back to article Darth Vader's old gaff awaits exogorth desert DUNE DOOM

Anakin Skywalker's home city Mos Espa, featured in Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, is about to be swallowed up by the desert. The film set in the Sahara desert - situated near the namesake of Darth Vader's home world, the Tunisian city of Tataouine - will be soon buried by a crescent-shaped sand dune, or barchan. The …

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  1. Roger Gann
    Headmaster

    That'll be Johns Hopkins University then

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      My first though was "But Bristol isn't anywhere near any dunes..."

  2. Anonymous Coward 15

    Aren't Disney going to save it for any future sequels?

    1. AbortRetryFail

      Probably not; they'll just recreate it digitally.

    2. Annihilator

      "Over my burnt carcass!"

  3. Don Dumb
    Alien

    Divine Justice

    Even mother nature wants to eliminate The Phantom Menace from existence. What more obvious sign could she/he/it/them give?

    To be honest no real Star Wars fan would even recognise that there ever were any prequels, just like there was only one Matrix film.

    1. Flawless101
      Unhappy

      Re: Divine Justice

      The article fails to mention the follow,

      "Nabil Gasmi, of the University of Sousse, Tunisia, visited the Mos Espa site in 2009, and noted that part of a nearby set used in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope had already been overrun."

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23375344

      Dark times.

    2. Arctic fox
      Thumb Up

      Re: Divine Justice

      "To be honest no real Star Wars fan would even recognise that there ever were any prequels, just like there was only one Matrix film."

      My good lady and I remember with much nostalgia and great pleasure going to see the first Star Wars film when it was released in the late seventies. We were entranced (the special effects were for their time utterly amazing) and became major league fans enjoying the second and third films equally as much. You can imagine how much we looked forward to going to the cinema to see (many years later) the first of the three "prequal" films. We walked out after twenty minutes. Enough said.

    3. Wade Burchette
      Joke

      Re: Divine Justice

      More proof that there is a just and loving God.

      1. LaeMing
        Go

        Re: Divine Justice

        The force is strong in this sand dune.

    4. Chris 244
      Thumb Up

      Re: Only one Matrix movie

      Have to slightly disagree. While it was released straight to DVD, The Animatrix is worth seeing. And what are these "prequels" you speak of?

  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    At least it's not a Sandworm

    And didn't Armin Müller Stahl transform the desert of Tataouine into a lush cornfield of genetically engineered corn bearing the alien-black-oil repelling virus in X-Files: The movie?

  5. My Alter Ego

    The actual story

    That the the production company couldn't be arsed to tear down the set even though the film grossed over 1 billion USD.

    1. Flawless101

      Re: The actual story

      It's not a bad stop off for tourists in Tunisia having been to the A New Hope set. There isn't much else between civilisation and the Sahara.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It'll make a great episode of Time Team in 2100.

    1. Annihilator
      Thumb Up

      Or a really confused one

  7. lglethal Silver badge

    Maybe I'm missing something...

    The Dune(TM)* is moving at 15m a year, so in say 10 years, it's gone 150m and the Dune will have passed the set by and apart from needing a bit of a sweep out will probably be right as rain. It'll give the Star Wars geeks something to get excited about in 10 years time after Disney release Star Wars 15: We Cant Be Bothered Coming Up With A New Title (TM)*.

    * I'm claiming TM on both of these items as I think they could be really big features in a few years! ;)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Maybe I'm missing something...

      Because tons and tons of sand pushing against (and eventually down on the roofs of) buildings won't destroy them. Especially not buildings built as temporary sets that weren't intended to remain standing for many decades.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Singular please!

    "* Exogorth - space slug, akin to the one from whose innards Han, Leia, Chewie and the 'droids escape in The Empire Strikes Back."

    Its not in my nature to be pedantic, but certainly in the context you were using it, only one of the 2 leading droids escaped from the big sluggy thing, and that was c3po. R2 had escaped from Hoth not on the Falcon, but in his usual position riding Luke's jaxy in his x wing. Despite this, you clearly used the word 'droids (the plural), whilst taking the time to stick in what is, in my opinion a needless apostrophe. Disgraceful journalism etc etc

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      Re: Singular please!

      But in the singular, the apostrophe is acceptable since C3-PO is an android, not just (in the fictional universe's nomenclature) a Droid(TM).

  9. Jim 59

    Darth says no

    As Darth Vader would say: "Noooooooo!"

    (That's the prissy DV from the prequels, not the kick-ass original DV from Star Wars).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Darth says no

      Jim 59: "As Darth Vader would say: "Noooooooo!" "

      Or more appropriately, to paraphrase the infamous Chinese re-translation of that same line...

      "Dune not want".

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Move along...

    these aren't the Dunes we're looking for...

  11. AbortRetryFail

    Shai Hulud

    "Bless the Maker and all His Works; Bless the coming and going of Him; May His passing cleanse the world"

    1. Steven Roper

      Re: Shai Hulud

      "May He keep the world for His people."

    2. Daniel B.
      Thumb Up

      Re: Shai Hulud

      THE SLEEPER HAS AWAKENED!

  12. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    As per Raiders of the Lost Ark...

    Perhaps if they buried all of the copies of the worthless piece of crap that is the Phantom Menace under this pile of sand, then maybe even that might be valued as priceless in a thousand years or so...?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: As per Raiders of the Lost Ark...

      It will pupate and emerge as Lynch's version of Dune.

      This will not ameliorate things a lot.

      I will be listening to the soundtrack by Toto, thanks. And the thought of using Dick Cheney as Baron Harkonnen comes up...

  13. Joe User

    A word from Mother Nature

    I have altered the terms of your lease. Pray I do not alter them further.

  14. illiad

    its *only* 10 miles north of Nefta, 15 miles w of Tozeur - see it on google maps at 33.994296,7.842677 ... :)

    Is it worth travelling that far to see a 14 year old set crumbling away???

    let it go, old guys..... just like the crummy ST prequels, they are not for us, the kids will watch them...

  15. TRT Silver badge

    Perfect excuse to shout...

    "Look out for the sand, people!"

  16. Daniel B.
    Coat

    Episode1 being taken over by a Dune...

    It seems that Mother Nature deems Dune a far superior masterpiece than the Star Wars prequels, and I agree. I fear for what Disney might bring for the Ep7+ sequels. But then I remember...

    I must not fear.

    Fear is the mind-killer.

    Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

    I will face my fear.

    I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

    And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

    Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

    Only I will remain.

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