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CT Cloud City

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by Blur, Mar 4, 2013.

  1. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Recently re-watched the CT on Blu-ray, and was reminded again of the brilliance of the Cloud City scenes/scenery in ESB - the entire film really captured my imagination, but the CC sequences especially resonated. CC was a definite departure from any other environment seen in the OT (or the PT, for that matter), since IMHO it seemed to be an homage to the almost sterile sci-fi environments of the past, but with much more interesting architecture. Really enjoyed:

    - The Cloud Car's simple but elegant design - Excellent, and easily one of my favorite SW vehicles of all time. It was nice when Hasbro finally produced this as a vehicle back in 2010.

    - The luminous & almost haunting voices/music as the Falcon entered the city for for the first time - really set the tone for the city, and was unlike any other music we heard in the OT.

    - The added sequences in the ESB Special Edition were amazing - non-intrusive, but at the same time really added to these City scenes with additional buildings, Cloud Cars, other vehicles, additional scenes showing the citizens evacuating at the end, etc.

    - Really liked the background during the dusk sequences when Leia & co. are trying to stop Boba Fett from taking away Han.

    What's also interesting to me is that at the end of ESB, Lando called for the evacuation of the city due to the Imperials taking it over, and you see people leaving frantically. Then, in the ROTJ SE, you see a fully populated?! Cloud City cheering at the fall of the Empire. According to Wookiepedia, The Empire took over the city after the events seen in ESB (obviously), though it's still strange to me that so many citizens remained in the city - I guess they couldn't leave.

    Other interesting items of note:

    - In the SW Saga Blu-ray set, there is a deleted scene from ESB showing Lobot being captured by Stormtroopers after freeing Lando, Leia, and Chewie (not in the final film).

    - Two of my favorite Marvel Star Wars comics that take place between ESB & ROTJ involve Lando returning to an almost deserted Cloud City & dealing with a deranged Lobot & Stormtroopers. These issues are some of my favorite early EU:

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_56:_Coffin_in_the_Clouds

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_57

    And, here's some Wookiepedia links re: Cloud City:

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cloud_City

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Images_of_Cloud_City
     
  2. clone3131

    clone3131 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 11, 2004
    The EMPIRE rules over the whole galaxy, so I doubt a few troops in the city changed day-to-day life much...

    -C
     
  3. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    The celebration scenes never made any sense. Why are people celebrating Palpatine's death on Coruscant? The Core Worlds are supposed to be a bastion of pro-Imperial support. And why are there celebrations on Tatooine, a planet that's so remote and isolated from galactic affairs that people there don't even use the same currency as everyone else?
     
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  4. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Because by RoTJ, Palpatine had managed to alienate nearly everyone not in his inner circle?
     
  5. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    Eh, I'd think that if public opinion were tilted that heavily against Palpatine's rule, there wouldn't have been a Battle of Endor in the first place as none of his troops would have been willing to fight for him.
     
  6. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Clones? We know he had them- it's possible he was still using clones as late as RoTJ.
     
  7. The Supreme Chancellor

    The Supreme Chancellor Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    The Rebellion...and the Battle of Endor were both results of public opinion being against Palpatine...The fact that he was the ruler of an unstoppable military force is what kept systems in line. His troops were born in vats and brainwashed into serving him.

    He was. After the clone rebellion on Kamino the Empire decided to use different clone templates to avoid another occurrence. But a good chunk of the stormtroopers were still clones.
     
  8. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    In The Essential Guide to Warfare the figure was 1/3 clones in the Stormtrooper Corps, as of the Battle of Yavin.
     
  9. TheWolfmanGuitarist

    TheWolfmanGuitarist Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2013
    Agreed. Cloud City was a highlight of ESB for me, because up until then, we hadn't seen that sort of futuristic, sterile sci-fi kind of city in the films and it was just a great inclusion. The architecture, the cityscape, the way we follow the Falcon between the buildings. And the red, orange and brown colours during the approach to the landing platform were beautiful.


    These extra shots really gave the city a much grander scope. Suddenly, it feels much more open and just large. This is a fully functioning city. It reminded me of seeing Coruscant for the first time, it was that good. I'm glad they were added.
     
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  10. DARTHSHAME

    DARTHSHAME Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 19, 2003
    I always liked Cloud city. As a kid, I remember wishing we could see more of it. Fortunately, the additional scenes added to TESB, along with EU sources have flushed out the scenery a bit.
     
  11. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Re: Coruscant, IMHO a lot of citizens didn't like/want Palpatine's rule, so when they found out the Empire had been defeated they pulled down the statue of Palpatine, attacked Stormtroopers (you can see one being forcibly "crowd surfed" in that scene), etc.

    Re: Cloud City, this makes perfect sense since the Empire took it over at the end of ESB & probably stopped or inhibited the commerce that the city needed to thrive; so, obviously the citizens who were left would be glad the Empire was defeated.

    So, yes, Tatooine is the only planet re: these celebration scenes that doesn't make much sense to me - from what we see in TPM & ANH, the planet is unquestionably "off the beaten path", and probably never warranted much interest from the Empire (prior to what we see in ANH, of course) - and, we get the impression that most people go to Tatooine to avoid attracting attention anyway; so, why would these people care either way what happened?! As Luke says, "If there's a bright center in the universe, you're on the planet it's farthest from."

    However, I recently saw the Blu-ray CT deleted scenes (for the very first time) and noted the Biggs & Luke conversation on Tatooine (that was justifiably cut from ANH), in which Biggs warned Luke that the Empire may want to take over commerce on Tatooine someday...So, maybe that was why people were glad of the Empire's defeat - they saw the writing on the wall, and felt that if the Empire continued to get more powerful it would eventually turn it's attention to Tatooine, despite the planet's extreme remoteness.

    Of course, that's the "in universe" explanation. What actually makes more sense is that Lflm. just wanted to add some additional celebration scenes at the end of ROTJ to make the ending more "epic" in scope, and just used the other planets we had already seen in the previous films so a general audience would recognize them (and obviously Hoth & Dagobah wouldn't have worked; maybe the 4th moon of Yavin would have, though we never saw anyone there other than the Rebels).
     
  12. ObiAlKenobi

    ObiAlKenobi Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2012
    Cloud City blew my mind when I was a kid. I still think it's the most visually pleasing world in the SW Universe. It reminded me of "Oz" when Dorothy first walked out into all that color. Up until that point, we see the black, grey and whites throughout dominating the palette. Hoth, space, even the tinges of green on Dagobah are muted and darker. The Star Destroyers are dark and cold. Then, boom....music and the beauty of the landscape (or skycape haha) of Cloud City. It was gorgeous.

    Sorry, I'm an artist. I look at this stuff LOL.
     
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  13. Ambervikings91

    Ambervikings91 Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2012
    yeah its pretty cool
     
  14. Joe

    Joe Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 25, 2012
    I assume the people trying to flee CC in ESB were caught in an Imperial blockade and forced to return to the city.
     
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  15. OldSchoolFan

    OldSchoolFan Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2013
    - In the SW Saga Blu-ray set, there is a deleted scene from ESB showing Lobot being captured by Stormtroopers after freeing Lando, Leia, and Chewie (not in the final film).

    No way!!..... I'm going to try to find that online (don't have the bluray set, got the films on so much formats already), I've always wondered what become of Lobot. I loved the Cloud City scenes but still think (as I've said elsewhere on here) that they should have shown a few ships fleeing the city after the evac was called. All they seemed to show was a few people panicking and running around, what did they do after that? Just go home and have a spot of tea?
     
  16. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    My thoughts:

    1. As a young fellow I did not notice that Cloud City floated via repulsorlift. I thought it was a really tall building with a mushroom top.

    2. The symbols here are light and darkness. It alludes to any given heaven/hell concept.

    3. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. This is a idea of being turned to stone found throught mythology from medusa to Lot's wife who is turned into a pillar of salt.

    4. The labrynth crops up here as it does in ANH(The Death Star). Luke is continually fighting through a maze.

    5. The theme throughout the OT concerns being consumed. The Falcon is eaten by the Death Star, The Falcon escapes the asteroid worm, here Vader attempts to comsume Luke(something like Chronos and Zeus).
     
  17. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Yes, that is a great scene, and sheds some light on what happened to the Lobot character, though you really don't see much. I think the reason they didn't show much of the Cloud City populace evacuating (other than the crowd scenes, which we saw a little more of in the 1997 ESB SE) was because they wanted to focus on the Boba Fett pursuit/shoot-out, the rescue of Luke, and the Falcon's last-minute miraculous escape.

    Here's a link with more info. on the OT deleted scenes from the Blu-ray set:

    http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/09/17/grading-the-star-wars-blu-ray-deleted-scenes/

    I've always thought the Lobot character had a cool look/vibe and, despite no speaking lines & minimum screen time, was an important character in the film. As a kid I really liked the OOT Vintage Kenner figure. And, though Hasbro has also re-made the figure a couple of times in their line, I would really like to see a 12" Lobot with the wrap-around metal head-dress, complete with electronic flashing lights ;) - I doubt this will ever happen, though, due to the obscurity of the character.
     
  18. OldSchoolFan

    OldSchoolFan Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2013
    I know I'd buy a 12'' Lobot, one thing that annoyed me about TESB was that he didn't have a bigger role, I loved his look and the fact that he was in tune with the city's main interface at all time haha, Anyway, thank you for a rundown of the OT deleted scenes, I'd actually love to see all these, I might just fork out for the Bluray
     
  19. Theron Solo

    Theron Solo Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    I'd love to hangout at Cloud City.
     
  20. Chancellor Yoda

    Chancellor Yoda Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2014
    Next to Hoth, Bespin is my favorite planet in the saga. Its just so beautiful, the stunning sunsets, the elegant cities, and just place I would love to make a living in.
     
  21. SateleNovelist11

    SateleNovelist11 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2015
    I'd love to live in Cloud City. Plus, I imagine the night life is fab. I'd love to create an inflatable night club, drop into down into Cloud City, and party hard!
     
  22. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    Cloud City looked great and looks even better in the SE, one of the best changes they made IMO.

    Possibly the entire Cloud City sequence is my favourite of the OT, in particular the carbon freezing chambers scene which are my favourites.

    What I like about it is that its a contrast between heaven and hell / light and dark.

    You have the beauty of the city, with light and airy colours and the amazing views and then in the bowels you have the hell in the incinerators, the carbon freezing chamber and the cells. I associate this with Lando too, on the exterior charming and friendly, yet on the inside he was (albeit forced) deceitful. You also have the amazing sweeping, almost biblical epic, type score sweeping through the scenes when they are in the 'nice' areas of Cloud City and then once they get beneath the city the score becomes darker. Fantastic stuff.
     
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  23. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    And in the deepest depths of hell, a hero discovers his connection to the devil's right hand.
     
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  24. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 8, 2015
    VadersLaMent wrote

    As a young fellow I did not notice that Cloud City floated via repulsorlift.

    Neither did I as it looked abundantly official to me that Cloud City was kept afloat by the "rare, anti-gravitational Tibanna gas" (The Art of ESB) which was then adopted and illustrated by the original Marvel Comic "Battle for Bespin", when the Tibanna gas tanks were ruptured by force.

    Would love if Pablo Hidalgo and company would restore the original properties to Tibanna gas and feature it as an alternative to repulsorlifts.
     
  25. themoth

    themoth Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2015
    TESB had the best environments. So evocative and diverse. The cold and clean white of Hoth. The dingy, atmospheric swamp of Degobah, and the romantic beauty of Bespin.