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Yoda's Secret Identity

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I know "I am your father" was the greatest surprise in movie history, but what about ESB's other little twist: Yoda. I find it hard to believe no one knew what he would look like, as there was surely some hype about the new muppet character in the sequel, right? So those of you who were around in 1980, how'd that work?
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You see, back then we didn´t have a little thing called the "internet" to spoil things like this. As I remember this was more or less kept a secret and neither me nor any of my friends knew about this before seeing the movie. Also I knew nothing at all about Vader´s revelation to Luke and that goes to show you that things were kept under wraps pretty tightly as long as they could by Lucasfilm. But then again I saw ESB on the very first day so I don´t know how things became when the movie had been shown for a few weeks. Then I guess those secrets had leaked out (Homer Simpson style!) pretty much.

peace,

Rebelscum
peace,

Rebelscum
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First time I saw The Empire Strikes Back was ona TV broadcast back in the late 80s, it was the first SW movie I watched all the way (when I was about 5 I remember watching ANH in a x-mas eve TV broadcast, but I don't remember watching it to the end, I only remember the first 2 minutes) - and back then I knew who Yoda was as well as most characters, even thought I haven't seen any SW movie yet. I did not know Vader was Luke's father, but it didn't get to me as a surprise revelation, somewhat I thought everyone knew about this except Luke, so I wasn't surprised. Maybe if I had watched ANH before, I would have been a little bit more surprised.

I was more concerned on Darth Vader removing his mask, I remember someone told me, obviously by mistake, that in that movie we would see Darth Vader's face, and he would be all deformed and stuff, and I was kinda scared of it (I was 7 or 8 years old). So there was that scene in which Luke fights that "imaginary" Vader, and the masks "explodes" and there's Luke's face behind it, I thought that was it... lol
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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my first memory of Yoda came with the release of the action figure, back then in Australia we were at least 6 months behind the U.S with the release of most movies, but we got the action figures a couple of months before the movie, and I remember buying this cute little green guy with pointy ears and a snake around his neck (which was soooooo cool!) without having any idea what part he played in the story. I was ten at the time. Essentially I had created this funny little characters identity in my head well before seeing the movie, so I was a bit shocked when I eventually saw the movie and saw what a prominent role he had in the movie and I was amazed how different his voice was to how i had imagined, although I was also a big fan of the muppets, I didn't make the Frank Oz connection for a few years after that.

anyway the big shocks for me in the movie, were the Vader/ luke's dad revelation and the fact that Luke got his hand cut off, I was one of the last kids in my year to see the film, and I remember many a schoolyard arguement over one of the kids telling me that not only was Darth Vader Luke's father, but also that he cut off his hand, of course I refused to believe their 'lies' until I saw the film for myself.
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You see, back then we didn´t have a little thing called the "internet" to spoil things like this.


very true!!

the first time i saw Yoda was wayyyyyy back when...
i never thought he was a puppet when i was younger, but a tiny person inside of a suit....
after all we did end up seeing his feet in ROTJ...
but i believe he was just so well done.. especially for those times...

I remember thinking the same thing as Luke when Yoda first appeared on screen..
he was just some annoying creature living in the swamp that likes to get into mischief...
however when he reveals himself to Luke that he is the big jedi master i was in complete shock!
definatly another reason which makes empire the best...
all the small twists and turns that we as an audience never expected
"Never. I'll never turn to the darkside. You've failed your highness. I am a jedi, like my father before me."
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Interesting stuff guys. This kind of stuff interests me, as growing up with Star Wars on video, things like Vader=Anakin Skywalker, Yoda=Jedi Master, and Leia=Luke's Sister have always been common knowledge to me; I've just always known.

It's so true that it could NEVER be kept secret today. One, it would be all over the web, t-shirts, action figures, backpacks, toothbrushes, etc. Two, you just know modern Lucas would be flaunting this special effects breakthrough every chance he could, thus revealing who this funny little green guy was.
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... I didn't know who Yoda was prior to seeing ESB. My mother had allready spoiled that Luke was Vader's son before I saw the it.
But when Yoda came on the screen I just assumed it was him, because there was no one else on Dagohbah.

4

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I had an uncle who worked at a print shop and they did all the Star Wars stuff for a long time. So I saw pictures of Yoda long before anyone knew who he was.

Damn I wish I still had all the stuff. I'd be in the money like Luca$

“You know, when you think about it, the Ewoks probably just crap over the sides of their tree-huts.”

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i remember seeing the movie, but i dont really remember my thoughts. not until ROTJ came out and i saw ESB again in the cinema before ROTJ came out. it was mind-blowing.
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."
Qui-Gon Jinn (R.I.P.)
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I don't remember my thoughts regarding his first appearance on screen either. But, much like Rebelscum said, there was no real network of spoiler knowledge for us. No Internet to spoil things. Our only mass communication was the nightly news and the newspaper. And, to control those, all LFL had to do was refuse to release any photos to the press. That's really all it took.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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I went to all the movies totally blind, I remember buying an ESB program and skimming through it, but not reading it to avoid knowing anything about the movie before it started.

When Yoda appeared on screen I remember thinking, there's that funny looking little troll guy that I saw a picture of in the program...And I was convinced that he was trying to help Luke find Yoda, picturing someone named Yoda as a Jedi like Obi-Wan but the name threw me.

Yoda was performed so well, I totally was lost in thinking that this was a real creature...And in a lot of ways I still feel that way when I watch it.

A brilliant creation..
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Yoda was brilliantly animated by Frank Oz, he did one hell of a job, you almost forget that it is a puppet. The CGI Yoda from AOTC, on the other hand... well...

BTW, seems to me everyone here is 35 years old or older, as everyone has seen ESB on the movie theater... I'm 22 and I'm feeling like I'm 12 here...
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Not 35 or older. More like several of us are 25-32 years old. That's just how it seems to fall.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com