Earth Stuff in The Star Wars Galaxy

[marillion]

Ok. Here's my "hot take..."

So we're Earthlings watching historical transmissions from another galaxy (it's really far far away).. The transmissions come with a kind of universal translator, which translates Galactic Standard into Earth-based languages. So when Han Solo says "Then I'll see you in Hell," he's not really saying hell. What he's actually saying is whatever the word for Hell is in his own language, assuming that most religions have some form of bad place where bad people go, of course.

So when it runs through the filter, we get Hell.

Boom!

 

[Turtletrekker]

Some of the parts from Luke Skywalker's lightsaber came from New York City.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/eau26a/it_appears_that_lukes_lightsaber_was_made_in_new/

 

[fireproof78]

Vader had some interesting lines in the early tie-in stuff, like in the last issue of the original comic book adaptation when his TIE Fighter was knocked off its course in the Death Star trench: "BY THE IMMORTAL GODS OF THE SITH!"

I know he's a dark lord but that seems like a long thing to say in that moment lol

 

[Kor]

Some of the parts from Luke Skywalker's lightsaber came from New York City.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/eau26a/it_appears_that_lukes_lightsaber_was_made_in_new/

Ha! I was just watching the 4K UHD disc release of ESB but I didn't look that closely.

I know he's a dark lord but that seems like a long thing to say in that moment lol

It's certainly a very "comic book-y" thing to say.

Kor

 

[Tuskin38]

Great Caesar's ghost!

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Isn’t/Wasn’t there a coral snake or something similar in one of the TESB Dagobah scenes (I think Luke flicks it away from a bowl or something)?

I remember seeing it as a kid and even thinking then, ‘Huh?’

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Reverend]

There were a bunch of different snakes and lizards on the Dagobah set, and I'm fairly confident they were all sourced from this planet too.

There was also a bunch of Tunisian architecture on Tatooine, entire Mayan Tikal buildings and temples on Yavin IV, sections of a Baroque/Neoclassical Italian palace on Naboo, escape pods make of paint buckets, comlinks made of womens' gillette razors, lightsabers made from old graflex tubes, WWI grenades, aviation engine parts and bathroom tap heads, podracer controls from part of a Fiat Uno's dash panel, R2 unit holo-projectors made from old surpless airline passenger lamps, assassin droid heads & cantina drinks dispensers made from the same Rolls Royce jet engine parts, giants crowds of people made from nothing but painted q-tips, tennis shoes, potatoes & wads of gum standing in for asteroids and fleets of background ships, hell basically every ship and model built by ILM is kitbashed from hundreds of existing kits of actual battleships, tanks, race cars, Nasa spacecraft, and much much more.

Exactly where do we draw the line here? At a certain point one has to just get over it and accept that it's just a movie, not a documentory. All that matters is if it feels right. So Han says "hell". So what? It feels right in the moment. He's also wearing an Earth made jacket, complete with Earth made zippers and buttons. So what? Not everything needs an explanation.

 

[JD]

I take it self-harm is your thing?

I didn't think it was that bad, it was fun in a goofy, cheesy kiddy movie kind of way.

Expressions, terms or references are in the SW films, such as:

"What the Hell are you are doing?!?" - Han Solo

--then i'll see you in Hell!" - Han Solo.

Unlike the quasi-slang/curse of the line in Star Wars, "...see you in Hell" is a very specific reference originally based on the location referenced by various Earth religions.

One of the Towani parents said "Oh my God" at one point, and that actually caught me more by surprise than the Earth animals, since I don't we've ever got a reference to God in any other Star Wars production.

 

[Set Harth]

There is of course 'da guds' ( or 'your gods' in Neeson's words ) in TPM, referring to Gungan deities.

 

[Christopher]

One of the Towani parents said "Oh my God" at one point, and that actually caught me more by surprise than the Earth animals, since I don't we've ever got a reference to God in any other Star Wars production.

Well, they said "my God," so maybe it was literally just their own God and not anybody else's.

 

[Reverend]

One of the Towani parents said "Oh my God" at one point, and that actually caught me more by surprise than the Earth animals, since I don't we've ever got a reference to God in any other Star Wars production.

C-3PO
I do believe they think I am some sort of god.

Han Solo
Well, why don't you use your divine
influence and get us out of this?

C-3PO
I beg your pardon General Solo, but that
just wouldn't be proper.

Han Solo
Proper?

C-3PO
It's against my programming to
impersonate a deity.​

Ben
That's your uncle talking.

Luke
Oh God, my uncle. How am I
ever going to explain this?​

Qui-Gon
That won't be necessary.

Jar-Jar
Oh but it is! It is demanded by the Gods it is!​

^ Clearly the concept of deities is out there. Sidious even referred to the force wielders of Mortis as "gods".

 

[Tuskin38]

There was a clone that said 'Oh my God' once in Clone Wars.

For some reason Youtube keeps recommending me to watch that video.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Christopher]

Ok. Here's my "hot take..."

So we're Earthlings watching historical transmissions from another galaxy (it's really far far away).. The transmissions come with a kind of universal translator, which translates Galactic Standard into Earth-based languages. So when Han Solo says "Then I'll see you in Hell," he's not really saying hell. What he's actually saying is whatever the word for Hell is in his own language, assuming that most religions have some form of bad place where bad people go, of course.

So when it runs through the filter, we get Hell.

Boom!

The same thing works for the "Oh my God" lines. Maybe they're not literally referring to God, but just expressing the same kind of shock or alarm that English speakers express by saying "Oh my God." It's like how the Japanese word shimatta is often translated as "Damn," or as a stronger 4-letter word that it resembles, when literally it just means "It has happened," in the sense of expressing alarm or frustation that an unwanted thing has happened. Or kisama is translated as "You bastard" when it's literally just a particularly rude form of "you." Sometimes it's the emotion that's being translated rather than the literal words.

So maybe Han wasn't referencing any kind of Hell equivalent, but was just saying something that expressed the same kind of defiance and insult that are conveyed in English by "I'll see you in Hell."

 

[JD]

​

^ Clearly the concept of deities is out there. Sidious even referred to the force wielders of Mortis as "gods".

There was a clone that said 'Oh my God' once in Clone Wars.

For some reason Youtube keeps recommending me to watch that video.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

OK, I didn't realize there were that many lines like that in other stuff. I can't believe I forgot about the Return of the Jedi scene, that's such a big scene.

 

[Kor]

While "The Force" is an observable phenomenon in the Star Wars galaxy, that doesn't necessarily mean all religions in that galaxy focus on it as a cosmic force with no deities. Powerful Force users could claim to be gods and leave a lasting impression on a population. Or Force-powered priests could think or claim that they get their power from a god.

Kor

 

[Christopher]

While "The Force" is an observable phenomenon in the Star Wars galaxy, that doesn't necessarily mean all religions in that galaxy focus on it as a cosmic force with no deities. Powerful Force users could claim to be gods and leave a lasting impression on a population. Or Force-powered priests could think or claim that they get their power from a god.

There are a number of Asian religions (probably influences on Lucas) that are formally nontheistic and define the universe as governed by non-anthropomorphic cosmic forces, such as the karmic cycle in Hinduism or the Mandate of Heaven in Confucianism. Yet these religions all have folk beliefs in various deities attached to them, no doubt a result of ordinary believers folding their existing gods into the structure of the nontheistic faith.

It could be that in the distant past, the effects of the Force were often attributed to the work of a god or gods, the same way humans attributed the Sun and lightning and volcanoes to the work of gods. The associated mythology could've survived once the Force was better understood, either as folk belief/superstition or simply as a metaphor.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

​

^ Clearly the concept of deities is out there. Sidious even referred to the force wielders of Mortis as "gods".

Of course, but some have tried to separate Star Wars from theism and/or theistic beliefs, when it has undeniable presence in the films as Lucas obviously intended (he did not change or remove the lines, etc.), which only supports Han's TESB line about "see you in Hell" as the equivalent understanding in the real world. It is not an expression born out of thin air, or created as a substitute for the point and meaning of referencing Hell in that way.

Similar to the origins of expressing "My God" or "Oh my God" stem from a direct reference to God as an expression (to Him) of surprise, exasperation, shock, etc., particularly during some moment of a strong, emotionally triggering situation.

 

[Set Harth]

Clearly the concept of deities is out there. Sidious even referred to the force wielders of Mortis as "gods".

Though the writer of the Mortis arc said that they were not gods.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Some of the parts from Luke Skywalker's lightsaber came from New York City.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/eau26a/it_appears_that_lukes_lightsaber_was_made_in_new/

That's how Luke wound up hanging in the Wampa cave in the first place.

Wampa (shocked): "This lightsaber's made in New York City!"
Wampa Family (shouting): "NEW YORK CITY!!!"
Wampa (whispers): "Get a rope."

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[EnderAKH]

That's how Luke wound up hanging in the Wampa cave in the first place.

Wampa (shocked): "This lightsaber's made in New York City!"
Wampa Family (shouting): "NEW YORK CITY!!!"
Wampa (whispers): "Get a rope."

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

The original, superior New Jersey:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies