A GEORGE LUCAS BIRTHDAY SALUTE!
By JIM BEARD
I’ve said it before but maybe I haven’t said it enough: I always knew there would come a renaissance for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. And now, more than 25 years since the release of The Phantom Menace, I think we’re finally seeing it.
There’s a lot to love about the prequels, a lot to like, and, of course, because nothing’s perfect, some things to not like at all (some might even say to hate — no renaissance yet for you, Jar Jar), but overall you have to admit that for one man’s vision, the three films are an amazing accomplishment. We should all, as Star Wars fans, take a moment today, on the Maker’s birthday, and give it up for George Lucas. (He was born May 14, 1944.) Lucas did it his way, and in the end, we should all be so determined and dedicated to our personal projects.
My way of celebrating George’s big day is to offer up Part Two of my run-down of favorite Star Wars background/minor characters, those denizens of the Galaxy Far, Far Away that may not get the limelight, but still make an impact. These 13 prequel persons have for me; I hope you might think so, too.
And after all, just remember: “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t Aurra Sing…”
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Lightsaber Lady (The Phantom Menace, 1999). The original Jedi Council as seen in Episode I is chock full of fascinating figures, but for me, my eye always spies Adi Gallia, she of the regal bearing and wacky headdress. For some reason, she was replaced by a near-lookalike in later films, which for me was a crime.
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TLC for TC-14 (The Phantom Menace, 1999). When I first saw this silver protocol droid at the beginning of the movie, I thought it was one of those George things, to have an ersatz Threepio lurking about, but then it opened up its vocoder and a female voice issued forth… and I knew I was in love.
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Who’s Your Daddy, Binks? (The Phantom Menace, 1999). Let’s pause a moment and consider the long-suffering Captain Tarpals of the Gungan military. There’s a place for stout Gungans like him in whatever passes for the race’s Heaven — those who serve also stand there and put up with Jar Jar.
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He’s Ben South of the Border (The Phantom Menace, 1999). Just like the Jedi Council, the clutch of Phantom Menace podracers are a diverse bunch of characters, but my favorite has to be poor, luckless, hapless Ben Quadinaros. Every time we’d watch the film, my wife and I used to sing “Guantanamera,” but substitute his name. Try it; you’ll like it.
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Go with the FLO (Attack of the Clones, 2002). Sometimes you just need a sassy server droid in a space-diner. You know, to make sure your order of Tatooine Taters and Ronto Roast comes out hot and fresh to your table in good time. I wonder if my nostalgia for Alice has made me feel more for ol’ FLO the waitress droid than I should…
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Unfiltered, Please (Attack of the Clones, 2002). Gotta love a guy who tries to sell death-sticks to a Jedi. Elan Sleazebaggano learned the hard way it was a transaction doomed from the start, and now all we can do is wonder how he re-thought his life. Probably went into politics.
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The Droid He Left Behind (Attack of the Clones, 2002). Little RA-P17 is the astromech Obi-Wan Kenobi conveniently forgot he ever owned years later, and she deserved a lot better — especially after being eviscerated and beheaded by buzz droids during that battle above Coruscant in the next movie. C’mon, Obi-Wan! Shake the sand out of your memory core!
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Fisto of the Jedi (Attack of the Clones, 2002). There are a lot of Jedi present in the Battle of Geonosis, but the one who stands out for me is Kit Fisto. For some reason I thought he debuted in Episode III, but my memory’s as poor as Kenobi’s, I guess. Kit was as cool as cool on Geonosis, but inexplicably got taken down by Palpatine during that botched arrest attempt thing.
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A Dentist’s Dream (Revenge of the Sith, 2005). My strongest visual picture of this dude is his teeth, all two rows of them. Tion Meddon looked like he was going to be a bad guy from the early trailer, but he turned out to be something of a sympathetic figure, a world leader desperate to be saved from General Grievous’ yoke by the Jedi Knight who just happens to show up at the right time.
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Boy on the Run (Revenge of the Sith, 2005). Maybe I’m a sucker for drama, but there’s something very moving about the plight of young Zett Jukassa, and not just because he’s played by Jett Lucas, the Maker’s son. Zett’s the padawan cut down right before the unbelieving eyes of Bail Organa; a tragic thing, yes, but necessary to hammer home what’s going on to the senator.
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Union Leader (Revenge of the Sith, 2005). Sometimes it’s just a visual thing, and that’s certainly true of why my eye spies tall, dark, and techno Wat Tambor. He’s basically an IT guy who made good and that puts him in the perfect position to lead his respective union — and become one of the first non-Jedi slaughtered by the newly minted Darth Vader.
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O Captain! My Captain! (Revenge of the Sith, 2005). Whether or not we really, really needed to actually meet the Captain Antilles we heard about in A New Hope is a moot point. Here he is, on the blockade runner with the droids and the connection is finally made across the decades. It’s also nice to know he was able to keep the same job for about 20 years between films.
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Daddy Issues (Revenge of the Sith, 2005). What better background character to wrap up this list than with the man who started it all: George Lucas, the birthday boy himself, playing Baron Papanoida. He left most of the baron’s scenes on the cutting room floor, being the humble director he is, but Papa’s there if you know where to look. He’ll also be found in every Star Wars fan’s heart as the dreamer of dreams, the master of that galaxy far, far away…
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MORE
— 13 Beloved Background Characters in the Original STAR WARS Trilogy. Click here.
— Dig These 13 Far Out STAR WARS Characters Found Only in Classic MARVEL COMICS. Click here.
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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it. Check out his space opera novella, Treble Swift and the Solar Symphony, available here.
