Even without the iconic prologue crawl or that classic "A long time ago..." text that
precedes most entries in the saga, most people could be dragged into a theater showing a
Star Wars film they've never seen and still know exactly what they were watching within
moments.
Here's why.
Something really, really bad always happens pretty much every time a bottomless shaft
appears in a Star Wars movie.
If the saga's heroes had any sense at all, they would've learned by now that whenever
they walk into a room with a bottomless shaft, they need to turn around and run the hell
away.
Qui-Gon meets his violent end at the foot of one of these impossibly long tunnels in
Phantom Menace.
Both halves of Darth Maul plummet down one of those shafts, just like Darth Vader hurls
the Emperor down one in Return of the Jedi.
Luke miraculously survives a drop down Cloud City's bottomless shaft in The Empire Strikes
Back, and Obi-Wan hops over one to turn off the Death Star's tractor beam in A New Hope.
The heroes of Rogue One also climb up one to get hold of the Death Star plans.
And then there's The Force Awakens frankly, Han should have known better than to walk
out over one.
The shafts of Star Wars are legion, and if you see one, you're probably in big trouble.
Star Wars movies tend to be bad for limbs and probably very kind to black market prosthetics
dealers.
Someone loses a limb in most entries, and, whether you're watching the movies based on
theatrical release or in chronological order, it's not going to take long before someone
loses something very important to them.
Darth Maul loses everything below his waist in Phantom Menace and is revealed to have
survived the ordeal in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, even making a
cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Anakin Skywalker says goodbye to the first of many soon-to-be-lost limbs when Count Dooku
relieves him of an arm in Attack of the Clones, and he loses the remaining arm and both legs
in Revenge of the Sith.
No major characters lose limbs in A New Hope, though Obi-Wan does leave a cantina bully's
bloody arm on the bar and later loses his entire body, if you wanna count that.
Luke takes off a Wampa's hairy arm in Empire Strikes Back, his father sends Luke's hand
spinning down a shaft later in the film, and Luke pays him back by taking off one of Vader's
already replaced hands in Return of the Jedi.
Neither of the newest trilogy's released entries feature limb loss, but both had deleted scenes
with amputations.
Chewbacca tears off Unkar Plutt's arm in a snipped Force Awakens scene, and The Last
Jedi originally had Captain Phasma's hand sliced off by Finn just before her death.
First introduced in Empire Strikes Back, Yoda has proven to be one of the most popular and
oft-quoted characters in the Star Wars mythos.
From his first scenes in Empire, the Jedi Master earned a reputation as a near-bottomless
font of wisdom.
"Great warrior?
Wars not make one great, hm?"
Although, with the advent of CGI and the release of Attack of the Clones, the syntax-challenged
Jedi was able to prove himself a badass warrior as well.
But Yoda's also part of a Star Wars tradition that doesn't begin or end on Dagobah.
Almost every entry in the franchise includes at least one character like Yoda someone who
initially seems physically unimpressive, but ultimately proves to not only be an expert
warrior but a source of great wisdom and usually information about the mysterious Force even
if the character isn't a Jedi.
A New Hope gave us Obi-Wan, the oldest hero in the film's ragtag group who nevertheless
easily saves Luke from Ponda Baba and later fights Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel.
Yoda fills the role in both Empire and Return of the Jedi, as well as appearing in all of
the prequel films.
Chirrut Imwe is arguably the most formidable hand-to-hand combatant to appear in Rogue
One as well as being the most vocal supporter of the Force in the film.
The enigmatic Maz Kanata plays the part in the newest trilogy, even though her connection
to the Jedi, if there is any, hasn't yet been revealed.
People have a lot of fun flying in Star Wars.
That's not to say they shouldn't have fun, especially since they're usually just a few
minutes away from having their arms chopped off and thrown down a bottomless shaft.
Why not make the most of it?
But it's still kinda remarkable just how much fun they're having, and there's an almost
endless stream of "wahoos" and "yee-has" to be heard throughout the saga's many stories.
And they usually happen in the cockpit of a spaceship.
Whether it's Han celebrating finally taking out a TIE fighter or even the young Anakin
Skywalker belting out the occasional "wahoo" while threading through Trade Federation droid
fighters, Star Wars heroes really like to yell even when they're having a really bad
day.
Take Finn, who, when he first escapes the clutches of the First Order with Poe, is wahooing
up and down the dark void of space as he and his new buddy both narrowly escape death.
While the Star Wars galaxy boasts a wide variety of planets, the planets themselves don't tend
to offer a wide variety of climates and terrains.
In fact, the worlds of Star Wars tend to be planets of extremes.
While our own Earth has a few deserts, for example, if there's a desert on a planet in
a Star Wars film then it's likely because the entire planet is a desert like the recurring
setting of Tatooine or Force Awakens' Jakku.
If there's ice and snow on the planet, there's ice and snow everywhere, like the frigid planet
Hoth in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back.
There's the swamp planet Dagobah, the ocean planet Kamino, and the volcano planet Mustafar
in Revenge of the Sith.
The final location in Return of the Jedi is even referred to as the "Forest Moon of Endor,"
in case visitors aren't quite sure of what extreme and singular environment they should
expect.
Speaking of extreme planets, how about this?
No matter what the story is about or who the lead character is, the Star Wars saga just
keeps on bringing us back to one of two desert planets.
Usually it's Tatooine, though Tatooine is replaced by the equally desolate and arid
Jakku in The Force Awakens.
Even The Rise of Skywalker is poised to add to Star Wars' roster of desert planets, with
the strange, rocky world of Pasaana.
Now, it is a little surprising that Tatooine in particular features quite so much in the
Star Wars mythos, if for no other reason than a series set in a galaxy chock full of planets
inhabited by intelligent life keeps swinging back to the same dry ball of sand.
"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe you’re on the planet that it’s farthest
from."
While the question of Tattoine's specific connection to the Force has yet to be directly
addressed in the films, it would be surprising if its recurring appearances had nothing to
do with a strong connection to the Force.
From Luke's training on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back and Rey's time spent on Ahch-To
[AHK-toe] in The Last Jedi, we know certain places in the universe are particularly strong
with the Force.
Considering Tatooine is the birthplace of Anakin Skywalker, the childhood home of Luke
Skywalker, and the decades-long hiding place of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's probably fair to say
that the place has at least some kind of significant connection to the Force as a whole.
The universe is a big place and the Star Wars galaxy hides many titans.
Star Wars boasts enough giant monsters to fill the cast of any decent Godzilla flick.
Unlike most of the monsters in Godzilla, though, Star Wars titans are weirdly good at hiding;
especially considering their size.
Often, these monsters even appear as naturally occurring parts of the terrain.
Most famously, there's the Mighty Sarlacc of Return of the Jedi who swallows
Boba Fett and dozens of Jabba the Hutt's henchmen.
From afar, the Sarlacc looks like nothing more than a huge hole in the ground, but once
you get close enough to spot the teeth and the tendrils, you're probably already lunch.
Equally sneaky is the gargantuan space slug of Empire Strikes Back, who almost makes a
meal of the heroes when Han mistakes the beast's insides for a cave.
Then there's the dianoga the beast who almost drags Luke to his death in the trash compactor
scene of A New Hope — and who mostly appears off-screen.
The Rancor, though not exactly as cleverly hidden as the Sarlacc or the space slug, is
kept out of sight for its first few scenes in Return of the Jedi.
There are also the multiple aquatic giants who threaten the heroes of Phantom Menace
as they navigate Naboo's waterways.
And then, of course, there's the massive, tentacled Summa-verminoth, who tries to devour
the Millennium Falcon in Solo.
Droids don't do what droids are supposed to do.
Or, more commonly, they do what they're supposed to do but only after complaining about it
for a really long time.
C-3P0 is constantly arguing against the heroes' plans, and R2-D2 is usually preoccupied with
some secret mission.
In Rogue One, K-2 second-guesses all of Cassian's decisions and sets himself up as the authority
on who can and who cannot be trusted, while in Solo, L3 is more concerned with starting
a droid revolution than with being helpful.
Ironically, perhaps the best evidence of this is in the rare example of a droid doing what
it's supposed to do.
In Phantom Menace, R2-D2 is introduced as one of a number of droids who are dispatched
to repair Queen Amidala's ship while under fire.
R2 is the only droid to survive and manages to fix the ship's hyperdrive.
Later, Amidala thanks the droid for its service and orders it be specially cleaned as a reward.
Which means, apparently, a droid doing precisely what it was designed to do is such a rare
occurrence in the Star Wars narrative that when it actually happens, any nearby humans
feel the need to set up a freaking awards ceremony.
The Mos Eisley Cantina from A New Hope is the setting of one of the franchise's most
well-remembered scenes and also one of its most replicated.
Similar hives "of scum and villainy" can be found in just about every Star Wars film.
Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi is basically a larger, grander version of the Mos Eisley
Cantina.
In one of Attack of the Clones' few genuinely funny moments, Obi-Wan uses his Jedi mind
trick to convince a drug dealer in a bar on Coruscant to rethink his path
in life.
Fittingly, Solo features almost nothing but these places of ill repute, starting with
the crime boss lair Han escapes on Corellia, the casino on Vandor where Han first meets
Lando, and later the bar on Numidian Prime where Han finally wins the Millenium Falcon
from Lando.
Shortly after Han meets Finn and Rey in The Force Awakens, he brings them to Maz Kanata's
cantina-esque castle on Takodana.
And while its leader and soldiers were extremist rebels rather than bounty hunters and criminals,
Saw Gerrera's stronghold on Jedha felt a lot like Jabba's Palace.
Then there are the examples that seem more "upscale," but are nevertheless just as villainous
like Dryden Vos' yacht in Solo and the casino that caters to the super rich residents of
Canto Bight in The Last Jedi.
They're fancy, sure, but that doesn't make them any nicer.
Obviously, if you're going to have a bunch of hives of scum and villainy in your galaxy-spanning
epic, you're going to need some actual scum and villains populate them.
Luckily, the Star Wars mythos has no shortage of smugglers, bounty hunters, organized crime
bosses, and other assortments of crooks and criminals.
Han Solo pretends to be the very picture of apathy in the face of the Empire's many crimes,
but eventually his heroism does shine through.
Lando joins him in Empire Strikes Back, and Solo introduces us to even more rogues like
Beckett and Val.
Cassian of Rogue One is a different kind of scoundrel, though.
While Solo acts as if he only cares about himself but nevertheless always winds up doing
the right thing, Cassian tends to do the wrong thing for completely unselfish reasons like
when he murders another rebel operative in the beginning of Rogue One to stop him from
being captured and revealing rebel secrets.
Or when he becomes more than willing to murder Galen Erso for the sake of the rebellion.
One of the most recent additions to Star Wars' list of famous scoundrels is DJ in The Last
Jedi.
With DJ, the storytellers turned the usual figure of the Star Wars scoundrel on its head.
The audience is led to believe that DJ is another reluctant hero simply feigning selfishness,
but he turns out to be exactly what he seems betraying Finn and Rose to the mercies of
the First Order.
One of the funniest ironies of the Star Wars saga is just how many of its major characters
have no idea who their parents are.
In our comparatively technologically primitive real world, just about anyone in the United
States could mail a DNA sample off and potentially find out what part of the world their ancestors
hailed from.
But in a galaxy far, far away, technology seems to be far superior to our own and no
one seems to have heard of DNA testing.
While speculation about Rey's parents is still running wild, she's hardly the first character
in the saga to face a mystery surrounding her birth.
Luke Skywalker learns Darth Vader is his father at the end of Empire Strikes Back, and Leia
who, unlike Luke, has met who she believes to be her biological father and has less reason
to believe there was anything mysterious at all about her birth learns she's Luke's sister
in Return of the Jedi.
Then, of course, there's Vader himself.
In Phantom Menace, Anakin's mother Shmi tells Qui-Gon her son has no biological father.
One day she wasn't pregnant, and the next day she was, without any inciting event.
And that's about as mysterious as it gets.
A Star Wars movie with no lightsaber fighting is surely no Star Wars movie at all.
"An elegant weapon from a more civilized age."
In the earliest films, the duel usually takes place toward the end.
Obi-Wan battles Vader in A New Hope, Luke's Empire Strikes Back fight with Vader is perhaps
the most iconic of all the duels, and, once he's fully trained, Luke proves his skills
superior to Vader's in Return of the Jedi.
The prequels brought us the manically choreographed battle between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan
in Phantom Menace.
Obi-Wan and Anakin are both humbled by Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, though they're
saved when Yoda busts out his crazy lightsaber skills for the first time on-screen.
Revenge of the Sith was the first film to deliver a duel right at the beginning a rematch
between Anakin and Dooku along with the Jedi Council's doomed attempt to capture Palpatine,
General Grievous' four-armed assault on Obi-Wan, Yoda's fight with Palpatine, and Kenobi's
victory over Anakin on Mustafar.
The Force Awakens was the first time the series portrayed a woman on either side of a lightsaber
duel, as Rey takes on Kylo Ren, after the latter easily defeats Finn.
Weirdly, there's little saber-on-saber action in The Last Jedi.
Kylo and Rey fight back-to-back against Snoke's Elite Praetorian Guard, Finn uses an energy
baton rather than a lightsaber when he attacks Phasma, and the Luke who faces Kylo at the
end of the film turns out to not have been there in the first place.
The only instance in which one lightsaber physically clashes with another actually takes
place during a flashback.
Star Wars climaxes tend to follow one particular multi-layered formula, in the sense that there's
usually one main conflict made up of two or three smaller battles.
Usually, there's at least one large-scale military clash, contrasted against a much
more personal one-on-one fight.
Return of the Jedi establishes the formula: on Endor, the Ewoks and the rebel ground forces
fight the Imperial troops to take out the Death Star's shield generators, and in space
the rebel fleet clashes with the Imperial TIE fighters and Star Destroyers.
Meanwhile, on the Death Star, Luke and Vader cross lightsabers one last time.
The formula returns in Phantom Menace.
The Gungan army faces off against the droids on Naboo, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have their fateful
duel with Darth Maul in the Palace, while Naboo fighters battle the Trade Federation's
droid ships in space.
Likewise, the end of The Force Awakens is split between the rebel fleet's attempt to
take out Starkiller Base and the lightsaber duel in the snow.
Rogue One's tragic final clash depicts yet another space battle, a large-scale ground
assault, and the efforts of Jyn, Cassian, and K2SO to find and transmit the Death Star
plans.
Revenge of the Sith is one of the few entries to not include a huge military battle — instead
going back and forth between the Obi-Wan and Vader duel on Mustafar, and the fight between
Yoda and Palpatine on Coruscant.
A New Hope's all-out assault on the Death Star actually seems pretty simple in comparison.
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