Star Wars Identities – Yoda

It was the height of movie magic when you do not have all the 3D CGI and you depended on stop-motion animation and puppetry to create the wonderful universe that we knew as Star Wars.

Yoda The Wise One

There were many interesting characters that shaped the main protagonists’ lives. And Yoda is moral compass of what’s righteous and just in the Star Wars Universe.

Luckily, they didn’t pick the design of the elf. If not, the whole saga would become The Hobbits. How lucky the decision was, or perhaps it was the genius of George Lucas.

The final form that was built by the venerable puppet maker Frank Oz and was used as the character designs for Yoda ever since. The small puppet was operated by Frank himself during the filming.

Subsequently, Yoda was given more screen time because of its popularity among the fandom and it led the storyline in the animated series of the Clone Wars, the important battle that caused the rise of the Galactic Empire, and the effect was 800 years of struggle between the two factions afterwards. Everything in Star Wars is karma as George Lucas is a firm believer that in life everything has a cause and effect.

Yoda was not in the first movie and was introduced only in Empire Strikes Back. Luke was sent by Obi-Wan to the swamp planet of Dagobah to complete his Jedi training. The storyboard was a delightful insight to the classic scene when Obi-Wan’s spirit came back and had a conversation with Yoda about Luke.

And then there’s the set designers original drawings. It just brought back the memories of watching the movies for the very first time 40 years ago – yes, it’s that long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

The Star Wars Identities exhibition ran from 30 Jan to 13 June 2021 at the ArtScience Museum. And according to the website, this will be the last location that the exhibition will run.

Date Visited : Feb 2021