Science & Tech
Watch the sky for the Dance of the Planets
Every few years, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter — the three brightest planets visible from Earth — dance around each other in western twilight, spinning their partners and…
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Star Wars may be set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but it turns out you don’t need to go far from home to experience something like the weird and wonderful landscapes featured in the films.
A search through our Photo Club database revealed that Canada has just as much geographic diversity as the fictional Star Wars universe.
As the world eagerly awaits the release of the latest movie in the franchise, The Force Awakens, here are six Canadian locations that bear an uncanny resemblance to planets featured in the original trilogies.
The ice planet Hoth, featured in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, has practically entered the cultural lexicon as a synonym for winter in Canada. Over the past few winters, many places could easily have qualified for the title of “Canada’s Hoth,” but winter in the Prairies is a special kind of awful. The relentless winds carve the snow into mountainous drifts, and temperatures that routinely dip into the minus 40s will have you wanting to crawl inside a tauntaun – no matter how bad it smells.
Temperate rainforest is one of the rarest ecosystems on Earth, so it’s easy to feel transported to another world when visiting coastal British Columbia. Scenes from the forest moon of Endor in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi were actually filmed in California’s majestic redwood forest, but looking at this photo from Nanaimo’s Colliery Dam Park, one almost expects an Ewok to pop out from behind a fallen log.
Coruscant, the seat of political power in the Star Wars universe and the homeworld of the human species, is known for its urban sprawl, which covers the entire surface of the planet. While not quite that bad, the Greater Toronto/Hamilton Area stretches east to west for approximately 125 kilometres along the northern shore of Lake Ontario in an interconnected chain of cities and suburbs. The next time you fly into Pearson Airport, imagine your plane is just one of the thousands of airspeeders traversing Coruscant’s busy skylanes.
Little is known about the marshy, forested world of Dagobah, except that it is one of the purest places in the galaxy, strong in the Force. It is for this reason that the Jedi Master Yoda chooses Dagobah to serve out his exile following the destruction of the Jedi Order. The coastal forests of British Columbia project the same mystique, which is likely why each year they attract thousands of visitors seeking the restorative tranquility of nature.
Rich in dinosaur bones, fossils and unique geographical features, the Alberta badlands are a fascinating vestige of prehistoric times. While you won’t encounter any Jawas, Tusken Raiders or moisture farms in and around Drumheller, venture off the beaten path and you will find shallow caves, coulees and hoodoos galore. The teeny-tiny ghost town of Wayne also has a fine cantina.
The scene in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in which the future Darth Vader steals a kiss from Padme Amidala was famously filmed at Villa del Balbianello on Italy’s Lake Como, which has since become a popular destination for fans of the movies. If Italy is out of your budget, though, B.C.’s Okanagan Valley offers many picturesque views of lakes surrounded by vibrant hills. Actually, that describes almost all of Canada!
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