Spaceport THX1138

This article is about the space station from Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. You may be looking for the Tomorrowland Starport from the original Star Tours.

For other uses, see 1138.

Spaceport THX1138 was a space station that was used as a starliner terminal by travel agencies that were members of the Galactic Tourist Bureau, including Star Tours.^[1] It was located in the Earth system, within the Fath sector.^[2]

Description

The space station had three large docking areas, or wings, around a central superstructure, plus two other struts.^[1] It was similar in design to a star base that operated earlier, during the Clone Wars.^[5] Its billboards, advertisements, map displays, and arrival/departure screens displayed information in Aurebesh, High Galactic alphabet, and another written script.

Sections

Central Hall, including Levels A through D, included a large video screen that displayed advertising and information about the spaceport and its travel agencies. It also displayed Imperial recruiting messages and listed some of the Empire's most-wanted criminals.^[6]
- Level A: The overall area of the baggage claim included entryways to the North and South Wings, a lift-tube access point, an overflow claim, and stops from the Core Worlds and the Outer Rim.
- Level B: The Droid Claim, containing a PA Droid Scanning area, a sales market for restraining bolts, a booth for removing restraining bolts, a droid assembly area, a droid repair area, a droid registration area, and a collection area.
- Level C: Including the Duty Free area, souvenir shops for Outer Rim–related merchandise, several holorecorders, some RWH Droid Surplus stores, some bacta surplus stores, and power converters. On the same level was the droid customs, which contained a certification station, a memory-wipe station, a memory backup station, Inspection Scan #1, and a droid registry for certification area.
- Level D: Containing the baby center and clinic; there were incubation pods for infants, a doctor's station, a section for aquatic newborns, a section for personal assistance droids, a section for medical/surgical droids, and bacta tanks.

North Wing, housing the Bespin Direct and Dantooine Express terminals

South Wing, housing the Air Alderaan, Tatooine Transit and Naboo Spacelines terminals

C-3PO and R2-D2 repairing a StarSpeeder 1000

X Wing, housing the Star Tours travel agency terminal. The main terminal area through which passengers passed to board flights included a large viewscreen displaying flight information and advertisements, and had room to house and repair a StarSpeeder 1000. The flight information was color-coded to indicate the destination of the flight: Arrivals were red and departures blue. Ramps from the terminal led to security and boarding areas, all of which commonly had droids and other equipment stored in plain view of passengers. The station also included the Lightspeed Lounge and an observation deck.^[7] Signage in the station was usually displayed in Aurebesh, High Galactic and in an unidentified Imperial script. Prior to each departure, the WA-7 service droid Aly San San frequently made a public service announcement, with the designated StarSpeeder 1000 being brought up via cargo elevator to the departure area. The boarding gates also came in numeric and letter variants, the latter going from A to D. The starport also featured a Restricted Customs Area.
- Level 1: Baggage Claim / Transport
- Level 2: Ticketing
- Level 3: Security
- Level 4: Boarding Gates (at least six of them)^[8]
- Level 5: Lightspeed Lounge
- Level 6: Observation Deck

Star Tours-operated boarding gates at the spaceport, on Level 4

Other section: This section, located west from the X Wing, and immediately next to the west side of the North Wing, contained levels A, B, C, F, and G. These sections contained the Outer Rim Restaurant and Lounge, the air-to-ground transportation section, the Muunilinst Credit Exchange for exchanging currency with various planets, the Stargazer Grill Restaurant, and the Nebula Trillion Parsec Club for spacers. The air-to-ground transportation section required public transportation to get to the surface, and made use of ships such as SSP freighters, line-operated shuttles, independent star cruisers, personal shuttles, and CEC-class transports. The currencies that could be exchanged at the Muunilinst Credit Exchange included Republic credits, Imperial credits, Adumari credcoins, Aurodium coins, Corellian credits, and Credit Vouchers.^[1]

History

Early in the Galactic Civil War, the Star Tours travel agency opened their own terminal on the space station. Shortly after, a StarSpeeder 1000 filled with passengers accidentally began to take off without the pilot droid, leaving the vessel "captained" by C-3PO with R2-D2 in the astromech socket. Imperial agents detained the ship to arrest a Rebel spy that was among passengers onboard. But Artoo instead took off out of the hangar, engaged in a firefight with the Imperials, then escaped into hyperspace. The droids would eventually deliver the spy to their planned destination.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Seen from its cockpit, a Star Tours escapes coming from the station. — Seen from its cockpit, a Star Tours StarSpeeder 1000 escapes Imperial TIE fighters coming from the station.

This station has a similar interior structure to the original Star Tours attraction's Tomorrowland Starport, since the later ride was a renovated version of the first. The queue and loading area of the ride are within the spaceport, and the exterior of it can be seen on the large video screen inside the queue. Both interior and exterior views can be seen in the ride's simulator screen.^[1]

The space station was unnamed in the Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland versions of the Star Tours: The Adventures Continue ride, but the ride's queue in Tokyo Disneyland later included a video billboard which named the station and provided additional details,^[6] which was further confirmed for English-speaking audiences with the release of the StarWars.com blog entry Convenient Daily Departures: The History of Star Tours.^[9] The name is yet another Star Wars reference to George Lucas' film THX 1138. The design of space station Valor, as seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Point of No Return", was based on this station by concept artist Pat Presley.^[5]

Legends scenes

Depending on which scenario is randomly chosen for the ride, the scene regarding the Imperials' discovery of a spy stowed on board the ST-1401 will have one of two outcomes. In one, several stormtroopers attack the vessel while Han Solo, himself in a run-in with several stormtroopers, aids the shuttle in escaping, also attacking a Star Destroyer when they exit the station. In the second, the ship is stopped midflight by Darth Vader using the Force, only to be let go when R2-D2 uses its onboard cannons to blast at Vader, who then sends a squadron of TIE/LN starfighters after it into space.^[1]

Non-canon scenes

Beginning in 2015 alternate scenes featuring elements from the Sequel trilogy films and later Canon television series have been regularly added to the ride. Since the original ride is considered to be part of the Star Wars Legends continuity, these later scenarios are non-canon. In one opening scene on the space station, it is Kylo Ren and agents of the First Order that detain the ship and its Resistance spy, while in another it's detained by a scanning droid and First Order stormtroopers with Rey, BB-8, and the Falcon involved. In another scene set back in the time of the Rebellion, it is Ahsoka Tano's T-6 1974 ship that flees from Imperial forces with the StarSpeeder. In that scenario, the StarSpeeder returns to the Spaceport THX 1138 hangar at the end of the ride and is met by an angry AC-38.^[1]