Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the new This Week In Star Wars.
Yes, there was no column last Monday. I tweeted a warning not to expect one, but many of you might not follow me over there so it probably looked like I got lazy and blew it off. Not so! I mean, I get real lazy all the time, but not this time. Seriously, I only dug up two events of any prominence that happened in Star Wars History that week (I am still constantly researching so that's not to say nothing happened last week, just nothing I've locked down dates for yet) and both of those were birthdays.
Rather than post a ridiculously short column with little substance I decided to combine last week and this week, which has some fun stuff in it, but was also coming up short. So now you have one regular length column.
This might happen in future TWiSW columns... My instinct is to always provide a decent read over a tiny, but more consistent one. What are your thoughts? Would you rather one every Monday without fail, even if it's just one item or would you rather know every time you click one of these you'll get at least a little substance? Lemme know!
But now let's get to some Star Wars goodness, why don't we?
September 5th, 1914 - Stuart Freeborn born.
For those that don't know, Stuart Freeborn was pretty much Yoda's Dad. I guess that means Frank Oz is Yoda's mom. This analogy doesn't really hold up, but while Yoda has Oz's voice he also has Freeborn's face.
Freeborn was a legendary make-up man who helped create the apes for Kubrick in 2001 and was responsible for Peter Sellers' make-up in Dr. Strangelove. However his most enduring legacy will be the creatures he brought to life for the original Star Wars Trilogy. For the first film he helped to make Chewbacca a real, living breathing Wookie and not just a dude in a cheesy fur suit like most sci-fi flicks of this era.
For Empire he was tasked with bringing Yoda to life, a huge task at the time and an effect that might never be topped. And people have tried. Remember Phantom Menace Yoda? It's one of the few times I've been okay with Lucas covering up a practical effect with a CG creation. Freeborn's Yoda had life in his eyes. He wasn't just an evolved Muppet. He was a real thing that I had no problem believing in as a kid and still find myself believing in as an adult.
Freeborn took a lot of weird design work by talented folks like Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie and perfected it by using his own face as a reference (and reportedly combining it with Albert Einstein) to give us one of the most recognizable creatures ever captured on film. Happy Birthday, Mr. Freeborn. Thanks for everything you gave us in your career.
September 8th, 1945 - Willard Huyck born.
You might be confused why Willard Huyck's birthday gets a mention in a Star Wars article and I have a very simple answer: He and his co-writer and wife Gloria Katz are directly responsible for your enjoyment of the original Star Wars.
He and Gloria were involved with Lucasfilm since the early days when they wrote American Grafitti and would later go on to write Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and write and direct Howard the Duck. While their names don't appear in the credits, they did a dialogue polish on Lucas' weird space opera and pretty much gave personality to every character.
His draft was the first to refer to “Obi-Wan” Kenobi and gave Han Solo his swagger (“She's fast enough for you, old man.”). For example, this was Lucas' pass at Solo Dialogue:
”Traveling through hyperspace is no mean trick. Without very accurate calculations we could pass through a star or near a supernova. And that would end our trip real quick.”
This was the Huyck/Katz polish:
”Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops, boy. Without calculations we could pass right through a star or bounce too near a supernova. And that would our trip real quick.”
They're also credited with “Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?” and “You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!”
In short, Huyck and Katz were that crucial step Lucas didn't really have with the prequels. He has always been a visionary, but wasn't always that great with dialogue (a fault he freely admits). Unfiltered, Lucas' dialogue tends to be perfunctory and straight to the point. Huyck and Katz helped ground the crazy universe with fun characterisms and set the tone for the rest of the trilogy.
Plus they also wrote Temple of Doom, which earns them a place of honor forever in my book.
September 1st, 1951 - Timothy Zahn born.
Zahn is the biggest EU author out there, responsible for the hugely loved Thrawn series. I didn't read many of the Star Wars books, but I did read Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command and enjoyed them even if I never took any of the books as seriously as I did the movies.
Gotta give the dude credit, though. It's not easy to contribute a classic villain to a series ruled by Vader and Emperor Palpatine and he did just that.
September 12th, 1979 - Han Solo At Stars' End Published.
Speaking of the Extended Universe, this week also marks the anniversary of Brian Daley's first novel in the Han Solo Adventures Trilogy, titled 'Han Solo at Stars' End'. Never read any of the early early books outside of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, but I've talked about this Han Solo Adventures Trilogy before in this column and heard generally good feedback about the stories.
One of these days I'll seek these out, if only because I'd be curious to see how other creatives envisioned Han and Chewie with only one film to establish the character and not really knowing where Lucas is going with the sequel.
September 7th, 1985 - Star Wars: Droids cartoon debuts on ABC.
I was the target audience for the Star Wars cartoons. Hell, I liked the Ewok TV movies so naturally being a young kid obsessed with Star Wars I was excited for the C-3PO and R2 show... but then I watched it a few times and went, “Nah. I'm going to switch back to He-Man.”
It's fascinating to think about how different the landscape is now for Star Wars on TV. The Clone Wars and Rebels are fantastic shows filled with equally fantastic characters. The pandering to children is handled much better these days than it was in my era... at least as far as Star Wars is concerned...
September 7th, 1985 - Star Wars: Ewoks cartoon debuts on ABC.
Ewoks debuted the same day as Droids and I liked it about as much as I did Droids. And this is coming from the kid who never had a problem with Ewoks and who still might tear up a little bit when that one dies and his buddy tries to wake him up and oh God I'm tearing up just thinking about it fuck you don't judge me.
September 7th, 1993 - Taylor Gray born.
Look, another sweet transition! Star Wars Rebels voice actor Taylor Gray celebrates a birthday today. He voices young Ezra Bridger on the show and does a bang-up job. I've loved up on Rebels a lot lately and don't want to be repetitive, but man do they nail the family dynamic and awe surrounding the power of the Force in that show.
So, thanks for all the good work young master Gray. Keep it up.
Next week is chock full of bullshit prequel rumors that turned out to be as false as all the flags in Roberto Orci scripts. It's a real fun one! See ya' then!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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