--- May 04,
1997---
"Star Wars Canyon" was all I could think
of when I awoke on the second day of our expedition. That's what
David had promised us the previous night, and that's what we would
get! At the heart of the canyon lie the locations used to shoot
numerous scenes from Star Wars, and a few from Raiders of the Lost
Ark too ("I'm gonna blow up the Ark, Rene!"). Starting with the
famous bluff where Obi-Wan and Luke stood as they looked down upon
Mos Eisley, we proceeded across an incredibly rocky terrain where
any vehicle but a landspeeder would soon beg for mercy.
Hours of hiking under the Saharan sun brought us successively
to the spot where Obi-Wan made his first apparition, the
impossible-not-to-recognize rock from behind which Dathcha jumped
out and shot R2-D2 with his ion gun.... But there is one location
which occupies a very special place in my heart, and that is the
rocky outcrop where Luke was attacked by the Tusken Raider. This
was a critical site that David West Reynolds had not yet located,
and before we entered the canyon he showed us reference pictures
and pointed out the landscape details we should look for.
I ended up discovering it, and I was incredibly excited! We
promptly set out to re-enact the Star Wars scene (something we did
all the time) and I'll never forget the picture my mind registered
when I was lying where Luke had been, with David standing above me
in an attack stance, the hard rock against my back, the blue sky
overhead with the blinding sun, and the canyon echoing our every
word all around us... Now I know how Luke must have felt on that
fateful day. It was terrifying!
Later that day we traveled a short way through the Chott, a
dried up lake located roughly in the middle of Tunisia. This is
where the exterior scenes picturing the Lars' homestead have been
shot. And although the familiar dome and hardware were removed by
the Lucasfilm crew when they left 20 years ago, the crater at the
edge of which Luke stands to watch Tatooine's twin sunset is still
there. And that's all there is: the crater, and a few scars in the
ground indicating where the props had been. But, amazingly, that's
the location I had the most difficulty leaving. Even as the others
began the mile walk back to our Landrover, I stood there and
looked at my surroundings, tears in my eyes and shivers in my
heart. To this day I still don't know why, but this is the
location where the entire Star Wars universe coalesced and it
suddenly dawned on me that I was there.
In the words of Jon Snyder, "More Star Wars than you can shake
a stick at". But there were still four days ahead of us!...
Thanks again!
Francis Lalumiere - Gold
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