Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[cooleddie74]

I know that one of the major complaints about the Dagobah swamp set was that after a few weeks the water started becoming stagnant and the soundstage began to have an odor that annoyed some members of the production crew and Mark Hamill. The plants and other debris must have created a stink after a few weeks of shooting on a closed set with bright overhead lights heating things up.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I imagine that location shooting in, say, the Amazon would have cost a pretty penny.

 

[cooleddie74]

Steven Spielberg originally wanted to shoot the Flight 19 discovery sequence of Close Encounters in the Amazon but budgetary restraints prevented him from traveling to South America, hence his decision to base the sequence in the Sonora Desert and film instead inside the United States. Location shooting overseas then as now is always a more expensive option, and back in the late '70s budgets for even the ambitious films were much smaller and offered more limitations on the scope of production.

 

[B.J.]

But for Close Encounters, I think filming in the desert still worked perfectly for that scene. The Dagobah swamp set didn't work as well.

 

[Iamnotspock]

But for Close Encounters, I think filming in the desert still worked perfectly for that scene. The Dagobah swamp set didn't work as well.

As Awesome Possum said though; location shooting = no Yoda.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I have accepted the Dagobah swamp.. for the reason of Oz being able to work there. I mean, it does look like a swamp. It's got everything it needs to present the illusion. I just felt that (kind of seeing the forest for the trees) there as something claustrophobic about it, and you get that feeling even as a kid.

 

[cooleddie74]

I think the desert location for the opening scene of Close Encounters is a much more eerie and atmospheric choice. Besides, it looks creepier and more mysterious to see three World War II-era military planes sitting by themselves in the middle of the desert and not hidden behind lush layers of tropical rainforest where it's already easy to lose or hide something in real life with no alien involvement whatsoever.

 

[Beagleman]

I just felt that (kind of seeing the forest for the trees) there as something claustrophobic about it, and you get that feeling even as a kid.

I always liked that about Dagobah, the woods are so thick that it feels more like a huge cavern. I find it somewhat cozy (I know, I'm weird.).

 

[theenglish]

The studio could afford to film in the desert and the ice. Filming one of the Guyanas or northern Brazil would not have been any more costly. I am living in that region now and literally 45 minutes outside of the city are all kinds of spaces that could double for Dagobah. For all the miracles created by the special effects team at the time, they could certainly have developed some exterior sets with which Frank Oz could work.

 

[cooleddie74]

I really like the Dagobah soundstage and it looks impressive for its time. It still does. It was filmed and lit in such a way that it seemed far more vast and expansive than the limited space that Kershner and the crew actually had to work with.

 

[Timby]

Dagobah looks about a zillion times better in Empire than it does in Jedi.

 

[cooleddie74]

Almost everything about the Dagobah scenes in ROTJ is inferior to the planet's scenes in the previous film. The planet seems less, well, swampy since the script for the third movie didn't call for much more than Yoda's hut for his death sequence and the landing site of Luke's X-Wing for the grand plot reveal by and conversation with Obi-Wan's Force ghost. Jedi just looked uglier and more sloppily put together (except for the climactic space battle, which remains one of the greatest of its kind ever filmed).

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Frank's performance as Yoda also doesn't seem quite as good IMO. Yoda's "wise"/deeper voice that he used for most of ESB isn't used as much (He sounds more like Grover, as he did when first introduced in ESB. It's also a problem with the later films IMO). Also the puppetry doesn't seem quite as good (Although not as bad as the TPM puppet). Some of the shots of Yoda in ESB are actually played by small person actor Deep Roy (Who also played other characters in the films, as well as being in many, many other popular franchises-Trek fans know him best as Keenser in the Abrams films.)

Regarding ESB locations and sets, the Hoth location did have a few problems such as some really bad blizzards and cold. Some of the shots of Luke in the snow were actually filmed right outside the hotel, so they could get it done and then quickly warm up Of course ANH and TPM also had to deal with sandstorms which damaged the on-location sets. ESB also suffered some problems from a fire at the studios (Elstree I think) which also damaged the Shining set.


Of course there's also Yoda landing on Dagobah that was cut from ROTS's finale but included on the DVD release (with finished FX and obviously not using any sets or real stuff at all). Reportedly, Lucas deleted the scene because of the backlash to the end (s) of Return Of The King (Not his film of course, and a far different situation, but Lucas is kind of an odd guy sometimes).

 

[JD]

I never really had much of a problem with the Dagobah swamp set.

 

[cooleddie74]

I can't think of anybody I know who does actively dislike the Dagobah set. Minor quibbles with the design perhaps, but not like it? Nope.

 

[RoJoHen]

I never knew anybody had a problem with the Dagobah set until reading this thread.

 

[cooleddie74]

You know what they say: there's always somebody out there somewhere who doesn't like The Godfather.

 

[theenglish]

I can't think of anybody I know who does actively dislike the Dagobah set. Minor quibbles with the design perhaps, but not like it? Nope.

That's how I would define my feeling, a minor quibble.

 

[cooleddie74]

I've probably spoken to more people who don't like Empire than who don't like Dagobah.

 

[Tulin]

I just felt that (kind of seeing the forest for the trees) there as something claustrophobic about it, and you get that feeling even as a kid.

I always liked that about Dagobah, the woods are so thick that it feels more like a huge cavern. I find it somewhat cozy (I know, I'm weird.).

No. You're not.

I guess I never got the memo that suddenly we all hated the Dagobah setting.

I guess that's a thing now.

Oh well, everybody pile on!