| Mos Eisley | |
|---|---|
 Interior set of the Mos Eisley Cantina with cast of aliens, as seen inStar Wars (1977) | |
| First appearance |
|
| Last appearance | The Book of Boba Fett (TV series) |
| Created by | |
| Genre | Space opera |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Spaceport |
| Race(s) | Humans; various non-human species |
| Location | PlanetTatooine |
| Characters | Wuher,Han Solo,Chewbacca,Greedo,Ponda Baba,Doctor Evazan,Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes,The Mandalorian,Garindan |
Mos Eisley is aspaceport town in the fictionalStar Wars universe.[1] Located on the planetTatooine, it first appeared in the 1977 filmStar Wars, described by the characterObi-Wan Kenobi (played byAlec Guinness) as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy".
A notable scene set in a seedy Mos Eisleycantina crowded with numerous alien races made a particular impact on audiences. Location filming for the spaceport took place from 1975 to 1976 inTunisia, with interiors filmed atElstree Studios near London.
Mos Eisley made its first appearance in the original 1977 film,Star Wars. It is depicted as a busy, bustlingport city situated in a desert plain, populated with transients of all species. The lawless spaceport attracts criminals, smugglers and fugitives.[2] Spacecraft land at docking bays dotted across the city.
The Mos Eisley scenes occur early inStar Wars, when the young heroLuke Skywalker and his mentorObi-Wan Kenobi travel to the spaceport in Luke'slandspeeder in search of a pilot, accompanied by the droids,C-3PO andR2-D2. Obi-Wan warns Luke that the spaceport may be dangerous. Upon arrival, Luke and Obi-Wan enter Chalmun's Cantina, a dimly-lit tavern patronised by visiting starship pilots. Strong drink is on sale at the bar and there are frequent outbreaks of violence among the clientele. The cantina attracts a range of exoticalien species, althoughdroids are not permitted to enter; the bartender orders them to leave, saying "We don't serve their kind in here". A band of dome-headed aliens plays a set of otherworldly jazz-style music.[3][4] Luke is threatened with violence by two of the customers,Ponda Baba, anAqualish, andDoctor Evazan, a deformedhuman, but Obi-Wan intervenes with hislightsaber, cutting Ponda's arm off in the fight. This is the first time a lightsaber is used in combat on-screen in theStar Wars franchise. Obi-Wan introduces Luke to a pair of smugglers,Chewbacca andHan Solo, and they negotiate terms for passage to the planetAlderaan, which prompts Luke to sell his landspeeder to get the money they need to pay Han. After Luke and Obi-Wan have departed, Han is involved in a brief confrontation withGreedo, a green-skinned gangster; the exchange ends violently whenHan shoots and kills Greedo.[5][6] As the group prepare to leave, they are followed to Docking Bay 94 byGarindan, a spy working for theEmpire. Following a brief gunfight withImperial stormtroopers, they board theMillennium Falcon spaceship and take off from Tatooine.
In the novelization of the film,Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker byGeorge Lucas (ghostwritten byAlan Dean Foster), Mos Eisley is described as a haphazard, run-down settlement built of concrete and sandstone, a large part of it built underground to escape the heat of Tatooine'stwin suns.[7] The cantina is described as a dark, sinister bar full of "one-eyed creatures and thousand-eyed, creatures with scales, creatures with fur". The narrative describes "Tentacles, claws and hands... wrapped around drinking utensils".[8]
TheExpanded Universe anthology of intertwinedshort stories,Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited byKevin J. Anderson, explores the cantina and its clientele further. The book names the establishment as "Chalmun's Cantina", introducing its proprietor as aWookiee named Chalmun; it also reveals that thebartender is named Wuher. The book also explores the reasons for the cantina's ban on droids: the bartender claims to dislike everyone, but lashes out at droids because they are the only thing that will not try to fight back; the proprietor Chalmun does not tolerate droids because they do not drink, and therefore occupy valuable space. Thebackstory of the cantina's resident swing band is also expanded in the short stories "We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale" byKathy Tyers and "Empire Blues" byDaniel Keys Moran. The band is named as Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and it is revealed that the players belong to a race calledBith. Their main musical number is also given a title, "Mad About Me".[9]
Mos Eisley appears in the 2019Star Wars television series,The Mandalorian. In "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger",the Mandalorian is forced to set down in Mos Eisley for repairs after a space battle with another bounty hunter. In order to pay for the repairs, the Mandalorian goes to a local cantina to look for a bounty. There, he meets a rookie bounty hunter, Toro Calican, who hires him to help locateFennec Shand, a dangerous mercenary. The pair locate Shand just beyond the Dune Sea and apprehend her. However, when the Mandalorian goes to retrieve transport for them, Shand tries to turn Calican against him by telling Calican about the Mandalorian turning against the bounty hunter guild to rescue the child. Calican mortally wounds Shand and decides to capture the Mandalorian and the child and collect all three bounties. The Mandalorian, however, is able to overcome Calican and rescue the child and Peli, a mechanic that was repairing his ship and watching the child. The Mandalorian gives Peli the reward for Shand as payment for the repairs and he and the child depart Tatooine.
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The first view of Mos Eisley inStar Wars is a shot ofDeath Valley inCalifornia from theDante's View lookout, with a matte painting added in the distance. The actual filming on location took place on theTunisian island ofDjerba.
In 1975, during the early stages of production onStar Wars, the appearance of the Mos Eisley cantina and its clientele was realized through the work ofconcept artsRon Cobb,Rick Baker andRalph McQuarrie andcostume designerJohn Mollo.[10][11] Mollo worked with George Lucas to compile a chart of visual designs for a range of character types. In collaboration with Mollo,make-up artistStuart Freeborn designed the masks andprosthetics to match each of the costumes, along with Doug Beswick,Rick Baker,Phil Tippett,[12] Nick Maley, andChristopher Tucker.[13] Freeborn has remarked that the cantina scene was specifically set up to be a "shock" scene; until this point in the film, there had been few appearances of non-human creatures, and the entrance into the cantina suddenly presented the audience with an array of outlandish species. Working from Lucas's direction and amaquette, set designerJohn Barry created the cantina set complete with circular bar and shady alcoves. Mollo included a few costumes borrowed fromWesterns, and based some other costumes on characters from the 1950 filmDestination Moon and the 1960s television seriesLost in Space.[14] The alien musicians in the band were played by a number of theIndustrial Light & Magic crew, including Phil Tippett, Jon Berg, Rick Baker, who all mimed to theBenny Goodman tune "Sing, Sing, Sing" at George Lucas's suggestion.[12]
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The exterior scene was initially filmed in 1976 at the little town ofAjim, which is a fishing port on theIsle of Djerba,Tunisia. The film crew added some false frontage to the structure, which has seen no refurbishment since 1976.[citation needed] The local owner was reimbursed eight dollars a day.[15] The interior set was constructed and filmed on Stage 6,Elstree Studios near London.[16]Harrison Ford filmed his first scene withAlec Guinness; Ford later remarked that the prospect of working with Guinness "scared the shit out of me".[14] As filming progressed, Lucas encountered many problems; the production was running over-budget and both cast and crew were suffering health problems. Stuart Freeborn fell ill and was unable to complete his work on the cantina creature masks.[17]
In early 1977, under pressure to complete his movie (now more than $2 million over budget), Lucas negotiated limited additional funding from20th Century Fox executives to supportsecond unit filming. Some of the most important additional footage shot was to enhance the cantina scene atHollywood Center Studios. Lucas had been dissatisfied with the make-up in previous shots due to Freeborn's illness, and was now able to fully realize the scene with several close-ups of alien creatures, complete with Freeborn's masks. Lucas also supplemented the limited coverage he had from the Tunisia footage with footage from Death Valley.[18] The new material was cut into the film by Lucas's editors, including Lucas's then-wife,Marcia Lucas.[14][19][6]
Lucas remained dissatisfied with the final cut of the cantina scene, and beginning with Lucasfilm's release of theSpecial Edition ofStar Wars in 1997, madea number of changes to it. He adjusted the confrontation between Han Solo and Greedo, to portray Greedo firing at Han first. This change was repeatedly further altered and has proved one of the most controversial amongStar Wars fans, giving rise to the popular slogan "Han shot first" in protest of it.[20] For the 2004 DVD, the opening sequence of the cantina scene was modified to replace some practical creatures with completely newcomputer-generated aliens. This includes, for example, a sinisterwerewolf-like creature, which was replaced by a pipe-smoking reptile.[21]
Throughout the cantina scenes inStar Wars, there is constant background music played by an alien band. Thisdiegetic music was composed for the film byJohn Williams, and consisted of two pieces written fortrumpet, threesaxophones,clarinet,Fender Rhodes piano and percussion, along withsteel drum andsynthesizer. George Lucas briefed Williams to imagine "several creatures in a future century finding some 1930sBenny Goodman swing band music ... and how they might attempt to interpret it". Williams combined traditional jazz instruments with instruments associated withAfro-Caribbean music in order to create a sound that was "both alien and yet familiar at the same time."[22][23][24][25]
In 1978 the toy manufacturerKenner Products released a Cantina Adventure Set as part of its range ofStar Wars action figures. The playset consisted of a miniature plastic bar with a cardboard backdrop depicting various cantina creatures and anImperial stormtrooper. A second version of the playset was brought to market in 1979, named the Creature Cantina Action Playset.[26]
In September 2020, LEGO Released a Master Builder Series (MBS) Mos Eisley Cantina (set number: 75290). It featured 3,187 pieces, 21 Minifigures and costUSD/EUR 349.99.[27][28]
The first piece of music from the Cantina scene was released in 1977 on theStar Wars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, entitled simply "Cantina Band". Later CDre-releases of the soundtrack album included the second piece, which was titled "Cantina Band #2". The first "Cantina Band" number has since been retitled "Mad About Me".[25]
That same year, the record producerMeco released aspace disco version of theStar Wars title theme and "Cantina Band" on his single "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band".[29] Since then, numerous popularcover versions and parodies have been released which feature the "Cantina Band" melody, including "Cantina Band" (1995) by the rock bandAsh, as theB-side of their single "Girl From Mars";[30] "Digga Digga Doo" (2004) by theAsylum Street Spankers, from their 2004 albumMercurial;[31] and "Cantina" (2007) byVoltaire from his albumOoky Spooky;[32] Abluegrass version of the theme is heard during the bar scene in the 2011 filmPaul, recorded by Syd Masters and The Swing Riders.[33]
In 1979, the cantina was the setting of adrunk drivingPSA produced by theU.S. Department of Transportation'sNational Highway and Safety Administration. In the PSA,Muftak's friends help him stagger out of the cantina and the message "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" is shown.[34][35]
In 2010, clothing companyAdidas created aFIFA World Cup advertisement featuring electronic music duoDaft Punk,Snoop Dogg,David Beckham, and others inserted into a reimagined version of the 1977 scene.[36][37][38]
Footnotes
Citations
