Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releases this weekend, and we could not be more excited. In honor of this newest installment in the Star Wars franchise, today’s Five by Friday takes a look back at some of our favorite quotes throughout all seven of the previous movies.
Teija will be sitting this week out due to travel, which made it even more impossible than usual to include every quote we’d want to pick. So Lauren and Sarah agreed to take this one out of the running, in order to give us a little more wiggle room.
We were both able to agree that the best quote from the entire series is when Leia loses it with Han and explodes in a fury of “Why, you stuck up… half-witted… scruffy-looking… Nerf-herder!” It really doesn’t get more quotable than that!
Join us in the comments or on your own blog–we’ve even provided a graphic for you, which you can either save to your own space or link from tinypic using the following HTML code: <a href=”http://avengingforce.com”><img src=”http://i59.tinypic.com/2d9318w.jpg”><*/a> Just remove the asterisks, and you’re all set!
Lauren
I went through a lot of lists of “Best Star Wars Quotes” to come up with my top five, and something I learned about myself is my favorites are rarely the iconic or poetic lines. No one’s embroidering my picks on pillows or having them printed in colorful, looping font to frame on their wall (well, except for my top pick, but only ironically). My favorite quotes are the ones that either make me genuinely laugh out loud every time, tell me something important about the story or a character, or tend to crop up in my day-to-day conversations year after year.
5. “One thing’s for sure, we’re all going to be a lot thinner.” – Han Solo, A New Hope
I’ve always loved how Star Wars manages to inject levity into really tense or serious scenes, and the trash compactor scene in A New Hope is a shining example. Between this quote, which is one of many lines establishing Han’s wry sense of humor, and the gag where C-3PO thinks he’s hearing death screams over the communicator when they’re actually whooping for joy, A New Hope takes what could be a potentially dark, scary scene and makes it exciting and even funny.
4. Tie: “You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.” – Princess Leia, A New Hope
and “That one’s garbage!” [ship blows up] “The garbage will do.” – Rey, The Force Awakens
Totally cheating on this one, and I’m not even sorry. I am such a fan of the constant dissing of the Millennium Falcon by most of the characters in the Star Wars universe, while Han maintains its greatness. I just really enjoy the idea that this ship that is so iconic to the fandom is actually, more or less, a souped up jalopy. Plus Rey’s dismissal of the off-screen Falcon and then the camera pan to its nostalgic reveal was one of my favorite moments in The Force Awakens.
3. “Laugh it up, fuzzball.” – Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back
Aside from the above-mentioned Nerf-herder line, this is probably one of my most frequently-used quotes from Star Wars. I also just really enjoy how much we are able to understand about Han and Chewie’s friendship just from watching Han’s side of their conversations.
2. “So who talks first? You talk first? I talk first?” – Poe Dameron, The Force Awakens
I loved how much this quote told us both about the character of Poe (precious, sweet, cinnamon roll Poe, please have a bigger role in the next two movies), and the tone of The Force Awakens. After so much time away from the Star Wars universe, and especially after opening with such an intense scene where Kylo Ren’s forces attack the village, it was easy to feel a little nervous about whether the tone of the movie was going to be a significant, dark departure from the previous films. But with this line, it was like the movie telling you, don’t worry, it’s going to be okay, this is still the Star Wars you know and love.
1. “I have a bad feeling about this.” – pretty much everyone in every movie
I can’t even explain why this is number one, it just is. It’s such an ordinary line, yet so very Star Wars in its associations. Even though it’s used in tons of movies of all genres, I can’t ever hear or say it without immediately hearing Han Solo’s voice in my head.
Sarah
There are many, many quotable lines from the Star Wars series and it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to my top five. I ultimately went with quotes that I use the most, or ones that continue to stand out to me across numerous rewatches. And for the most part I tried to stay away from the obvious or the overused, but I only mostly succeeded.
5. “Your focus determines your reality.” Qui-Gon Jinn, The Phantom Menace
I am the first to adit that the prequels are full of an awful lot of terrible. But there are some good moments and they stand out all the more because of how rare they are. This is one of them.
4. “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, A New Hope
Obi-Wan is full of wisdom and words of advice to dispense to Luke, but this particular gem is one that Luke finds himself referring to again and again throughout the series (and the now defunct EU). It’s also one that I think is very applicable to life in this galaxy.
3. “Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy.” Leia Organa
Leia is the queen of sass and this quote both cements her as no damsel in distress, while at the same time setting the tone for her relationship with Han throughout the series. The lesson here? Don’t mess with Princess Leia or you’ll find yourself in a garbage chute hiding from stormtroopers.
2. “That’s not how the Force works!” Han Solo, The Force Awakens
Han playing the mentor role is certainly a new one, but thankfully he doesn’t lose any of his sarcasm while doing it. I also love this quote because it shows how far Han has come from the pilot who scoffed at the idea of the force upon his first meeting with Obi-Wan and Luke.
1. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
This is one of the most quoted lines from Star Wars (possibly only outpaced by Vader’s, “I am your father.”) and for good reason. Yoda is a tiny, green fountain of wisdom, much like Kermit, and his words are just as important.
Good ones, all! So was “I am your father…Search your feelings, you know it to be true” eliminated just because it’s too well known already? Gotta admit, upon hearing it the first time, it had a big impact.
I think it was more that we just went with our guts, and a lot of the more iconic lines aren’t the ones that have necessarily stuck out to us throughout the years. After all, these lists are always our favorite five picks, not necessarily what most people would be considered the “best.” But that doesn’t mean they aren’t all great! There are way too many to pick from to have included them all.