WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Life on Star Wars' Utapau

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.

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<v Speaker 2>Over the weekend, I like a lot of you, went

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<v Speaker 2>to see two thousand and five Star Wars Episode three,

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<v Speaker 2>Revenge of the Sith on the big screen, taking in

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<v Speaker 2>the culmination of the Clone War, the fall of the Republic,

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<v Speaker 2>and the death of the Jedi Order. It's a dark

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<v Speaker 2>tale for many younger viewers, perhaps the first tragic story

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<v Speaker 2>arc they ever saw, and one that still ruminates on

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<v Speaker 2>the state of our own world. Since the film is

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<v Speaker 2>perhaps fresh on many listeners' minds, I thought today might

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<v Speaker 2>be a good day to turn our attention to the

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<v Speaker 2>fauna of the planet Urdapao, where Obi Wan Kenobi finally

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<v Speaker 2>hunts down General Grievous. Far from just another desert or

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<v Speaker 2>forest world, Utipaal is delightfully weird and fittingly morose for

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<v Speaker 2>the darkest Star Wars film entry. As described in Star

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<v Speaker 2>Wars Galactic Maps, written by Emily Fortune, It's a dry,

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<v Speaker 2>windswept world quote pock marked with giant sinkholes into which

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<v Speaker 2>the oceans drain, and its underground cities built from millions

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<v Speaker 2>of animal bones. Matthew Stover, in his novelization of the film,

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<v Speaker 2>describes these sinkholes as being the size of inverted mountains,

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<v Speaker 2>the interior walls riddled with industry and urbanization. The planet

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<v Speaker 2>is home to two sentient species, the diminutive uta, serving

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<v Speaker 2>as the planet's labor cast, and the tall, gaunt, carnivorous pollens.

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<v Speaker 2>According to Star Wars Alien Archive, written by Natalie Club

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<v Speaker 2>and Katrina Palante, the long lived pollens originally lived on

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<v Speaker 2>the planet's surface till a climate forced them underground to

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<v Speaker 2>live with the Utah, but given their sensitive vision, the

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<v Speaker 2>pollens were more than happy to abandon the surface world

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<v Speaker 2>for the pits. Likewise, their sensitive hearing required them to

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<v Speaker 2>wear special dampeners, perhaps due to the loud echoes of

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<v Speaker 2>life in the sink whole cities of Utapao. The pollens

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<v Speaker 2>in the Utah domesticated at least two different native reptile

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<v Speaker 2>species to serve as their steeds, the winged dactylians that

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<v Speaker 2>we might compare to some of Earth's larger terosaurs and

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<v Speaker 2>the scampering verractyls both are adept at navigating the sinkholes

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<v Speaker 2>of Utapal, the dactylians by flight and the use of

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<v Speaker 2>the pit's thermal updrafts, and the verractyls via their wide

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<v Speaker 2>gate and five toed feet. Obi Wan famously makes use

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<v Speaker 2>of a verractyl in his pursuit of general grievous. We're

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<v Speaker 2>also told that a huge noss monsters live in the

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<v Speaker 2>planet's sink whole bounds surface lakes and rivers. Here on Earth,

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<v Speaker 2>we also have sinkhole ecosystems. As Laura Bicker describes in

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<v Speaker 2>a twenty twenty four article for BBC, China's giant sinkholes

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<v Speaker 2>are a tourist hit, but ancient forests insider at risk. Quote.

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<v Speaker 2>These cavities in the Earth trapped time, preserving unique, delicate

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<v Speaker 2>ecosystems for centuries. These environments, generally caused by the dissolution

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<v Speaker 2>of soluble bedrock like limestone, by ground water or even

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<v Speaker 2>underground rivers, have been found to contain unique organisms, especially plants,

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<v Speaker 2>and sometimes serve as naturally protected habitats for endangered flora

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<v Speaker 2>and fauna. So while we may often think of sinkholes

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<v Speaker 2>as natural pitfalls of destruction, sometimes harboring the bones of

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<v Speaker 2>animals that fell inside them. They can also serve as refuges,

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<v Speaker 2>so it's perhaps fitting that the sinkholes of Uodapaal came

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<v Speaker 2>to serve as a last redoubt for much of the

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<v Speaker 2>planet's life. It's also interesting, though perhaps unintended, that the

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<v Speaker 2>planet's decimated surface and life sustaining sinkholes resembles the state

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<v Speaker 2>of life on the republic slash Imperial capital world of Coruscant,

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<v Speaker 2>where in place of biological life, one single vast city

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<v Speaker 2>covers the surface of the planet, and deep vertical ventilation

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<v Speaker 2>shafts dive down to starports and an entire undercity far beneath.

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<v Speaker 2>During the days of the Galactic Empire, these depths even

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<v Speaker 2>harbored some of the remaining embers of the Rebellion. Tune

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<v Speaker 2>in for additional episodes of The Monster, Fact, The Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>or Animaliustupendium each week. As always, you can email us

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<v Speaker 2>at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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