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Background characters in Star Wars films that are important people

Officer Big Mac

Officer Big Mac

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,596
Star Wars came out over 40 years ago which has given LucasFilm to mine every frame for merchandise. Everybody is somebody with their own backstory and identity. Today I learned that the guy in the funny helmet that pulled the lever that activated the Death Star 1 superlaser was Tenn Granneet.

Ten was an artillery operator in the Clone Wars who was picked to man the new Death Star. Tenn developed a conscience and became conflicted towards the Empires use of the weapon. You might have thought Luke Skywalkers Jedi skills saved the day, but it was actually Tenn Granneet who was stalling at his post that gave the Rebels the time they needed!! Woweee!!

Do you remember that guy in Empire who runs across the screen for 2 seconds carrying an ice cream maker? That's a guy with a name and toy too! That ice cream makers actually some kind of safe as well. $$$$

www.resetera.com

This guy is carrying an ice cream maker in Empire Strikes Back

This guy has 2 seconds of screentime as he runs through Cloud City carrying an ice cream maker. That's his prop and that's all we ever see of him. But nothing and nobody doesn't have a rich history behind it so I shouldn't be surprised when I learned somebody at Lucasfilm OKd giving this guy...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

starwars.fandom.com

Tenn Graneet

Sir?""Pack your bags, Chief. You're for the Death Star. They're giving you the big gun.Tenn Graneet and Nast Hoberd Tenn Graneet was a Human male Imperial gunner who was master chief gunnery officer in the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. He was assigned the role of pulling the...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com

Now that Disney owns it I'm sure all of this is canon only until it isn't anymore.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
The one and only
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Max Rebo/Legends

I could have killed Max – the little blue dope – and I'm a pacifist! All he had to do was look at the size of my mouth and my body to see that I don't eat much. Droopy wasn't happy, either. He eats only once a month! Jabba was going to pay us in food! But any boss worth working for pays the band...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
 
Qasiel

Qasiel

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,330
What about Skippy The Droid who valiantly sacrificed himself because he had a force vision and allowed R2D2 to be chosen to go to the moisture farm with Luke? What a hero.
 
Dupy

Dupy

Member
Oct 31, 2017
473
Mr.Deadshot said:
The one and only
starwars.fandom.com

Max Rebo/Legends

I could have killed Max – the little blue dope – and I'm a pacifist! All he had to do was look at the size of my mouth and my body to see that I don't eat much. Droopy wasn't happy, either. He eats only once a month! Jabba was going to pay us in food! But any boss worth working for pays the band...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
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Holy moley I'm dying here. Who came up with all that backstory??
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,285
Dupy said:
Holy moley I'm dying here. Who came up with all that backstory??
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I don't know but I love how much effort is put into those even for minor goof characters. Another great one:
starwars.fandom.com

Ben Quadinaros

Well, it looks like Quadinaros is having engine trouble also.Fodesinbeed Annodue Ben Quadinaros was an inexperienced Toong podracer pilot who raced on the amateur circuits before entering the Boonta Eve Classic podrace on the planet Tatooine in 32 BBY. He rented a BT310 quadra-Podracer for the...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
 
TooFriendly

TooFriendly

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,025
What about the unmoving mollusc-like alien stuck to the ceiling of Jabba's palace, his name is Ghoel and he is very intelligent, but no one knew it.
He was gonna lick C-3PO's head to communicate. He has an extremely long tongue.

starwars.fandom.com

Ghoel/Legends

Ghoel was a Wol Cabasshite male who, by 4 ABY, was mistakenly left behind in the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on the planet Tatooine. Unable to move from his perch on the walls of the Hutt's audience chamber, he used his long, prehensile tongue to lick newcomers to the palace...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
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RivalCore

RivalCore

Member
Oct 28, 2017
521
Mr. "These aren't the droids we're looking for" Wanten went from a nobody Stormtrooper to a nobody First Order officer.

starwars.fandom.com

Wanten

Wanten, designated TD-110 and DSS-0956, was a human male officer of the First Order and a former stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War, TD-110 served on board the first Death Star in the days prior to the Battle of Yavin. He was also deployed to the Outer Rim world...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com

Star Wars is fucking stupid.
 
MadLaughter

MadLaughter

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,090
In the anthology book 'From A Certain Point Of View', which has 40 stories about Background Characters in A New Hope, one story is specifically about the guy that told the crew not to fire on the escape pods leaving Leia's ship at the start of the movie. The story posits that he did this because it would be too much paperwork to fire at an escape pod during a non-active engagement. When he realizes that the plans were probably on that pod, he finds an imperial paperwork expert to get forms that will help keep him from getting in trouble.

There's a story about the alien in the trash compactor, one about the stormtrooper that bumps his head, one about the lookout guy outside the temple on Yavin 4 who is up in a little crows nest. It's fucking wild.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
62,261
Star Wars, like many IPs that has been running on decades and focusing on the same general group of characters is going to run into this issue. It's avoidable but with things as fan and lore driven as SW is people just can't help themselves. Happens in western cape comics as well where every nobody is a somebody.
 
BetterOffEd

BetterOffEd

Member
Oct 29, 2017
857
Talesfrommoseisleycantina.jpg


This was my favorite book as a kid, I've been meaning to reread it as I'm sure I'd have different opinions today, but I loved the concept of it. Its a collection of stories, each from different sci-fi authors, each about a different background alien in the cantina scene.

Some stories are great and others are bad or just weird. There's one about the band, the devil dude who's there for the music, the tiny thing getting a drink, the bartender, the stormtrooper who comes in, the pilot who directs Obi-Wan to Chewie, the guys who harass Luke, etc, etc

They made a book for the bounty hunters and Jabba's palace as well
 
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xyla

xyla

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,385
Germany
Rex from clone wars and rebels appears in VI as the bearded guy who's with the rebels on Endor in a few shots.

One of the few bits of retcon that I actually enjoy. From the Episode VI perspective that guy suddenly has one of the best characterisation on the entire saga.
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,161
Greater Vancouver
MadLaughter said:
In the anthology book 'From A Certain Point Of View', which has 40 stories about Background Characters in A New Hope, one story is specifically about the guy that told the crew not to fire on the escape pods leaving Leia's ship at the start of the movie. The story posits that he did this because it would be too much paperwork to fire at an escape pod during a non-active engagement. When he realizes that the plans were probably on that pod, he finds an imperial paperwork expert to get forms that will help keep him from getting in trouble.

There's a story about the alien in the trash compactor, one about the stormtrooper that bumps his head, one about the lookout guy outside the temple on Yavin 4 who is up in a little crows nest. It's fucking wild.
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Austin Walker who wrote the Dengar/IG-88 short story was the former EIC at Waypoint, and currently has a podcast (A More Civilized Age) where they've been watching and deep-dive discussing the prequels, leading into them slowly watching through the Clone Wars. Eventually, two members of that podcast will see Revenge of the Sith for the first time, and I cannot fucking wait.

amorecivilizedage.net

A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

Join Rob Zacny, Natalie Watson, Ali Acampora, and Austin Walker as they dive headfirst into the fall of the Galactic Republic, debate which Jedi is messiest, and dig into the themes and politics of The Clone Wars. Cover Art by @XeeceeVEVO on Twitter.
amorecivilizedage.net
 
JonnyDBrit

JonnyDBrit

God and Anime
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,015
RivalCore said:
Mr. "These aren't the droids we're looking for" Wanten went from a nobody Stormtrooper to a nobody First Order officer.

starwars.fandom.com

Wanten

Wanten, designated TD-110 and DSS-0956, was a human male officer of the First Order and a former stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War, TD-110 served on board the first Death Star in the days prior to the Battle of Yavin. He was also deployed to the Outer Rim world...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com

Star Wars is fucking stupid.
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Going through it, this basically seems like an extended joke on this whole concept.
 

Deleted member 7051

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,254
Mr.Deadshot said:
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Max Rebo/Legends

I could have killed Max – the little blue dope – and I'm a pacifist! All he had to do was look at the size of my mouth and my body to see that I don't eat much. Droopy wasn't happy, either. He eats only once a month! Jabba was going to pay us in food! But any boss worth working for pays the band...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
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112
 
Daniel Jackson

Daniel Jackson

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,132
TooFriendly said:
What about the unmoving mollusc-like alien stuck to the ceiling of Jabba's palace, his name is Ghoel and he is very intelligent, but no one knew it.
He was gonna lick C-3PO's head to communicate. He has an extremely long tongue.

starwars.fandom.com

Ghoel/Legends

Ghoel was a Wol Cabasshite male who, by 4 ABY, was mistakenly left behind in the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt on the planet Tatooine. Unable to move from his perch on the walls of the Hutt's audience chamber, he used his long, prehensile tongue to lick newcomers to the palace...
starwars.fandom.com starwars.fandom.com
279
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Now that's just a horrible backstory to come up with. So he's intelligent and sentient, yet is forced to spend his life immobile and stuck on the ceiling. His highlight of the day is licking people. Poor thing.
 
Poodlestrike

Poodlestrike

Smooth vs. Crunchy
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
13,489
This is unironically one of my favorite things about Star Wars. It's so dumb, and yet, so incredibly distinctive. Lots of properties toss a ton of unnecessary detail onto already reasonably important characters, like how every normal friend's dad is a supervillain in cape comics, given enough time. Star Wars takes it to just this whole other level that I find I really enjoy for some reason.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
62,261
Poodlestrike said:
This is unironically one of my favorite things about Star Wars. It's so dumb, and yet, so incredibly distinctive. Lots of properties toss a ton of unnecessary detail onto already reasonably important characters, like how every normal friend's dad is a supervillain in cape comics, given enough time. Star Wars takes it to just this whole other level that I find I really enjoy for some reason.
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Lucas really didn't give a shit for a long time about people just adding all kinds of nonsense into the universe. The Toys That Made Us episode about Star Wars is hilarious with how toy companies just started whipping up random vehicles, characters and so on and George was just like, "Awesome, sounds great!"
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
In ANH, there's a scene after Greedo's death that has Greedo casually walk in the background due to a continuity error. In the EU they turned this guy into a new character to make it official that it's not Greedo (despite the fact he was wearing the exact same clothes)
 
Oozer

Oozer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,821
Nien Nunb is a galactic hero multiple times over and is the owner of the greatest laugh in Star Wars.

touQLxp.gif
 

admiraltaftbar

Self-Requested Ban
Banned
Dec 9, 2017
1,889
Didn't IG-88 originally upload his consciousness into a computer core bound for the Death Star 2 and then became part of the death star? At one point he fucked with Emperor Palpatine by refusing to allow some doors to open which reminded Palatine of his mortality.


Also Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes are super important with their hit Jizz song Mad About Me.
 

admiraltaftbar

Self-Requested Ban
Banned
Dec 9, 2017
1,889
DiipuSurotu said:
In ANH, there's a scene after Greedo's death that has Greedo casually walk in the background due to a continuity error. In the EU they turned this guy into a new character to make it official that it's not Greedo (despite the fact he was wearing the exact same clothes)
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I'm going to assume that was not Greedo but Greeedo
 
lunarworks

lunarworks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,117
Toronto
This is the most pedantic nonsense, and honestly the worst part of Star Wars. Fans can't just let things stand on their own, every minor thing has to be explained in detail.
 
Seductivpancakes

Seductivpancakes

user requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,790
Brooklyn
lunarworks said:
This is the most pedantic nonsense, and honestly the worst part of Star Wars. Fans can't just let things stand on their own, every minor thing has to be explained in detail.
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Worse than fans harassing the actors into insanity or driving them off social media?

Worse than starting a hate campaign cause the leading characters is a woman and a black man?
 
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