.

Anonymous said...

Scott -

We never did see Corellia, did we? We only heard about it in the movies. (I hear their main export is drawing software.) :-)

As for Mon Calamari... [must resist urge to make "It's a trap!" joke]

Anonymous said...

Andrew (and K) -

I'm usually pretty good at this sort of thing but I couldn't find that review. It's not linked from either the IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes.

However, your review of the film came up on page 3 of my search results - not bad!

Anonymous said...

I think talking about sushi on Mon Calarari would be a capital offense.

I nearly did a "It's a trap" joke myself, only good taste and sobriety save me from it.

I had a quick look for the review myself and couldn't find it. I'd be curious to read it and to have a laugh at their expense.

Scott.

AndrewPrice said...

I've never been able to find it online. I saw the reference to it originally on the Wikipedia but couldn't find it online. So I had a friend send me a hard copy.

Yeah, I suppose that talking about sushi would at least be in bad taste. ;P

Commander Max said...

How about Alderaan, long before they blew it up.
It might have been one of the sensible places in the galaxy. Since George blew it up first.

I was thinking of saying Tatoone but where I live isn't far off. A dry and dusty place with a few moody teens teens thrown in for good measure.

AndrewPrice said...

True Max! If George hated the place enough to blow it up, then it must have been a nice place.

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