Notable lines in the Star Wars series
There are a number of notable lines in the Star Wars trilogy that have gained currency as catch phrases in the outside world, or are significant within the canon itself.
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"I have a bad feeling about this"
"I have a bad feeling about this" is a well-known phrase in the Star Wars series which has become something of a running gag. The phrase is spoken twice in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the first of the Star Wars movies to be made, and at least once in each subsequent movie and the LucasArts games based on Star Wars.
The phrase even appears in non-Star Wars-related LucasArts games, such as the Monkey Island series as a tribute.
The expression also varies between "bad bad feeling" or "really bad feeling".
Appearances in the Star Wars movies
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: At the beginning when Obi-Wan Kenobi talks to Qui-Gon Jinn
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: Anakin at Geonosis in the arena.
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: Obi-Wan in his starfighter during the Battle of Coruscant, right before landing inside General Grievous's ship.
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: Luke Skywalker when approaching the Death Star, and Han Solo right before the walls of the garbage start to close.
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: Princess Leia just before the Mynocks appear.
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi: C-3PO when entering Jabba the Hutt's palace, and Han Solo when the Ewoks capture them.
Appearances in Disney/Lucas's Star Tours Attraction
- RX-24 just before taking the Starspeeder 3000 into a large comet.
"Lock S-foils in attack position"
The line "lock S-foils in attack position" appears in some form in nearly every fighter battle in the series. It originally referred to the X-wing starfighter, whose four wings could move from a flight position where they were combined into two wings into an attack position, where they were spread out.
The line first appears in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope during the Battle of Yavin, when the Rebel starfighters approached the Death Star. Wedge Antilles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi during the Battle of Endor gives the order to "lock S-foils in attack positions", when the Rebels approached the second Death Star, referring to B-Wings (seen for the first time here) as well as the standard X-Wings. A clone starfighter pilot in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith issues the order "set S-foils in attack position" during the opening sequence at the Battle of Coruscant, resulting in the same basic effect for the ARC-170 starfighters flown by the clone pilots.
"May the Force be with you"
"May the Force be with you" has a meaning something like "Good luck", or "God Bless", although usually only Jedi and other believers in the Force use the expression. Han Solo, who expresses his doubt about the Force in A New Hope, eventually uses this expression to wish Luke good luck. George Lucas used the Christian phrase "May the Lord be with you and with your spirit," as the model for it. The expression has found its way into popular culture as a result of the popularity of the films. It was recently named the American Film Institute's #8 most famous movie quote of the past 100 years.
Some might believe that, as the Force exists between all living things in any case, the phrase reflects a misunderstanding of its nature. In fact, the phrase implies a wish that the power of the Force is working alongside you, in order that your goals are more effectively accomplished. Obi-Wan Kenobi thus used a different form when speaking to Luke Skywalker that expressed a reminder rather than a wish: "The Force will be with you, always."
The phrase also is similar to the priestly benediction in Judaism: "May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; May the Lord lift His face towards you and grant you peace" (Numbers 7:23-27).
"Use the Force, Luke"
In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi gives this advice to Luke during the Battle of Yavin, prompting Luke to switch off his targeting computer and use the Force to aim his torpedoes at the Death Star's exhaust port. Obi-Wan's advice served Luke well, as Luke's trust in the Force allowed his torpedoes to enter the exhaust port target perfectly, which destroyed the Death Star and won the day for the Rebellion.
In the coin-operated arcade game version of the battle, the line is a hint to the player to "use the Force" by not firing weapons at all during the trench run until the exhaust port is reached. Those who manage to do so and destroy the Death Star are rewarded with bonus points, a feature of the game not disclosed otherwise.
The line migrated out of the movie and into everyday discourse, where it is sometimes used ironically to tease someone who is hesitating to answer a question or do something out of ignorance or self-doubt.
The line "Use the Source, Luke" (UTSL) is used in programming newsgroups and message boards, as answer to a question that the one who asked it could easily have looked up instead of asking. It's a more polite form of RTFM.
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…."
These words, in blue over a black background, appear on the screen after the 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos at the beginning of each Star Wars film. The parody film Spaceballs starts with a similar sequence (but ends with the line "if you can read this, you don't need glasses).
After the release of Episode IV, audiences at showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show would react to the Fox theme music at that film's opening credits by mouthing the line in unison, the first of the cult film's many audience lines.
"Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody song The Saga Begins on Episode I, basing on Don McLean's American Pie, replacing original opening phrase: "A long, long time ago, I can still remember..." with: "A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away...".
"Nooo!"
This prolonged howl appears in every single Star Wars film. In Episode I, Obi-Wan screams it when his master, Qui-Gon Jinn, is struck down by Darth Maul. In Episode II, the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn yells it as Anakin slaughters a village of Tusken Raiders. In Episode III, Darth Vader howls it upon learning that his wife, Padmé Amidala, is dead, and Senator Bail Organa also yells it when he witnesses the murder of a Jedi at the hands of the clones. Luke Skywalker screams it in Episodes IV and V when Obi-Wan is struck down by Vader and when Vader reveals his true identity to him, respectively. In Episode VI, Luke sounds as though he screams it when he hears Vader considering having Leia join the Dark Side, but according to the subtitles, he actually screams "Never!". The Emperor also screams "nooo!" when he is thrown down the shaft in the Death Star and killed.
Recently, the most-parodied instance has been Vader's mournful howl in Episode III, references to which have appeared in the comments of Slashdot as well as in several ytmnds. This Internet meme is perhaps reminiscient of William Shatner's infamous shout of "KHAAN!" in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Luke's scream at the end of Episode V garnered similar ridcule after it was released.
Love dialogue
In Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo is captured and frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader in order to test the machine. In the scene where Han is frozen, Leia confesses her feelings for him. The dialogue was originally written with Leia saying "I love you" and Han saying "I love you too," but Harrison Ford's inability to deliver the line convincingly led Ford to ad-lib a different line:
- Leia: "I love you."
- Han: "I know."
Director Irvin Kershner thought the ad-lib captured Solo's character perfectly and kept it. In Episode VI, Return of the Jedi, the dialogue was re-used. As Imperial Stormtroopers confront the Rebel force on the forest moon of Endor, Solo's back is turned to them as he faces Leia. The Rebels are ordered to put their hands up, but Leia, hidden behind Solo, draws a blaster to surprise the stormtroopers. Before he puts his hands up, Han notices the drawn blaster and says, "I love you." Leia replies, "I know."
One criticism of the prequel trilogy expressed by some fans is that the love scenes between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala are poorly acted, poorly written, or both. Two lines, one from Attack of the Clones and one from Revenge of the Sith, are often used particularly bad examples. The more recent is Padme's line, "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo".
In Attack of the Clones, Anakin's attempts to woo Padme are considered especially poorly-written by critics. His line, "I don't like sand" is used to reference the dialogue from those scenes in general, as well as the longer bit of dialogue beginning with that line in specific.
"That's no moon…"
This line comes from Episode IV, as the Millenium Falcon is approaching near the ruins of Alderaan and discovers a TIE fighter
- Obi-Wan: "A fighter this size couldn't get this deep into space on its own."
- Luke: "He must have gotten lost, been part of a convoy or something."
- Han: "Well, he ain't gonna be around long enough to tell anybody about us."
- Luke: "Look at him, he's heading for that small moon!"
- Han: "I think I can get him before he gets there, he's almost in range."
- Obi-Wan: "That's no moon. It's a space station!"
Obi-Wan's line was referenced in the 1996 film Twister when a radar system discovered an oncoming tornado. Wags in audiences watching Titanic the following year were known to have a bit of intertextual fun by saying it aloud as the sailors doing watch on the ship realized, too late, that it was headed straight for the iceberg.
When used in casual conversation, it signifies that something apparently innocuous is actually quite significant.
"I have you now."
Vader says this during the Battle of Yavin as he finally gets Luke's X-wing in his gunsight, just before being distracted when the Millenium Falcon appears suddenly and takes out his wingmen, then cripples his craft. In the Clone Wars animated series, Anakin Skywalker says it when he is about to shoot down Assaj Ventress.
In the 1983 film War Games, Matthew Broderick says it, even mimicking the timbre of James Earl Jones' voice, as he cracks in to what he believes is a video game company's mainframe.
"It's a trap!"
This line first appears in The Empire Strikes Back when Princess Leia shouts it to Luke Skywalker in the corridors of Cloud City, warning him that his mission to travel there and save them from their suffering was instead a trap set by Darth Vader to capture Luke.
Nonetheless, its most famous appearance is in Return of the Jedi when the Rebel fleet discovers they've been lured into a trap by the Imperial fleet. In their attempt to launch a surprise attack against the second Death Star, they find that Han Solo has so far failed to disable the shield protecting the Death Star from the forest moon of Endor.
- Lando Calrissian: "We've got to be able to get some reading on that shield, up or down….Well, how can they be jamming us, if they don't know…if we're coming. Break off the attack! The shield is still up!"
- Wedge Antilles: "I get no reading. Are you sure?"
- Lando: "Pull up! All craft, pull up!"
- Admiral Ackbar: "Take evasive action. Green Group, stay close to holding sector MD-7."
- Crewman: "Admiral, we have enemy ships, sector 47!"
- Ackbar: "It's a trap!"
For Fark.com users in particular, the image of Ackbar delivering this line has risen to level of Photoshop cliché, and currently any attempts to use it are considered sorely lacking in humour.
"These aren't the droids you're looking for"
This line is spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi to Imperial stormtroopers in Episode IV. The Empire, believing the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 carry plans for the battle station Death Star, are searching for the two droids. Obi-Wan gets himself, Luke, and the droids out of the tight situation using a "Jedi mind trick." The expression has since been used when someone is trying to keep a secret or is refusing to do something.
In one of the last episodes of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, when two of the major characters encountered some unfriendly invaders on their ship, one said "We are not the droids you are looking for," and, when that did not discourage the invaders, "Well, it was worth a try."
See also
External links
- The 'Bad Feeling About This' page page with sound clips of the phrase
- Itsatrap.net
- The original Vader "NOOO!" YTMND