May the Fourth – 20 Fun Facts about Star Wars

May the Fourth be with you!

I love Star Wars! And to celebrate May the Fourth, here are 20 random Fun Facts about my favourite Galaxy Far, Far Away!

1. Solo: A Star Wars Story, coming May 25^th, is hitting theatres exactly 41 years after the original Star Wars was released.
2. Many of The Phantom Menace sets had to be rebuilt because Liam Neeson was too tall to fit through the door frames.
3. George Lucas originally wanted Yoda to be played by a trained monkey.
4. Chewbacca’s voice was made by using a mix of sounds from different animals including: rabbits, walruses, bears, lions, and camels.
5. Attack of the Clones is the only Star Wars saga film where the camera pans upwards after the opening crawl. In all of the other films, the camera tilts down.
6. Some of the Dagobah scenes in The Empire Strikes Back were filmed in George Lucas’ unfinished backyard pool, specifically the scene where R2-D2 falls into the muddy swamp.
7. Harrison Ford did not actually audition for the part of Han Solo. George Lucas initially asked the actor to read lines during the auditions to help out other actors. He ended up liking Harrison Ford’s performance so much that he offered him the part.
8. James Earl Jones recorded all of his Darth Vader lines for A New Hope in only a couple of hours.
9. In Return of the Jedi, it took 7 puppeteers to control Jabba the Hutt.
10. Finn’s Stormtrooper number is FN-2187. Many fans recognize this number as Leia’s prisoner cell number in A New Hope. However, the significance goes back even further to a Canadian short film called 21-87. This 1963 short film was directed by Arthur Lipsett and served a great inspiration for the young filmmaker, George Lucas. George Lucas made a short film titled Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB which takes place in the year 2187. He then revamped it into a feature film called THX 1138 which centred around the date 21/87. The number 1138 also appears in A New Hope when Luke says that Chewbacca is a prisoner transfer from cell block 1138 during the Wookiee Prisoner Gag
11. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Padmé’s body was sent back to her home planet of Naboo. She was made to appear like she was still pregnant, in an attempt to hide Luke and Leia’s existence for their protection.
12. In The Last Jedi, D.J.’s nickname is short for Don’t Join. This is written in Aubresh on his hat.
13. Aubresh is the written form of the Galactic Basic language.
14. The famous reveal of Darth Vader being Luke’s father is often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father.” The actual line is “No, I am your father.”
15. Due to a continuity error, the number of toes Yoda has changes throughout the films.
16. In Episodes IV – VI, Darth Vader was brought to life by 4 different actors, plus a stunt double. James Earl Jones is well-known for providing Vader’s deep voice, David Prowse was the actor in the suit, and Ben Burtt provided Vader’s breathing effect. Ben Burtt also created R2-D2’s beeps, the hum of the lightsabers, and the “pew-pew” of the blasters. Sebastian Shaw portrays the unmasked/redeemed Anakin Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi.
17. Return of the Jedi was originally going to be called Revenge of the Jedi until George Lucas decided that revenge was not an aspect of the Jedi. This change happened quite late in production so a lot of promotional material and merchandise had already been made and sent out.
18. Boba Fett’s introduction into the Star Wars universe was in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.
19. In The Force Awakens, Daniel Craig has a cameo as the Stormtrooper who freed Rey under her mind control.
20. Jyn Erso is rescued from the planet Wobani in Rogue One; Wobani is an anagram of Obi-Wan.

For more Star Wars trivia check out 20 Fun Facts about Star Wars: The Clone Wars.