In A Far Away Galaxy

Here's a list of 10 things you might not know about Luke Skywalker who was portrayed wonderfully well by Mark Hamill.

The original drafts for Star Wars show that the Skywalker family was actually called Starkiller. Indeed the drafts featured a General Starkiller and didn’t focus on the young moisture farmer from Tatooine.
Does the name “Annikin Starkiller” sound familiar? That's the character's original name. The Force Awakens used the name Starkiller for the First Order's planetary based weapon.
As the Rebels make their escape from their base on Hoth, it is Hamill who speaks the line, “the first transport is away!”. This line is later used as a reference to Star Wars in Mass Effect 3.
Everyone assumes Luke only appeared in the three original Star Wars films. Think about if for a moment and you’ll realise Skywalker appears as a baby at the end of Revenge of the Sith following Padme Amidala giving birth to him and Leia at the medical facility on Poliss Massa. The character of course had a cameo in TFA.
In the extended universe books, Luke falls in love with Mara Jade and has a child called Ben, named in honour of Obi Wan Kenobi. This concept was nicked for The Force Awakens and Kylo Ren bears the Ben name.
Luke Skywalker is 1.72 meters tall which means he is 63 cm taller than the little droid that could, R2D2.
Our favoure 3 favourite Luke quotes:

But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!
Threepio, tell them if they don't do as you wish, you'll become angry and use your magic!
I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you.

Mark Hamill never really set the film world alive post Star Wars, perhaps due to the strong association as him being Skywalker however in the last twenty years he has made a name for himself as a voice actor for many cartoons, most notably as Batman's nemesis, The Joker.
While Luke Skywalker is right handed, Mark is actually a lefty.
The way Mark Hamill got the part of Luke Skywalker is classic Hollywood. Robert Englund, who eventually became famous as dream killer Freddy Kruger, was auditioning for a part in Francis Coppala’s Apocalypse Now when he noticed auditions for Star Wars were also happening at the same time and he suggested to his young friend Hamill to audition. The rest is history.

As an aside, it's interesting to note that even though Hamill never became as big as Harrison Ford in the box office earnings stakes, he's a much loved actor - and in that sense is very similar to Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy - he was never able to escape that character and like Hamill, so embraced his identity as being Spock.

Both have parlayed the close association to their characters into long term careers with a hint of 'knowing' about them.

Check out Hamill taking the mickey out of himself in Silent Bob and Jay Strike Back for instance.

19 cameos in The Force Awakens

The Star Wars films are no strangers to featuring cameo roles. Richard Marquand, the director of Return of the Jedi snuck his voice in on a robot, George Lucas and several of his children could be seen in the prequel films and Treat Williams had a quick turn as a Stormtrooper in the Hoth scenes in Empire. You get the gist!

The Force Awakens features plenty of cameos, both transparent and wholly hidden from the viewer in plain site. J

J Abram's is well known for his use of cameos and putting Easter egg like references in his films so why not for TFA?

Here's the list of cameos that we've found thus far:

Let's start with what we think is the biggest cameo. Both Ewan Macgregor and Alec Guiness each feature in the same single line that can be heard during Rey's encounter with Luke's lightsaber. Alec does the 'Rey' part and Macgregor does the 'there are your first steps'. Here's how they managed this trick.
The second one is what we consider the coolest cameo ever in the Star Wars films. Daniel Craig who is better known to a gabillion movie fans as James Bond was the Stormtrooper that fell under Rey's spell when she tried her Jedi mind trick on him to request her release. It's a very funny and quotable exchange between the two.
JJ Abram cast his good friend Greg Grunberg in the film as Snap Wexley. He had a line at the resistance base and featured in the X-wing attack on the Star Killer Base. Grunberg did a cameo for JJ in the first episode of the TV show Lost as the pilot of the plane that crashed and had a quick turn in Mission Impossible III. He's of course best known for his role in Heroes.
JJ cast his father Gerry in a very small cameo as Captain Cypress. Gerry has played bit parts in several of JJ's productions.
The doctor that tends to Chewbacca's arm wound would have been well known to British Star Wars fans as she was played by Dame Harriet Walter, a renowned stage and screen actress. Her character was called Dr. Kalonia. There's a nice piece of symmetry here in that her uncle was Christoper Lee who played Count Dooku in two Star Wars films.
Simon Pegg plays Unkar Plutt. You wouldn't know it by looking at him or even listening to him! Pegg previously played a role in JJ Abram's Mission Impossible film and formed such a strong working relationship that JJ cast him as Scottie in the Star Trek movies.
Do you remember the Ewok known as Wicket? Famously played by a very young Warwick Davis, he returns as an alien called Wollivan that can be spied having a drink at Maz Kanata's bar. Davis charmed Lucas so much that he later featured in Lucas' Willow film. He also had a wee cameo in The Phantom Menace as well!
Nigel Godrich, a well known music producer famous for his work with the band Radiohead, had a quick turn as a Stormtrooper. He Stormtrooper number is FN-9330.
Yoda puppeter Frank Oz (and the voice of Miss Piggy!) recorded new lines of dialog for the flashback sequence but ultimately pre-recorded Yoda material was used.
Billie Lourd, who is Carrie Fisher's daughter was seen wearing Princess Leia style buns as Lieutenant Connix.
JJ Abrams has a long term working relationship with music composer Michael Giacchino. Given that John Williams has a firm hand on the teller when it comes to creating Star Wars music, Giacchino had to make do donning a Stormtrooper suit as FN-3181. He's the trooper who puts the captured Poe Dameron before Kylo Ren at the film's start.
Judah Friedlander can be briefly spied as a bar patron at Maz's Castle.
If you think back to the Han solo frieghter scene, Kanjaklub leader Tasu Leech is played by Yayan Ruhian, and Iko Uwais plays Razoo Quin-Fee. They are well known for their athletic roles in the two Raid films.
There's a strong run of actors who performed roles in the Game of Thrones, this is because the casting director for that show also did the casting for The Force Awakens. Gwendoline Christie is the major player as Captain Phasma but did you spot Thomas Brodie-Sangster of The Maze Runner and Game of Thrones plays a First Order officer. Jessica Henwick who was featured in season 6 of Game of Thrones played X-Wing pilot Jess Testor. Mark Stanley was a Knight of Ren. Miltos Yerolemou who played Arya’s doomed fencing instructor Syrio Forel, is a bar fly in Maz Kanata’s bar and Emun Elliott had a crack as well as an X-wing pilot.
Morgan Dameron who's last name was part of the inspiration for the name of Poe Dameron's character has a turn as a Resistance officer named Commodore Meta. That's a pretty clever in joke!

john williams with son joseph williams from the band toto

The lead singer of Toto is the son of one of the great players of Star Wars

This is probably one of the coolest points of Star Wars trivia you could come across if you were both a Toto and Star Wars fan - Toto's current lead singer Joseph Williams is the son of John Williams, the famous composer of all 6 Star Wars movies!

Musical talent clearly runs deep in that family!

So next time you hear 'Africa'* as you're driving along on a lazy Sunday morning you can follow up by humming a few bars of the Imperial March!

* Not that Joseph sang on the original version of the song...

E.T. clearly phoned home

Three E.T. can be found in The Phantom Menace!
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg share a special friendship, indeed Speilberg has directed all four of the Lucas produced Indiana Jones films and Lucas even tried to get him to direct Return of the Jedi.

So was it a surprise for any one to see three E.T. Chancellors cameo in The Phantom Menace?

Probably not

That's them at the bottom left of the picture.

It was a nice little nod for George Lucas to put in and a pretty sweet easter egg.

I think I also saw one in Attack of the Clones too...

10 of the most obscure Star Wars facts. Number 3 is out of this world!

Star Wars fans love a good bit of trivia and there's plenty of it to around - here's 10 bits that you might not have come across before.

The Bantha milk drank by Luke and Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in A New Hope is blue. Coincidentally or not, the code name for Return of the Jedi was Blue Harvest.
The planet name of 'Coruscant' was created by Star Wars author Timothy Zahn for his book Heir to The Empire. George Lucas liked the name and included shots of Coruscant, the Imperial Capital at the end of the Return of the Jedi movie. It then featured in the prequels.
Han Solo’s space ship the Millennium Falcon has a very small blink and you'll miss it cameo appearance in Revenge of the Sith. It is seen landing on Coruscant.
It was Return of the Jedi’s director Richard Marquand who came up with the idea of having Leia turn up to Jabba’s Palace disguised as a bounty hunter.
When Luke claims Chewbacca is a prisoner transfer from cell block he mentions the number 1138, this is a direct reference to George Lucas’s first film, THX 1138. That film was about a dystopian future where a authoritarian regime was in control – a not to dissimilar state of affairs in Star Wars.
Han Solo’s “I know” line in response to Leia’s declaration of love as ad libbed by Harrison Ford. It’s become an iconic Star Wars quote.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" or a variation of it is spoken in every movie.
R2D2 is taller than the Ewok 'Wicket' from ROTJ. Kenny Baker who played was originally going to play Wicket however illness prevented him from doing so, thus giving Warwick Davis a chance to stake a claim in Star Wars lore.
Mace Windu is the only Jedi in any film to wield a purple colored lightsaber. Here's some of his quotes from the prequels.
None of the Star Wars films have credits at the beginning of them. This actually became a really big deal and meant Lucas quit various film institutions such as the Director's Guild and Stars Wars films were considered independent movies as result.

What's that you say? You loved this trivia and you want more Star Wars facts?

Who else gets the feeling a lot of characters are going to die in Rogue One?

Unless Disney is saving up their Rebels for Rogue Two, we’re pretty sure that a LOT of Rebel characters are going to die in Rogue One.

Here's our reasoning.

It’s not quite the Han Solo route, but it’s up there.

This is a heist movie.

It thus needs suspense.

Will the heroes live or die? They need to because we know they get their hands on the Death Star plans and place them in Princess Leia's care.

We’ve complained before that with big budget films, too many good guys win at the end of the day (as no one likes a downer ending right? Wrong).

But we get tired of that.

We want to see things get REAL. As real as the Death of Han solo.

Wil this Death Squad be will certain er.... death.

And just like Harrison Ford agreeing to do just one more Star Wars film, this Rogue One prequel gives the filmmakers a massive opportunity to raise the ‘will they survive’ ante.

They can afford to do it as this particular movie does not tie into the original trilogy in the sense that this film’s characters turn up in (Mon Mothma and Darth Vader excluded).

That means it doesn’t matter if Jyn or Chirrutor K-250die as it will be of no consequence to the Star Wars franchise going forward.

It will merely add to the drama and viewer's enjoyment of Rogue One.

It's my dear hope that Rogue One can have an epic ending where it really is life or death for the characters and viewers can go along for that ride in the cinema.

As the Death Star’s plans get closer and closer to being Leia’s grasp, the stakes can be raised. There should be glory on all sides!

All it will take is for one character to survive.

If that’s the case, we’d put good money on Jyn surviving and everyone else to die trying.

Hope fully Lord Vader’s saber gets to play a bit of a hand in that but we suspect he will be very under used in the film.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - ?? minutes<

Extra for Experts:

Caravan of Courage - 96 minutes

Battle for Endor - 94 minutes

Star Wars Holiday Special - 98 minutes

So based on the above, Attack of the Clones is the longest running Star Wars movie and A New Hope is the shortest (excluding the Ewok movies and the Holiday Special).

If you counted all the Star Wars movies released so far, their total running time is 1060 minutes with an average of 132 and a half minutes.

If you add in the Ewok spin off movies and the infamous Holiday Special you get a combined running time of 1346 minutes with an average film running time of 122 minutes.

That's a lot of Star Wars to watch!

I debated about adding The Clone Wars movie to these numbers but decided against it.

With all the concern about the new Star Wars canon, we can confirm this Star Wars cannon is still Star Wars canon.

We're not sorry....

Who is Nien Nunb ? Why does he look like a pile of pancakes?

With the cameo appearance of Nien in The Force Awakens as an X-Wing pilot, we thought it might be an opportune time to quickly visit the character.

Most fans will recognise Numb as Lando’s co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon in Return of the Jedi – but do they know his name? It's never said in Jedi! Or TFA!

Nien is almost like a Salcacious Crumb kind of character – seemingly fun and amusing but the view is left wondering about the fellow – what’s that language he speaks to Lando for example?

Numb’s back story is that of a smuggler so it perhaps makes sense he found himself on one of the most famous smuggling ships of all.

Expanded Universe tales suggests that he and Lando became friends well before the Jedi time frame and then when Lando was planning his assault on the Death Star II he recognised his old pal in a line up of pilots and selected him.

Nien Nunb was actually a puppet which was operated by two puppeteers, Mike Quinn and Richard Bonehill.

He was voiced by Kipsand Rotich who used his Kenyan language, Haya and also Kikuyu. This was for both Jedi and TFA - the later film required some serious tracking down of Rotich so he could record his part!

Billy Dee Williams nicked named Nien Nunb as 'The Pancake Kid' as his face looks like a pile of the breakfast food!

Early concept of a young Starkiller dueling Vader

A brief history of the design of Darth Vader

Kylo Ren may be obsessed with Darth Vader but the rest of the world got there well before him.

It was in 1977 to be exact when Vader stepped into the Tantive IV and threw a few Rebels about.

As he did so, he stepped into movie infamy as one of the greatest villains ever.

We have a theory that one of the key reasons why that happened was the look of Vader.

He was like a caped black knight, spewing evil from that robotic face. Not to mentioning that terse, measured breathing that was utterly terrifying.

It was just sinister. Vader was a big deal, even before the most infamous reveal of his fathering Luke Skywalker.

Indeed Pierre Christin, a noted comic creator who had some influence over Star Wars, had this to say on why we love Vader, “A villain like Darth Vader is simply a cinematic flash of genius, destined to be a great film icon forever. The reason we fear him so much is because he partly reflects ourselves.”

So we love Vader because we fear him.

Got it, thanks French dude.

So what were the elements that went into the design of Darth Vader? Who came up with him and his look? Read on, Star Wars fan, read on.

How did the concept of Vader come to being?

George Lucas is the father of Darth Vader.

When Lucas was throwing around ideas for his ‘Journal of the Whills’ concept he wrote down the name of ‘General Vader’ who he noted was an imperial commander.

The character was described as a “tall, grim looking general”. Lucas also wrote down ideas for 'Knights of the Sith', a character called 'Kane Starkiller' who was a cyborg.

Eventually Lucas fashioned the character as a 'Black Knight of the Sith' who served the 'Master of Sith'.

Initially Vader did not have his famous helmet. Lucas had suggested his face be obscured by a black silk scarf.

This was during 1975 at which time Lucas asked Ralph McQuarrie to turn this concept into a drawn character.

When McQuarrie learned that Vader (as it was then in the script) was to cross through the cold vacuum of space to enter Leia’s spaceship, he added the mask.

Obviously the reasons for Vader needing the mask were made more interesting later on.

McQuarrie delivered duly delivered some concept art:

Early Darth Vader concept designs

A costume designer by the name of John Mollo was given these sketches and told to get to work. He was inspired by samurai influences (which would have pleased Lucas given his penchant for Akira Kurosawa movies) and Nazi uniform and armour that was used in the trench battles of World War I.

In keeping with this minor Nazi influence, Stormtroopers were named after specialist German soldiers from the same era.

Brian Muir made the actual helmet and mask, fashioning early sculptures out of clay. He did his sculpting over a plaster head of David Prowse.

Here’s a great interview with Muir explaining the process.

Fun fact: Vader’s armour was given the serial number E-3778Q-1M.

That voice

During filming, David Prowse did the actions and also voiced the character believing he would be doing the final recordings as well.

Lucas had other ideas and tried to hire the great film maker Orson Welles (speaking or Welles, check out our Theory About Director Krennic's name) with no success.

This was just as well for James Earl Jones got the gig and Vader’s final ingredient was found. Jones recorded his lines in 2 and half hours.

Jones also chose to not receive an on screen credit as he thought his role was too small.

This was eventually rectified when Star Wars become a global smash again with Empire Strikes Back.

That breathing

Ben Burtt invented the sound by recording him using a scuba breathing apparatus.

The microphone was placed in the regulator.

To get the sound just right, these recordings were played in empty rooms and re-recorded to get that ‘from the helmet’ sounding effect.

Who was that guy that played Vader in Jedi?

During ANH and TESB, David Prowse did the body work for the character. Bob Anderson did the heavy lifting. Come time for the finale of Jedi, there was a need to show Vader’s face.

It was the big reveal moment, father and son eyeballing each other for the first, and last time in their lives.

Veteran English actor Sebastian Shaw was hired. His scene was filmed in secret so as to hold off on the ‘surprise’ as long as possible.

It is Shaw who stands as a Force ghost with Yoda and Obi-Wan in the original form, replaced by Hayden Christiansen in the Special Edition.

Coming back to Kylo Ren for a moment – When Luke Skywalker ceremonially cremated his father's armour on the moon of Endor in Jedi, Vader’s helmet featured on the pyre.

In the real world specific prop was an old promotional mask that was used from the promotional touring that took place after the premiere of A New Hope.

In the movie realm, the mask and helmet that Kylo Ren is holding when he talks to his grandfather Vader in The Force Awakens has been retrieved from the pyre.

By whom?

We'll probably never find out.

This dude knows whats up

This is Star Wars awesomeness at its best - a collective of cosplayers bring the sexy back for Star Wars, Playboy style.

We can only wonder what the pillow fights after looked like....

Did you ever read what Carrie Fisher said when she didn't appear topless in Playboy?

Why do Obi Wan and Vader fight so slowly in A New Hope compared to how they do in Revenge of the Sith?

Well, it's not because they are old!

This are two ways to answer this question.

The first relates to the effort of movie making.

The second is about the story telling.

In terms of movie making, Star Wars was produced in 1976 and featured an elderly Alec Guiness clashing swords with a muscle man in a big heavy black suit. No one expected the energetic acrobatics of Errol Flynn.

This was a sword fight using 'light swords' and on screen special effects that never ever been done before. No one ever knew Star Wars was going to become the biggest film in history.

No one knew it was going to be one of the most examined and discussed films in history.

If George Lucas had, he would have made it better. But he didn't and indeed, he swapped some points with Steven Spielberg!

There was simply no way that the sword fight between Darth and Kenobi was going to be as epic as what was eventually realised in Revenge of the Sith.

But in terms of story telling, this is where things get interesting. What you witnessed was not a sword battle between a Sith Lord and a famous Jedi Knight, it was a conversation (watch it here).

Forget about Revenge of the Sith for a moment, what we were presented with was two foes that had fought some 20 years earlier where one left the other for dead.

And now, Vader is one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy.

He could have killed Kenobi in an instant but he chose to play it out a bit, maybe so he could figure out what Obi Wan was up to (he already had a plan though to let the Millennium Falcon escape).

One could argue that Obi Wan toys with Vader somewhat as well. He certainly insults him with his sneering use of the word Darth. This repartee fine for Kenobi, he was trying to give Luke a chance to escape the Death Star. He also knew that his death would be a significant event.

The telling point is not this rope-a-dope of sorts, but Kenobi's line"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." that was important.

We didn't know how it was important but we were given enough to know that with this knowledge, Kenobi was not afraid to die.

He knew he was able to help Luke in another, more important way - and that came to be when Luke was doing the trench run on the Death Star and was able to give guidance.

It was a noble sacrifice and it set the path for Luke to become a Jedi and bring down the Emperor (Obi Wan had no idea Vader was still to actually fulfill The Prophecy).

From my point of view the Jedi are evil...

By the time Revenge of the Sith came along, moving making had come a long long way.

Blockbusters were now giant spectacles filled with epic action and featured vast amounts of CGI animation.

George Lucas was able to take the current state of CGI and use it to make his duel between two heroes one of the fastest flowing there had ever been.

He needed to as well for it was the climax of the prequel trilogy and the moment every one had wanted to see since it was learned that Vader fell to the dark side. It had to be epic, anything less would have been a failure.

Extra for experts: Check out this theory about light sabers being used in the Star Wars movies.

Want to read some more sweet things about Darth Vader?

7 tragic things about Darth Vader.

Why did Darth Vader turn to the dark side of The Force? (if you were living under a rock).

11 Urban Myths about Darth Vader.

10 Darth Vader quotes that show he was the worst Sith Lord ever (but possibly the greatest Jedi)

Did Darth Vader fulfill the Jedi prophecy?

Everything else you need to know about Darth Vader.

More things Kenobi:

So how did they get Obi-Wan Kenobi into The Force Awakens?
Was Gandalf the inspiration for Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Is Wedge Antilles really Obi-Wan Kenobi's Uncle? Yes, from a certain point of view.
Is the best ever cosplay of Obi-Wan Kenobi?
The best Obi-Wan quotes this side of the galaxy (it’s far, far away)
This is the last time Anakin and Obi-Wan spoke as friends.

I have watched the Star Wars Holiday Special one-time only and that’s the way it will probably stay.

If I have two memories of the film, it’s Princess Leia and the gang singing a terrible song about ‘Life Day’. The other is the awesome cartoon contained within the movie that shows Boba Fett riding some kind of dinosaur.

That was awesome.

However, the film should really be named as ‘George Lucas’ Folly’ for it was huge misstep.

Legend has it that Lucas is quite embarrassed about it now and I think noted Star War novelist Kevin J. Anderson’s quote sums it up best:

"Well, I know that George Lucas doesn't like it at all—when I was working on The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, he told me that he would be happy if every copy could be tracked down and burned..."

So there we have it. The movie should be burned.

But hold on. There’s some gold in the TV’s most infamous Christmas Special, so let’s have a look a look at what glitters….

But first we have to get this piece of trivia out of the way:

Chewbacca has a son called Lumpy. He’s travelling to see him so they can celebrate ‘Life Day’ together.

Feel free to quit reading this article now as we cannot top this fact!

The show aired in the US on November 17, 1978, on CBS for the first and only time.
Jefferson Starship, a very popular band at the time, released a single of "Light the Sky on Fire" that proclaimed "as seen and heard on the CBS-Star Wars Holiday Special. It’s bloody awful.
Given it's canon (!!!) the Special is the first time the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk for the first time. The next time we saw this was in Revenge of the Sith when Yoda visited to help with the Clone War.
Future Golden Girl Bea Arthur played Ackmena a gruff bartender at the Mos Eisley Cantina. This was an opportunity for her to sing a song but frankly the best part of this moment is the chance to see some of the original bar flies that were visiting the Catina in ANH for a longer period.
If you’ve actually gone an watched the show, you’ll have noticed that the Wookies lived in giant wooden houses at built into trees. This idea originally came from the design work of the legendary Ralph McQuarrie – the guy that did all the original concept design work for A New Hope.
Future King of Comedy Richard Pryor has a part as a bar tender as well! From behind the bar he answers the phone in the manner as part of gag with some alien creatures.

Bea Arthur and her Cantina friends.

The show was probably the only variety special in American television history to feature a sex simulator scene. Chewbacca’s father engages in what could be described as holographic phone sex using a device called The Mind Evaporator. The sexy holographic lady was played by Diahann Carroll who at the time was well known for her Julia television series and the film Claudine. Watch from this moment and enjoy the trippy ride and ‘just relax, just relax’.
Lucas didn’t really have too much involvement in the project – he helped sketch out an initial story and the producers took it over and went nuts and turned it into a variety show. Well, they had to have been nuts right?
Chewbacca’s father is named Attichitcuk and his wife is called Mallatobuck. His son Lumpy’s proper name is Lumpawarrump.
The Happy Life Day song by Princess Leia is based on John William’s original Star Wars theme tune.
The special formally only aired one time in the United States in a date that will live in infamy, being 17 November 1978. To put that in historical context, the day after the horrific Jonestown Massacre occurred.
Film industry legend Stan Winstoncreated the Wookiee family.
The Chewbacca family could wear their costumes for 45 about minutes due to the heat generated when wearing them. Then they’d have the heads taken off, and be given oxygen and fluid.
The Boba Fett cartoon sequence was nine minutes long as was intended to be used to introduce the character that would be making an appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. The animation is considered to be quite good and the only truly redeeming thing about the Holiday Special.
It’s called “The Faithful Wookie”. Watch it here.
The style of the sequence was modelled on the work of Jean “Mobieus” Geraud, a popular French artist. This was apparently at the request of George Lucas. This is where it gets interesting. If you think back to the Imperial Probe Droid that finds the Rebels on the Hoth planet in Empire, you might be surprised (or not!) to learn the droid’s look was inspired a small drawing of a droid from a scene in Mobieus’ ‘The Long Tomorrow’.

The ability to speak does not make you smart

When the Phantom Menace was announced, a big name actor was needed to give the film so called gravitas as there were no Hamils or Solos so Lucas came up with Liam Neeson to play the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin.

What a job he did!

It's this author's opinion that this Jedi was one of the best that has been on the silver screen and that is mostly due to Liam Neeson's acting.

Qui Gon's character was the epitome of a true Jedi - calm under pressure, wise and diligent and a great fighter - the finale duel where he and a young Kenobi took on Darth Maul is considered on the best Star Wars saber fights.

Here's some facts, quotes and trivia about Qui Gon

A venerable if maverick Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn was a student of the living Force. Unlike other Jedi Masters, who often lose themselves in the meditation of the unifying Force, Qui-Gon Jinn lived for the moment, espousing a philosophy of "feel, don't think -- use your instincts."
The Phantom Menace's production sets were built only as high as the tops of the actors' heads and computer graphics filled in the rest. But it was realised that Liam Neeson was so tall that they needed to build things taller and this cost the production another $150,000 in construction costs.
The Jedi stands at a tall height of 1.93 meters.
Quote said to Jar Jar: The ability to speak does not make you intelligent. Now get out of here.
Phantom Menace is the only film in the series in which the top-credited actor plays a non-recurring character, and in which the top-credited character dies.
What's in a name? The name "Qui Gon" derives from an ancient Chinese system of alternative medicine called "Qigong". The word "Jinn" refers to the "Djinn" o rthe so called genies of Arabian myth.
Qui-Gon was actually a padawan of Count Dooku.
Actor Liam Neeson described his character thus: "He's almost like a monk, an old-time warrior who is wise and quite philosophical, yet very skilled in martial arts. He has incredible confidence, as well as a magical quality that enables him to see into the future. He's not really a rebel, but he has his own code."

A foreboding exchange:

Anakin: You're a Jedi Knight, aren't you?
Qui-Gon Jinn: What makes you think that?
Anakin: I saw your laser sword. Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon.
Qui-Gon Jinn: Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him.
Anakin: I don't think so. No one can kill a Jedi.
Qui-Gon Jinn: I wish that were so.

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Qui-Gon Jinn's voice is heard shouting "Anakin! Anakin!" passing through the Force when master Yoda senses wayward Anakin Skywalker's slaughter of the Tuskens. The novelization of the film narrates this is the first time that Yoda encounters a Jedi's spirit who has passed into the Force. Near the end of Revenge of the Sith Yoda reveals to Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon has "returned from the netherworld of the Force" to teach them how to become one with the Force. Yoda and Obi-Wan receive this training during their exile on the planets of Dagobah and Tatooine.

The famous 'Duel of the Fates' scene

Contrary to popular belief, the city where Qui-Gon discovers a young Anakin is not the famous space port of Mos Eisley, but a different place called Mos Espa. Qui-Gon's description of Mos Espa is almost the same, if not the same word for word, as Obi-Wan's description of Mos Eisley during A New Hope.
The exchange that explained what the Force was:

Anakin: What are midi-chlorians?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that resides within all living cells.

Qui-Gon Jinn's hand held communicator is a refashioned Sensor Excel Razor for Women. Smooth bro, smooth.
Qui-Gon Jinn: There's always a bigger fish.
An early idea that George Lucas had was for Jinn to have long white hair. In hindsight that was a wise choice as it sounds that would have been too Gandalf the White like.

Extra for Experts: Here's Liam Neeson in a behind the scenes photo from a scene on Tatooine - looks like he's returned to the ship with spare parts won from Wotto:

behind the scenes phantom menace liam neeson

Did you think this was a good list? Here's 101 facts about Star Wars!

Facts and trivia about Grand Admiral Thrawn, from the Zahn Trilogy and Rebels

I finished the Star Wars book 'Heir to the Empire' and immediately (and finally) understood what all the fuss was in terms of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

I mean like the internet bloody loves him.

More than Papa Smurf himself!

He's the chief antagonist of the book and it's quite clear from the first few paragraphs he feature in that he's the real deal.

Inspired by this belated introduction to the Big Blue Chiss, I thought I'd present some facts and trivia about him.

Timothy Zahn, the author who created this beloved character described Thrawn as thus: "He’s a clever villain. People like reading about clever, interesting opponents to our heroes. People who are able to out think, outmaneuver as well as outfight. Ultimately the heroism of the hero is measured by the villainy or power of the villain and with Thrawn I wanted something different than Force using Vader or Palpatine. Somebody who doesn’t have Luke’s Force Powers, but can run him around in a maze whenever he really wants to."
His real name is "Mitth'raw'nuruodo" - Thrawn is a shortening of his full name
While he make's his debut in Timothy Zahn's 'Heir to the Empire' novel, Thrawn has actually appeared in 8 novels, several graphic novels and turned up in a few video games.
His appearance in season 3 of Star Wars Rebels marks the first occasion that an extended universe character has been placed in the new formal Star Wars Canon. We believe that the second character to do get this kind of treatment was Saw in Rogue One going from Clones to the Big Screen.
Thrawn's species is 'Chiss'. All Chiss are human like in their physical appearance, save the blue skin and red eyes.
The name "Coruscant" was originally used by Timothy Zahn. George Lucas was going to include the capital world of Had Abbadon in Return of the Jedi, but adopted Zahn's name for Imperial Center when presenting the planet in the Special Edition and prequel movies.
Zahn has said that Thrawn's character is a composite of various historical and fictional personalities, including Erwin Rommel, Robert E. Lee, Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great, and Sherlock Holmes. Some of those names are the greatest military leaders of history.
The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski credits the Thrawn trilogy with reigniting the general public's interest with the Star Wars franchise.

I recently finished reading the first of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy, Heir to the Empire.

It's a fun read, well crafted with a plot that makes a more sense than dross like The Truce at Bukara.

Timothy Zahn's trilogy is much revered among the Star Wars fandom and I've read that some consider Heir to the Empire to be the novel that kick started the grand age of the Star Wars fan resurgence and renewed popularity.

This lead to a slew of Expanded Universe story telling in the form of books, graphic novels and video games (for this lad it was the PC game X-Wing) and quite incredibly, something about a moon falling on top of Chewbacca.

That's right, George OKed the death of Chewbacca by way of moon crushing.

There's probably some spoilers that follow but really, the books were released in the early 1990's so there should not be any room for complaints.

Let's get the Blue Guy Stuff out of the way first

One of the key elements of that success is a fellow known to many as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

In terms of having read only one of the three novels thus far, I can see what the big deal is.

There got to be a reason this blue coloured chap is so popular, and at this stage I think it's because he's arguably the smartest Star Wars bad guy that has been committed to the novel format.

The first thing I loved

Other than the crisp and clear writing and the introduction of Thrawn, there's a moment when Luke Skywalker is dead in the water so to speak.

It's just him and R2D2 stuck in a dead X-wing in the middle of space, totally against the odds.

It's a great piece of writing that sees Luke place his life in the hands AND programming of his faithful tin can robot.

Even though you know Luke will survive his current predicament, it's a nice challenge for him.

The first thing I hated

That there's a fucking tree dwelling lizard which nulls Force abilities. Oh for craps sake, can you not just write a better plot device?

The universe is apparently rid of Jedi (and Sith) and yet suddenly there's this magical freaking lizard which no one has heard of until a few years after the Battle of Yavin?

Give me strength, you would would have thought such a tree dweller would have been well used in the 1000s of years that the Force has been used and abused...

So what's with the plot?

Zahn has this in hand.

While it's not immediately clear what Grand Admiral Thrawn is up to, we are well aware that it's about Thrawn smashing one back down the throat of the Rebel Alliance.

The novel ends with a whimper, not with a bang.

It's just the first novel of course, Thrawn is set to take back what Emperor Palpatine lost.

Han and the good old boys still need to figure out what just happened to them.

That title, it's pretty clever

So is Thrawn the heir to the Empire?

Or is it Luke?

Is it Leia?

Is it the twins that Leia and Han are having?

Yes, we get it's most likely a reference to Thrawn but Vader's lineage looms large...

Mara Jade

I keep seeing her name everywhere around the interwebs as being Luke's wife and bad ass in her own right so her forth coming flirtatious entanglement with Luke seems like an interesting plot to read in the second story, Dark Force Rising.

Her character was handy enough in this novel, it being a little obvious.

Legends

I think this is the first Star Wars novel I've read since The Force Awaken was released.

It did not come to my mind for one minute that this story was no longer canon and should just be considered a alternate time line of sorts.

It's a well written story about Star Wars characters and can be read for the sake of it's own enjoyment.

Those people that run around on the internet abusing anyone who writes a novel that fits into the official canon timeline may wish to stop, have a breather and maybe go play out in the sunshine.

Verdict

This novel was unsurprisingly an enjoyable read.

Given it's considered one of the best Star Wars books out there, I'll be surprised if the sequel, Dark Force Rising is able to match it.

If you are a casual Star Wars fan who has never read this book but are interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, I happily recommend this to you.

You can purchase Heir to the Empire from Amazon at this link.

Did you ever notice in the last half of Return of the Jedi that Luke Skywalker is fully dressed in black clothing?

Why does he dress so costumed?

Black is a colour of mystery and mortality.

It's a lot of black like a certain Sith Lord who has turned to the Dark Side....

Yes, Luke is dressed in black in Jedi to deliberately show the watcher how close he is to letting his fear and hate overwhelm him.

He is surrounded by the dark side and he is basically on a razor's edge and could turn to the dark side of the Force with the slightest provocation.

And that of course was Emperor Palpatine's plan, to make him face Vader and try to turn him by forcing him to tap into his dark side to beat his father.

Luke suffers.

He suffers hate, for his father who cut his arm off

He suffers angst for Obi Wan who lied to him about his true heritage.

He suffers the fear that his sister Leia will be Palpatine's next target.

He is angry. You saw him Force choke two of Jabba's Guards right? Angry.

And most of all, he fears that all will be lost.

But all turns out well after Vader throws the Emperor down the shaft that's an inexplicable safety hazard in his throne room!

So if Luke wins his fight against Vader and then turns his back on the Emperor's offer to join him, how do we really know that Luke is not joining the dark side?

Take a look at his black tunic costume.

Look at the fold that is now unbuttoned post fight sequence, what is that colour?

It's white.

It's the yang to black's yin.

Underneath all Luke's stresses, he was always the good guy.

Always the boy who never got to Tosche Station to get his power converters.

He'd become a Jedi, like his Father was before him.

Nice symbolism George Lucas and director Richard Marquand.

This flap of white was a very subtle point and perhaps lost on many a viewer on first watching of the film.

This was indeed a subtle moment to demonstrate that on the inside, Luke was always the good guy.

In the long run it was not lost on many Star Wars fans, so when George Lucas got around to writing Revenge of the Sith with Johnathan Hales, he made an even better reference to light and dark:

Literal foreshadowing in Sith

Recall the scene where General Obi Wan Kenobi is about to go hunt down that dastardly Grievous General robot chap. Obi Wan and Anakin are making fond farewells and Obi says "Goodbye Old Friend".

It's the last time the two Jedi will indeed talk to each other as friends.

Look carefully at the lighting, Obi Wan is in the light and Anakin in the dark.

Yin and Yang. Good guys and Bad Guys. Jedi and Sith.

While everyone piles on the hate, Star Wars purists should remember how good Lucas really is. Sometimes it's not just about story, it's about great film making.

6 great 'call backs' the joint the Star Wars movies up.

When we say call backs we're talking about how the 7 Star Wars movies each have moments where they reference each other. Here's 6 moments where the script writers took the time to match things up.

Things that go bump on the Death Star

Remember that Storm Trooper that bumped his head in A New Hope?

That goof became the stuff of legend among Star Wars fans so much so that when Lucas decided Jango Fett was to be the 'father' of the Clone Army, this 'bump' was called back as an actual character trait of Jango.

During Attack of the Clones, when the Mandalorian gets into his ship after his tete a tete with Obi-Wan, he bangs his head on the open door.

Grand Moff Tarrkin's Revenge of the Sith blink and you'll miss him cameo

Remember this guy from A New Hope?

Tarkin is the dude who ordered the destruction of planet Alderaan, the home of the Organa family and millions of other voices.

A quick character cameo occurs at the end of Revenge of the Sith when Vader and the Emperor are standing on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, overlooking the initial construction stage of the Death Star.

In a blink an you'll miss it moment, a younger Tarkin quietly sidles up to the Sith Lords.

Vader's murder of the Younglings

Killing of the Younglings in Revenge of the Sith was a pretty obvious severe call back to the prior film, the Attack of the Clones.

While the murder is off screen, it is blatant what the freshly anointed Vader has just done.

He has murdered innocent children and there's nothing so subtle as that.

The call back is to the prior film, Attack of the Clones. Recall the scene where in front of the Younglings, Obi Wan and Yoda chat about how Obi want has lost a planet (how embarrassing!).

This is the same type of class where Yoda is teaching young ones about being a Jedi.

In hindsight, it's a brutal set up.

I've got a bad feeling about this

This line is stated by so many major characters, you just expect this line to be in every Star Wars movie you see.

"I love you:

So said Leia to Han as he was about to be frozen in carbonite. Ford's ad libbed reply of" I Know" is the stuff of Hollywood legend.

The call back came in Jedi when just after Han Solo grabbed Leia's breasts, the lines were reversed.

"You will die"

During Revenge of the Sith Mace Windu and Palpatine have battled it out and Windu has won the duel (something Yoda couldn't do, even when Mace had softened the Emperor up for him). Palpatine is no longer pretending he is anything but a Sith Lord.

And he launches a lightning bolt attack on Windu with the words "you will die".

This is a call back to Jedi when Luke has resolved not to kill his father and join the Dark Side which pisses of the Emperor who confirms Luke is now a Jedi and then stuns him with a bolt or a few thousand of Force lighting.

He takes a pause and say's "And now, you will die". Great work script writers, great work.

The Force Awakens

The Force Awakens film was bascially a well executed re hash of all the famous Star Wars moments, revisited in different guises.

Jakku is a stand in for Tatooine, Rey's heroism matches Luke, Maz's Castle can be likened to the Cantina etc.

The movie is basically a greatest hits of the Star Wars universe and there's one hit which we think is a brilliant call back to the film that started it all, A New Hope.

When Finn is tending to Chewbacca's injury he looks for something to use. And he pulls out the training remote that Luke used under Obi Wan tutelage, 30 odd years before hand. It's a blink and you'll miss moment but it was a nice wink to the past.

And if you didn't like that, this little factoid may brighten you smile.

You know when Finn bumps the digital chess board (the game is actually called Dejarik) ... the game the starts up is the uncompleted game that Chewbacca and R2D2 played in A New Hope!

The three most powerful men in the Galaxy?

10 things we really love about Return of the Jedi

We love The Return of a Jedi movie - both as we remember from as a child and now as an adult.

Well, apparently I'm an adult.

Things we loved as a kid

The Rancour – he was a scary as monster who ate green pigs for breakfast but Luke bested him.
Ewoks, Wicket in particular – we loved these fellows. The scene where they think C3PO was a flying god was pretty funny. The Ewok attack on the Bunker was just awesome, with all the cool tricks and traps they sprung on those stupid Storm Troopers was simply great entertainment.
Bib Fortuna. I saw him on a poster as we were waiting to go into the movie and never forgot that moment as the excitement was building and during the movie he was pretty scary and ugly.
A green lightsaber. GREEN! How cool was that? And it flew out of R2D2’s head.
When Luke goes to strike the Emperor down but Vader’s saber beats Lukes. Awesome and you knew they were about to have the battle they didn’t finish in Empire.
When Vader saves Luke. BEST FEELING EVER.

Han's rescuers

Things we love about Jedi as an adult

A certain bikini seems quite appealing.
When Leia return’s Han’s I love you with I know. How clever was the call back to Empire when Leia declared her love and then shot an approaching Stormtrooper?
Listen very carefully as Darth Vader picks up the Emperor and throws him down the Death Star shaft. This is the only time the Jedi theme music plays over a shot of Vader, reflecting his return to the light side of the Force. That’s great film making right there.
When Luke is on the Jabba's Sail Barge fighting guards bearing staffs and blasters, he uses his light saber to deflect them. This perhaps a call back to the original movie where Luke wears a blaster helmet and tries to anticipate shots from the Training Remote Old Ben found on the Millennium Falcon. This shows the progress Luke has made as a Jedi Knight. His skills are complete?
Attack on the Death Star II - especially that moment when the Falcon flies towards the screen with Tie Fighters all around. Movie magic.

That's what we love about Jedi - what are your favourite moments, characters and bits of trivia?

Yes, Virginia, it kinda is. and it kind of isn't.

The truth is that

George Lucas truly wanted to make many Star Wars movies but he did not write completed scripts for 12 movies!

George Lucas has created much myth and legend about the number of Star Wars films.

He’s stated things in the media that showed he intended to make many Star Wars films and indeed at one timehe did say:

“As I was writing, I came up with some ideas for a film about robots, with no humans in it. When I got to working on the Wookiee, I thought of a film just about Wookiees, nothing else.

So, for a time, I had a couple of odd movies with just those characters. Then, I had the other films, which were essentially split into three parts each, two trilogies.

When the smoke cleared, I said, 'This is really great. I'll do another trilogy that takes place after this.' I had three trilogies of nine films, and then another couple of odd films.

Essentially, there were twelve films.”

That’s the legend but the mythology of it has grown over the years.

The nutshell is that Lucas wrote a great deal of material when he was developing his little sci-fi adventure. Being the visionary he is, he clearly had many ideas and concepts for his first movie.

Based around a so called “Journal of Whills”, Lucas script eventually was cut up, rehashed, rewritten and eventually Star Wars as we know it was filmed.

It was not until Empire Strikes Back came out that the term Episode 5 was mentioned officially.

So basically wee Georgie wrote and wrote so much material he had mapped out a series of films in his mind.

Were they fully realized visions as he oft would claim throughout the years?

No.

This penciled planning on the Lucas's infamous 'yellow binder' shows exactly how far George actually went:

Which is to say not very far.

It would appear he said too much to the media about all these films that the concept of them all stuck around and he simply had no choice but to keep up appearances.

He eventually said he would do 9 films – as he knew of 3 trilogy stories he wished to tell – the others were simply one offs about wookies or robots.

To his credit Lucas actually ended up making 6 Star Wars films – more than any fan could dream of really!