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You always knew there was something off about The Phantom Menace's closing scene...
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00:00What exactly were the Empire's iconic troopers originally designed to look like?
00:04Which actor has popped up in way more Star Wars outings than the average person likely knew?
00:09And who was really responsible for one of The Last Jedi's most memorable one-liners?
00:14You likely already know somewhere in that head of yours.
00:17So let's rediscover those Star Wars truths together as father and son!
00:21Gareth here from WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 Star Wars Facts You Probably Already Knew Deep Down.
00:2710. Mark Hamill Was Photoshopped Into The 2005 Star Wars Reunion Photo
00:33There was actually a moment back in 2005 when it seemed as though Vanity Fair had managed to pull off
00:39the admirable feat of getting absolutely every one of the famous Jedi, Sith, Rebels, Droids and alien beings from across
00:46the prequel and original trilogies inside of a room together for an epic photo reunion of sorts.
00:51Only as eventually revealed by Luke Skywalker himself, it turns out that General Grievous, Yoda and Jar Jar Binks weren't
00:58the only stars thrown into the shot in post-production.
01:01With Mark Hamill performing in 8 shows a week on Broadway at the time of the shoot, photographer Annie Leibovitz
01:07instead shot him alone on that same set, before eventually just photoshopping him into the mix later on.
01:13You knew it was always going to be a tall order trying to land on an exact date where this
01:17many massive Star Wars names were all free to pose.
01:20And sure enough, some 15 plus years later, the hero of the original trilogy finally confirmed that his theatre responsibilities
01:27forced some digital tinkering.
01:29George Lucas would be proud.
01:319. Rey Was Almost A Kenobi
01:33Heading out of The Force Awakens, the question on just about every Star Wars fan's lips, was exactly when did
01:39Stormtroopers learn how to hit the damn target?
01:41Oh, and who were Rey's parents?
01:43And while the answer to that question would finally come during The Last Jedi, only for it to then be
01:47hilariously retconned in The Rise of Skywalker, as Rey went from no one to Palpatine, in truth, your initial instincts
01:53may not have been as far from the truth as you thought.
01:56Or an early version of it at least, as revealed by Daisy Ridley herself on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2020,
02:02one of the most popular fan theories of the time, her character actually being Rey Kenobi, was the direction J
02:07.J. Abrams and co. were toying with going down.
02:11After Rey picked up Anakin's lightsaber in Episode 7, fans were quick to notice the voices of Obi-Wan actors
02:17Sir Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor telling her,
02:21So it was only natural for folks to join the dots and ponder whether Rey was actually somehow a part
02:26of the Kenobi family tree.
02:28And Ridley's comments seemingly confirmed that Abrams was at least leaning towards this being a possible outcome, back before Episode
02:358 and 9 were unleashed on this galaxy.
02:388. Stormtroopers Were Designed To Look Like Mechanical Skeletons
02:42What's the first thing that comes to your mind when looking at the infantry constantly found firing their blasters at
02:47rebel scum?
02:48Apart from the fact it must be bloody hard to see in those helmets, just ask Mark Hamill,
02:53it's probably that the Imperial stormtroopers often looked like a bunch of creepy plastic skeletons when moving around various hangars
03:00and alien locations.
03:01And this was actually George Lucas' specific intentions when it came to the design of the Empire's troops.
03:07Confirmed during a Wired interview with Lucasfilm Vice President Doug Chiang,
03:11the mind behind the galaxy far, far away wanted to create some particularly iconic imagery when forging his stormtroopers,
03:17and a design that made the soldiers look like living skeletons whenever they were on screens.
03:21You probably always knew these threatening troops get-ups were somewhat inspired by your own bones.
03:27And that was very much part of Lucas' plan a long time ago.
03:317. Leia's Hairline Was All Carrie Fisher In The Last Jedi
03:34On top of being a formidable thespian and the galaxy's favourite princess,
03:39the late great Carrie Fisher was also one hell of a writer.
03:42But you likely already knew that based on the star's work as a script doctor,
03:46and the fact that she'd penned her fair share of novels, screenplays, and plays over the years.
03:51So you also probably knew deep down that the Leia Organa star would have had a hand in writing some
03:56of her iconic characters' dialogue
03:57during her long-awaited return to the galaxy far, far away from The Force Awakens onwards.
04:03And that's precisely what went down while shooting Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi in particular,
04:07with the director eventually noting how one of the most typically Leia moments of the flick
04:11came right from the mind of Fisher.
04:13Because of course it did.
04:15Speaking to the Daily Beast,
04:16Johnson noted that when Leia jokingly tells Luke that she knew he was going to spot that she'd changed her
04:21hair,
04:22during the first moment the pair had shared the screen together since Return of the Jedi,
04:25obviously that was her.
04:27Rest in power, princess!
04:29Number 6, Attack of the Clones Recycled the Phantom Menace Footage in the Council Chamber
04:34Episode 2 in the Skywalker Saga includes a scene which sees Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker
04:39talking to the Council within the Jedi Temple.
04:42And if this scene involving the likes of Mace Windu and Yoda telling the two Jedi to track down a
04:46bounty hunter
04:47always felt a touch familiar,
04:49well that's because this moment was actually created thanks to a little help from some recycled footage from the prior
04:54entry.
04:55With a number of the actors who brought the various Jedi Masters on the Council to Life in the Phantom
05:00Menace
05:00not actually being available to shoot scenes in the follow-up,
05:04George Lucas instead opted to simply reuse the background footage scene
05:07when Qui-Gon was chatting to the Council about his trip to Tatooine in Episode 1.
05:12It was likely a whole lot cheaper and simpler to just copy and paste this Coruscant backdrop into the 2002
05:17sequel,
05:18rather than go through the process of having to completely recreate the Council Chamber digitally,
05:22and recasting various Masters.
05:25Number 5, Palpatine's theme is actually present in the Phantom Menace.
05:29As Episode 1 reaches its rousing conclusion,
05:32a gigantic parade takes place on the streets of Thede
05:35in the wake of defeating the Trade Federation
05:37and establishing peace between the people of Naboo and the Gungans.
05:41But listen very closely to the theme playing as Gungans and other Naboo natives
05:45cheer on the likes of Jar Jar Binks and co,
05:47and a rather frightening piece of foreshadowing gradually becomes noticeable.
05:51When you speed up the Emperor's theme from Return of the Jedi,
05:55it sounds remarkably just like the Oggy's Great Municipal Band tune heard here in the Phantom Menace.
06:00And with the first step of Sheev Palpatine's eventual grand plan to take over the galaxy
06:04being completed during the closing stages of Episode 1,
06:07it's clear that Lucas and the gang wanted to subtly inform audiences that,
06:11despite this initially looking like a triumphant day for the heroes,
06:14it was actually secretly a win for the Dark Forces of Evil.
06:18It's pretty hard to unhear the similarities between the two themes once you play them back to back.
06:23Number 4, Mark Hamill has had a voiceover cameo in every Star Wars movie since 2015.
06:29The wonderful Mark Hamill has forged quite the voiceover career over the last five decades,
06:34so it was pretty inevitable that the Luke Skywalker star would eventually find a way
06:38to lend his epic vocal talents to a number of other Star Wars figures at some stage.
06:42But what you may not be fully aware of is that the voice of the Joker, Chucky, and much more,
06:47has actually popped up in every Star Wars movie since 2015 in a vocal capacity.
06:52From the little alien being found shoving coins into BB-8 known as Dobu Skay in The Last Jedi,
06:58to the character of Ovisian Bulio seen telling Finn to win the war in The Rise of Skywalker,
07:03Hamill can actually often be found being credited as William M. Patrick,
07:07or Patrick Williams for these particular big screen cameos.
07:10A reference to his real-life brother's first names.
07:13And it also probably won't come as that much of a shock to discover that this voiceover icon
07:18has popped up in The Mandalorian as the voice of droid EV-99,
07:22and the Clone Wars series as Darth Bane 2.
07:25Number 3, The Godfather reference in Return of the Jedi.
07:29You probably already knew that the likes of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg,
07:32Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola were all real-life pals.
07:37And as a cheeky salute to his movie-making friends,
07:39Lucas found a way to throw the odd reference to his legendary director mate's work into his Skywalker saga.
07:45It turns out that you were right to feel like you were somehow watching a rather iconic death scene unfolding
07:50once again
07:51during the opening stretch of Return of the Jedi.
07:53Episode 6 co-writer Lawrence Kasdan suggested the idea of Leia killing off the despicable Jabba the Hutt to Lucas,
08:00only for the Star Wars creator to decide that this would be the perfect opportunity
08:04to throw a nod to The Godfather into the latest chapter in the epic adventure.
08:09So Lucas settled on the strangulation of the giant space slug,
08:12with this moment being a direct homage to mob-enforcer Luca Brasi's grisly end in Coppola's gangster classic.
08:18The way the camera lingers on a struggling Jabba as the life is squeezed out of him
08:23clearly mirrors the savage choking scene in that 1972 masterpiece.
08:27And the fact this was an entirely intentional tribute of sorts
08:30confirms something you likely always subconsciously assumed anyway.
08:352. Darth Vader Was Only 45 When He Died
08:38Anakin Skywalker was just 22 years old at the time of his turning to the dark side,
08:43and ultimately becoming a crispy-fried apprentice to the Emperor.
08:46And with the end of Episode 3 and beginning of Episode 4 only being 19 years apart,
08:50that eventually meant that by the time Darth Vader bit the dust in Return of the Jedi,
08:55the Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Jedi was only 45.
08:58Admittedly, most likely assumed before the prequel trilogy was released,
09:02that the fallen Jedi was well into his 70s at the time of his passing in Luke's arms on the
09:07Death Star 2.
09:08He was played by a Sebastian Shaw who was 78 at the time of Return of the Jedi after all.
09:13And it's still easy to lose sight of the fact that Anakin was only in his mid-40s
09:17when taking in that emotional helmet reveal today.
09:20But after watching the likes of Episodes 1 to 3, and other post-prequel offerings,
09:24whilst also looking at where these events sit on the timeline,
09:27the fact that the most iconic big bad in the galaxy isn't actually as old as he appears in Episode
09:326,
09:32is evident.
09:33And it's a detail that has no doubt long been present somewhere deep within you too.
09:381. It took years for an on-screen reference to a bathroom to happen
09:42Can you honestly remember a single moment in the Skywalker saga
09:46when a character nipped off to the loo for a second mid-adventure?
09:49And while you may have assumed that you at least saw some version of a Star Wars bathroom or toilet
09:54at one stage in the original and prequel trilogies,
09:56in truth, it actually took nearly 40 years for the first ever canon lavatory
10:00to pop up in an on-screen Star Wars project.
10:03Set quote-unquote refresher arrived in the sixth season of The Clone Wars,
10:08during the Orders episode as Fives wandered into one in the middle of a clone bar on Coruscant,
10:13with various toilet aka vac-tube appearances then coming in Andor and the Mandalorian
10:18in the years that followed too.
10:20It does seem somewhat bizarre to note that it took decades for the Star Wars universe
10:24to unleash its first few bathroom cameos.
10:26But the more you think about it,
10:28the more you've likely always known that this galaxy far, far away
10:31had long been oddly restroom-less when it came to the tales being told on screen.
10:36And that's our list.
10:37Know of any other Star Wars facts people probably already knew deep down?
10:40Well, let us know all about them in the comments section right down below
10:43and don't forget to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're down there.
10:47I've been Gareth from WhatCultureStarWars, may the force be with you,
10:49have a wicked day wherever you are in this galaxy,
10:52and hopefully we will see you very, very soon.
10:55Bye-bye!
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