The sandcrawler is a fictional transport vehicle in the '' Star Wars'' universe that is found on the desert planet

Tatooine Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...

. The vehicle, as it appears in its major appearances in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'', is 37 meters long and 18 meters tall. Only a 27-meter length of its lower hull was constructed as a set for the film. Other appearances were simulated with matte paintings and a remote-controlled model.

Origin and design

The design of the sandcrawler was first inspired by photographs of a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

-designed rover created to explore alien planets. It was conceived as large, old, very rusty, and having treads. The front of the vehicle was envisioned to have a mouth-like scoop that lowered with hydraulics to pick up things, like a garbage truck. While its original design was streamlined, it was modified to be taller and more awkward-looking. The final design was created on April 5, 1975.

Production

The prefabricated movie set of the sandcrawler was shipped from England and took special effects expert

John Stears John Stears (25 August 1934 – 28 April 1999), known as the "Dean of Special Effects", was a British two-time Academy Award-winning special effects expert. He created James Bond's lethal Aston Martin DB5, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi K ...

and his crew four days to move it thirty miles into the

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n desert. It was two stories tall and ninety feet long when it was fully assembled, with the caterpillar tracks being almost twice as tall as a person, and covered in sand and mud to give them a "used" look. The night before the scene with the Jawas was to be shot, a

sandstorm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

blew apart the set, and it took a day to put it back together and an additional day to shoot the scene. Afterwards, it was transformed into a burned-out hulk, taking another day. The construction of the sandcrawler piqued the interest of the

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

n government, who sent inspectors across the border to make sure it was not an actual military vehicle of some kind.

Depiction

Most sandcrawlers are homes to Jawas. They were originally constructed in

Corellia The fictional universe of the ''Star Wars'' franchise features multiple planets and moons. While only the feature films and selected other works are considered canon to the franchise since the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney ...

for the purpose of serving as ore haulers during mining operations, and many were brought to

when it was first settled as a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

. When the mining industry collapsed they were abandoned and the native Jawa took them over. The number of sandcrawlers is unknown on

because most Jawa clans only meet during the annual "swap meets" when Jawa clans meet to trade with each other. Jawa clans usually worship the Sandcrawler they have inhabited for generations. The Sandcrawler is powered by eight massive turbines to power the treads which pull it over the dunes of the desert. Since repairs are not done thoroughly, sandcrawlers are liable to fail at any time. Within the Sandcrawler are a maze of tunnels, living quarters and rooms which keep spare parts, machinery and captured droids. The front of the Sandcrawler opens to form a large ramp though there are also hatches between the giant treads that provide access to and from the crawler. They are powerful enough to withstand

Tusken Raiders Tusken Raiders (informally referred to as "Sand People") are fictional creatures in the ''Star Wars'' universe created by George Lucas. They are characterized as a nomadic race who live on the planet Tatooine. They first appeared in the 1977 film ...

but are no match for

Imperial Stormtroopers Stormtrooper are soldiers in the fictional ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Introduced in '' Star Wars: A New Hope'' (1977), the stormtroopers are the shock troops/ space marines of the autocratic Galactic Empire, under the ...

. The Sandcrawler first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'', where

R2-D2 R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...

and

C-3PO C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to assis ...

were transported across the desert terrain of Tatooine. They make a cameo appearance in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' in the establishing shot for the podrace, and also appeared in the '' Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones'' when Anakin Skywalker asks a Jawa leader for directions to a Tusken Raider camp. One also appeared in the post credits of a documentary on ''The Phantom Menace'' DVD. It was shown during the podrace, moving faster than and overtaking

Sebulba This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Dis ...

's podracer. A Sandcrawler and Jawas are also seen in the final sequence of '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' when Rey arrives on Tatooine. Sandcrawlers, or early predecessors, have made appearances in many ''Star Wars'' video games, such as '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' (used by the Czerka Corporation), and '' Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy''. A digital

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

table based on ''Star Wars'' droids has a cabinet that moves and is shaped like a sandcrawler. The vehicle appears in the

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

series ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of '' Retur ...

,'' in a scene where the titular character pursues a sandcrawler carrying the scavenged parts from his ship.

Cultural references

A 17-inch, radio-controlled toy Sandcrawler was released in 1979 as part of the original

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ' ...

Star Wars toy line; a recolored version with a more "authentic" painted surface was issued in 2004. In 2005, Lego came out with a detailed model. Lucasfilm's Singapore base is shaped and named after the Sandcrawler.

References

External links

* * {{Star Wars universe, state=collapsed Star Wars vehicles Fictional elements introduced in 1977