If you can even imagine the Star Wars cantina without music it becomes a lot more intense and less comical in a way. The atmosphere becomes something far more serious and the bartender even sounds different. Obviously he was dubbed the first time around so as to be heard it would seem. But without the music its a dingy, dark place that seems inherently more dangerous. The cantina is rough anyway as it houses some of the worst scum of the galaxy who are looking for a place to rest for a moment and have a drink without any complications. If you’ve ever read the books, particularly one compilation book from the legends canon, you’d know that just about everyone in the place has their own back story and it’s not always pleasant.
But without music this place is more than just a dive, it’s a death trap that a lot of people wouldn’t be caught dead walking into. It’s the kind of place that is best left to those that can take care of themselves because they’re some of the nastiest rats in the, well, you know. The kind of folks that don’t take honor as anything other than a word, that don’t mind cheating so long as it works, and would gladly sell out anyone around them so long as the price was right is the type of clientele that the cantina seems to attract. So why was Han Solo there then?
That’s a good argument since besides the fact that he and Chewie are smugglers they both still have a code and certain lines they won’t cross. But on top of that they’re also tough and streetwise individuals that know how to handle themselves in a fight. Plus, at that time Solo and Chewie were looking for a payday that could get them back in the graces of Jabba the Hutt, who’d put out a bounty on Solo’s head for losing a shipment that was quite valuable. In other words, Solo lost what amounted to a major drug shipment that the Hutt had a lot invested in, and as result he was a marked man, just as any drug runner in this world would be if they lost a cartel leader’s shipment.
If you translate the world of Star Wars into ours then it becomes a little more simple to see why this bar is not the kind of place you just waltz into looking for a drink. As you can see Luke was tried before a full minute had passed and might have been beaten to within an inch of his life just for being himself. Thankfully this wasn’t Obi-Wan Kenobi’s first time in a rough spot, though I do wonder what might have been going through Chewbacca’s head when he saw the lightsaber come to life. Keep in mind that Chewbacca and his people fought alongside the Jedi in the Clone Wars, and he was a confidante of Yoda’s at one time.
Maybe one day someone who has the skill and imagination of George Lucas will come along again and decide to pull the Star Wars lore together into a film we can all enjoy.
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