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solaria, trantor, aroura, gia, foundation and thats probly it. not all of tham are cool, but most are original, and some are cool Posts: 856 | Registered: Jun 2007
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I can't really think of any Asimov worlds that belonged on that list. Trantor is really the only world that stood out from the ones I can remember, but I can't really think of one on that list that should be displaced.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Gaia stood out as a planet that composed a single organism, every human, animal, planet partaking in a single consciousness and having access to common memories while still maintaining some of their own individuality.
And Solaria -- the most sparsely populated of all the planets, each household far apart from all the others, each human serviced by ten thousand robots, close proximity between humans a huge taboo. By the time of the Foundation novels, Solarians had engineered themselves to allow for even less intepersonal contact, becoming asexual (or hermaphroditic, I don't remember) beings that never approached anyone else of their own species at all, and had isolated themselves from the rest of the galaxy as well.
Posts: 676 | Registered: Feb 2003
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And as a sidenote -- no, I don't think these ought displace any planet in the top 10 list either.
Posts: 676 | Registered: Feb 2003
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hmmmm I was reading the comments and noticed someone wanting Mar Sara fool Korhal was so much cooler, Destroyed twice and Humans still live there.
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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quote:Solarians had engineered themselves to allow for even less intepersonal contact, becoming asexual (or hermaphroditic, I don't remember) beings that never approached anyone else of their own species at all, and had isolated themselves from the rest of the galaxy as well.
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That list seems to me to be fairly random. If we were to do a vote-off for 10 best SF worlds I imagine that there would be some overlap, but not all that much.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I think they decided they had to put a Star Wars planet there because it's Star Wars. Noticed the listed all of them. None of the planets in that universe were really interesting or unique of themselves.
Trantor, at least, should have ousted them.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I liked his reasoning for Dagobah. For how brief we were permitted to visit it, Dagobah had so much to it that was interesting.
The place really was very claustrophobic now that I think about it, which IS in stark contrast to most sci fi planets. It was wet, dank, and covered with plants and grime. I loved first meeting Yoda there, because he looked like some silly little alien you might find in a swamp covered planet, but then he turns out to be so interesting. It's also the only place in the movies with a location infused with power from the dark side of the force.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I found it a fairly random gathering myself, and his reasons for including them were often not listed - and when they were, they were mostly generic sounding.
Of course, I really haven't read that much of what he listed. It was eye opening for me in that respect. I keep reading and reading, and still seem to never do more than chip at the iceberg.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Amka: I think they decided they had to put a Star Wars planet there because it's Star Wars. Noticed the listed all of them. None of the planets in that universe were really interesting or unique of themselves.
Trantor, at least, should have ousted them.
Usually I get a little annoyed when Star Wars gets the shaft, but this would be a perfect place for it. Star Wars wasn't centered around any individual planet, it was always on the go. They planet hopped in every movie and introduced dozens of different planets. I always thought Coruscant was the craziest, being a massive city planet where only the tallest mountain is preserved as the only piece of ground still visible, and even then it's only like a meter of it. But a lot of that is via the EU, so maybe that doesn't count. I DO think there are some cool planets in Star Wars in the EU, but from the movies alone? I would have been okay with them letting it go. If not? I think Tatooine should have beaten out Dagobah.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I'm pretty sure that Dagobah is nothing but swamp.
As for Alderaan, why should it make the list? It got about 2 minutes of screen time in the whole saga and nothing unique was revealed about it. I have nothing against it, but I think it's the least remarkable planet seen in the films.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:I'm pretty sure that Dagobah is nothing but swamp.
but we don't know that and, more importantly, it's absolutely irrelevant to the story. There's nothing about Dagobah thats important except "this part is swampy in a cliche sort of way."
quote:As for Alderaan, why should it make the list?
It was mostly a joke. But none of the planets in Star Wars movies are important except as settings. All the Coruscant scenes work even if it's a normal planet with at least one big city. Except for Tatooine, there's not even an attempt to exhibit the effects any of the planets' characteristics have on the plot or character. Except for the space battles, there's no particular reason for Star Wars to take place on different planets. Luke could have grown up in a desert on the same planet where Yodah sits in his swamp and the emperor rules from his giant city.
Alderan is unique in that it's a planet that's important to the plot as a planet, even though it's only for a second.
This isn't meant as a knock at Star Wars. It's an action film, and the settings matter only insofar as they support the action. That's fine. But the settings themselves aren't characters in the way Arrakis, Ghedi Prime, and Caladan are in Dune (original series only) or Lusitania is in Speaker.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I wonder, who was the first one to create a planet-that-is-all-great-city? I can think of Asimov, he wrote it pretty early, but I dont know if he was the first one
Posts: 723 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Still, I think Coruscant should have beaten out Dagobah. Unlike other "all city" planes, Coruscant has a character that is VERY important to the plots of several books. Unfortunately, none of the ones Lucas has written deal with it in the slightest. However, the different levels of the city seem to give it a character that surpasses most "city worlds"
I have to say though, that Arrakis is MY all time favorite fictional planet. I was actually a little bit mad when I read Dune because it was just SO obvious how much of Star Wars was stolen almost blatantly.
On the other hand, while I appreciate Lusitania, I think Earth was OSC's best fictional planet ever! The Earth he created for "Earthfall" and "Earthborn" was foreign enough to be more than a merely post-apocalyptic normal Earth. I just love it!
Has anyone ever done a list of the best "fantasy universe's" ever?
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: I have to say though, that Arrakis is MY all time favorite fictional planet. I was actually a little bit mad when I read Dune because it was just SO obvious how much of Star Wars was stolen almost blatantly.
You know, I'm a pretty big fan of both Dune and Star Wars, and I've never understood why so many people accuse the latter or being a rip-off of the former. SW uses a desert planet as one of its several settings... So?!
quote:Originally posted by DDDaysh: Has anyone ever done a list of the best "fantasy universe's" ever?
I don't know but I'll go out on a limb and guess that Tolkien has clinched #1 on any such list. Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I have to pick a fight with you neo-dragon. I really can't get into Tolkein's universe.
As for Star Wars, it's not JUST the desert planet. That's the problem. There is also "spice", which while it comes from a different source, has virtually the same properties as does spice in Dune. When I read Lucas's original book for Star Wars the similarities become even more pronounced. Oh, and while telekinetic abilities can't really be anyones IP, there is an incredible similarity between the was Herbert explains Bene Geserit powers and the way Lucas originally explains the force. It isn't a direct rip off, but it's the next thing to it.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Whether you like Tolkien or not you know that he'd win, so
And as for the Dune-like spice you're referring to (glitterstem is it? Or something like that) that's an EU creation that came from none other than Kevin J. Anderson, who now makes most of his money co-writing Dune novels of questionable quality with Frank Herbert's son, so are we surprised that he's brought some Dune-isms into Star Wars?
I don't really see how the Bene Gesserit's perfect control of their own biochemistry and reflexes which is entirely a product of advanced training is comparable to the mystical life-binding energy field that is the Force. It's like saying that wizards and ninjas are the same. I'll admit that jedi mind tricks can be used to a similar effect as B.G. Voice, although the mechanism is completely different.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I guess it depends on whether they looked to the EU of Star Wars for the rankings. Dagobah actually has a pretty cool backstory, although not as cool as Yavin IV, IMO.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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You guys are the ultimate in NERD technology... i dont even know anything about any of these planets... Except Dagobah, thats where insane Yoda lives... Right?... I'm pretty sure thats right... I will stop talking now... *backs off in fear of nerds devouring him with their big, hurtful words*
Posts: 93 | Registered: Apr 2008
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Spice was in the original Star Wars as written by George Lucas.
Also, the original Dune was only partially about complete biochemical control. There was alot in there about Paul and Male vs. Female stuff that definitely is alot broader than just biochemistry.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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