Whenever I see a single-biome planet portrayed as being inhabited (such as the ice planet of Hoth with its cave monsters in Star Wars and the Vulcans’ arid desert home world in Star Trek), I always do think “Well yeah, there are things that live in places like that on our world, but they’re mostly getting their sustenance from neighboring biomes. Where’s anybody native to those planets getting food to eat and (especially on Vulcan) water to drink?”
At least on Tatooine, the humans were pretty clearly indicated to be immigrants, and the extended universe novels went on to imply the native Jawas and Tusken Raiders were scratching out a pretty marginal existence (getting their water from hubba gourds that hoarded under the soil what little moisture there was to be had from the atmosphere) until some humans tried to start a mining operation that promptly went broke (and left a lot of discarded equipment, which is where the Jawas got their sand-crawling transports) and then later brought moisture farmers with their vaporators and a little bit of general trade to newer settlements on the planet. Though the natives were actually pretty good at trading (a band of Jawas being the ones who found a rancor in a crashed ship and sold it to Jabba’s gangsters), it’s made abundantly clear in the novels that the Jawas and Tusken Raiders would likely never have been able to get civilized enough to have gotten off the planet on their own.
it’s made abundantly clear in the novels that the Jawas and Tusken Raiders would likely never have been able to get civilized enough to have gotten off the planet on their own.
Have either ever left Tatooine? I got the feeling both groups were quite content with life on that world. I admit that my knowledge of the SW universe is limited to the movies, a couple graphic novels and video games, and the tidbits of trivia my son regales me with.
No, it isn’t. One can have quite a pleasant and prosperous civilization without space travel. But to RK’s point, you really can’t have the infrastructure for space travel without a sufficient degree of civilization.
Whenever I see a single-biome planet portrayed as being inhabited (such as the ice planet of Hoth with its cave monsters in Star Wars and the Vulcans’ arid desert home world in Star Trek), I always do think “Well yeah, there are things that live in places like that on our world, but they’re mostly getting their sustenance from neighboring biomes. Where’s anybody native to those planets getting food to eat and (especially on Vulcan) water to drink?”
At least on Tatooine, the humans were pretty clearly indicated to be immigrants, and the extended universe novels went on to imply the native Jawas and Tusken Raiders were scratching out a pretty marginal existence (getting their water from hubba gourds that hoarded under the soil what little moisture there was to be had from the atmosphere) until some humans tried to start a mining operation that promptly went broke (and left a lot of discarded equipment, which is where the Jawas got their sand-crawling transports) and then later brought moisture farmers with their vaporators and a little bit of general trade to newer settlements on the planet. Though the natives were actually pretty good at trading (a band of Jawas being the ones who found a rancor in a crashed ship and sold it to Jabba’s gangsters), it’s made abundantly clear in the novels that the Jawas and Tusken Raiders would likely never have been able to get civilized enough to have gotten off the planet on their own.
it’s made abundantly clear in the novels that the Jawas and Tusken Raiders would likely never have been able to get civilized enough to have gotten off the planet on their own.
Have either ever left Tatooine? I got the feeling both groups were quite content with life on that world. I admit that my knowledge of the SW universe is limited to the movies, a couple graphic novels and video games, and the tidbits of trivia my son regales me with.
Well, “getting off the planet” isn’t exactly the hallmark of “true” civilization.
No, it isn’t. One can have quite a pleasant and prosperous civilization without space travel. But to RK’s point, you really can’t have the infrastructure for space travel without a sufficient degree of civilization.
And I think that was definitely implied with the Sandpeople in A NEW HOPE, given that they’re still at the “hitting things with sticks” stage.
Well, they do have some guns, but Tusken Raiders are worse shots than the Imperial Stormtroopers.