Naboo and Coruscant’s Glimmering Aesthetic
Part of what made the original Star Wars such a remarkable film from a design standpoint was its approach to a rugged, “lived-in” sensibility for its sets and props. Everything is a little grimy, even the stark sheen of the Death Star’s hallways are marked with shoe scuffs and little bits of carbon scoring, everything looks like it’s been used by people for years and years before it appears in a scene. So it’s fascinating to get that aesthetic in Phantom Menace’s middle-act on Tatooine, and contrast it with the art-deco cleanliness of Naboo and Coruscant sandwiched around it.
Again, it’s Star Wars while not looking like the Star Wars we know, something additive to the universe’s visual language that speaks to the state of the galaxy at this point in the timeline. Theed and Coruscant are beautiful for very different reasons—the elaborate palatial hallways of Theed contrasted with the technological bustle of Coruscanti air traffic—but we learn so much about the Republic in the simple fact that they’re both so spartan and clean compared to the familiarity of Tatooine.
