We all know what May 4th is. It's Star Wars Day! Unless you're super into Star Wars and have done all the research you could possibly do, there are probably a few things about the Star Wars movies that you don't already know. This is for the average Star Wars lover, someone who has seen all the movies once or twice and owns a t-shirt or two. Go out into the far regions of the galaxy and impress people with your newfound knowledge. May the 4th be with you.
1. Yoda was almost played by a monkey.
According to an article on thewrap.com, the original idea for Yoda was for his character to be played by a monkey. Instead, Jim Henson created the first ever animatronic muppet to play the part.
2. There were no female fighter pilots in the original trilogy.
According to Star Wars Aficionado, while 3 female fighter pilots were originally filmed, none of them made the final cut. Two out of three of these woman appeared in the recent BluRay release, however the third, portrayed by Vivienne Chandler, who had more than an entire page of dialogue, never made the screen. There are several theories surrounding this, the biggest being this: It would be too hard to watch women die on screen.
3. Chewbacca's voice is comprised of a mix of other animals.
In an interview, Ben Burtt describes how Chewbacca's voice was made. Following Geroge Lucas' suggestion to record the vocalization of different Bears, Burtt went our and collected recordings of several different animals. The final voice was mad using different clips from his recordings of bears, walruses, lions and badgers.
4. The iconic opening credits were creating using a unique way.
Pictured above is the device used to create the opening crawl for the Star Wars Movies. The camera slowly moved over the words, filming them.
5. The actual amount of toes that Yoda has is unknown.
In the movie The Phantom Menace, Yoda is portrayed with 3 toes, however in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, he appears to have four.
6. The Ewok Language was developed using the Tibetan, Nepali and Kalmyk languages.
Ben Burtt was inspired by a documentary on the Tibetan, Nepali and Kalmyk languages when he created the Ewok language. After recording pieces of the documentary and talking to some native speakers, he worked with the actors to develop the language.
7. "I have a bad feeling about this!"
"I have a bad feeling about this," or some variation of this phrase was used in every Star Wars movie. The phrase is used 9 different times between all 7 movies and is said by 6 different characters.
8. The sound of a TIE fighter is actually an elephant.
Ben Burtt made the sound of a TIE fighter by altering the bellow of an elephant.
9. You can use Star Wars collectible coins as real currency.
According to the Los Angeles Times, there is a small island in the South Pacific that accepts Star Wars collectible coins and legal tender. While this seems exciting, the reality is, a coin that you would buy for almost 20 USD is worth less than 1 USD.
10. Liam Neeson was too tall for the movie sets.
The sets for the film The Phantom Menace, were only made to be as tall as the actors. The rest was filled in with computer graphics. When making the sets, they forgot to account for Liam Neeson, who stands at 6'4", and had to remake all of the sets that he was in. The cost of this was an extra $150,000.
11. John Williams' nomination for Best Original Score for the Force Awakens marks his 50th Academy Award nomination.
John Williams has been nominated for 50 Academy Awards, winning 5. His third Academy Award was for Best Original Score on the original Star Wars movie. His scores for the Star Wars movies have also won him 8 other awards.
