The original trilogy’s FULL of great characters - that’s why the movies are good. Leia’s a great character, Han Solo, Luke, Chewie, the older Obi-Wan… they’re all sensational. Even a lot of the minor players are great. Tarkin is deliciously evil. Lando’s fantastic. And the driods are great.
The two that stand out to me, though, are Darth Vader - IMHO, the greatest movie villain of all time - and Yoda. Neither actually gets a huge amount of screen time; Yoda might get 15 minutes in the entire trilogy, Vader 30 or 40, but they totally own every scene and deliver one fantastic line after another.
The prequel trilogy really has no characters of any note at all; even Obi-Wan is uneven and inconsistent, especially in the first two films.
A few years ago, I’d have said R2D2. But the webcomic Darths and Droids has managed to completely overturn my previous notions to the point that I’m really not sure who my favorite is. They’ve managed to make Jar-Jar a sympathetic character, and R2 into an annoying twit.
Hear, hear. Virtually every character from “Star Wars” and “Empire” was memorable/ cool in one way or another. Well, okay, maybe not the begoggled alien with the ludicrous prosthetic nose in Mos Eisley (you know, the dude that follows Luke and Ben on their way to the Falcon).
Still, Wes Janson gets my vote, with Wedge Antilles and Lara Notsil (another “Woobie” - and IMO far more compelling a character than Jinzler) as close seconds. The Wraith Squadron books are the best things ever to come out of the Star Wars universe. No contest.
“Definition: ‘Love’ is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope… Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds.”
From the movies, Han Solo - “Who’s scruffy looking?”
From the other stuff: HK-47:
HK-47: “Answer: Simply that the distinction between ‘killer’ and ‘killee’ be a clear one. I cannot kill of my own volition, naturally.”
Revan: “I don’t think ‘killee’ is a word.”
HK-47: “Expletive: Damn it, master, I am an assassination droid… not a dictionary!” "
Well, if you’re counting the video games as part of Star Wars, then obviously HK-47. I don’t think there’s really any other answer to that question than HK-47.
Counting the video games, I really liked Vader’s Apprentice from The Force Unleashed. Particularly in the DLC, where they show you what would have happened to the Rebellion if Vader had died earlier on (which is the “evil” ending to the retail game). So far, I’ve killed Obi Wan Kenobi on Tattooine, then killed him again when he showed up as a Force ghost. Then I bopped over to Hoth and turned Luke to the Dark Side and made him my apprentice. I’m really hoping they follow through and do a RotJ download. Can’t wait to see where they go with it. I’m hoping it involves a lot of indiscriminate Ewok slaughter.
Han Solo is probably one of the top 10 greatest characters in the history of all film, not just sci-fi, from a writing and development perspective, and Harrison Ford took that character up a notch as well. I think it would be easy to say that it was once-in-a-lifetime performance.
Of course, of that list of 10 ten characters, Yoda would be #1, but he’s no longer my favorite because of his incredibly stupid fighting style in the prequels. Really, throw down his cane and then turn into the Mosquito of Death? Seriously? I was really expecting that his cane would be his lightsabre, like a naginata.
Because I like the underdog (and for some reason he is one, since he’s not ‘cool’), I’m going with… Luke. Yes. The so-called whiny farmboy. There’s just something about a kid who goes through angst and suffering to become a tougher, stronger, wiser hero. And I think Mark Hamill’s performance is underrated, especially in V and VI.
Second favorite is Ben, tied with Leia and Han. Oh, and C-3PO. And Yoda. And Darth Vader and Lando. (Chewie and Artoo aren’t huge favorites, because I kinda require dialogue before I can really dig a character.)
Bear in mind I’ve only seen the first three films (about a billion times each), about 30 minutes of I, 45 minutes of II, and none of III. From what little I’ve seen, I think young Obi-Wan remains a favorite. Ewan Macgregor is yrummy and does a mean Alec Guinesss impression!
Han Solo. Hell, when I was ten years old and stupid enough to laugh at Jar Jar, even I could tell that the the prequels sucked due to a serious lack of Han Solo.
Yoda, because he reminds me of my Chinese great-grandfather: he’s old and wise. Short. Does things unexpectedly. Speaks bad English. Confuses the hell out of you.
