A modern-day visit to the Skywalker homes
Decades after the original "Star Wars," a Japanese pop culture blog looks at the sad state of affairs at a few movie set locations in Tunisia -- the country that hosted Luke (and Anakin) Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine.
Fans may never forget the numerous sandy scenes of the "Star Wars" saga, which George Lucas and crew mostly filmed in the North African country of Tunisia.
A recent glance by RocketNews24 at famous "Star Wars" locations such as Mos Espa (where Anakin grew up) and the Lars Homestead (where Luke grew up) paints a much different picture of the movie sets beloved by countless geeks around the world.
Not long into the video showing Luke's home in the city of Matama, we see that the mostly intact set contains many rooms, doors, and props from the classic 1977 sci-fi movie. However, it appears residents commercialized the environment into a makeshift hotel (named Hotel Sidi Driss), complete with a bar and food service. Maybe sleeping in Luke's bed would help on the path to gaining knowledge about the Force.
Fortunately, things appear slightly improved at Anakin's hometown of Mos Espa, located in the Tunisian region of Oung el Jemel. The set served as the backdrop for numerous scenes in the "The Phantom Menace," and more than a dozen buildings, real and mockups, still stand today.
The RocketNews24 correspondent met some eccentric people there who actually live on the deserted movie set. One of them harbors falcons. Can you imagine living on a "Star Wars" set in the middle of the desert and having a falconry hobby? Excellent!