SPECULATION Skellig Islands

I personally love it, I live close to the Irish sea (Skellig is Celtic Sea?) and it makes me feel like I'm in the SW universe lol

Seriously tho, the cinematography for this will be awesome! And nobody knows yet what the planet as a whole will look like, or if there will be a flying whale. It's different at least.

 

Well, the same can be said about Endor, yet I see no one complaining that it is too Earth-like. Sure, there were Ewoks, but we'll get Porgs and maybe even some sea monsters. I also believe that in the teaser we saw a really small snippet of what the planet would look like and the most excititing images would be left for the film or later trailers. Besides, I think the problem is that if someone would truly want to impress us with pre-existing otherworldly vistas he'd need to go in space. We see so many photos of exotic and beautiful locations every week that everything seems old, not novel. Sure, they can create whole environments using CGI but such images would age terribly.

 

Not particularly, but I see your point.


The fact that Kylo Ren sets it up earlier in the film reading her mind (I strongly suspect he knew at least part of the geography of the world of where Luke was because he'd helped him search for the first temple before falling...also, seeing the future is a Jedi trait. And also, what is a kid who spent their entire formative years on a desert plan dream of.....an ocean planet with little green islands few and far between..."I didn't know there was this much green in the whole galaxy.") Ahch-to also reminds me a lot of the Undying lands in LOTR, especially how they are introduced via the hero's dream, with a fast skim over the surface of the water and bam! you're almost at the island but don't really understand it. There's a very intentional cut to a different perspective and type of shot. I always loved the vision of Paradise Tolkein lets Frodo end up at, and I do kind of like that it's incredibly limited in "screen time." Ironically, I hate the fact that so little of TFA is spent on Ach-To and that Luke doesn't speak.

The idiotic and faux-clever name ("Act Two of the Sequel Trilogy will occur there...Get it everyone?!?! Isn't this as clever as Lost and MI:III??? GIVE ME YOUR MONEY YOU STUPID PEASANTS!!!!!") pull me out of the movie now that I know it, and is by far my least favorite thing I know about TLJ. It's so JJ and unnecessary and disappointed and insulting. I get the pronunciation is slightly different but the pun is obvious and any disputing that from the TFA team is a lie very stupid that originates from JJ. He either made it up or felt the need to use it AND steal it. Because he's JJ.

So I kind of know what you mean, but my reaction is about a different part of the planet.

Maybe the bird things will help it feel alien to you.

 

I'm from Ireland and I've been to Skellig. It manages to feel both wholly familiar but utterly alien when you're there. There's nothing like it. There's a magic sort of energy up on that mountain.

If you're interested look up its placement on ley lines and why the earliest monks chose it.

It's fascinating.

 

I loved it in TFA! Think it fits well with star wars. So bummed the weather was poor the day we were scheduled to visit during my Ireland trip last summer.

 

I enjoyed seeing Skellig Island in TFA. I don't know why but this island had a pretty big samurai vibe to me. So, it's perfect for the Star Wars universe, especially in regards of TLJ.

Agreed!

 

I wouldn't say it has samurai vibe but an aura of mysticism and feels a bit other-worldly, especially it's architecture looks like something straight from the Galaxy Far, Far Away.


PS. Also, it served as an inspiration for the look of Skellige Isles in the Witcher 3, probably my favourite game ever and that's always great.

 

For me it has the samurai vibe because of the movie 'Harakiri' (one of the best samurai movie ever made). This movie has pretty similar settings.

(Actually I think this movie is a pretty big influence for the lightsaber fighting/training on Ahch-To.)

 

When the trailers for TFA came out, some fans were complaining that it was another desert planet. "Boring," "It looks like Tatooine," "Give us something new!" Star killer base was another snow planet. "Boring!" Ahch-To was finally a planet with a new look, and some fans complained that it did not look like Star Wars.

The difficulty of making a Star Wars movie has become the fact that not only planets but also spaceships and animals should be new but look familiar at the same time. It is a very difficult line to walk. Fans will complain when it is the same and fans will complain when it is different.

 

I agree with the OP, in the way it could have been easy to get away from Earth - just using a graphic palette.

Not necessary. Just change the sky color, the water color and the grass color, add one or more suns like Tatooine, and it's enough: we are elsewhere.
The same could have been applied to Jakku : change the ocher sand colour to violet, enough: we are no more on Tattoine.

today, yes.... but in 1983, we were not aware from the beauty and the variety of Earth, no internet, no daily PPS incoming by email... and unfortunately a lot of persons simply never leave the place they live in. Today with Google Earth you can enjoy visiting the streets of San Francisco even if you live in a desert country in Russia. It wasn't the same 35 years ago... this is why I agree when you say:

You said it.
Plus, it wasn't the same in terms of technics: 35 years back, it wasn't so simple to change only the color of the sky in a whole shot. Nowadays, any movie editing system has got a graphics palette that can do that easily.

 

I see what ya saying OP and I do somewhat agree with it being 'too Earth-like' because it's a known location. Maybe in the movie it will feel alien and we'll be transported there in a SW way. I'm not ruling out two suns - the shot in the trailer cuts early before I can see, and I can't find any info on its suns. Have hope!

 

Yeah, I literally groan when the Jedi steps lead up to....a cliff hanging over the troubled waters and her PASSING the torch back to him to take over the story.


That's not on the nose, it's getting punched in the face. But you don't hire JJ for originality or subtlety.