Mos Eisley

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Mos Eisley is a spaceport ^[1] town on the planet Tatooine in the fictional Star Wars universe. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi described Mos Eisley as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." It is also the home of the Mos Eisley Cantina and Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

From a distance, the spaceport looks like a haphazard collage of low-grade concrete, stone and plastoid structures that spread outward from a central power-and-water distribution plant like the spokes of a wheel. Also, at a distance, the smooth circular depressions of launch stations look like craters pockmarked the landscape.

The town is really larger than it looks, as a good portion of it lies underground. In fact, the town has a population of around 40 to 60 thousand people, varying seasonally. It had been built from the beginning with commerce in mind. Even the oldest of the town's buildings had been designed to provide protection from the twin suns. The buildings looked primitive from the outside and most of them actually were. The Mos Eisley Cantina used to be one of the spaceport's original blockhouses.

Incidentally, the first view of Mos Eisley in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" is actually a shot of Death Valley in California, USA from near the "Dante's Peak" lookout, with a matte painting added in the distance. Also of note, one of the Stormtroopers here carried an MG-34 machine gun, used by Germany in World War II.

1 Docking Bay 94
2 Mos Eisley Cantina
3 References in popular culture
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Docking Bay 94

Docking Bay 94 is a dock for parking ships in Mos Eisley for either maintenance or simply to take a break after a long day's work. It is also referred to as Dock 94.

Until it housed the Millennium Falcon in its hangar, Docking Bay 94 was the same as the other hundreds of docks in Mos Eisley. It is simply a circular area surrounded by white walls and had an opening on the top for ships to enter and exit. There is a sole door to the dock, which was flanked by sandtroopers from the 501st Legion in its most famous moment.

In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Garindan, a spy who was working for the Empire, tracked Han Solo and Luke Skywalker to the hangar where Solo's ship was parked. The squad of Sandtroopers from the 501st were called in and entered the bay. Solo, who was making some last minute exterior adjustments on his ship, was suddenly interrupted by the shout of one of the troopers, "Stop that ship! Blast 'em!" As the sandtroopers filed in and opened fire, Solo, who evaded their shots, managed to lay down suppression fire in return until he boarded the Millennium Falcon and took off.

[edit] Mos Eisley Cantina

Main article: Mos Eisley Cantina

The Mos Eisley Cantina, officially named Chalmun's Cantina, or the "double-c" or "ceecee" (by city militia), is a bar located in Mos Eisley. It is the haunt of freighter pilots and a host of other dangerous characters and contains booths, a bar counter, and some free-standing tables. At times, a band of musicians named Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes performs there.

The Cantina was featured in the popular MMO Game, Star Wars Galaxies, which revealed the cantina as having 3 back rooms and one entrance room with seating area.

It is also the start location for Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, where players can access both standard and unlockable levels and items. Mos Eisley as a whole is featured in the game as the setting of Chapter 3 of Episode IV: A New Hope, "Mos Eisley Spaceport".

[edit] References in popular culture

Mos Eisley Grijpze is a chiptune song by Dalezy named after the Star Wars spaceport town.

The indie pop band Eisley is named after Mos Eisley. Before being signed the band was called Moss Eisley, but they dropped the first word for legal reasons.

In the online game Star Wars: Galaxies, the player can travel to Mos Eisley and access the spaceport, the shuttleports and talk to the mayor. In the game, Mos Eisley is run by Imperials.