Saga Why was Luke so amazed of the size of Mos Eisley in ANH?

Anchorhead also seems to be quite large for a settlement on Tatooine and has quite likely approximately at least the same size as Mos Eisley, from what we've seen in the first part of Star Wars Obi Wan Kenobi.

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Todd EDIT: Moved from SWTV

 

He wasn't really amazed by the size, more the variety of alien beings he was unused to encountering, and mainly in the cantina specifically.

 

Moss Eisley was supposed to be a big spaceport, something Luke has never seen before. A farmer boy's first time in a big city.
It's hard to see that now, with all the SW content that has been added, but if you imagine you've never watched any SW before, going to Moss Eisley is a huge change after spending 45 minutes of the film in the desert wastelands.
The Cantina was also supposed to be the big alien reveal.
You can see why Lucas was so disappointed with the original look of Moss Eisley, and why it was one of the main reasons he wanted to make the Special Editions.

 

But Anchorhead's pretty big too, according to what we've seen in Kenobi.

Always thought it was just a small hamlet during the time of the empire not a full grown town. As hinted by the cutted scene with Luke's friends in ANH.

 

isn't Anchorhead where Luke meets up with Biggs? 'cos it didn't look like much to me.

 

Yep. But in Star Wars Obi Wan Kenobi Part 1 we see much more of the town.

 

Anchorhead is supposed to be a relatively small town, mostly a farm community. I didn’t get a different feeling from the show.

 

Always thought it would have been just a few houses and perhaps 3 or 4 streets, not such a relatively big town at that time.

Perhaps because it was presented in Star Wars Galaxy like that.

 

It seemed bigger in SW, but I haven't seen the Obi Wan show yet.

 

Here's a screenshot from the show, that gives a good impression for the size of the town:

https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/.../images-optimised/obi-wan-kenobi1x01_0951.jpg

 

That's just Tosche Station you see, you really only see a little more of Anchorhead when the old woman shouts at Luke to slow down in his Landspeeder.

 

Ah, so they're in Anchorhead in OWK? Cool.

 

Some of it, but he leaves from Mos Eisley spaceport I think.

 

Right. But that’s a town of a few hundred people. That’s not big; certainly not Mos Eisley-sized.

 

Was he amazed? I don't remember. When he and Ben are on that cliff Ben warns him that Mos Eisley can be dangerous. I can't recall Luke saying anything, nor when they entered the city. He did wonder how they got past the stormtroopers, and had a slightly disbelieving look on his face when he saw all those creatures in the Cantina. But I think mostly it was that; he hadn't seen that many different species before. He was a little surprised at that, not really the size of the city.

 

The farm boy going to the big city. I think he and his friends hung out in a smaller town.

 

Luke: *in the voice of Buzz Lightyear* what a spaceport! good work Obi


"you are clear to enter, welcome to Mos Eisley Cantina"

 

Luke only shows amazement inside the Cantina. His only other emotional response comes from the use of the Jedi Mind Trick.

 

Exactly. And to be honest, Mos Eisley doesn't look that impressive. I'm sure Luke had heard about it, and being a spaceport, he wouldn't have been surprised by seeing a few spaceships either. His conversation with Han only proves that. He didn't seem to be even mildly impressed. After all he was talking to the owner of supposedly one of the fastest ships most people had ever seen, regardless of Han obviously bragging. But was he even curious? Not that I could tell.
In fact Luke acted even more arrogantly than Han. He was getting ready to leave, knowing very well that they needed exactly someone like Han to get off the planet.
Add to that that he knew the Empire had just killed his only family, and was now after him, indirectly, he could have been a little more sensible. He literally had no place to go.

 

Kenobi's line of 'wretched hive of scum & villainy' suggests that he thinks Luke may be awed by the sight of Mos Eisley. Maybe he knew the smaller towns that Uncle Owen allowed Luke to visit and wanted to prepare the boy just in case.

But I never got the impression that Luke was awed by it, maybe by the variety of alien species in the Cantina but that's about it. I suppose shows some maturity on Luke's part by not reacting in a way his adult mentors and guardians may have expected him to react.

 

Obi-Wan was just letting Luke know that this place isn't like Anchorhead. Owen has mostly kept Luke away from the larger spaceports like here and Mos Espa.

 

In the novelization there isn't anything to indicate Luke was "amazed" either. There is nothing there to make Mos Eisley look that impressive:

Luke's reaction to Ben's warning also shows he wasn't that impressed:

Doesn't sound like someone who is just looking at the planet's major spaceport for the first time in his life. He isn't exactly overwhelmed with awe.

 

I get the feeling Tosche Station now is the small compound of buildings that I thought made up anchor head. But the two places are separate. I’m not sure if this is a change or was always this way. Really we never see it in the films to be contradicted. We see Toshie Station on The Book of Boba Fett. It’s like a rest stop with mechanic shop. There is a bar / restaurant.

Anchor Head on Kenobi is bigger than I expected but still smaller than Mos Eisly or Mos Espa. It’s much bigger than Mos Pelga.

Mos Eisly I assume has at least 94 docking bays. That means it’s a busy space port. Anchor Head isn’t.

I was a little disappointed, it seemed Obi-Wan flew out of Tatooine from Anchor Head. Luke says Ben could get a transport from Anchorhead to Mos Eisly to fly off Tatooine. The idea I got was Ben could not get off world from Anchor Head. I read online Obi-Wan grabbed a transport at anchor head to Mos Eisly, but watching the series again, he gets on the same ship in Anchor Head that flies him to the other planet.

 

To be fair, it was probably Mos Eisley, but since they're not filming in Tunisa, they used the same same setup for Anchorhead.

 

He never seemed amazed? He just seemed nervous after Ben's speech about "scum & villainy."