Star Wars Facts You Didn't Know

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Force be with you our young padawan. In celebration of May the 4th, Popgear compiled a list of 10 facts about the Star Wars franchise that will expand your knowledge of lightsabers, Yoda and behind the scenes that will see you become a master at Star Wars Trivia.

Without further ado, learn something today, we will! 

1. Boba Fett’s face is actually visible in the original movies.

You may think you never saw Boba Fett’s face in the original Star Wars movies - but Jeremy Bulloch, the actor that played Fett, acted as a stand-in for an Imperial officer at the last minute! Spot him in Episode IV if you can!

2. Return of the Jedi almost had a very different ending.

In a story development session for Return of the Jedi, George Lucas toyed with the idea that after Luke removes dying Vader's helmet, he puts it on, proclaims "Now I am Vader" and turns to the dark side. Guess the saying “Like father, like son.” almost was truly relevant for Star Wars! 

3. Yoda was almost played by a monkey.

According to the book The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler, George Lucas originally planned for Yoda to be played by an adorable monkey wearing a mask and carrying a cane. We can’t help but be very glad that did not happen! We can’t imagine what life would be like if Yoda had not been, well, Yoda.

4. "I have a bad feeling about this" became a running gag for the franchise.

The phrase and variations of it have been said in every Star Wars movie!

5. The sound of a TIE fighter engine is actually an elephant.

The sound of a TIE Fighter engine was created by combining an elephant bellow and a car driving on wet pavement.

6. Chewbacca’s voice is a mix of other animals

The voice of Chewbacca is a mix between bears, lions, badgers and other such animals.

7. The lightsaber noise comes from the familiar hum of an old television.

The noise a lightsaber makes is created by combining the hum of an old television's picture tube and the buzz of a film projector's motor

8. Han Solo almost died at the end of Jedi.

Gary Kurtz, the original producer of Return of the Jedi, said that Han Solo dies in the early story outline and the Rebel forces are left in tatters, with Luke disappearing into the wilderness. But George Lucas thought killing off main characters would hurt toy sales, so he changed the ending to a big Ewok party.

9. R2-D2 once spoke English and was a bit of a jerk

The R2-D2 we all know and love speaks only in beeps and whistles, a robot language that most of his friends can understand. But in the original draft of Star Wars, written in 1974, R2-D2 spoke in complete sentences, English and all if you can believe it.

What’s more curious, he was not the lovable goof he would later become. He was actually kind of a bully (although considering he spoke in beeps and boops he might still have been one), berating his pal C-3PO with insults like, "You're a mindless, useless philosopher," and "You're nothing more than a dim-witted, emotion-brained intellectual. Why you were created is beyond my logic systems." That’s a bit harsh, even for a robot!

10. The first Star Wars movie almost caused a war.

Unbelievable, right? Trust us, it’s quite true! While filming the scenes for the barren planet of Tatooine in Tunisia close to the border with Lybia, the Tunisian government received threats from the then Lybian dictator Muammar Gaddafi, warning of inevitable conflict if the Tunisians didn’t remove a military vehicle stationed at the Lybian border.

Funny thing was, the “military vehicle” in question was nothing more than a Jawa Sandcrawler used as a prop for the Tatooine set. George Lucas quickly agreed to move the prop because inciting war while filming is definitely not a good way to market a movie.

 

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