Star Wars: Scene stealers from the original trilogy
By Nik Edlund
Yoda
Yoda was a huge risk the filmmakers took in The Empire Strikes Back. They decided to make him a muppet and if he didn’t come off as believable the entire film was going to fail. They nailed it and in the process created one of the greatest Star Wars characters of all time.
Yoda is extremely memorable. He talks in a backward sort of way and provides some of the best comedic relief in this otherwise very dark chapter of the Star Wars saga. When Luke first meets this little green creature, he puts him to a test of patience. Yoda acts like he is a simple-minded native who has never seen a human before. He takes a light out of Luke’s pack and then gets in a fight with R2-D2.
Eventually, he reveals to Luke that he is indeed Yoda and reluctantly begins to train him. During the training sessions, Yoda drops wisdom to Luke that turns out to be great words to live by even in this day and age. Such nuggets like, “Try not, do or do not, there is no try” and “size matters not” are great mantras to live by.
He also tells Luke that “luminous beings we are, not this crude matter,” which is a good reminder of the bigger picture of life. Yoda is a wise and powerful master and shows Luke that even with his small stature, he is powerful enough to raise his crashed X-Wing out of the swamp.
Yoda was an amazing character and when he was on the screen in The Empire Strikes Back he demanded all the attention.