The "Celebrate Star Wars" Thread

[fireproof78]

With "May the 4th" and "Revenge of the 5th" rapidly approaching, this is a thread to celebrate every facet of Star Wars and the fun and joy that it brings. Be it artwork, costuming, jokes, fun facts, or simply long lists of what you like, post them all here.

I'll kick it off with a fun fact that amazed me, until I saw it in person. The model of the Star Destroyer in ANH's opening is actually smaller than the Blockade Runner Model. The way the camera is set up is designed to force perspective and make that Star Destroyer fill the frame and give an incredible sense of power.

 

[Reverend]

^I suspect the main reason for that is that the Blockade Runner miniature was originally built to be the Millennium Falcon before Lucas changed his mind about the design. As such it needed to hold up to much closer shots and match a partial external set.
It's also easy to forget the in ANH the SD was only in a handful of shots and the docking shot was as close as the camera ever got to it.

IIRC they built a new SD for the close-up shots in Empire & it's at least 6 foot long.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm aware of the production reasons, and yes the SD wasn't used all that much. But, seeing them in person gave a better sense of what they could do with the camera to make it look that much more impressive.

Also, I really enjoy how detailed the models are that gives more realism to the production. And this goes for all the films.

 

[Jedi_Master]

The music, thanks to the incomparable Mr. John Williams.
It's impossible to think of famous scenes and moments without humming a few bars.

 

[JD]

One of the things I love about Star Wars is how fun it is. Even when the movies and shows go darker, they still manage to work in at least a few fun moments.

 

[kirk55555]

Since I love lists (in spoiler tags so the post isn't huge)

My Top 20 Star Wars Heroes/Anti-Heroes (EU and Legends mixed, and it was very hard to keep it at just 20)

Spoiler

1. Mara Jade Skywalker
2. Kal Skirata/Omega Squad (just can't split them up)
3. Han Solo
4. Rey
5. Luke Skywalker
6. Ahsoka
7. Etain Tur-Mukan
8. Jaina Solo
9. Boba Fett
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi
11. Leia
12. Anakin Skywalker (TCW cartoon only)
13. Wedge Antilles
14. Lando Calrissian
15. Rex
16. Winter
17. Corran Horn
18. Talon Kardde
19. Tenel Ka
20. Voort saBinring

Top 10 Star Wars Villains

Spoiler

1. Thrawn
2. Darth Vader
3. Palpatine
4.Tarkin
5. Count Dooku
6. Ventress
7. Prince Xizor
8. Ysanne Isard
9. Jabba the Hutt
10.Darth Krayt

Top 10 Star Wars Ships

Spoiler

1. Corellian Corvette
2. Millennium Falcon
3. Nebulon-B Frigate
4. Victory Class Star destroyer
5. Hammerhead Cruiser (both KOTOR and new canon)
6. Hapes Nova class battle cruiser
7. Interdictor Cruiser
8. YT-2400
9. Lady Luck
10. Skipray Blastboat

Top 10 Star wars Fighters

Spoiler

1. X-Wing
2. B-Wing
3. Naboo fighter
4. A-Wing
5. TIE Interceptor
6. Delta-7 Aethersprite-class (Obi-Wan's Episode II ship)
7. Z-95 headhunter
8. Y-Wing
9. Cloakshape Fighter
10. Eta-2 Actis interceptor (Anakin's Episode III fighter)

Top 10 Star Wars Novels/Series (EU and New canon)

Spoiler

1.Republic/Imperial Commando Series
2. Thrawn Trilogy
3. X-Wing series
4. Han Solo trilogy (origin trilogy by AC Crispin)
5. Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy
6. Tarkin
7. Kenobi
8. Hand of thrawn Duology
9. Allegiance/Choices of One
10. Thrawn

Honorable Mention (only one, even though I have a lot more SW books I like): The good NJO books (which were most of them, but since I don't want to bother listing all of them assume I mean almost every one except Traitor, and put Dark Journey near the top). I can't really put just one on the list, but I can't put all of them because there are a few stinkers, so its an honorable mention

 

[Tuskin38]

You put Tarkin on your book list twice.

 

[kirk55555]

You put Tarkin on your book list twice.

Oops. Ok, I've switched the second Tarkin on the list (#10) to Thrawn (which is what it was supposed to be).

 

[Tuskin38]

Nice to see Thrawn made it in your top 10.

 

[kirk55555]

Nice to see Thrawn made it in your top 10.

Well, Thrawn had flaws but it had a lot of good stuff, enough to make the list even though I could probably do a top 30+ of SW books I really like.

 

[ALF]

Thrawn even topped Vader on your villain list!!

What are people doing for May the Fourth? It's one day away.
We'll probably watch Rogue One.... aaaaaagain.

 

[kirk55555]

Thrawn even topped Vader on your villain list!!

What are people doing for May the Fourth? It's one day away.
We'll probably watch Rogue One.... aaaaaagain.

To be fair, Thrawn has been my favorite villain since I read the first book of the original Thrawn trilogy years ago. The new book didn't effect my villain list, because Thrawn was already my favorite SW villain.

As for May the 4th, I intend to watch Episode IV, and possibly some of the others depending on my mood. I'm saving Episode III until May the 5th because of "revenge of the 5th". I started rewatching Episode I yesterday as kind of a pre-SW day thing, but I don't know if I'll finish it (I've seen it a bunch of times, but it doesn't get easier to sit through the really bad parts).

 

[JD]

What are people doing for May the Fourth? It's one day away.
We'll probably watch Rogue One.... aaaaaagain.

I'll probably start reading one of my unread novels or comics.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

May the Fourth be with you!

 

[fireproof78]

May the Fourth be with you!

And also with you!

 

[JD]

What are people doing for May the Fourth? It's one day away.
We'll probably watch Rogue One.... aaaaaagain.

I got the PS4 dowloadable version of the old PS2 game Bounty Hunter for $5 and played it for a little while. Obviously since it's a PS2 game it's lot more primitive than the modern games, but it's still pretty fun. I also read through the free samples for the e-books of Guardians of the Whills and Rebel Rising. I'll be starting a complete read through of Smuggler's Run later.

 

[tomalak301]

My favorite thing about the entire franchise was the relationship that was built up between Luke, Han, and Leia. For all the flack Return of the Jedi gets, that whole arc was really well written and really showed how much all three of them grew from the first one. It's also something I miss from the other films that I hope they try to work out with Finn and Rey. It's not there yet, but I can see the potential.

Also, the best thing about the prequel trilogy were the lightsaber battles. I would put the Qui Gon/Obi Wan battle with Darth Maul against anything else in the franchise (Not sure about Clone Wars or Rebels because I haven't seen those). You have that incredible fight, matched with that incredible Williams score and The Phantom Menace is not completely awful.

By the way, if I wanted to get more into Star Wars, where is a good place to start? I've heard a lot of good things about Rebels, but do I need to see Clone Wars first and wasn't that a movie turned into a TV series turned into a mini-series. Other than the big name aspects of the franchise, everything else feels a little confusingly fragmented from my perspective.

 

[JD]

Rebels starts out OK, but gets a lot better as it goes along. You could just jump into it without TCW, but there are a few elements that were brought forward from TCW that would have a lot more impact if you've seen it.
As for The Clone Wars, it did start out with a movie, but all that really was was the first four episode edited together. It didn't become a miniseries, there was a Clone Wars traditionally animated micro-series that came before the CG series, but the two aren't really related.

 

[J.T.B.]

In this 40th anniversary year, I would like to remember a guy who I don't see getting a lot of mention: John Mollo. One of the well-deserved Star Wars Oscar winners, Mollo was responsible for what I consider the greatest of all science fiction movie wardrobes. Futuristic and familiar, fantastic and realistic, his costume designs have a believability that holds up about as well today as in the late '70s.

My favorite example of his genius is the Imperial officer's cap. It's so unobtrusive, realistic and effective, one might just assume it has to be lifted from something in real life. But it's a completely original design. I can't think of another example of science fiction headgear that succeeds so completely. Most productions don't even bother, and those that do either just adapt actual designs (Forbidden Planet) or go with something over-designed and implausible-looking (ST ID).

Around the same time as I was going Star Wars crazy in 1977, I was also becoming intrigued with uniforms and their associated symbology, an interest that continues to this day. And I went to the library and checked out all the books they had on the subject, and guess what, a few of them were by John Mollo (and his brother Andrew)! And I recognized that name and I thought that was really cool. And I've collected a lot of his out-of-print books over the years and really enjoy them.

Anyway, thanks and may the force be with you, Mr Mollo!

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[CorporalCaptain]

John Mollo.

Hear, hear!