Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 10 Ways It's A Remake Of A New Hope

7. The Mos Eisley Cantina/Maz Kanata's Castle Parallel

In one of the more purposeful - and arguably playful - homages to A New Hope, there's a scene that has been rendered entirely as a means of referencing the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina sequence, in which Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and droids R2-D2 and C-3PO first meet the rogue pilot Han Solo and his furry friend Chewbacca. The scene is beloved for a number of reasons, but mainly fans adore the original Cantina sequence because of the way that it frames the Star Wars galaxy as a dangerous, western frontier filled with all kinds of scumbags and lowlives. By just cutting between shots of different creatures, Lucas was able to evoke a sense of a wider-world. Also: it's the first scene in which we see a lightsaber at work, as Obi-Wan chops slices a baddie's arm. Whilst the Mos Eisley Cantina sequence occurs towards the beginning of A New Hope, The Force Awakens' equivalent occurs partway through the film, as Rey, Finn, Han and the rest of the ensemble take refuge at Maz Kanata's Castle Fortress on the planet of Takodana. Kanata's home resembles the Mos Eisley Cantina in a number of ways and is filled with a similar array of weird-looking creeps and characters who are partaking in drinking and gambling. There's even a band (though the song they play is nowhere near as catchy).