McQuarrie: “We (Lucas and McQuarrie) had quite a thorough idea of what it was like. To me it was really one of these seven wonders of the galaxy, a pile of giant disks that were so dense that you almost had the feeling that there was less gravity inside this thing. It wasn’t fully a real place.”
I love these surreal ideas that Lucas had before the lore became more established. Reminds me of how Yoda was originally the Force personified, or something like that. I wish they’d kept more of that going forward (though I suppose concepts like Mortis and The Bendu qualifies).
EDIT: I just posted an essay (of sorts) that cover how early SW was more abstract:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/star-wars-is-surrealism-not-science-fiction-an-essay/id/82402