The Return of Chewbacca

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Posted by timothy on Saturday April 26, 2003 @05:14AM from the ready-for-his-closeup dept.

BrunoC writes "It's official! Peter Mayhew is going to play everyone's favorite wookie once again: Chewbacca is returning in Episode III, currently in pre-production phase. Peter says (quoted from StarWars.com) "I'm delighted to return as Chewbacca, I think his re-appearance in this film is a fitting way to tie the whole saga together, especially for Wookiee fans." Woa! Just for the records: Artoo and C-3PO will be there too! You can read the official annoucement here, at StarWars.com."

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Who cares? by Paladeen · 2003-04-26 05:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

At this point I am so disillusioned with the new Star Wars films that I couldn't care less who'll feature in Episode III.

The last two films have been unspeakably bad and I'm extremely skeptical that the next will be any better.
I can understand... by craenor · 2003-04-26 05:20 · Score: 4, Insightful

People not wanting plot details, but in light of the fact that this has become a "news item" ... and not just on /. either ... do you people whining about the spoiler really think you can get all the way to the movie without finding this out?

I mean, hello...welcome to the world of computers, posters and trailers...
Shameless Hucksterism by blair1q · 2003-04-26 05:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

They needed to "tie the series together?"

They've got Obi-Wan, Anakin, and eventually Leia and Luke to tie the series together.

They're throwing in Chewie because:

a) Lucas ran out of ideas a long damn time ago.
b) Characters from the original trilogy sell better than characters from this one.
c) Hey. Don't complain. Could have been Ewoks...
Re:My God, the spoilers! by inertia187 · 2003-04-26 05:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

Spoiler from what? The preview? You're were going to find out sooner or later before the movie.

A spoiler would be something like, oh say, that Chewbacca is bald in this episode or that he's gay or something. That would be a spoiler...not that there's anything wrong with that.

If you want a spoiler, how's this - I hear Darth Vader won't be in this episode. How's that for spoiler?

--
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
Total of people in the Star Wars Universe: 26 by Gary+Yogurt · 2003-04-26 05:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

How does everyone keep running into eachother? This galaxy of Lucas' is pretty tiny. Is Wedge going to run around in Episode III and introduce himself to everyone?
Re:In other news by bahamat · 2003-04-26 05:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

You're not very smart if you think that you wouldn't see chewbacca in the tv spots 6 months before the movie's release.

Here's another spoiler for you, Anakin will become Darth Vader and use a red light saber.

Sorry to spoil the movie for you though.
Folks please by Kelz · 2003-04-26 05:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

If you didn't like the movies don't take this post as an invitation for you to bash it. It seems like every time someone mentions some key word like "star wars" in a NEWS article, the same old damn topics always come up. I myself hated Jar Jar, but overall 1 and 2 were good movies! Lucas's "vision" was to create a precurser to the original star wars series, and he performed the task well imho. Lets keep the talk to Wookies and not weather the movie was good.

This is not a troll, as trolls are green.
1. Re:Folks please by oconnorcjo · 2003-04-26 07:29 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I myself hated Jar Jar, but overall 1 and 2 were good movies! Lucas's "vision" was to create a precurser to the original star wars series, and he performed the task well imho.
  
  Actually I thought the movies were far from good.
  
  Major flaws in movie 1:
  
  1. Anakans script was DESIGNED for somebody who was at least a teenager. No seven year old has the hots for a girl in the way Ani talked or had the time to build so much hardware or race in as many races as the movie claimed. If Ani was too old to start the training it means that Jedi's were taking babies from mothers breasts (and makes Luke's start seem rediculous).
  
  2. Kill the whole mediaclorite(?)/Virgin Mary mess.
  
  3. What is comedy relief doing in a serious space drama? Jar-jar should have been killed from the final cut.
  
  While movie 1 actually had a pretty good script (that was butchered in execution), movie 2 was just a bad script. There were far better stories that could have been told that would have enriched the Star Wars Universe, but instead, we get a cop story with a twist of romance. Despite the weak plot of movie 2, it was executed much better. It is a shame that the "new Anikan" was not in the first movie.
  
  What made the first three movies (IV-VI) so wonderfull was that they had good stories that were executed well. Very impressive to do three times in row. In the first three, Lucas was the writer but let Irvin Kershner direct V and Richard Marquand direct VI. I get the impression that Lucas is a better writer than a director/producer. Or maybe his overwhelming control over the final product puts him in a position where no-one can criticize/"provide perspective" to his creative vision anymore. Whatever the reason, the first three films are classics while the stuff made recently is just summer action flicks that would have been forgotten by most if it was not for the name brand (Star Wars) attached to it.
  
  --
  I miss the Karma Whores.
how stupid by ceswiedler · 2003-04-26 05:39 · Score: 4, Insightful

OK, we have a galaxy (far far away) with at least a few thousand planets. Each planet would presumably have on the order of 1-10 billion inhabitants. So what are the chances that:

1. a "remote" planet called Tatooine continually becomes vitally important to the fate of the galaxy, time and time again?

2. The same five to ten characters coincidentally reappear, time and time again? C-3PO was actually made by Anakin and just happened to be on the ship that was attacked near Tatooine and end up on Luke's farm? Now Chewbacca is going to show up, as a "coincidence?"

I suppose you could make arguments about the 'Force' making these coincidences happen. But you have to admit that's retro-explanations. Everything in Episodes 4-6 indicated that these characters were meeting for the first time, with no prior history. Now Lucas (and Star Wars fanboys) want to convince us that "no, really there's a whole previous story with these characters, which was never alluded to in the 'later' episodes."

It just goes to show what a crap storyteller Lucas is these days. How he got that way, I don't know. But Star Wars these days is about as well-written as the Daredevil movie.
Hey, it could bode *well* for the movie... by Blondie-Wan · 2003-04-26 05:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

... after all, given Lucas's dialogue of late, the greater the percentage of characters in a prequel who don't speak English, the better... ;-)
In seriousness, though, I'm not wild about this; I love Chewie as much as anyone, but to tie him to the storyline at this early point and then just happen to have him intersect with it again in the classic trilogy just pushes coincidence too far, IMO. Characters like Obi-Wan, Anakin / Vader, Luke, Leia, Artoo and Threepio, Yoda, Owen, Beru, etc. who have some connection to the royal houses of Naboo and / or Alderaan and / or the Skywalker family legacy make sense for inclusion in the prequels, but for characters from other circles (Han, Chewie, Lando, Jabba, Boba, etc.) who weren't already established in the originals as being connected to them to suddenly turn out to have some prior connection after all shrinks the Star Wars universe a little too much, I think (but then, that's hardly the biggest problem with the prequels...).
*sigh* Oh, well. I'll still see it, I'm sure, and I hope it's better than the first two (hey, it's possible, right?), and I similarly hope Chewie's return / "debut" is either handled in a plausible way, or is simply good enough not to object to (or better yet, both). I guess we'll see...
Re:My God, the spoilers! by letxa2000 · 2003-04-26 06:55 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's the characters that made the first Star Wars movies a hit. The characters in general and, specifically, Harrison Ford. If you take out Harrison Ford from the original movies you get, in all honesty, a pretty dull 6 hours of movies. Try to imagine it--he's really the only one with any charisma or humor whatsoever.
What's been lacking in Episode I and II isn't so much a really cool plot--the plots of the other 3 weren't that impressive, they were just fun to watch due to how the characters played it out. What's been lacking in the first two Episodes is someone(s) who is/are truly humorous and/or charismatic.
Re:My God, the spoilers! by dvdeug · 2003-04-26 08:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

given that Chewey is one of the most beloved characters in all of Star Wars, I really think this would have gone over better as a surprise.

What are the odds that it would have been a surprise by the time that Star Wars came out?