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Template:Star Wars character

Yoda is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe, who appears in all of the franchise's films except for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Frank Oz provided Yoda's voice in each film, and lent his skills as a puppeteer in the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace. For the radio dramatizations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Yoda was voiced by John Lithgow, while Tom Kane voiced him in the Clone Wars animated series and several video games.

Yoda first appears in the saga in The Empire Strikes Back as a Jedi Master, and trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi. In the prequel trilogy, he serves as Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Additional fiction in the Expanded Universe fills in more details of his life.


Language

Yoda speaks "Galactic Basic" in a distinctive manner by using anastrophe, that is, placing verbs (and more frequently, auxiliary verbs) at the end of a clause, and inverting the object and subject. In linguistic typology this is the "Object Subject Verb" format. A typical example of this pattern is from Return of the Jedi: "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not." Yoda also occasionally speaks in Object Verb Subject format. For example: "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter," and "Powerful Jedi was your father."

Yoda's speech pattern has been the source of much parody. He uses this style of language much less in the original trilogy, while he rarely speaks without anastrophe in the prequel trilogy.

Animating Yoda

Yoda's appearance was originally designed by British makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, who based Yoda's face partly on his own and partly on Albert Einstein's. Yoda was voiced by Frank Oz. In the original trilogy, he was realized as a puppet (controlled by Oz). Contrary to common belief, Yoda was never constructed as a Muppet; in fact he was designed almost entirely independently from Jim Henson's company, aside from minor consulting.

In The Phantom Menace, he was redesigned to look younger. He was computer-generated for two distant shots, but remained mostly a puppet. The puppet was re-designed by Nick Dudman from Stuart Freeborn's original design.

Rendered with computer animation in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in elaborate fight scenes. In Revenge of the Sith his face appears in several big close-ups, demanding highly-detailed CGI work. Despite the use of advanced technology, his performance was deliberately designed to match the puppet version, with some "mistakes" made such as the occasional ear-jiggling. Rob Coleman was responsible for the character's new incarnation to the series.

According to many Lucasfilm reports, Yoda has been redone in CGI for a later release of The Phantom Menace. This edition will most likely be part of a future release of the Star Wars saga. A clip of the new CG Yoda from The Phantom Menace can be seen in the featurette The Chosen One, included in the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith. The new version of the film has yet to be announced.

In other media

Yoda is confirmed as a playable guest character in the Xbox 360 version of Soul Calibur IV, wielding a green lightsaber. Darth Vader was also confirmed, but is due to be on the PS3 version. Yoda is also seen in games such as Star Wars Battlefront and Lego Star Wars.

Parodies

Notes

  1. Yoda at Muppet Wiki

References

  • The Jedi Apprentice series by Dave Wolverton and Jude Watson
  • Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0
  • Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Novelization, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1
  • The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
  • The Courtship of Princess Leia, 1995. Dave Wolverton, ISBN 0-553-56937-6
  • Mission from Mount Yoda, 1993. Paul Davids, Hollace Davids, ISBN 0-553-15890-2
  • A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, 2nd edition, 1994. Bill Slavicsek, ISBN 0-345-38625-6
  • The Essential guide to Characters (Star Wars), 1st edition, 1995. Andy Mangels, ISBN 0-345-39535-2
  • The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
  • Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-3481-4
  • Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8
  • Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Revised Core Rulebook, hardcover, 2002. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, ISBN 0-7869-2876-X
  • Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, hardcover, 2002. Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K.C. Stephens, James Maliszewski, ISBN 0-7869-2781-X

External links

Template:Episode I Template:Episode II Template:Episode III Template:Episode V Template:Episode VI

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