#HappyStarWarsDay: The 10 Greatest Star Wars Scenes
4th May 201610. The lava Lamping – Revenge of the Sith (above)
Anakin, having turned to the Dark Side, unleashes hell against his former master on the exploding volcano planet Mustafar. The lengthiest lightsaber battle in the saga, and on a par with the best sword-fighting sequences in Hong Kong cinema.
9. The Cantina Bar – A New Hope
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UAGfC0Ktb5Q
Luke and Obi-Wan hit this hive of scum and villainy as the catchiest tune in the galaxy is played. Luke gets on the wrong side of a gent who’s been charged with the death sentence on 12 systems, Obi-Wan chops someone’s arm off, and we meet Chewy. Oh, and Han has an encounter with Greedo. Let’s not even go there…
8. The Yoda Fight – Attack Of The Clones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLV-Vpy1gqQ
Count Dooku has beaten Obi-Wan and Anakin, and all seems lost. Wait, who’s this little fella? Why, it’s Yoda. Good to see you, but you won’t be much use here… Hang on. Blimey, look at him go!
7. The big freeze – The Empire Strikes Back
Han is captured by Vader on Cloud City and used as a test subject for the carbon freezing process. Leia blurts out, “I love you.” Han answers: “I know.”
6. The asteroid field – The Empire Strikes Back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvJDItC6tE0
The crew of the faulty Millennium Falcon flee Vader’s Empire fleet. Finding they are unable to out-run their enemies. Han tries to outfly them by steering the Falcon into an asteroid field.
5. The Big – My, it’s Big – Opening – A New Hope
A rebel blockade runner hurtles through space, and in its wake, comes a Star Destroyer. The tone is set: Kubrick’s 2001, with blasters.
4. The Sith Money Shot – Revenge Of The Sith
Anakin finally becomes Vader, when his ruined body is encased in black life-support armour.
3. The Ultimate Jedi Gymnastics – The Phantom Menace
The fight between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Three. Lightsabers. At. Once.
2. The Death Star attack – A New Hope
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bXIqfHI0hQY
It’s a joyous end, with Wedge, Biggs and Porkins joining Luke as they take on the Death Star, TIE fighters and Vader himself in a race against the clock. It’s a quasi-sexual sequence in which Luke flies his phallic X-wing along a long trench to fire his proton torpedoes, and become a man. Probably.
1. The Big Shock – The Empire Strikes Back
https://youtube.com/watch?v=h6sj89xgnl4
One of cinema’s greatest twists. Famously kept under wraps, with David Prowse, who acted as Vader, but didn’t voice him (that was James Earl Jones) given a fake line onset: “Obi-Wan killed your father.” It is Mark Hamill’s greatest moment as Luke, as he discovers the truth and chooses to fall to his (potential) death. The saga’s emotional core hangs on this Freudian terror.
Do you remember these 10 Star Wars scenes? We have rated them as the 10 greatest scenes of the film #HappyStarWarsDay. Tweet us your favourites @North_LightsNE
By Damon Ingram