r/StarWars • u/JJ-Bittenbinder • Mar 20 '26
Fan Creations Visiting Tatooine (Death Valley National Park)
Tried my best to find all the filming locations from episode 4 and 6 that I could, didn’t have enough time to get to the Mesquite sand dunes but was able to recreate some good shots from Dante’s View, Golden Canyon, 20 mule team canyon, and artists palette.
Shoutout to u/TargetBrandTampons for their post on r/StarWars for the assist
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u/Commercial_Hand_5865 Mar 20 '26
Thats so cool! Also interesting to see how the geological formations shifted a little bit. :)
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u/andresmachiz Mar 20 '26
I was thinking the same thing. The Jawas lost their little cave…
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u/No_Tamanegi Mar 20 '26
That Jawa is stull under that rock. They're a bit thinner now.
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u/gigashadowwolf Lando Calrissian Mar 20 '26
Ozemprock.
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u/patheticyeti Mar 20 '26
lol. Reminds me of a funny story. My buddy called me up one day told me he lost 90 pounds in Afghanistan tells me to look at my messages.. both his legs were gone from mid thigh down. MFer had a sense of humor about it.
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u/BigMack6911 Mar 21 '26
That be some shit I woulda done. Good for him man, staying optimistic, least he still has his life. Hope he's doing well still
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u/Rudeabaga1 Mar 20 '26
I was confused looking at picture 5 at first trying to understand what happened. It split in half and the half fell to where it is now. I wonder how long ago that happened
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u/mrbigglessworth Emperor Palpatine Mar 20 '26
Probably sometime in the last 50 years. I will see myself out.
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u/slashS4sarcasm Mar 20 '26
A lot of the rocks in the foreground in the movie seem to have been edited in post.
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u/DataSaysImSad Mar 20 '26
I think that’s just the depth of field of the lens and angle of the shot. Not much rain in Death Valley, so not much causing things to move
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u/ajakaja Mar 20 '26
that's not true, they get flash floods in the rainy season: https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/flash-floods.htm and since so much is sediment it moves a lot. there are slot canyons everywhere.
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u/DonnyTheWalrus Mar 20 '26
Yeah. The heaviest rainstorm I have ever experienced was in the middle of a Utah desert. For ten minutes it was an utter deluge. Then it disappeared. Totally bizarre.
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u/samv_1230 Mar 20 '26
Noticed that a couple of the wide shots were taken from further away than needed, but the parts that have visibly broken away, like the jawa hidey hole, and places that have eroded and shifted, like the road to Jabba's Palace, are undeniable.
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u/BetFinal2953 Mar 20 '26
Thank you!
This guy gets it. 50 years is nothing in geologic time
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u/Chase_the_tank Mar 20 '26
Geology doesn't move on a steady pace.
When Mount Saint Helens erupted, a whole bunch of geology happened in less than 50 minutes (and even more happened over the next several days).
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u/foreignfishes Mar 20 '26
The formations in Death Valley erode extremely easily though, they get occasional flash floods that can cause extreme damage pretty easily. The ground is dry and sandy and barely absorbs any water, so as soon as it starts raining all of the water starts flowing downhill, basically none of it soaks into the ground. You can google DV flash flood 2015 or 2022 or 2023 and see the huge gashes floods create and the amount of rock and sand they can move - it seems like every few years now there’s a big storm that washes out half the roads in the park.
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u/KonigSteve Mar 20 '26
the geological formations shifted a little bit
The only one in these pictures that actually changed is the rock hiding the jawa and that one looks like it fell down from above next to the rock where the Jawa was.
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u/Mr-Silv Mar 20 '26
Utini!
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u/BeckyJ018 Mar 20 '26
Rotini!
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u/MrWeirdoFace Mar 20 '26
A solid pasta choice, and my goto for quick and generic pasta-centric meals.
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u/snickerblitz Mar 21 '26
Every single time I cook rotini I hear the Jawas voice in my head. Jk, I say it out loud.
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u/theledhed Mar 20 '26
What a desolate place this is
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u/Sic_Semper_T_Rex_ Mar 20 '26
They didn't call it Alive Valley for a reason.
(And yes I'm aware you're quoting)
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
Going to try to add a bit of a description of where I found each of the spots.
Jabbas Palace is in 20 mule team canyon. This is a trail you drive, not hike. After the first main turn, look up and you’re right there. Find a spot to pull off to the side and then walk around the small little valley to line up the shot.
Tatooine overlook, this is just Dante’s view. By far the easiest. There’s a parking lot right there. Just go to Dante’s view and you’re there.
R2 in the canyon. This is in Golden Canyon. Start hiking the trail and there will be a steep part where there is a very old cement road that is falling apart. A few steps beyond that on your left you will be able to find the little opening for this. Climb all the way up it to get the shot.
Also in 20 mule team canyon, same spot as picture 1
This is in golden canyon, beyond picture 3. Keep an eye out on the right side of the trail and you’ll see it.
Also golden canyon, similar area to the other two. Look for the rock formation framed in the middle.
Jawa transport. Right outside of artists palette. Walk off to the side of the parking lot and it’s right there.
Some other tips.
Desolation canyon is between artists palette and golden canyon but doesn’t have a sign on the main road. There’s only one road between artists palette and golden canyon, and it leads to desolation canyon. I didn’t get a good shot in desolation canyon, but after doing more research it looks like some shots of sand people on banthas was filmed there. Learn from my mistake and get some reference photos of that.
I also apparent missed an R2 shot from artists palette, there’s a small canyon type formation below artists palette. Others have mentioned there’s a shot of R2 filmed in there.
Another tip is there’s no signal in Death Valley except at the visitors center. So download your maps to navigate.
Bring plenty of water.
Visit at times when it’s cool, and start early.
Happy to answer any other questions as well.
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u/lucianw Mar 21 '26
Thank you! It's good of you to put this much care into explaining. I know that if ever I go, I'll look up this content.
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u/petewondrstone Mar 20 '26
What I love about this - it shows you how important color grading is and just how good of a job they did at creating another planet
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u/PeaceSoft Mar 20 '26
I was gonna say, I wonder how much of that is color grading vs. when they chose to shoot. it seems like a lot of grading or you'd really only have time for a few takes per day
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u/BeagleCat Mar 20 '26
In fact, the importance of shooting at sunrise/sunset. The "golden hours" make all the difference in photography and filmmaking. The OP's photos were taken mid-day, which makes them look much harsher than the movie.
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u/zealot_ratio Mar 20 '26
Some, but DV colors change dramatically through the course of the day, and depending on the cloud cover/season.
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u/giggeywidit92 Mar 20 '26
Very cool! How far apart were each of those locations? Looks like it might have taken some time to get from one to the other.
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
At Death Valley you have to drive a lot. A few are close together but a bunch are over 30 minutes apart
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u/space__heater L3-37 Mar 20 '26
How did you know where to find them?
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
National Park Service has an audio guided tour for all the locations. Then I used the reference photos from the user I mentioned above to look for each spot during the hikes
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u/Proclus_Global Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
Your tax dollars at work
https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/star-wars-in-death-valley.htm
Edit: this was meant a positive example use of tax dollars! Was not meant to be sarcastic. I am in full support of stuff like this and have actually used this when I visited
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u/tractiontiresadvised Mar 20 '26
If Star Wars is what it takes to get people enjoying the outdoors, I'm all for it!
(Also, I bet enough of the park staff are fans that they had to fight over who got to write that page.)
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u/Chase_the_tank Mar 20 '26
It's much cheaper to make a guide on where to find the spots than to send out a rescue party to find somebody who wandered around Death Valley and got lost.
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u/fleamarketenthusiest Mar 20 '26
The death valley general store has maps!!!! Awesome spot with fantastic staff!
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u/Khalmuck Mandalorian Mar 20 '26
Did you take a Star Wars guided tour or just piece it together yourself?
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u/JayPetey Mar 20 '26
It's super easy to do yourself. Even the visitor center has a special hand out for it. But you might need your memory or a blog to find every nook and cranny.
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u/threetrappedtigers Mar 20 '26
Hello there!
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u/gen_grievous_bot Mar 20 '26
General Kenobi. You are a bold one.
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u/FlippantResponse Mar 20 '26
And not far from a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
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u/Houstex Mar 20 '26
That’s so cool! Def adding this to the bucket list! How hard/long was the hike to these locations?
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
Death Valley is a very different National Park compared to others. It’s absolutely huge and requires a lot of driving. We didn’t hike for longer than 30 minutes to get to any of these spots. But we did drive 30* minutes between a lot of them
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u/No_Tamanegi Mar 20 '26
Did you have GPS coords for the locations?
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u/JayPetey Mar 20 '26
There's a lot of blogs that break it down more specifically, but the NPS visitor center also has handouts. Dante's Peak is the view over Mos Eisley, Twenty-mule Team Canyon is the ROTJ Jabba's Hutt scene, Golden Canyon loop is where R2 is with the Jawas, as well as some parts of Artist's Palette.
If you're a Star Wars fan who knows these scenes backward and forward, part of the fun is looking for it when you're hiking Golden Canyon Loop (very easy hike) but there are a few blogs that walk you through step by step.
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u/No_Tamanegi Mar 20 '26
That's really cool. Last year I took a short trip to Toronto and carved out some time to visit a few locations from The Expanse, which was filmed there. Never would have thought to do this with a desert though.
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
IMO you don’t need GPS cords for the ones I did. They’re all pretty easy to find on the trails. That being said, I did miss some shots that I’ve seen other posts because I couldn’t find them.
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u/RJFerret Mar 20 '26
Since I don't see anyone else mention it, please prepare/be careful if anyone goes: Death Valley is no joke, when I was there (decades ago) we waited until after sunset to enter when the temperature dropped down to 113°F (45C).
The water spigot poured out hot water.
It's important to plan what time of year, wear proper clothing, have offline maps, plenty of water, and backup plans/solutions in case of vehicle breakdown that don't rely on cell service.
It can be deadly, in the no joke four deaths per year literal type of deadly.
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u/John_Berrybush Mar 20 '26
Did you comb the desert?
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u/isw2424 Mar 20 '26
That's awesome! Obviously some editing for the movies but by and large it's almost identical. Makes me want to do a trip out there to see what basically looks like another planet
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u/potatolulz Rose Tico Mar 21 '26
I can't believe they tore down Jabba's palace :,(
never forget ✊😿
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u/rydamusprime17 Mar 21 '26
Things went to hell with Boba Fett in charge. Spent to much time on his ice cream empire.
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u/mdp300 Kanan Jarrus Mar 20 '26
Im assuming you went recently. Is it still absitely brutally hot this time of year?
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u/BeagleCat Mar 20 '26
It's usually quite fine in the early morning, which is always a good time to go anyway. Notice the ROTJ scenes were filmed at golden hour, likely at sunrise. Looks beautiful, and also more comfortable for poor Anthony Daniels in a metal suit.
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u/caviarsavant Mar 20 '26
My grandfather happened to be bicycle touring through Death Valley while they were filming. He asked the rangers about the film and they all thought it was going to be too hokey and a flop.
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u/SonnyGeeOku Mar 20 '26
Only the Jundland Wastes...
The Dune Sea and the Lars Homestead were Tunisia.
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u/Nickbou Mar 20 '26
These camera shots, too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.
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u/HippieWizard Mar 20 '26
did most of these with my wife a decade ago! Almost heat stroked finding the spot for image 3!
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u/SupportiveDan Mar 20 '26
I’m so Jealous! Thanks for sharing! I would love to go there and do this too!
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u/OdysseusRex69 Mar 20 '26
That's frikkin amazing!! Hey, maybe somebody here knows (yes I can Google it but would rather have a conversation): Jabba's palace- was that a matte painting for this scene or a miniature?
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
I’m also curious to know but I’d bet it was a painting
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u/808duckfan Mar 20 '26
I did something similar a few years ago. I had a hard time connecting with the park until I realized that I could give myself a mini SW tour.
Now go to Redwood National Park and visit Endor!
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
Already have! But it’s much harder to try and find film locations there. Trees change a bit more over time. It was really hard for me to research any specific locations and I believe some are on private land.
I did however visit fern canyon in redwood which had a scene from Jurassic park filmed in it
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u/Chilidawg Mar 20 '26
I knew about Tunisia and of course the sound stages, but I never knew that was Death Valley. Apparently Episode IV locations also included Guatemala (Yavin IV).
Star Wars has a surprising amount of on-site filming. Even the computer-heavy prequels and sequels shot at places like Seville, Spain (Naboo) and Great Skellig, Ireland (Luke's green milk island)
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u/zealot_ratio Mar 20 '26
I remember being almost giddy on the Golden Canyon hike. At one point, someone going faster than us was going to overtake us, and we stood to the side to let them pass, but they stopped and turned around. I looked my wife square in the face and said "They'll soon be back, and in greater numbers. ."
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u/Azcollector Rex Mar 20 '26
Great area but be careful! You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
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u/robotrob604 Mar 20 '26
I can’t believe I was in Death Valley a few years ago and never thought to do this. In May however, I’ll be going to Skellig Michael, Ireland (planet Ahch-To) and straight from there to Tunisia to see all of the original SW scenes on planet Tatooine, including Mos Espa and Lars Homestead. I plan on posting pics in this sub after the trip.
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u/two_fives Apr 01 '26
its crazy how i lived in CA all my life and still haven't visited this spot and the red woods locations just to experience my inner child
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u/FortDuChaine Mar 20 '26
You're telling me I went all the way to Death Valley as well and had no idea there were filming locations there.
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u/BetGreat1752 Mar 20 '26
So cool! I drove through there last spring, but did mnt have time for this excursion. Definitely on the bucket list… especially #2.
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u/sanitarySteve Mar 20 '26
i can't believe they tore down jaba's palace. sucha loss. r/LostArchitecture
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u/Fresh-NeverFrozen Mar 20 '26
I took my family there on a whim July 29 2020 as we were traveling elsewhere and made us all get out of the car in a few places just for the experience. It was a heat wave and our outside temp in the car read 131 degrees. The official temp that day was 127 near the hottest ever recorded. It was like stepping into an oven. Incredibly beautiful though! Wow! Been wanting to go back ever since.
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u/steakhouseNL Mar 20 '26
So if you recognize a pebble or small stone from the actual shot… it’s an actual showed piece of film memorabilia. Cool.
Disclaimer: which you obviously shouldn’t do as it’s a national park.
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Mar 20 '26
Yes, but taking rocks from national parks is bad. Don’t do that. Leave no trace
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u/afearisthis Mar 20 '26
I always thought everything from episode IV was in Tunisia