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Star Wars Fun Fact
Did you know? Chewie’s dead! At least, in the Expanded Universe, so it’s not totally a spoiler. He died in 25 ABY, but Episode VII takes place more than 30 years ABY and Chewie’s in it, so that’s one way the Expanded Universe is being “rewritten,” so to speak.
Life on “Tweet”-ooine
#starwars @HasbroNews #blackseries 6″ Tauntaun and Han Solo (Hoth) coming Feb. 2015 pic.twitter.com/iSjH4JD7vx
— Classic Star Wars (@ClassicStarWars) August 8, 2014
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Trivia Time!
Yesterday’s answer: Nien Nunb
Today’s question: Who, according to Grand Moff Tarkin, was the last of the Jedi?
Force Feature: Chewbacca, the Jiminy Cricket of Star Wars
Ah, Chewie. If your dog could stand up and talk in grunts that were more easily translated into words than into general concepts and emotions, you’d get Chewie. How simple. How quaint. How utterly remarkable.
So I have a soft spot for Chewie. My iPhone cover is a furry Chewbacca chest with a rubber no-slip bandolier slung diagonally across it. When I think back to toys they never made when I was a kid but that I desperately wanted, the bowcaster is right up there with the TIE Bomber. Do you remember the little catalogs that came with all of the vehicles and playsets? I used to go study those like some people study the Magna Carta, or illuminated manuscripts from medieval times.
So, Chewie. And yes, since you asked, my Star Wars nickname would be Chewbacca, owing to my hairiness, not my height. But speaking of height, it’s ironic that Chewie is so tall, when he’s really kind of the Jiminy Cricket of the trilogy.
There’s one pivotal moment that proves it, which is just after they’ve said goodbye to Luke on Yavin before the Death Star battle, and Chewie makes a noise. To which Han replies, “What are you looking at? I know what I’m doing.” That’s the growl of a creature with a conscience.
So of course you have to wonder, what was the conversation in the cockpit as they were flying away from Yavin? Did Chewie argue with Han about it until Han finally agreed to go back and help? That’s what I think must’ve happened. Which makes it even worse that Chewie didn’t get a medal!
Empire, meanwhile, Chewie seems to be relegated to the back bench of the action, and he knows it. The only people who ever played with him were the droids, and he gets yelled at like Threepio gets yelled at, so it almost makes sense for the two of them to have a bonding moment which Chewie rebuilds Threepio.
And then Threepio has to kill the moment by insulting him for a simple mistake. No wonder no one likes Threepio!
Jedi is the best for Chewie, though. I always felt like he finally got the appreciation he deserved in this movie. Maybe that was the main purpose of the Ewoks, to turn Chewie into an older, cooler brother figure. I love when they Tarzan it up into the Scout Walker, and as they’re stomping around shooting Imperials, one of the Ewoks is lovingly petting Chewie. It would do my heart good to know that was intentionally in the script. But if not, then the Ewok actor who improvised it is a genius.
If I’m really being honest, though, aside from talking Han into going back to the Death Star – which is only an assumption, mind you – did Chewie ever do anything remarkable in any of the three movies, aside from commandeering that Scout Walker? I gotta say no, and I’m shocked to be arriving at that conclusion. Sure, he killed a bunch of stormtroopers, and let himself be bait for a probe droid, but other than that…meh. And yet, it would be an absolute crime had they done Episode VII without him.