Star Wars Tatooine locations today

Evidently, the sets built for the original Star Wars famed Tatooine location were simply abandoned.

Beautiful to look at, impressive in how well they've held up and are instantly recognizable; these well-built shelters appear to have attracted quite an interesting slice of Tunisian culture to move on in. I'm sure there must be a great story that went into their design and build.

Rocketnews24's youtube channel contains several more amazing segments. (Thanks, Eric Weiss!)

• [Benjamin Fryc]

  Awesome video. I didn’t realize the entire town was still there. I know the place where Luke grew up was still around. Is there a video of that place as well?

• [Rock Hardwood]

  Neat how they did the dome roof on that one place.  Crafty.

• [mat catastrophe]

  It’s a shame that they let the train from “The Great Train Robbery” rust away. It was a piece of history that is shamefully lost to us now. It was our own Mali temple.

• [robdobbs]

  http://www.wbur.org/npr/156050161/fans-save-luke-skywalkers-tunisia-home

• [Bucket]

  We must be cautious.

• [noah django]

  mind=blown

• [sam1148]

  I’m surprised those doors haven’t been ripped out and sold to collectors. 

  • [jimh]

    And it seems like those vapor extractors would be worth a few peggats…

    • [Sagodjur]

      Yeah, but the collectors will be hard-pressed to find a droid that speaks Bocce in order to get them up and running.

      • [jimh]

        Well, they’d better, or there’s going to be hell to pay.

• [james morrall]

  i’m pretty sure these are from episodes I,II and III – the original ’77 sets having long since been reclaimed by the desert. 

  • [thissortofthing]

     I think you’re right that these are from the prequels, in which case let them rot! But the 1977 sets are not all gone. See here: http://markdermul.be/savelars/

    • [Cowicide]

      Wow, great link!

      I like that old set better.  Just goes to show that all the money in the world can’t make you be a better creative person and the money & success (and “yes people” that go with it) certainly doesn’t seem to help either.

• [jimh]

  Junked landspeeder @ 3:11?!

• [gornzilla]

  They weren’t all built to be abandoned.  The catina scene is in a troglodyte hotel in Matmata, Tunisa.  It’s high on my list of places to visit as I ride my motorcycle round the world. 

  • [mypalmike]

    [Sorry if repost...] In case you haven’t seen them, check out the excellent motorcycle road-trip series “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down” (available on Netflix DVD). The latter has a stop at that hotel.

• [Michael Rentz]

  Neat, but I am not really cool with the captive hawks and especially the captive fennec fox cub :(

  • [Brad Zimmerman]

    I thought they were falcons.  Still, though, not nice.  Shut off the tractor beam and let ‘em go!

• [telharmonium]

  Fiberglass? Wish somebody’d knocked on a wall.

• [Warren_Terra]

  There was a great article in Harper’s a couple years back on related themes.

• [telharmonium]

  From this video, it appears they’re made of plaster over shells made of wood and chicken wire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED-aFYKsQns&feature=relmfu

• [soapdish]

  That’s neat and all, but it seems like it’s really just a bunch of trash left to rot in the desert.  Are we cool with that?

• [Wise Vehicle]

  robdobbs already said this, but vaguely.

  These ‘haven’t held up so well’ they’ve been maintained, you can hear about it here  http://www.wbur.org/npr/156050161/fans-save-luke-skywalkers-tunisia-home

• [IndexMe]

  Funny I was in Mauritania last week and thought it looked like Tatooine. Desert is similar with lone mobile sand dunes.

• [Max Allan]

  These aren’t the buildings you’re looking for. Move along, move along.

• [Vengefultacos]

  My Name is George Lucas, director of directors! Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!