Us nerds like nothing more than to banter back and forth on nerdy topics in Slack. Here is one of those chats, very lightly edited.
Clave (Co-founder of Nerds on Earth and lone survivor of Anakin’s attack on the Jedi Academy’s younglings) We’re Star Wars nerds. When we are together we chatter about Star Wars. When we are apart, we hop into Slack to chatter about Star Wars. With all the Star Wars chatter, it only seems fitting we would share some of it.
You’re welcome.
Our topic for this week is the planets of the Star Wars galaxy. Which ones would we visit as a tourist? And which locations might we want to see on the big screen.
Adkins (Co-founder of Nerds on Earth with a midi-chlorian count over 9000?!) Can I go first?!
Clave Please. Get your words in before Nash gets going.
Nash (Has LEGO kits for every planet in the Star Wars galaxy) #YouKnowThatsRight
Adkins If I were given the chance to visit Kashyyyk, I’m pretty sure a vacation would turn into a stay-cation. It is the embodiment of one of my biggest childhood dreams: Living in amazingly awesome treehouses. In giant bonsai trees no less!
Clave Say more!
Adkins We’ve been to Kashyyyk briefly in Episode III, and I travelled there during the Star Wars: Force Unleashed video game. It eliminates my need to choose between the side of me that prefers the mountains and the part of me that prefers the beach.
Clave OK Nash, make a joke about hairy Wookiees, then share the planet you’d like to visit.
Nash First off, I NEVER joke about Wookies. Second, the Force Unleashed games are AWESOME! I need to get a Playstation again. Third, there are A LOT of places I’d love to visit. If I had to choose just one, I’d have to go with Dagobah. It’s pure with the force, rainforesty (remember I got married in Puerto Rico), and the cave. I want to go into the cave!
Clave Well, I was setting you up for a ‘I’ll not touch your hairy Wookiee joke’, but I like what you did better.
Nash Ooo, that would have been good. I am too sleep deprived for good humor right now lol
Clave OK, if you want to visit the cave on Dagobah, then how about the subterranean levels of Coruscant? You have interest there, because I’d love to see that explored more in the films.
Adkins YES! In fact there was a planned game entitled Star Wars 1313 that was going to take us down into the seedy underbelly of Coruscant. Unfortunately it got dropped and who knows if Disney is ever going to pick up that ball and take my money.
Nash I would like to know more about Coruscant for sure!
Adkins Are the subterranean levels of Coruscant your submission, Clave? If so, why exactly do you want to play tourist there?
Clave I think…maybe. Big city visits are fun, and none are bigger than a city that encompasses an entire planet. But if “forced” I think I’d select Yavin 4. Growing up in West Viriginia, I love rolling deciduous forests. But I like going to places I’ve never seen, so I think I select Corellia.
So what locales would you two like to see, Episode VIII and beyond?
Nash I suppose we are going to see a lot more of the first Jedi Temple area so I am looking forward to that. I also think we will see some more new planets and locales…I think Abrams and co. are going to try to get away from the older places.
Adkins I wonder if they’ll retread a place or two just for nostalgia’s sake? For instance: Coming up with a reason for us to find the new cast on Cloud City or some such.
Clave I think we’ll get one more touch at nostalgia, but they intentionally hit that beat during The Force Awakens, making sure the locales deeply resonated with fans. I think Episode VIII will intentionally take us to new places as a result.
Adkins I think a visually intriguing place to explore cinematically would be Utapau. I’m pretty sure that the Clone Wars show has taken its viewers there (and Nash, I believe you are a fan of the show, so correct me if necessary). The planet is riddled with massive sinkholes and the natives just built their cities into the sides of the new sunken terrain.
Clave Utapau would be good, as would a locale that is rocky and mountainous. Imagine a group that has built into high peaks.
Nash I loveThe Clone Wars, and I hope we do explore some of those lands. Though, it seems you have a lot more ability to do so in the shows and the movies are too bang bang bang to have too many new places and characters for that matter.
Adkins Yeah, you can’t exactly pop all over the galaxy in a two hour movie. Heck, you’d have a hard time doing so organically without feeling scattered in three two hour movies. That is definitely a strong suit of the show, and if they’re taking you to places like Utapau then they’re doing it right.
Clave Having traveled to Africa, I’d love to see some of that open air, simple brick village architecture make it into the films in some way. If they get settled in well, then the locale can become an additional character of the show. I think that struck me with Rey on Jakku. I really wanted to know more about her life there.
The trick is using earth cultures as an influence without being culturally appropriative and offensive.
Adkins A possible way around that to some degree is the use of alien races.
Clave Yes. And make for darned sure that the alien races seem to have adapted logically to their environments.
Nash I want to know about a desert planet junk yard like I want to know about a moisture farmer’s crop seasons lol
Clave Last word from me. Adkins hit on something with Cloud City. What is a wholly fantastical place they could visit? A city in the sky is good stuff.
Adkins I think we may have seen Felucia briefly in one of the prequels, but that planet’s colors are amazingly vivid and could serve as a stark color contrast to most of what we’ve seen in the movies. We get a lot of space, sterile spaceship interiors, some deserts, and a few jungles, but the technicolor explosion that is Felucia would be a welcome change of pace visually.
But I’m still moving to Kashyyyk.
Nash I’d prefer a deeper look at a place like Kashyyyk to Cloud City. Either way, Adkins was all over great places once again.
Clave That’s a wrap. Get out there and travel the worlds, gentlemen. And May the Fourth be with you!
Adkins That’s one bad lisp you’ve got there, Clave.
Tabletop Takeaways: Tips for Dungeon Masters with a Narrative Spin