AN OLD MAN, A YOUNG MAN, AND TWO DROIDS WALK INTO A BAR

Via Starwars.com:

THE HEAD WRITER OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 DISCUSSES WHY THE MOS EISLEY CANTINA SEQUENCE, FILLED WITH WEIRDOS AND STRANGE ALIENS, IS A CINEMATIC GEM.

In My Favorite Scene, StarWars.com invites special guest writers to discuss which one scene or moment in the saga most resonates with them.

On The Flop House, podcast I’ve been known to refer to Star Wars as a movie about an old man and a young man who go to a bar. Maybe that’s because for me the heart of the film is in that magical minute and a half from when the triangle-headed alien pops up from the bottom of the screen to when Momaw Nadon butts in looking like a big wooden flatworm who just got terrible news. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thrilled at the TIE fighter battles, been chilled by Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, and swooned over Leia and Han’s banter. But as far as I’m concerned, if a stranger stops me on the street and yells “Star Wars!” in my face, the first place my mind takes me is the Mos Eisley cantina.

Why is my favorite scene in the film, nay the entire seven (or eight, counting Rogue One) movie series, a short little snippet of random creature effects that barely features our main characters and does little to advance the plot? Well, first of all, I could easily watch three straight hours of random aliens popping into frame, kicking back, and having drinks. But in a more respectable sense, Star Wars is about surprising us with things we’ve never seen before, and no scene is more packed with surprises than our first sight of the cantina.

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