The Skywalker Tour was a popular tour on Tatooine that visited locations that were host to events that were considered crucial to Luke Skywalker's decision to join the Rebel Alliance. After the Battle of Endor, Myhr Rho, an enterprising Cathar, began a daily tour to the locations listed below. The Skywalker Tour became much more successful as word of the Empire's defeat at Endor spread, and the tour was able to upgrade the mode of transportation to that of a sail barge. However, evidence suggests that at some point between 4 ABY and 8 ABY the tours either stopped visiting certain locations or ended altogether.
This is a list of the places that the Skywalker Tour made stops at and the order in which they were visited by the tour.
- 1) Landing site of escape pod from Tantive IV carrying droidsR2-D2 and C-3PO. After much bickering, the droids parted ways.
- 2) Site of the capture of R2-D2 by Jawas.
- 3) Site of the capture of C-3PO by Jawas. Stops 2 and 3 were not in chronological order historically. Glad that he had been saved and unaware of the fate of droids that had been "rescued" by Jawas, C-3PO was happy to inform the Jawas of the last known location and direction of his wayward counterpart.
- 4) The Lars homestead and moisture farm. After the Battle of Yavin, the Lars moisture farm remained abandoned until Luke Skywalker sold the farm to a spicesmuggler named Throgg, who then sold it to the Darklighter family. Consultation of notes on vidmaps of the area indicated that the Darklighters were happy to have some company. However it was unknown whether they tolerated groups of tourists that had come by to see where Luke Skywalker had slept, or where Owen and Beru Lars had been murdered.
- 5) Place where Luke Skywalker found R2-D2, was ambushed by Sand people, and was rescued by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- 6) Ben Kenobi's hut. This building was restored and preserved for the Skywalker Tour. However, as of approximately 8 ABY, it was discovered that it had been ransacked and had become a home for various non-sentient creatures.
- 7) Site of destroyed Jawa sandcrawler. In spite of the fact that the sandcrawler had essentially disappeared due to the scavenging activities of other Jawas, this site remained historically significant in the context of Skywalker's decision to join the Rebellion.
- 8) Mos Eisley. Records don't indicate exactly which sites in Mos Eisley were visited by the Skywalker Tour. It is likely that stops within Mos Eisley would have included:
In addition to the places listed above, the Skywalker Tour visited Jabba the Hutt's former palace and the Great Pit of Carkoon. Not much is known about the renovations to the palace, other than the fact that it boasted an accurate replica of the infamous piece of art Man in Carbonite. The difficulty with which it took Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to enter the former palace in the year 12 ABY suggests that the B'omarr Monks who inhabited it disliked the tourists and sealed off all of the entrances.
The stop at the Great Pit of Carkoon featured the gutted remains of Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, robots depicting Jabba and his minions, and the Sarlacc. It is likely that some cautionary measures were taken so as to prevent tourists from tumbling down the pit.
- Star Wars Technical Journal of the Planet Tatooine
- Star Wars Technical Journal
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 26