Star Wars/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Quite a bit of this in fandom. Anakin Skywalker is a Base Breaker (as stated below) - is he a self-involved brat who always whines how hard his life is or a hapless Pawn of Prophecy or a poor misunderstood Woobie who would have been fine if those cold and unfeeling Jedi had just tried harder to understand him? Well, it depends which fans you ask.
    • Also, is Anakin's distrust and eventual betrayal of the Jedi Justified? Was he in the right when he got outraged about not being allowed on the Jedi council? Anakin's ego gets the better of him eventually, but is this Anakin just being overly entitled, or is it actually true when he says he deserves to be treated better than to get shafted by the Jedi, after all the heroic feats he performed throughout the years? All in all, it's subjective whether Anakin's angst is justified or not, and depending on which side you're on, your interpretation of the character will be wildly different depending on whether you think he's treated unfairly or he's simply demanding way too much.
    • Anakin's mentor, Obi Wan Kenobi also gets his fair share and it's arguable that some inconsistencies are the results of Retcons in the prequels from things already established (or implied) in the Original Trilogy - and then there are things thrown in from the EU (such as the Jedi Apprentice novels). For instance, some cite his Chessmaster tendencies in the original trilogy and see him as self-righteousness and authoritarian in the prequels, but the novelisation of Revenge of the Sith characterises him as so self-effacing, that he genuinely doesn't realise his true value and abilities as a Jedi (His reaction when the Jedi Council announce that they are sending their "most cunning and most tenacious Master" to deal with General Grievous is both touching and amusing. He asks who they intend to send and then it dawns on him that everyone else is looking at him).
      • It could also be inferred that Obi-Wan himself is something of an Unreliable Narrator who tends to emphasise his own failures and relative culpability (which would fit in the self-effacing characterisation mentioned above). For instance, When Obi-Wan tells Luke that Anakin's fall was partially his fault because "I thought I could instruct him as well as Yoda. I was wrong." in Return of the Jedi it somewhat implies that Obi-Wan must have arrogantly demanded to train someone that Yoda would have been willing to train and done a better job with. Come The Phantom Menace this is shown clearly not to be the case. Obi-Wan is perhaps a little arrogant in the way he demands to train the boy, but it seems clear that a) Yoda was not willing to do the job and b) the demand is driven by his promise to a dying man rather that any belief in his own abilities as a teacher. And there doesn't seem to be any cases where Obi Wan tries to represent his role in events to be bigger or better than is actually seen or to place blame for his problems on others. Maybe he really is that humble and/or shy of taking praise or credit?
  • Anti-Villain: Darth Vader, at least in comparison to Tarkin or Palpatine.
    • Revenge of the Sith gives him the excuse of being so desperate to save Padme that he decides to learn from Palpatine, who in turn brainwashes him to think of the Sith as a force for peace and the Jedi as trying to take over.
    • A New Hope, though portraying Vader as considerably vicious, also portrays him as a voice of humility during discussions with Imperial officers.

Admiral Motti: Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they have obtained! This station is now the ultimate power in the universe! I suggest we use it.

Vader: Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy an entire planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

  • Awesome Music: Oh you'd better believe it. After more than four decades, John Williams' iconic score has never gotten old.
  • Badass Decay: Padme Amidala, when she becomes pregnant with twins in Revenge of the Sith.
    • Possibly justified, because... she's eight to nine months pregnant!
    • Some people also say this about Anakin in the prequels, though this would qualify in-universe as taking a level in badass by the time the Rebellion era comes around.
      • And maybe a temporary peak in Badassery for the Clone Wars cartoons which decayed again by the time Revenge of the Sith rolled around.
  • Base Breaker: Anakin Skywalker
    • The Star Wars prequels are one great big Base Breaker, and have permanently split the fandom in two. There are very few Base Breakers that better demonstrate this trope at work.
    • Non-character example: two of the home video releases, the 2006 "Limited Edition" DVD release and the 2011 Blu-ray release. Most other releases were either generally liked or generally hated.
      • For the 2006 "Limited Edition" with the original theatrical versions, some fans were gleeful/grateful that Lucas finally let them see Han shoot first, see Sebastian Shaw's ghost instead of Hayden Christensen's, hear Jason Wingreen as Boba Fett, watch Jabba's performers sing "Lapti Nek", etc. Other fans were extremely critical about the poor quality of the originals[1] and believed that Lucas was intentionally creating an inferior product to suit his own purposes.
      • For the Blu-ray versions, on one hand, you have the picture quality, the boatload of extras and the opportunity to watch all six movies in brilliant hi-def. On the other hand, you have the various edits (and Lucas' refusal to revert old unpopular edits such as Greedo shooting first), horribly lame cover art that shows how much Lucas loves Jake Lloyd, and the picture quality.
  • Better On Blu-Ray: If you get the Complete Saga collection, you'll get all six movies so that you don't have to buy them separately. This makes it slightly easier for a viewing experience, as both trilogies were originally sold separately. It counts also even for the regular editions (including as a DVD release), as all three films of both trilogies are collected in the set instead of separately.
  • Broken Base: There is a schism between fans who insist that the original trilogy is the best and that the prequels can piss off, the fans who believe that the entire series is good, and the fans who enjoy the prequels but find the originals to be outdated. There are also fans who enjoy the Expanded Universe and those who don't care for it. More generally, there is a related but not identical schism between pro-Lucas and anti-Lucas fans.
  • Canon Discontinuity: Lucas himself has disavowed the Star Wars Holiday Special, saying that he would smash every last existing copy with a sledgehammer if he could.
    • Partially. Much of the elements from it, such as Chewbacca's relatives, Life Day, and Kashyyyk's architecture have still remained part of the canon.
  • Canon Fodder: Despite the Expanded Universe, or maybe because of it.
  • Character Development: Jar-Jar would've gone gradually from a fun-loving character catering to the kids to a politician manipulated by Palpatine had the scene emphasizing the latter not been cut as unnecessary.
  • Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: The vocal Hate Dumb is not exactly hard to miss on any Star Wars related site. However, a particularly sad example can be found on the Amazon.com page for the Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-Ray collection. Well, long story short, there is more "it's not the original versions!" or "and replaced Puppet!Yoda in every film with the CGI model" than actual reviews for the collection explaining the legitimate problems the collection may/does have.
  • Complete Monster: Palpatine. Engineered the invasion of his own home planet, started the Clone Wars, nearly annihilated the Jedi Order - including the children - turned Anakin evil, killed his loyal Separatist allies, made the Republic into a dictatorship, built the Death Star, destroyed planets with it, tortured Luke, murdered billions of people - there's probably no low he wouldn't sink to to get what he wants. Even his own actor claims he's an "evil soul".
  • Con Man: Palpatine, in many ways, is one. He basically cons everyone (Anakin, Padme, the Republic, the Senate, the Trade Federation, the Rebel Alliance, even Jar Jar) in order to get what he wants: revenge on the Jedi and control of the galaxy. Then, he tries to con Luke and it all falls apart...
  • Continuity Drift: Concepts such as Luke's parentage, Obi-Wan's master and Leia's relatives.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: All of it. Yes, we do mean all of it. Check the Star Wars folder on John William's page and believe.
  • Deconstruction Fic: Deconstructing the morality of the good guys, particularly the Jedi, the Republic, and their successors. A lot. After all, there has to be a reason why technology never seems to advance.
  • Defanged Horrors: Each movie gave us a new, different creature for our heroes to go up against.
    • A New Hope had the dianoga, the monster in the trash compactor scene.
    • Empire had the wampa, as well as a brief glimpse of some swamp creature, and the space slug on the asteroid. Deep-freezing Solo could also be considered unsettling.
    • ROTJ had the rancor and the sarlacc.
    • The Jedi faced three underwater beasts in The Phantom Menace.
    • The arena scene in Attack of the Clones also had three creatures, each trying to kill one of the heroes.
    • Revenge of the Sith, oddly, had no creature feature, unless you count the lizard-dog Obi rode during the attack on Grievous. However, Word of God says there was originally supposed to be something waiting for Obi-Wan after he fell into the canyon during Order 66. But the idea of interrupting the most heartbreaking and emotional scene in the whole movie with Obi-Wan sneaking past a Loch Ness monster probably came off as a bad idea.
    • The way Anakin becomes Darth Vader (being mutilated and burnt almost to death while screaming to Obi-Wan "I hate you!") is definitely disturbing to watch.
  • Designated Protagonist Syndrome: A sizeable portion of the fanbase believe Luke to be the least interesting character in the original trilogy due to his status as an Audience Surrogate, starting the series as an inexperienced teenager and for being surrounded by a more complex and interesting supporting character.
  • Enhanced On Blu-Ray: The Blu-Ray release of Star Wars removes small mistakes in the original trilogy that were missed (such as the lightsabers in the Darth Vader and Luke fight in ROTJ) and includes re-rendered CGI for many scenes of the prequels and (in a controversial move) replaces the Yoda puppet from TPM with the CGI one.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: With the amount of time Star Wars has been around, there have been many, but none so much as Boba Fett, whose death in Return of the Jedi was eventually changed so that he survived falling into the Sarlacc pit. Also, Wedge Antilles, who went from a single appearance in the first film to appearing in all three of the original trilogy and considerable EU following. The X-Wing series, anyone?
    • From the prequels we have Darth Maul (for being a very sinister-looking supreme Badass) and Mace Windu (a more heroic example - also for being a supreme Badass, but played by Samuel L. Jackson in this case). Both are exceedingly popular despite their reduced roles compared to other characters (especially Maul).
    • Kit Fisto also seems to be quite popular with fans of the prequels, even though he only appeared a couple of times briefly in Episode II, and once (before he dies) in Episode III. His grin seems to be what does it for most people.
      • Also the fact that his last name is "Fisto" does it for some.
    • Admiral Ackbar. A lot of people forget that he only appears in the second half of Return Of The Jedi, but a combination of his unique look, his voice, and a three word phrase of warning propelled him into fan consciousness.
    • Grievous as well.
  • Evil Is Cool: Darth Vader pretty much kicked this trope into high gear and set the standard for future fictional villains. Most of the series' other villains are well-loved too.
    • Palpatine also deserves special mention; don't deny how badass it would be if you could shoot lightning out of your fingertips.
  • Fandom Heresy: Criticizing Yoda. In the right circles, admitting you liked the prequels (or worse, the Updated Rereleases of the originals) can be this, too. Among the absolute most "purist" fans, even Return of the Jedi isn't always safe.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: There is a small, but vocal, segment of fans that consider the prequels and edits to the original trilogy non-canon. There is also a substantial segment of the fan base that would like to pretend that all of Lucas's entries in the series after Return of the Jedi never existed.
  • Fan Nickname: For Luke, Farmboy or Wormie. For Palpatine, Sid, Palpy, Palps, or Palpidious. "Vaderkin" to refer to Vader between taking the name Darth Vader and the Mustafar incident. AT-STs are commonly referred to as "chicken walkers."
  • First Installment Wins: Elements from the first four films (A New Hope through The Phantom Menace) are known among the general public, but A New Hope is by far the most parodied and referenced.
  • Follow the Leader: Inspired so many.
    • The original Star Wars film itself drew from many sources. The Hidden Fortress connection is well known. The Dune-Tattooine inspiration is pretty obvious. You can tell George Lucas must have seen at least Space Battleship Yamato episodes 26, 1, and 8, in that order, so we can probably pin his famous trip to Japan down to early 1975, when the series went into reruns. Isaac Asimov noticed some similarity to his Foundation series but didn't take it personally. As Wilson Mizner observed, stealing from everybody is just called "research."
  • Fountain of Memes: IT'S A TRAP!
  • Franchise Original Sin: Nearly all the flaws of the prequel trilogy, notably excepting cheesy romantic scenes and Conspicuous CG, were present, albeit in reduced quantities, in the original trilogy as well. Rumor has it that the OT's love story would've been cheesy, had Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher not come up with far superior lines on their own.
  • Freud Was Right: To wit, Luke has a sexual attraction to his sister, hates his father while considering him a masculine role model, and wants to know about his mother. Anakin's first step to the dark side is avenging his mother.
  • Fridge Horror: If you don't know who your father is, any girl you meet could be your sister.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: A planet with two suns was recently discovered by NASA.
  • Ho Yay: Very little outside the Expanded Universe, but Luke and Han have a few longing stares in Episodes IV and V.
    • Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan/Anakin are both popular. Say what you will: George has figured out how to take Ho Yay out of the level of Fan Service for the ladies and some men and actually have it be meaningful, such as Obi-Wan's "I loved you." and Anakin's retort "I HATE YOU!!!"
    • The Droids cartoon has quite a bit between C-3PO and R2-D2 as well. Including "Artoo? You look lovely..." while suffering Amusing Injuries.
  • Internet Backdraft: Depending on what forums you go to, mentioning the prequels could start a war.
  • It Was His Sled: In case you didn't know, Vader is Luke's father.
    • And Senator Palpatine is Darth Sidious.
    • Also, that little green alien is Yoda, Jedi master.
  • Iron Woobie: Obi Wan Kenobi endures an excruciating amount of personal loss and suffering without complaining about it or visibly cracking under the pressure.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Palpatine in the Prequel Trilogy. In the original trilogy he's more of a Smug Snake.
    • He takes on 4 Jedi Masters (one of them Mace Windu) and kills three of them in seconds. He only allows Windu to defeat him so he can present himself as a helpless victim to Anakin and get him to perform an irredeemable act that will turn him to the Dark Side. He's also not above using himself as bait in traps, exposing himself to considerable danger in the process. His kidnapping at the start of Revenge of the Sith was orchestrated to get Anakin into a position where he could kill off Dooku and potentially also get Obi-Wan killed in the line of duty and deprive Anakin of his restraining influence. More famously, in Return of the Jedi he used his presence aboard the unfinished second Death Star to make a sortie against the battle station all the more irresistible to the rebels, allowing him to ensnare them in a trap that would wipe out their ships and leaders, eliminating their ability to oppose his rein in any organized way once and for all.
  • Memetic Badass: Han Solo, of course.
    • R2-D2
    • Mace Windu demands to know why he and his purple lightsaber are third on this list, motherfucker!
    • Kyle Katarn from the Expanded Universe is being treated as the SW universe's answer to Chuck Norris.
    • Yoda, ever since his duel with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Ever since that movie, anytime a Pint-Sized Powerhouse character is fighting, you can guarantee that they will fight exactly as Yoda does.
    • Boba Fett definitely needs to be mentioned. In the original trilogy he actually doesn't do very much, yet countless fans loved him and has since been treated as a total badass, despite not really showing this in the movies itself.
  • Memetic Molester: Palpatine, just for his line to Anakin in The Phantom Menace. The Expanded Universe makes it even worse.
  • Memetic Mutation: Just about everything. The original trilogy alone has easily the highest degree of quotes per movie ever; for example, doing a Google search for virtually any line from Episode IV will result in an auto-fill. The prequels slightly less so. Just as general concepts, "The Dark Side" and "The Force" have entered mainstream culture.

Admiral Ackbar: "It's a trap!"

Darth Vader: "DO NOT WANT!"

Darth Vader: "I find your lack of X disturbing."

  • Memetic Sex God: Lando seems to be quite the ladies' man. Originally, Han was written this way as well.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Palpatine crosses this when he tells his troops to execute Order 66. Subverted by Anakin, given his Redemption Equals Death plot in Return of the Jedi, either when he slaughtered Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones, or when he massacred Jedi children in Revenge of the Sith.
    • He'd orchestrated a major intergalactic civil war that has caused the deaths of countless billions on hundreds of planets solely to cement his political power and weaken or destroy all rivals to that power. And he'd been planning it for years prior, to say nothing of all the other evil stuff he ordered in The Phantom Menace, and everything we're told he'd done in the Expanded Universe up to this point. Moral Event Horizon? That hardly counts as tuesday. He'd done waaayyyy more evil stuff than that throughout the series.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: Pkshhhhhhhh! Wommmm wommmmm wommmmm Psh!
    • During the filming of the prequels, they had to keep reminding Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to stop making lightsaber sounds with their mouths because their lips could be seen moving when they did it. In one interview, Liam Neeson also admitted to doing this in rehearsals.
  • Narm: A common complaint levied against quite a bit of the dialogue, especially in the prequels. Lucas admitted his weakness as a writer of dialogue, but is also a fan of melodrama (at one point, Hayden Christensen tried to deliver a line in a calm, realistic manner, but Lucas ordered him to redo it in an over-the-top fashion).
    • Star Wars holds the distinction of being the only film franchise to have its own Narm page. Of course, many of these examples overlap with:
  • Narm Charm: Many scenes come across as being cheesy, but they don't detract from how awesome the films are that much.
  • Nightmare Fuel:Star Wars has it's own page of horrors
  • Older Than They Think: Many fans were upset when The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Palpatine had been The Man Behind The Man the whole time, believing this cheapened Anakin's Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Jedi by making it a Senseless Sacrifice. Of course, this is hardly the first version where Palpatine survived, as Expanded Universe stories set after the Battle of Endor (now regarded as non-canon due to the movies) show, having prepared numerous clones of himself and using Body Surfing to transfer his consciousness to them. In fact, he seriously Came Back Strong, proving capable of a Dark Side technique called a Force Storm that could obliterate all life on a planet. He wasn't truly Killed Off For Real until the Dark Horse Comics limited series Empire's End 2, seven years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and even then, many characters in stories set afterwards wondered if he had truly died. Although, given how it happened, he likely did.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: Back and forth. Usually original EU games turn out fairly well but for the most part direct adaptations of the movies suffer. The Super Star Wars trilogy were not only the most notable aversion, but they're were also freakin' hard. The Rogue Squadron and X-Wing series, Knights of the Old Republic and the Dark Forces Saga are considered among the best Star Wars games. Lego Star Wars widely popular, and considered one of the best Lego games.
  • Protection From Editors: Widely believed to be at least partly responsible for the stumbles in the Prequel Trilogy. When making the Original Trilogy Lucas consulted other film-makers he was on good terms with (including Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola) and awkward dialogue was frequently replaced with ad-libbed lines. By the time of the Prequels, most of Lucas' film-industry friends weren't available, and everyone else was far more hesitant to criticize or question the man who invented Star Wars.
  • Ruined FOREVER: Just anything (especially, in the prequels) could cause the fans to cry out "Ruined FOREVER!"
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The revisions made to the original trilogy were not well received by all fans. Those who grew up with the original trilogy and were considerably outraged about the changes that were made to the story and the music. And don't even mention the issue of Greedo shooting first.
    • This will be more prominent than ever now that the Blu-Ray release of the Original Trilogy has had even MORE changes to it.
      • Let's face it, Star Wars IS this trope, because even if we did get remastered versions of the original theatrical versions, people are still likely to complain for some reason.
  • The Scrappy: In order of appearance (and hatred), C-3PO, the Ewoks, Jar Jar, and Anakin (at least to those who hate the prequels).
  • Shocking Swerve: Rare successful examples: Vader's being Luke's father and Leia's being his sister. Neither is hinted at in any way (especially the second), but their regarded as great twists all the same.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Darth Maul, one of the most badass characters in The Verse, after killing Qui-Gon (previously established as quite the badass himself)), pretty much lets Obi-Wan slooooooowly flip up onto the ledge behind Maul, and Maul just stands there and lets Obi-Wan kill him. They had two more movies or more to keep him around as a villain, and a full-scale war in which to give him a decent death. Nope, we get stuck with Dooku, a talkative old guy, and Grievous, a Dirty Coward Evil Cripple in a crappy mech-suit as villains for the next two movies.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Industrial Light and Magic was literally made for this movie.
    • And would you believe that the guy behind the lightsaber effect was also the guy who founded the unpopular AKOM?
  • Wangst: Anakin spends most of Episode II and III being a whiny man-bitch.
    • It's a genetic disorder. His son spends most of Episode IV whining.
  • The Woobie: Anakin grows up as a slave, loses his mother twice, the seconds time around she dies, he is forbidden to love by an old out-of-date set of rules, and ends up causing himself lose everything, including his best friend and wife! Jeez.
    • It gets worse when, if you loosen the definition of 'slave' even a little, the only time Anakin was his own master was the thirty minutes between dumping Palpatine down the shaft, and dying in his sons arms.
      • First he was the slave of a greedy machine shop owner, then an apprentice to Obi-wan (not knocking him, but an apprenticeship is essentially writing off your right to opinions until your training is complete), then a Knight in the service of the Jedi Order (the issues with that has already been covered), then an apprentice again to Darth Sidious who he grew to hate and yet cannot break from, in effect returning to slavery. And finally, after he has released himself from the bondage, he still cannot walk without the help of his son.
  • Too Cool to Live: Obi-Wan Kenobi
    • And yet he still manages to appear in all six feature films and the Clone Wars cartoons, as well. I'd say this dude was too awesome to just die and fade away - except he did exactly that and still came back for more. Bow before the might of Kenobi, all ye lowly mortals!
  • What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: According to Word of God. Lucas first claimed that Star Wars was for kids to defend the blunders in The Phantom Menace and seems to be leaning more towards this as time goes on[3], probably as a way to claim that he knows what he's doing and that his various blunders are justified. He also used a similar defense for Red Tails.
    • Of course, to his credit, the 3D conversion was decent at best; there were quite a few objects in Episode I that seemed to pop out at the viewers besides the title screen, and there were a few other scenes that demonstrated some depth, but nothing truly outstanding; this was, after all, a film that didn't have 3D in mind when it was originally made.
  1. ↑ they were simply a non-anamorphic laserdisc transfer
  2. ↑ or in Jar Jar's case, possibly a similar character
  3. ↑ (for a recent premiere of The Phantom Menace 3D at Skywalker Ranch, the powers that be demanded that journalists bring their kids ages six to eighteen for interviews rather than the journalists themselves)
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