The Whatever: Star Wars Edition

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Monday means it’s time for another edition of …

… and, as always, you can check out previous installments and contribute to your heart’s content.

I don’t know what to make of this Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated thing that’s coming to a theater near us this Friday, but I know what I think of the other Star Wars movies, so …

Tell me your five favorite Star Wars movie moments.

1. I love it in Return of the Jedi, when Luke is walking the plank and he stops at the edge and the music lets you know something big is coming. He jumps off — what?! — but spins around in mid-air, catches the edge of the plank, flips himself back up on the skiff, and catches the lightsaber that R2-D2 just fired at him from atop Jabba’s barge, all while the music swells and explodes into crazy awesomeness. I love the little look he gives the lightsaber when it ignites without blowing his hand off, kind of like, “Whew, I actually made this thing correctly.” The green blade was a big thing for me as a kid, too, because that was cool and new.

2. Leia: “I love you.” Han: “I know.”

3. Han’s mumbling jabber with the intercom in the Death Star’s detention center. “Everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re all fine here, now. Thank you. How are you?” And then when he realizes the jig is so far up that there wasn’t really even a jig in the first place, he shoots the microphone as if that’s going to solve anything. “Luke! We’re going to have company!” Honorable mention to the fact that Luke, Han and Chewie are all facing the wrong way when the elevator opens and they have to turn around. I laugh every time; that’s the kind of humor and wit I missed in the crappy prequels.

4. The look on Lando’s face when he sees Luke for the first time in the hallway on Bespin, leading to a shootout between Luke and Boba Fett and Leia’s warning to Luke that it’s a trap (as if he would have listened to anybody at that point anyway), and then it all builds to the dangerous elegance of the lightsaber duel between Luke and Darth Vader on the stairs of the carbon-freeze chamber on Bespin.

5. The look on Han’s face when he finally gets it that Leia loves Luke because … he’s her brother. Classic.

Your turn!

And if you don’t Star Wars, just give me five reasons why you think it’s silly.

  • http://brokenheadstock.com phillip

    1. Dude, how can you not have the “I am your father” moment on here? That tops my list.

    2. Darth Vader betraying the Emperor to save Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi is huge. That’s one of my favorite scenes of all time. It’s so powerful, and the music is so perfect – I get shivers thinking about it. This should probably be tied for #1.

    3. Your number three would have to go on my list as well. Actually, pretty much any Han Solo scene is awesome, like Han shooting Greedo in A New Hope.

    4. Freaking Yoda. The whole Dagobah sequence is great, especially when he lifts Luke’s X-Wing out of the swamp.

    5. The part where John Travolta turns around in the car and accidentally blows Jar Jar Binks’ brains all over the rear window. Oh wait, did that just happen in a lucid dream that I had? Well, that probably would have been my number 5.

  • http://whatistechnoagain.wordpress.com/ whatistechnoagain

    1. In The Empire Strikes Back, when Leia calls Han a “stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerfherder!”

    Han: “Who’s scruffy-looking?”

    2. The Tusken Raiders totally rule in Ep IV. I’ve always thought they were cool. :D

    3. Han shot first. ;)

    4. Hahaha, I totally love your #3. That’s one of my favorite parts, too.

    5. In Return of the Jedi, when Luke is wearing that awesome black outfit. Ha, okay, okay, that’s not what I’m going for. :) When he meets up with Vader, and then goes along with him so he can try to convince him that there’s still good in him: and then Vader totally pushes the Emperor off the edge. Pwned! ;D

    I’m sure there are other moments I love—but it’s been awhile. :)

  • http://leaveitatthebeep.com Kerstin

    Nice choice this week!

    1. I’m with Stephanie on this one. Same scene, except when Leia kisses Luke and Han stands there like a retard while Chewie laughs. And Luke has that smug look of self satisfaction. The best scene by far for me.

    2. Your #3 is my #2. The whole scene all the way down into the trash compactor and Han shoots his gun and everybody gets pissed off at him. I laugh every time at that one.

    3. “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” I LOVE that whole back and forth with Ben and the Storm Trooper.

    4. In Return of the Jedi, when Han and Luke and Chewie are on that transport thing on the way to their death and Han says “How we doin?” Luke replies “Same as always.” And Han says “That bad huh?” So funny.

    5. YODA. The whole story line while Luke is with Yoda, from the beginning when Yoda is yanking his chain to the end when he replies to Ben’s “He’s our last hope” with “No. There is another.” I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

  • http://johnbierly.wordpress.com John

    Phillip: Agreed on Han Solo moments. Luke’s my favorite character, but Han is awesome. That’s what happens when Harrison Ford plays your character.

    Stephanie: Ha, and I love it when Leia says she’d rather kiss a Wookiee. “I can arrange that!” And yes, Luke’s threads in Jedi were dapper indeed. If you figure out that teleportation machine, we’ll put on a play with my prop replicas.

    Kerstin: YES! “Together again.” “Wouldn’t miss it.” “How we doin’?” “Same as always.” That bad, huh?” I love how fast and natural they deliver it. Brilliant. And yes, I love all of the Han moments where it’s obvious that he thinks he’s the only sane person among this sea of crazy, crazy people. So good.

  • http://www.jeremyadamdavis.com Jeremy Davis

    1. When Luke goes psycho on Vader for saying that maybe Leia can be turned to the dark side. The music gets louder and has those eery voices. I love watching Luke back Vader down past the staircase and into the railing and just go crazy chopping away.

    2. When Yoda is being a crazy green dude when Luke first meets him. Stealing all sorts of stuff and throwing stuff around.

    3. In Episode III, right before Mace and the other Jedi attempt to arrest Palpatine, where there isn’t any dialogue just shots of Anakin and Padme and music for a few seconds. That silence is so captivating.

    4. “Who’s scruffing looking?”

    5. Vader blocking Han’s blaster shots with his palm and taking his blaster.

  • Aaron

    1. “I Love You” … “I Know”

    2. Han Shoots First

    3. Seeing Vader in his chamber for a split second. Just eerie as a kid.

    4. “It’s a Trap!”

    5. When Anakin returns to the training facility and there’s the moment where the little kid is standing in front of him and he ignites his lightsaber. Awesome.

  • Bret

    Screw it I have 8….it’s hard for me to narrow this one down.
    1. Luke’s conversationwith Ben about the force and his father in A New Hope.

    2. The entire conversation between Luke and Yoda where Luke finally discovers who Yoda really is. ‘I am ready, Ben, tell him I’m ready!” *head bump*

    3. “I love you.” “I know” I could only try to be as suave as Han.

    4. Luke chopping off the front of the speeder bike scene. “Sweeet!”

    5.. Vader: “No disintrigrations”
    Fett: “As you wish.”
    Theres some untold history there.

    6. Maul’s half surprised look at Qui Gon and Obi-Wan as the door opens in Phantom Menace. The “Oh, it’s on.” look.

    7. Anakin and Obi-Wan’s argument after choking Padme in Revenge of the Sith.
    The set-up for the throwdown over 20 years in the making.

    8. Any time the Falcon breaks down and Han’s reaction. “I think we’re in trouble.”

  • http://johnbierly.wordpress.com John

    Jeremy: You have a very beautifully designed blog, sir. Your 1, 2, and 5 are also some of my absolute favorites. Number 5 especially. That’s just bad-ass.

    Aaron: And what about that suck “shooooooop” sound the helmet makes when it sits on his head? Awesome.

    Bret: What? We’re related? What? I’d never have guessed. :) I almost put your # 4 in my own list. And yes, I love the hint of untold history in Vader’s comment to Fett. And my favorite Han/Falcon moment is in Empire when an asteroid bumps them and the toolbox (filled with heavy tools) falls on his head. Brilliant.

  • http://www.kogmedia.com media boy

    i guess George Lucas finally got to make (or a least approve of) a whole Star Wars movie after his love for CGI, looks fun though

  • http://innergeekdom.wordpress.com bc3263827

    “And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”

    I think just about any scene featuring R2D2 is awesome, how they can give a robot who only communicates in blips and beeps so much personality is just amazing.