Luke's explanation of Tatooine's role in the galaxy rapidly characterised the planet as an intergalactic backwater, seldom visited and of little importance. However, Tatooine has gone on to play a role in the Star Wars galaxy only rivalled by that of Coruscant; which is, after all, the seat of galactic government.

This process began with 'A New Hope' itself, wherein Tatooine not only hosts our introduction to such characters as Luke, Obi-Wan, Han and Chewie, but it also provides our introduction to the Star Wars galaxy as a whole. Obviously, it's not Episode IV's first location, but the sterile corridors and human warriors of the Tantive IV don't really show the colour and variety of George Lucas' imagination.

The desert planet begins much as it's press would suggest it should, with enless sands, rocky outcrops, violent savages and isolated settlers. However, Obi-Wan Kenobi soon speaks the line "Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany". Now, even then, long before the Prequels, we could tell that Old Ben was a well-travelled fellow, so he's seen a few hives of scum and villany in his time. We, as viewers, are then thrown into the Mos Eisley cantina and there finally get a sense of the scope of Lucas' universe. It's populated with dozens of weird and wonderful creatures each of whom clearly has a story to tell.

But, when the Millennium Falcon blasts off into the sky you could easily be forgiven for thinking that our heroes and the saga itself were leaving this desolate backwater behind for good. But, in 'The Empire Strikes Back' Lando says "We'll see you at the rendezvous on Tatooine." Now, why does that name sound familiar...?

Then, the opening crawl of 'Return of the Jedi' returns us to Tatooine, to a hive of scum and villany that could outshine even Mos Eisley; the palace of Jabba the Hutt. Once again we are shown the diverse criminal denizens hiding on this backwater planet, but to quote Han Solo, it does seem all a little too 'Convenient.'

Taking the films as it's foundation, the ever-growing Expanded Universe began to give us more and more of Tatooine. Why? Cynically (and realistically), it's because the best way to sell those products was to make them familiar to buyers and Tatooine had now features in two thirds of the Star Wars saga.

So it was that the odd character here and there would be given the life of a moisture farmer as a backstory and infrequent visits to the planet reminded us of it's unusual inhabitants, from the vicious Sandpeople to the smelly but industrious Jawas. Taken individually these references were of little import but, combined, they began to tell a tale of a planet being heavily overused by Star Wars writers. Personally, I grew sick of this ever-growing betrayal of Tatooine's character as a remote planet where no-one goes and nothing happens. Why, after all, would Luke be so keen to leave in search of adventure when there's so much happening on Tatooine?

Then came 1999 and 'The Phantom Menace' once more George Lucas himself took us back to Tatooine. My interest was piqued by the introduction of a new element, which just happened to be the film's second best scene (after the final duel); Podracing. However, Episode I's insane merchandising explosion meant that every character and location in the film was suddenly given vast amounts of attention. Once again, the boring planet Tatooine found itself featured in dozens of stories, robbing it of any credibility it may have had. Not only was it a hub of activity in Luke's time, but apparently it was twice as busy when his father was raised there (what are the chances of that too?).

Tatooine's inclusion in the other two prequels was much more understated, with no dynamic SFX sequences that could be the basis of major merchandising. If Tatooine had never turned up again in Star Wars, I would've been happy. Or so I thought...

Belatedly laying my hands on an Xbox, I bought a hugely successful RPG set in Star Wars' distant past: 'Knights of the Old Republic'. After a few hours of gameplay I was totally hooked and, despite a bit of a roll of my eyes, quite happily landed the Ebon Hawk at Tatooine's Anchorhead spaceport. After muddling around in the town for a little while I headed out through the main gate into the Dune Sea. I was confronted by a beautiful vista with the twin suns burning in the sky, rocky outcrops on the horizon and the sight of a smoking Sandcrawler in the distance.

I smiled. I smiled because, after my many adventures in the Star Wars universe (vicariously through novels, comics and computer games), I had once again come home. Suddenly I realised that it wasn't Tatooine's overuse that had led me to want to see the back of it, but it was instead my overfamiliarity with the planet. Like Luke and Anakin themselves I longed to see different and exotic worlds away from the familiar sands of Tatooine. But 'KOTOR' reminded me that, no matter how much we enjoy seeing things and new places, sometimes it's nice to just visit home.

So now I look forward to that occasional trip back to where my (and everyone else's) Star Wars adventures began.

Ian Tapley
aka
the fragrant wookiee

PS - I know the line of the title isn't actually 'furthest', but it won't let me use the proper word due to the fact it contains a four-letter word referring to breaking wind!

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Want to revisit Tatooine yourself? Then here's a (not-necessarily-complete) list of places to look:

NOVELS / ANTHOLOGIES:
'Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader'
'The Hutt Gambit'
'Rebel Dawn'
'Shadows of the Empire'
'The Mandalorian Amor'
'Slave Ship'
'Hard Merchandise'
'The Bacta War'
'Tatooine Ghost'
'Darksaber'
'Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina'
'Tales of the Bounty Hunters'
'Tales from Jabba's Palace'

YOUTH NOVELS:
'Boba Fett: Hunted'
'Boba Fett: A New Threat'
'The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission'
'Galaxy of Fear: Ghost of the Jedi'
'Galaxy of Fear: The Brain Spiders'
'Junior Jedi Knights: Promises'

GRAPHIC NOVELS:
'Prelude to Rebellion'
'Outlander'
'Jabba the Hutt: The Art of the Deal'
'Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika'
'Darklighter'
'A Long Time Ago...: Dark Encounters'
'Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures'
'A Long Time Ago...: Fool's Bounty'
'Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand'
'X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Battleground Tatooine'
'Boba Fett: Death, Lies and Treachery'

COMPUTER GAMES:
'Knights of the Old Republic'
'Obi-Wan'
'Bounty Hunter'
'Empire at War'
'Empire at War: Forces of Corruption'
'Force Commander'
'Battlefront'
'Battlefront II'
'Rogue Squadron'
'Rogue Leader'
'Rebel Strike'
'Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy'

OTHER BOOKS:
'Illustrated Star Wars Universe'
'The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons'
'Secrets of Tatooine'
'The Rebellion Era Sourcebook'
'The Official Star Wars Fact File'