Star Wars has left an indelible mark on our collective consciousness. The iconic imagery of characters like Darth Vader or the famous lightsaber is easily identifiable to both children and adults worldwide. Recently, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released and it motivated us to unearth some lesser-known trivia and hidden secrets about the franchise. Here are 25 Star Wars facts to spark your inner Jedi!
25
Tatooine was named after the town Tataouine in Tunisia (where most of the filming of Tatooine was done).
24
Many of the original Star Wars filming locations in Tunisia used a mix of existing locations. In fact, there are many structures which you can still visit.
23
The sound of a TIE Fighter was actually made by mixing an elephant's trumpet and a car driving on wet terrain.
22
No one knows the name of Yoda's species, but they were all excellent Jedi.
21
Before becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader was written by Lucas as a bounty hunter. Boba Fett was written in as the bounty hunter so Vader could take his rightful place.
20
And Luke Skywalker was originally called Luke Starkiller.
18
The droid starfighter was the only type of ship able to invert its wings upon landing and walk about.
17
While filming, many of the crew got coffee from a coffee stand on studio grounds named Javva the Hutt.
16
Rapper Tupac Shakur auditioned for the role of Jedi Mace Windu (which eventually went to Samuel L. Jackson).
15
The name of planet Kashyyyk's native race, the Wookiees, translates as "People of the Trees".
14
Early versions of the screenplay saw Luke as a sixty-something year old general.
13
The first screenplay introduced Han Solo as a green-skinned, noseless creature with gills, similar to Greedo.
12
Greedo speaks Quecha, a South American language spoken in the central Andes mountains.
11
The Jawa's language is a sped up version of Zulu, a language spoken in southern Africa and understood by 50% of South Africans.
10
No one ever wore a clone trooper suit - all these prequel soldiers were computer-generated images.
9
Some of 'NSYNC's members made a cameo appearance in the second film. The scene was cut out in post-production.
8
The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey had its film-famous EVA pod make an appearance in Watto's junkyard on Tattoine.
7
"I have a bad feeling about this" is a famous Star Wars phrase which has been used in every Star Wars movie to date - let's see if it's used in The Force Awakens!
6
Even E.T. made an appearance in Star Wars as an Asogian senator in the Galactic Senate.
5
The Asogian senator was named Grebleips and came from Brodo Asogi (just like E.T.). Did you notice Grebleips is Spielberg (the director of E.T.) spelled backwards?
4
R2-D2 popped into George Lucas's head as the name for the lovable droid after a member of the crew of American Graffiti (which he was working on) asked him to get Reel Two of the Second Dialogue track, known in industry jargon as R2-D2.
3
Some random props make appearances in The Phantom Menace. Try to find the toaster, foot massager, and inflatable life boat.
2
The word Ewok is just a reversal of the syllables in Wookiee. The Battle of Endor was originally written to happen on Kashyyyk, the Wookie planet.
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