We are happy to report that Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2), now theatrical veterans, reprise their roles in The Force Awakens.ĭarth Vader Almost every citizen born later than the mid-1960s spent some of their childhood with hands clasped over mouth attempting an impression of the series’ most notorious villain. What remains remarkable is that, communicating merely with bleeps, R2-D2 seems as rounded as any other character in the opening film. The narrative ploy nods towards Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress. The shape and mechanism of R2-D2 ( below left) owed a great deal to similar machines in Douglas Trumbull’s superb Silent Running. The characters drew their personalities from Laurel and Hardy. Got it? Shortly to get a standalone film.Ĭ-3PO and R2-D2 Perhaps the most inspired decision George Lucas made when writing Star Wars was to tell the story from the perspective of a camp robot and an irritable droid. If you wouldn’t know Boba Fett from Bob Hoskins then it’s you who is the saddo. The main attraction is that he’s the sort of character that only “proper” fans will recognise. He first appeared in the notorious Christmas holiday special and then popped up as a secondary villain in The Empire Strikes Back, and as a child in Attack of the Clones. Among Star Wars fanatics, the bounty hunter with a pot on his head has achieved something beyond cult status. The next one was a bit better, thank heavens.īoba Fett Listen to me. If Attack of the Clones is remembered for anything (and it probably isn’t), it’s for the scenes in which Yoda gets tasty with a light sabre. Was it the one with the tolerable chariot race in the middle? No, that was the best bit of The Phantom Menace.

That awful character was shuffled into the wings for the second film in the prequel trilogy. Kill time with our far-from-definitive A to Z of the world’s best-loved space opera.Īttack of the Clones Which one was this? Was this the one with the unspeakably dreadful Jar Jar Binks? Not really. Work is already underway on the next Star Wars episode and a series of spin-off movies is also in pre-production.

Despite the disappointment of the prequel trilogy, hopes are high that JJ Abrams will restore energy to the dormant franchise. We still have just over a month to wait until Star Wars: The Force Awakens strikes domestic cinemas.

Stars wars 7