SPECULATION Skellig Islands

Seemed kinda Earth-like, but I'd say no more so than Takodana or D'Quar. In fact, probably a little better than either of those.

 

Yeah, hopefully there's better stuff.
Going off what we have so far with new planets:

Jakku: Basically Tatooine

Takodana: Cool set, but very Earthlike

D'Quar: Earthlike, very forgettable (didn't even know they left Takodana on first viewing)

Starkiller Base: I actually liked the forested snow setting- particularly for a lightsaber fight

Lah'mu: Actually really liked this weird, marshy ringed world. Too bad we saw so little of it

Rings of Kafrene: Really cool idea, in my opinion. Wouldn't mind more asteroid bases like this in the future

Wobani: Kinda forgettable- but also, we saw very little of it

Jedha: A planet with Jedi history is cool, but it's really just another Tatooine clone. A weird colored sand (pink?) would have been kind of a cool gimic

Eadu: Not a terrible planet- the rocky canyons remind me of some of the old Rogue Squadron games, and it's unique enough.

Scarif: I guess beach planets like this are pretty unique to Star Wars. I liked it in RO, but I hope it doesn't become an archetypal planet

So, overall, I do like a lot of what the new movies have added so far (especially Lah'mu and Kafrene, even though I hated the first half hour of Rogue One's story) but there are certainly some glaring missteps as well.

 

I would have said Naboolike to stay in the gffa

this is something I groan about since 1977. In SW universe, one planet=one set and one population (sometimes, 2, like Kashyyyk where Wookies and Trandoshans share the world).

If you were a true reliable fan, you would have bought the books that allow to understand the movie, and you would have known the planet is Hosnian Prime, and you also would have known why 3PO has a red arm, and you would have known what happened to Poe between the crash on Jakku and the moment he meets again with Finn on D'Qar, and you would have known the name of the guys in Maz Cantina, and everything that is not told in the film because it's told in the books.
Instead of that, you waste your time here, groaning and moaning.
You are not serious, admit it.
(... and I'm absolutely not serious when I give you the impression of making you morality, hey and )

This is exactly what happened in 1977. When George asked Mc Quarrie (I believe it's Ralph Mc Quarrie) to draw some landscapes, in order to present the project to the Fox, he asked him to draw two suns over Tatooine. As Ralph was questionning how that could be brought to screen, George answered "hey, don't matter how we will do that, just draw it!"

OMFG!!! oO I didn't have this till you wrote it. Now it will fill my whole head.

 

Star Wars is notorious with names.

Snaggletooth
Hammerhead
Obedient-One Kenobi
Yoda is a yogi

 

That's harsh. I haven't read said books either.

 

You're acting like those three complaints came from a single person....

You can't please everyone all the time.

Some people liked the fact that Jakku felt familiar, but it also reflected the tragedy of the Civil War in the Galaxy. (I was not one of those people. I thought it would have been way more interesting to start off with ANY kind of planet that wasn't a direct copy of Tatoonie. It is nearly impossible to tell the difference. Jedha is obviously cold, has a much more mountainous geography and has an Afghanistan vibe (with it's more pink hue).

Some people derided Starkiller for being "another Hoth." I felt it was similar, but the forest and cliffs and more diverse geography in general (vs HOTH being a big ball of ice and snow for the most part). Also, the weather on Starkiller wasn't nearly as extreme, and again, it looked more Scandinavian or Germanic that the more Greenland looking-Hoth (and yes I know Hoth was filled in Scandinavia)

Some people didn't like that neon Wonderland planet from ROTS.

Some people thought Ahch-To didn't look exotic or "Star Wars-enough" Not everyone complained about all four worlds. Skellig Michael certainly looks exotic to me, especially the way they filmed it in TFA, like it was two items and that's it. (that's how it's shot in the film and TLJ teaser).

If anyone thinks Ahch-To isn't "Star Wars enough" needs to give their feelings on Endor. If they think Endor fits, but not Ahch-To, then hit the ignore button. they aren't worth your time, because both are real world locations with almost zero changes.


Tatoonie has twin suns, Hoth doesn't make any sort of climate sense, and don't even get me started on how much BS you have to swallow to accept Cloud City. But Hoth and Cloud City are two of my favorites. It makes sense because you accept the galaxy rules and just roll with it.

For every Naboo, there is an Udapau (which I really want to see again.....best part of the PT in my book----not counting bringing back the white hallway from ANH).

For every Endor, there is a Cloud City.

If all the planets are super crazy, then it gets boring.

Endor works because you're expecting another crazy planet like Cloud City or the jungle castle base on Yavin IV. Nope, it's those Redwoods.


Ahch-To is awesome because it seems like a crazy idea....all that water....just those islands with tiny huts... how would the Jedi survive there?
But you know in the back of your mind that place is real and people lived there (albeit with limited help from the mainland)
If global temperatures keep rising though, our ice caps will all melt, and we may be left with only a few remote monasteries in the Himalayas poking out of the pan ocean. Which could be why the Jedi relocated fully to Jedha and the world of Ahch-To was forgotten.

But it's got a dumb name and it's another thing to blame on JJ.

 

I think part of the issue is that the OT planets were kinda like a fairy tale kingdom map.

The Desert
The Frozen wastes
The Swap
The Jungle
The Redwood Forest (not be confused with the real world Redwood Forest)

The PT with the advent of more controllable environs gave us more exotic locales. Honestly I think if people liked the PT as a whole the planets would be remembered with fondness. But it still has that sort of single locale fairy tale map;

The Desert
The Great City
The Land of Lakes
The Ocean
The Anthill
The Sinkholes
The Volcano

The planets in the ST I haven't disliked though I admit that Jakku could have had a different look and still remind people of Anakin and Luke. Now they wanted a planet not on the Outer Rim for reasons that the story group felt would be useful (it is Mid-rim and near hyper-space points). I would have preferred either a total junk world with elements of ruined ecosystem rather than junk on a desert planet. The Ruins of Taris in the MMO The Old Republic does a very good job of junk and ravaged ecosystem.

Ach-to strikes me as back on the fairy tale map; The Isles.

 

Pawek-13 in the first page of this current thread, has already said the same about Endor.
The fact is, Endor made us dream when it came out in 1983. First, it was an unknown part of our Earth. Second : in the movie, that moon was populated with strange creatures, and some stormtroopers and motojet, and the big antenna, helped keeping us in the GFFA universe.
In comparison, Ahch-To offers nothing to make us dream. It is just an earthlike rocky island that has no originality, lost in an earthlike ocean that has no originality, and both are absolutely void of any lifeform or any element that could keep us in the SW environment... we are just seeing two humans (the Falcon, the wookie and the droid have disappeared the very moment they landed!). This is why 2016 Ahch-To does not make us dream at all, while 1983 Endor still make us dream.
I still state: Ahch-To with a pink sky, or Ahch-To sky with a big ball moon (something like the Death Star over Jeddha) or Ahch-To with one or two strange lifeforms would have kept us in the film. This is why I quite agree Klai Kenobi's OP: the last shot in TFA kind "takes us out of the Star Wars Universe" and is a little bit regrettable. Just a little bit. It is not the end of the world.

 

I once stopped off in Barbados for an hour on an international flight. All I saw was airport. Don't go to Barbados it's just a big airport.

 

the size of Barbados is insignificant next to the power of your very long username

 

Porgs.

 

They do not appear in TFA.

 

If Ahch-To feels too much like Earth at this point, it's probably because we (as an audience) haven't spent any time there. I'm sure it won't take long for TLJ to distinguish Ahch-To as alien world.

But yes, it bothers me that they feel compelled to make every planet look like a place you can find on Earth. This over-reaction to the CGI in the PT is holding Star Wars back. Part of the Star Wars magic is that transportive feeling - and that gets progressively harder to achieve when everything is so familiar.

I get it - Lucas got carried away with the computer effects in Eps 1-3 - but that shouldn't mean that Star Wars has to abandon imaginative locations. Guardians of the Galaxy certainly doesn't worry about having fantastic settings. But even if you don't want to see Star Wars take it that far, there's no reason they can't build real sets that look like alien worlds. The forest where Rey and Kylo have their duel was built on a sound-stage. Certainly they could do the same for more fantastical setting, and then enhance them with CGI.

 

I don't get this argument about the planets at all. Making a planet out to be complete alien looking for the sake of looking alien and cool makes no story sense to me. Outside of Mustafar, Bespin and Kamino, every other planet that had significant screen time had terrain that looked like it could be on Earth. Even Mustafar would be just a huge volcano and Kamino, an oil rig in the middle of the ocean during a storm.

To me its just nitpicky. Like fans just have to find something about Star Wars to piss them off. Case in point. Fans were ecstatic that Lucas would not be making the next films because of his heavy-handed approach to the prequels. Yet, after TFA came out fans were petitioning for him to return. To me, there is a story purpose for every local that has significant screen time outside of one.

Bespin was meant to be in the clouds because it was meant to seem like a false heaven.
Hoth was meant to be cold and blizzard because it was meant to show the plight of the Rebellion (going from Yavin to Hoth is cruel)
Endor was meant to be forest because it would help the chaos needed for the battle on the planet (also the Empire couldn't see the forest for the trees).
Tatooine is meant to be desolate to show Luke & Anakin have no future on the planet.
Jakku is meant to be desolate and a junkyard - to again show Rey's lack of future and that she's literally growing up in the graveyard of the Galactic Civil War.
Takodana is supposed to be a secluded travel destination spot and also shows that Maz has some class to her - so the lodge resort vibe location makes sense
Starkiller Base is built into a planet and its supposed to be an uninhabited planet that is remote - so a reversing the course and having the First Order on a snowy planet (not as bad as Hoth) gives us a view of the First Order as the little guy now. It makes story sense.
Coruscant - meant to show the excess of technology and bloated Republic
Mustafar - has symbolic meaning for Anakin's downfall with the lava and fire (an interpretation of Dante).
Naboo has the classic and sophisticated look of the Naboo and the underwater, rustic life of the Gungans. It shows them as two different very societies that don't work together even though they cohabitate the planet.
Utapau is just the Grand Canyon. The Jedi have to dig deep to get Grevious
Ach-To - meant to show isolation. An island of light in the middle of a dark galaxy.
Geonosis - Dooku and Palp's are working under ground in the caves and shadows.

The only one that really is just to look cool is Kamino.

If they can make story sense, then I'm all for any location. But just to look cool doesn't work. This it what makes Star Wars - Star Wars and Jupiter Ascending what it is.

Every decision in terms of vehicle look and character look is made with story in mind. Not just because it "looks cool."

 

I'm confused about why you're upset.

First, who's pissed off? It's just an opinion of preference.

Second, the preference for more varied planets, and the desire for Lucas to return are not the same. Personally, I would like to see Lucas stay retired.

Third, you seem to be assuming that wanting alien environments is that same thing as ONLY wanting things to look cool. Certainly you can understand why someone would want alien worlds to look alien? I think we all get that the setting can be reflective of tone, or serve as metaphor - but that really doesn't have anything to do with wanting environments to be less Earth-like. Settings can mirror the tone, and still not look like a place you would find on Earth. A location can be desolate without being a desert.

No one is arguing that the planets should look cool, and also not make sense for the story. Those concepts are not mutually exclusive.

 

Um who said I was upset? I was giving an opinion. My overall point was that aside from Bespin - every other planet that has had extensive time looks like it could be somewhere on this planet. Those that claim TFA was somehow not going far enough with planets is ignoring the retreads throughout the prequel-era. When Geonosis was introduced it was accused of looking too much like Tatooine. Utapau was accused of looking too much like Geonosis.

I think its a nitpicky argument and one that doesn't hold much water when actually looking at the movies themselves. Rebels and Clone Wars have done more, but its mostly because with animation they have more flexibility in creating very alien worlds. I'm sure if the story presented itself of having the necessity of a very alien looking world, then we'd get one.

 

@Darth Daigo Superb post! Totally agree.....as much as I love Luke and the OT characters, I am more than OK with new characters, new worlds, new stories. Prob why I prefer R1 to TFA....