Okay let me set the scene, I'm six or seven and my dad gets home from work and calls me into the kitchen, there he presents me with the original (at the time the only) Star Wars trilogy on VHS, and that started my love for Star Wars sharing a bonding time with my dad watching the Star Wars movies..... Yeah I was never big into sports.
Growing up as a nerdy kid who found himself surrounded by football fans and those weird kids that are either into the army or the wild but your never quite sure, I would look back to Star Wars for sanity.
Here I am an adult and still I look back to these movies for sanity.
So without further ado here's my list of top favorite moments set in that place......
11. LOL Guess What? I'm Your Dad!
A scene that has become legend for two reasons, one it was the first hardcore lightsaber duel on screen as I count the breif Vader vs Kenobi death star duel as Kenobi stalling, but in Empire Strikes Back we see Luke still a rookie jedi take on the dark lord Darth Vader.
And two? well not only does Luke get a harsh beating due to Vaders heavy lightsaber blows but he is cornered onto a catwalk and then an extension at the end of the catwalk, he loses his hand defending himself and then if things can't get any worse Vader reveals that one shocking line:
"Luke, I am your Father!"
Luke takes this well, screaming
"Nooo its not true!, it's impossible!" and drops down the shaft they are above and is 'Luckily' sucked into an air vent and ends up hanging for his life below Cloud City.
This wasn't only a shock to fans but to the cast as only a very select few knew of this at the time of filming.
10. Sarlacc Swimming
So the rescue of Han Solo doesn't go as well as Luke had originally planned I'm guessing, his protical droid becomes Jabba the Hutt's bitch for a short time, Leia is caught mid foreplay with an unfrozen Han and Luke plays find the sausage with a Rancor.
So Luke and co are transported through the Tatooine sand dunes to the Pit of Sarlacc a beastie that burrows into a pit in the sand and swallows what ever falls/is pushed in, basically the mighty Jabba uses this as his excercussioner after the Rancor fails.
Whats cool about this scene is we see a creepy new species that really would be a horrible way to die but the thing diggests you for years and screws with you mentally making you too depressed to escape its belly. But this also gives us a look at Lukes new green bladed lightsaber, sexy slave girl Leia strangle Jabba to death and sadly Boba Fett meets his end.... Only to survive as told by the comics and books and any Boba Fett fan.
9. "We'll Handle This"
Episode I get's a lot of hate, but no matter how bad the movie was (in my mind not all that bad at all) when those doors open and we are faced with Darth Maul one of the most skilled sith lords, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan show that they are two bad ass jedi, bravely stepping forward and cooly stating that this is their fight allowing the others to leave, we are graced with the first ever two on one lightsaber duel.
You'd think two skilled jedi would easily take Maul but Maul is no softie with his double bladed lightsaber he bashes the two jedi around and leads them deeper into Theed's plasma refinery complex, making the duel risky as either opponent could fall off the catwalks they fight along.
Of course this duel leaves Qui-Gon with the ultimate human piercing and his death only fuels Obi-Wan to fighter harder, and when we think all is lost for the young jedi he takes that leap and slices Maul in half, it's a pretty hardcore fight.
8. I Know.....
So Han Solo has been betrayed by and old trusted friend, he and his friends are in the hands of the empire as things are made ready for Han to be frozen in carbonite Vader and Boba Fett discuss Boba needing Solo alive.
Han is set in a holder as he tells Chewbacca that he need's to look after Leia now, the loyal wookie crys out as Leia who has only recently disscovered her true feelings of love for Han tells him she loves him in an emotional cry and he cooly looks back and tells her he knows.
Just another reason as to why Solo is one of the coolest characters ever created, he loves her and she loves him but he's not going to play on that...... probably because he's worried about whats about to happen.
If I were in his shoes, Id be like "Bit late to be telling me that after I've been trying it on for ages huh?"
7. The Chosen One Returns
He's battled his son as his evil master the Emperor taunts the boy about the coming death of his friends, he's taunted his son about the boys sister and now he's watching his son being tortured by the man he calls master.
Yeah Vader wasn't dad of the year but as we see a seemingly visible emotion of sorrow come across his emotionless helmet we feel pride as Vader thinks enough is enough, picking up the Emperor and throwing him to his death down a shaft. Vader has redeemed himself from the dark side by bringing to galaxy's most evil man to and end.
Why is this a favorite scene? because we see the truth, Anakin Skywalker really was the chosen one and forfilled the prophecy, just a few decades later than what everyone thought. Sadly he dies doing so finaly being able to have kind words with his son and letting Luke see his mangled up head.
How Luke kept from gagging on the smell of Anakin's badly healed up head will always be the greatest mystery of Star Wars to me.
6. "Not If Anything I Have To Say About It, Lord Sidious"
Yoda the master of all jedi finally fights a battle he doesn't have to hold back on, as Palpatine is now known to the jedi master as Darth Sidious the dark master of the sith, he confronts Sidious in his senate throne room and after a few words the two go at it.
This is two masters on the opposite sides going head to head and not holding back, this fight has lightersaber bashing and force slapping, as little Yoda loses the upper hand Sidious uses his strength of the force to throw everything he has at the jedi master only for Yoda to escape knowing he wont win this fight.
A lot of people believe Yoda should have been able to win this but you have to remember how strong Sidious is at this point and if you watch the duel you'll see moments where Sidious cowers and feels utterly threatened by Yoda.
Its a battle we all wanted to see from the moment we saw the Emperor for the first time and I think it goes down as one of the best.
5. Death Star Adventre
So you've been caught by the huge moon sized empirial space battle station known as the Death Star, you've disguised yourself, saved the princess and lost your mentor, sounds like the normal adventure story right?
Well this part of A New Hope has it all the scene where Han talks over the mic and asks the guy ont he other end how he is, Leia telling Luke he's a little short for a Stormtrooper, Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie being trapped in the waste unit almost being crushed to death, all great scenes but my favourite of all the scenes that take place during this part of the movie?
When Han and Chewbacca follow a Stormtrooper but are met by an entire squad and are chased back down the corridor by Stormtroopers blasting as they run for their lives.
4. Fett Life
I couldn't pick just one scene for my favorite character next to Han Solo, so I'm just going to dedicate number five entirely to the character of Boba Fett.
This is a guy raised by his father to be the ultimate bounty hunter the catch? his father is the ultimate bounty hunter and Boba is his fathers clone that will age at a normal rate unlike most the other clones that create the Galatic clone army. Losing his father only makes Boba stronger as he loses that bond Boba trains himself to become the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy being enlisted by Vader to help hunt down and jill the remainding jedi after order 66.
He's a man of few words and scenes yet he has a huge cult following and lets face it there's only one true Fett and his name is Boba end of story.
3. Deep Fried Vader
The duel of Mustafar is iconic as it is the duel all Star Wars fans had talked about for years, what happened during Obi-Wan and Vader's last duel that left Vader fighting for his life and needing the robotic suit to survive?
After Kenobi stows away on Amadala's ship to face his old padwan turned sith, he witnesses Anakin kill his wife using the force choke he will become so fond of, leading to a confrontation for the ages and neither hold back.
As their battle scrawls the hot volcano like planet that is Mustafar, dodging lava and swinging their blades you can see Anakin has no love lost where as Obi-Wan is sad and this fuels him to defeat his old apperentice, as they fight hovering inches above a smoldering hot lava lake, Obi-Wan takes his chance jumps to higher ground and Anakin leaps to Obi-Wan only for his former master to take his other arm and legs leaving Anakin to stumble down to the lava lake and burn.
This is an emotional moment as Anakin screams out in agony but never asks for help, he's too far gone to the dark side for that instead in his pain he screams "I Hate You!" as Obi-Wan sadly notes:
"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"
Its a grusome scene as we watch Anakin burn, leaving an ugly charred torso and robot arm holding on for dear life, Obi-Wan takes Anakin's lightsaber and leaves believing Anakin will perrish there by the lava lake.
2. "Obi-Wan Kenobi"
In my opinion he is the greatest of the jedi and his first apperance is a look into why, being the padwan of the great Qui Gon Jinn and then master of Anakin Skywaler the jedi that would foresake all jedi is no easy job, yet Obi-Wan handled things with such ease as we see him grow from padwan to jedi knight but it is his self imposed exile that really gets to me.
Obi-Wan who during the clone wars went on many missions sends himself in self exile on Tatooine to watch over the young Luke Skywalker, but it is when we get our first interaction between Luke and Obi-Wan on screen that I love.
As an injured Luke tells Kenobi who has been going by 'Ben' of the droids and asks if he knows of an Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Old Ben' looks up and repeats the name
"Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
As if he has long forgotten his name but really I think it's shock that he has heard it after so many years of not, finaly this is the moment that the wise old jedi has been waiting for, his long brave suffered exile is over and it is time for one of the galaxy's last surviving jedi to come out of hiding.
1. There Is Yet Hope
Padme dies giving birth to her and Anakins twins, and the last meeting takes place between Obi-Wan, Yoda and Bail Organa and together they decide the twins will be safer seperated and so Bail will take baby Leia to live with him and his wife as their daughter on Alderaan, Yoda will go into excile on Dagobah, while Obi-Wan in his own excile will take the bay Luke to his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen on Tatooine where he can watch over them from afar.
We then see the funeral of Padme as the whole of Naboo morn her death, and then we see Vader charred and in pain being prodded and worked on by medical droids that peice him together and suit him up for the rest of his life in the suit of armour that will serve him til he dies.
We get a shot of the construction of the Death Star as the newly suited Darth Vader walks across a Star Destroyer towards the Emperor.
But of course......
What gets me the most is that Obi-Wan is going to face the rest of his life in excile, and after spending so many years as a brave jedi knight he will have to get used to the rustic world that is Tatooine in his solance.
But then there is this scene that I swear I can't watch without a tear in my eye, Obi-Wan just as he rides off to set up a life in excile he looks back as Owen, Beru holding baby Luke and standing in the same position watching the suns set like look one day will too.
So thats my list guys and gals what do you think?