- 2 days ago
More Star Wars moments that demanded greater inspection.
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00:00From visually stunning action beats to strange easter eggs, blink and you'll miss it oddities,
00:06and slivers of incredible comedy, these Star Wars moments all begged fans to hit pause and
00:12just soak them in for a minute or two. So after already bringing you one list full of must-pause
00:17Star Wars scenes, I'm Gareth, this is WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 more of the most
00:23pause Star Wars moments. 10. The Holdo Maneuver
00:30Whether you love or hate The Last Jedi, it does lay claim to one of the single coolest images
00:35in Star Wars history, when Vice Admiral Holdo pulls off the near-mythic Holdo Maneuver.
00:40In a desperate attempt to fend off the First Order fleet and buy the Resistance precious time to escape
00:46to Krait, Holdo sacrifices herself by suicidally ramming her ship, the Raddus, into Snoke's
00:52flagship The Supremacy at near light speed. The result is pure destruction, the Raddus slices
00:58through The Supremacy and obliterates the surrounding fleet, all of this depicted in
01:03eye-wateringly beautiful slow motion and near complete silence. Every shot in this sequence
01:09as an explosive white streak tears through the First Order Armada is 100% wallpaper worthy,
01:15but they each pass quickly enough that you'll definitely want to smash the pause button a few
01:19times and soak in each individual frame. This might well be the single most paused moment in the
01:25entire sequel trilogy honestly, and it's not hard to see why.
01:299. Vader's Scalp Star Wars Episode 5 The Empire Strikes Back
01:34Here's a moment that left a ton of Star Wars fans wearing out their VHS copy of The Empire Strikes Back
01:40back in the day, the ultra-brief blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse of Darth Vader's exposed burned scalp.
01:46Shortly after Luke crash lands on Dagobah, a brief scene plays out where Admiral Piette visits Vader in
01:52his meditation chamber to update him on their efforts to catch the Millennium Falcon.
01:57At the start of the scene though, we can see Vader's helmet being lowered down over his head,
02:02leaving his discoloured, deeply scarred scalp visible on screen for about two seconds.
02:07It passes quickly enough that it practically begs fans to go back and pause to take another look,
02:12and this was surely especially true when Empire first hit VHS back in 1984.
02:18It's a tiny moment that nevertheless provided an extremely tantalising tease of the full Sans
02:23helmet Anakin reveal we'd eventually get to see in Return of the Jedi.
02:288. CGI Leia Rogue One A Star Wars Story
02:32Boldly and somewhat controversially, Rogue One included not one but two digital
02:37recreations of Star Wars alums, Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia.
02:43Though it was publicised pre-released that a digital double of the late Cushing would be
02:47featured in Rogue One, the late film appearance of a young Leia, achieved by superimposing a
02:52CGI likeness of a young Fisher over stand-in Yngville Daila, was kept a secret for maximum impact.
02:58Critical and fan opinion was ultimately divided on the necessity of using not-quite-convincing digital
03:04trickery to recreate these characters, but at least in Leia's case, her screen time amounts to a single
03:107 second shot. And so the close-up of Leia's face practically invited fans to hit pause and scrutinise
03:17every last detail, looking for imperfections which gave the game away. The irony of course is that it
03:22looks close to perfect in a freeze frame, and the uncanny valley effect really only becomes apparent in a
03:28moving image, where the subtle movements of Leia's face just seem ever so slightly off. Still, it's certainly an
03:34impressive effort. But I wanna know what do you think is the most impressive CGI moment in all of Star Wars?
03:40You let me know in the comments section down below!
03:43Number 7, Jango Fett's Flying Head, Star Wars Episode 2, Attack of the Clones
03:49For all of its violence, Star Wars is technically a family-friendly franchise. All the Fs. And so, the movies often have to
03:56sneak in their gnarliest moments in fleeting fashion. Case in point in Attack of the Clones,
04:01we witness Jango Fett get decapitated by Mace Windu, with a swift swish of his lightsaber during
04:06the Battle of Geonosis. We very clearly see Jango's head parted from his body, though George Lucas still
04:12manages to keep the MPAA happy by showing not a drop of blood, courtesy of those wound-cauterising
04:18lightsabers. We do however briefly see Jango's helmet flying through the air, and if you pause this shot,
04:24you'll see a somehow even grimmer implication. During this shot, there are actually two shadows
04:30on the ground. One of his helmet, the other of his decapitated head, which has seemingly slid out
04:36of the helmet and soared through the air on its own power. On one hand, it's good to know that young
04:40Boba doesn't end up cradling his own father's head when he picks up the helmet, but on the other,
04:45the idea of Jango's head flying off into the battlefield isn't a whole lot better.
04:49Number 6, Darth Luke, Star Wars Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back
04:54Of the many, many unforgettable moments in The Empire Strikes Back, one of the few that
04:59immediately burned itself into fans' brains was Luke's iconic trip to Dagobah's dark side cave,
05:05which in Yoda's words is a domain of evil. As part of Luke's training, he must battle the dark
05:10manifestation of the force that resides within the cave, embodied as Darth Vader himself. The brief
05:16fight of course concludes with Luke decapitating Vader with his lightsaber, at which point Vader's
05:22helmet falls to the floor and the faceplate explodes open, revealing Luke's own severed head
05:27underneath. It's a totally haunting image which represents Luke's fear of himself succumbing to
05:32the dark side, and can also be said to visually foreshadow Empire's final familial twist. It's one
05:38of the most horrific shots in the entire Star Wars saga, but also one that'll have you examining the
05:44frame to try and figure out exactly how they pulled it off. The answer is actually rather simple,
05:48though. Mark Hamill hated the prop head they were originally going to use for the scene,
05:52and so simply poked his real head up from underneath the set. That was it. Thanks for
05:57pausing your day to watch this great little Star Wars video today. Now go and tap on that subscribe
06:02button for more WhatCultureStarWars fun in your life. 5. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's Charred Corpses
06:09Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope Because severed heads apparently aren't bad enough,
06:14Here's a Star Wars moment so unremittingly bleak there's a good chance you've spent decades denying
06:19that you've ever actually seen it. In A New Hope, Luke returns home and discovers that his uncle
06:24Owen and Aunt Beru have been killed by stormtroopers. And for a few brief moments we can also see Owen
06:30and Beru's charred corpses, melted all the way down to the skeleton after their home was set on fire.
06:36As fans, we're left to ponder precisely how Owen and Beru ended their lives. But this haunting final
06:41glimpse of the pair certainly makes it clear it was not a good death. While it's an utterly
06:46traumatic image to include in a film watched by millions of children, it's one just about every
06:51card-carrying Star Wars fan has paused at some point now. It can't just be me right? The morbid
06:56curiosity is overpowering, but even a prolonged stare at the burned bodies doesn't clarify whether
07:01they were shot and killed before being set afire, or were actually just burned alive. Fans are still
07:07fiercely debating it to this day. And we can only hope for the former, eh?
07:114. Mace Windu feels unlimited power, Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith
07:17We've previously discussed the must-pause shot from Return of the Jedi, where Anakin's strangely
07:22deformed skull is visible when he's electrocuted by the Emperor. But Revenge of the Sith offers up
07:28something of a sequel, or rather prequel to it. Mace Windu's battle with Palpatine comes to a brutal
07:34close when Anakin slices off Windu's hand, giving Palpatine time to unleash UNLIMITED POWER,
07:40hitting Windu with a sustained blast of force lightning, as eventually sends him flying out
07:45the nearest window to his death. Or apparent death, depending on who you talk to.
07:49Much like Vader's electrocution in Return of the Jedi, though, a freeze-frame of this scene lets us
07:54take a close look at Mace Windu's traumatized skeleton. In addition to being strangely elongated,
07:59much like Vader's skull, it's also clear in many frames that George Lucas' VFX team simply
08:05superimposed a rather crude basic 3D skull model over the top of Jackson's face. Even accepting
08:11that Revenge of the Sith is nearly 20 years old, it's a pretty goofy-looking effect, albeit one that's
08:16tough to fully notice in regular motion. So those pause buttons simply had to be smashed.
08:223. Snoke's Clones – Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
08:27There are many moments in The Rise of Skywalker that might leave you agape in sheer disappointed
08:32disbelief, though one you'll likely want to examine with a fine tooth comb occurs in the opening minutes
08:37of the film. When Kylo Ren visits zombie Palpatine's lair on Exegol, for a few seconds we can see a large
08:44tank that appears to contain a number of clones of Supreme Leader Snoke. This ties into Palpatine's
08:49revelation to Kylo that Snoke was effectively a puppet, created by him to lure Kylo to the dark side,
08:56and the visual of the tank where the Snoke clones are housed is just murky enough that you'll
09:00probably feel compelled to pause and take a closer look. While it's tough to glean much concrete from
09:06this quick shot, and it arguably only raises many more questions than it answers – it is a J.J.
09:11Abrams movie after all – it at least appears that the clones are alive in some way.
09:162. Yoda Wants Luke to Concentrate – Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
09:22And now for something a little less serious. We have the hilarious moment in Empire when Yoda sits
09:27on top of Luke while he performs a handstand, and attempts to move some rocks with the force.
09:32Luke eventually loses his focus, causing the rocks to fall over and Luke to lose his balance,
09:38taking Yoda to the ground with him. As Yoda falls though, he shouts CONCENTRATE as his face bears a
09:44terrified bug-eyed expression. We get to see Yoda at his most visibly hilariously demented, eyes about ready
09:50to pop out of their sockets, as he realises he's on a collision course with the ground.
09:55While the original trilogy has its fair share of unintentionally goofy puppetry shots of Yoda,
10:00this one was obviously absolutely intended, and ridiculous enough that you'll definitely
10:05want to take a more prolonged peak. That's if you haven't replayed it a thousand times already.
10:10I know I have.
10:121. The Death Star Explosion – Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope
10:16And finally, Who Among Us doesn't love marvelling at a huge, awesome explosion.
10:21It's basically hard-wired into us to stare slack-jawed at them, and Star Wars has regularly
10:27catered to that part of our lizard brains. While the explosion of the second Death Star in Return
10:32of the Jedi is arguably much cooler, it isn't quite as statuesque as the original superweapon's
10:37destruction in A New Hope. Seeing the Death Star suddenly explode in a gigantic fireball,
10:43complete with that unforgettable shockwave ring, is an incredible payoff to everything leading up to
10:49it, and something surely any Star Wars fan worth their salt has rewatched time and time and time
10:54again over the years. Fun fact for the uninitiated, the shockwave ring was actually only added in the
11:001997 Special Edition, and honestly remains one of the most inspired changes George Lucas has ever
11:06made to any Star Wars movie post-release. So cheers for that, Georgie boy!
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