1 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:27,000 Today I wanted to quickly dive into the planet bring Star Wars to life. These planets are some of the elegant creations in all of science fiction. 2 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:31,900 They are bold, iconic, and most importantly help tell the story. Now in order to identify 3 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,800 what makes these planets special, we need to lay out the restructions put upon all of their designs. 4 00:00:36,900 --> 00:00:41,700 The obvious restruction is the complete lack of realism. 5 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:46,600 very few of these planets resemble functioning ecosystems, let alone that every character can breathe on every planet. 6 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:54,100 Contrast this, let's say James Cameron's Avatar which has a fully flashed up world that would be explored and for upcoming sequels. 7 00:00:56,100 --> 00:01:01,900 Pandora is a planet that has multiple diverse landmarks locations and weather patterns much like a row 8 00:01:03,700 --> 00:01:10,600 Star Wars planets, on the other hand, are far more singular in their identity and they are often an extension of the sets are characters visit 9 00:01:10,700 --> 00:01:16,200 These planets typically have a central theme or distinct color palette that makes them instantly identifiable 10 00:01:16,300 --> 00:01:22,900 The most memorable planets have themes that reflect an important idea or character, an example to this would be Mustafar whose violent 11 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:30,900 warrant volcanoes echo Anakin's in a rage. Every Star Wars planet from its weather to its culture is designed specifically 12 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,900 for the character's adventure there. So with all that out of the way let's take a look at how these planets find their purpose 13 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:42,500 and how they evolved throughout the series starting with 14 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:47,400 [BACKGROUND NOISE] 15 00:01:47,500 --> 00:01:55,800 In the New Hope, we visit three brand new planets with two of them being the series most iconic locations Tatooine is where are story begins 16 00:01:55,900 --> 00:02:02,900 as R2-D2 and C3-PO escaped to this desolate sand planet that structures as far as the eye can see 17 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:08,700 this planet is specifically catered to set these two back. It's cruel, dangerous, endure us heavy inspiration from the iconography 18 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:17,300 as Sir G-Alley on his westerns. Star Wars planets having different themes it's how the series transitions from so many contrasting genres. 19 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:24,000 Tatooine is a prisoning planet. It's where themes come to die and it's the last place for either Luke Skywalker to be 20 00:02:26,100 --> 00:02:32,900 so much of how Luke Skywalker is characterized can be found in how he is contrasted with his home planet. 21 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:40,800 His wide-eyed wonder doesn't fit with the weathered look of Tatooine's other citizens. Luke is destined for something more. 22 00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:56,800 The other iconic planet here is the Death Star. Though kinda it's not really a planet that's no Moon it's a space station. 23 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:03,500 but still, in the function of the plot and the way it's visually presented to us, it's absolutely a planet. The Death Star is obviously 24 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:09,400 the source of all the film's conflict. It's a death trap. The billy the beast that is here is to find themselves. 25 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:17,500 I think what separates it from other generic doomsday devices is how it presents itself as a planet. One of the underlying teams of the original 26 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:22,900 trilogy is that if technology versus nature. And here we see how the enemy's home has become 27 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,700 consumed by technology, the void of all life, joy, or freedom. 28 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:37,300 The last planet we visit in the New Hope is Yavin 4 the hiding place of the rebels. And what I think is one of the series greatest set designs. 29 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:45,000 The film cleverly shows the rebels living in the remains of an older civilization. Not only does this cement the power dynamic, the rebels 30 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:50,200 living in an abandoned planet and the Empire having built their own, but it also shows how our heroes value history 31 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:57,200 living in an older, more civilized age. Now, if you notice, A New Hope featuring three central planets, 32 00:03:57,300 --> 00:04:04,300 completely coincides with the film's typical three act structure. With each planet symboling the transition to the next act, 33 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,300 you can identify the act break in a film by a character making a decision that they can't turn back from and in Star Wars 34 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:21,000 that means traveling from one planet to another. This becomes the Star Wars templates. You'll find this in every single one of these films 35 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:32,400 and where A New Hope introduced the format. Empire was the one who perfected it. This time, our adventure begins 36 00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:37,300 on Hoth where our heroes are hiding as the Empire hunts for them throughout the Galaxy. 37 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:43,400 Even though we get a fancy text crawl that spells out exactly what is happening to our characters, the choice of location 38 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:50,100 and its hostile inhabitants communicate their situation beautifully. I need long term goals of victory are being beaten out by 39 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:57,100 the primary goal of survival. Their strength is in arms. A lonely will perish. Before the Empire is struck back, 40 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:09,800 our heroes are already on the ropes. The next planet we visit is Degobah. The whole planet to Jedi Master Yoda. 41 00:05:09,900 --> 00:05:21,900 The thing I love the most about this planet is how it's an extension of our little green friend to the point where he blends into the terrain. 42 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Degobah too is a subversion of what we expect a great warrior to look like. In my older video on Empire Strikes Back, I learned? 43 00:05:30,100 --> 00:05:33,700 that film is deliberately paste for us to feel annoyed. The film heightens? 44 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:39,900 Luke's sense of impatience as these lessons in the jury act are countered by Han and Leia's whiplash of action, 45 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,100 the things that Luke fight for or it prevent him from fighting well. 46 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:56,000 this training with Yoda is a test when that Luke fails repeatedly. Degobah itself is the test not only in 47 00:05:56,100 --> 00:06:01,600 its Dark Force caverns, but in how its swampy foundations sink all hope of Luke ever leaving. 48 00:06:01,700 --> 00:06:07,100 If he's going to become a Jedi and make a dent in this war, he needs to become something more. 49 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:16,600 Lastly, all part is converged on Cloud City as Han has finally found refuge from an old friend. 50 00:06:16,700 --> 00:06:20,400 They're protected high above. the Sky within these beautiful white walls, 51 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:24,000 and oh oops it's a trap. 52 00:06:25,300 --> 00:06:30,700 Cloud City provides our heroes with a false sense of comfort. But once the rug has been pulled from under us, 53 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:33,600 the film travels deeper into its industrialized horrors. 54 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:37,600 Technology is a weapon. 55 00:06:37,700 --> 00:06:41,700 Vader feels so much at home within this electronic hellscape. 56 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,900 From the lowest cave to the highest mountain the Empire's reach knows no bounds. 57 00:06:47,900 --> 00:06:52,000 This peak and the safety is now another death trap. 58 00:06:52,100 --> 00:06:58,500 You could learn everything you need to know about set design from this film alone. It is a masterpiece, obviously. 59 00:07:04,300 --> 00:07:09,800 Lastly, we have returned to Jedi, which is easily the least ambitious of this trio, 60 00:07:09,900 --> 00:07:13,700 with two of it's three central planets being retreads of Tatooine and the Death Star. 61 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,800 However, I am a fan of Endor and its cute little fluff balls, 62 00:07:16,900 --> 00:07:21,300 especially as it takes the underlying theme of nature versus technology that's been suddenly 63 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,400 developed throughout these movies and makes it literal. 64 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:30,600 The rebels claim their victory, and a force in Paradise, one that gives us 65 00:07:30,700 --> 00:07:34,300 a very warm reminder of home. 66 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:42,700 I could do a whole other video on the Prequel planets, but Let's 67 00:07:43,900 --> 00:07:50,100 just say things get a lot more Avatar'y. Take Naboo, which has a gorgeous European self exterior 68 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,200 along with the primitive aquatic interior. Or there's Coruscant, which is a planet-sized city that serves 69 00:07:54,300 --> 00:07:59,900 as the hub world for the entire trilogy. I can go more into its imaginative planets and what they 70 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:07,200 represent, but the Spark Oats version is that we start here and we end here. Good(?)... good. 71 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:19,100 Now, to be honest, I've been rather disappointed with the planet roster for the newer films, especially with this Venos, 72 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:27,700 where we get 15 alterations on Gray and Murky. There are touches that I adore, like Jakku housing the remains of destroyed Empire ships, 73 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:33,700 or how Starkiller Base echoes Hoth as a way to visually flipped the power dynamic, but this 74 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:38,500 is not enough to make up for them being Tatooine at Death Star clones, respectively. The bolder visual ideas are the ones that 75 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:45,900 got the most attraction, like Scarif being a Tropical Paradise as a not specific iconography of World War II 76 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:51,400 Crait in particular uses the full extent of its red salt foundations beautifully,using it as a 77 00:08:51,500 --> 00:08:59,000 PG 13 representation for blood. And you know, I can't say I'm truly disappointed with the 78 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:04,600 new era Star Wars planets as they've actually given me my favorite one, and that would be Ahch-to. 79 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:14,400 Never before in this series has a planet works better at being an extension of its character. 80 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:18,100 Luke's existence in the sequel trilogy lives entirely on this island 81 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,200 and with that come all the questions surrounding his character. 82 00:09:22,300 --> 00:09:28,000 If every Star Wars planet is the personification of a larger idea. Then consider how isolating Luke's location is. 83 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:35,000 He's living in an Island on an Island. Luke has barooned himself here after being disgraced as a 84 00:09:35,100 --> 00:09:39,900 Jedi, and much of the plot line of The Last Jedi centers around Rey, attempting to understand Luke 85 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:47,400 and bring him back to the fight. The island then brings to life the issues that prevent him from doing so. 86 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:51,500 It is the manifestation of all the guilt and pain that he lives with. Luke has cut himself off from - 87 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:57,400 the Force and once the Jedi to end. And so the Island is the birth place of the Jedi and easily 88 00:09:57,500 --> 00:10:03,200 the most four sensitive the location we've seen in one of these movies. For both Luke and Rey, 89 00:10:03,300 --> 00:10:12,500 the force confronts and challenges them, poking at their deepest insecurities. The Island is almost like a crime scene. 90 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:19,400 Rey comes in looking for answers, investigating each and every one of its corners. Those answers come in 91 00:10:19,500 --> 00:10:27,000 the form of her visions and her conversations with Luke and Ben, but also in smaller details, like the lighting and the weather 92 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:31,400 The weather, in particular, serves as its own separate character. When the characters are energetic and hopeful, 93 00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:40,000 it's sunny outside, when they're confronting with their darkest moments it pours. And it's not Yoda who burns down the sacred text. 94 00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:45,400 It's the weather. These planets don't only reflect on what's going on and who 95 00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:51,300 our characters are, but they are also the things pushing our heroes forward to move on. 96 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:56,200 These planets live and breathe they are ideas and characters themselves. And while they 97 00:10:56,300 --> 00:11:01,700 may not make literal sense, they still give a very strong and emotional truth.