Good morning and a very happy May the Fourth to all you Star Wars fans out there!
According to Ben Burtt, who served as the sound designer for the majority of the franchise’s films, Chewbacca’s voice was brought to life by combining bits of sounds made by bears, walruses, lions, badgers and other animals.
“It’s a voice that’s manufactured completely out of animal sounds — principally bears — and synchronized with the performance that is shot during filming,” Burtt recalled.
In dramatic and unexpected fashion, the Okanagan real estate boom has taken a wild upswing dating back to early last fall, despite the impact of COVID-19, a boom cycle some experts say could extend for the rest of the decade.
“I think when we look back at 2021 in the real estate industry, we are going to say it was a good time, but maybe the party ended too fast,” said Scott Brown, CEO of Epic Real Estate Solutions/Fifth Avenue.
We could all use some extra love these days. If you’re feeling down or if you need a boost to get you through the day, here’s a cute little penguin reminding you that everything will be OK!
may appear like big, hairy Sasquatches, but the ambulatory shag carpets can trace their lineage to man’s best friend. George Lucas would later claim, in fact, that he based the character of Chewbacca on his own dog, an Alaskan Malamute called Indiana who would later inspire another Lucas creation.
The Force Awakens
Chewie is quite a specimen! He is bipedal, standing on two legs, and covered in what looks like fur. He stands taller than anyone in the gathering crowd and tries to communicate using a strange howling growl of a call. After the initial shock wears off, everyone agrees on the need for a scientist to observe the strange visitor. The expert called in happens to be Dr. John Wible, Curator of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. His extensive knowledge of our planet’s mammal species helps guide the process of classifying this new creature.
A New Hope
A common goal of keeping Chewie healthy means that getting samples must be non-invasive and safe. That makes DNA the way to go! This genetic material can be obtained from even small samples of hair, fingernails, saliva, blood, or even poop. Since Chewie is covered in hair, Dr. Wible compares the DNA in a shed strand to that of other mammals. He first looks for similar genetic patterns between our new friend and groups of mammals that have already been studied. From there, he builds a case as to what animal(s) Chewbacca is most closely related. While waiting for the DNA samples to come back from the lab, Dr. Wible makes comparisons with the fossil record and comes to the conclusion that Chewbacca is most like Gigantopithecus. This species of humongous apes stood about 10 feet tall and roamed regions of Asia more than 100,000 years ago.
Cold war[]
At some point during the 30 years after the Battle of Endor, the Millennium Falcon was stolen from Han and Chewbacca,[71] at the age of 234,[70] and they were using a Baleen-class heavy freighter, the Eravana, for their smuggling operations.[71] They eventually recovered the Falcon using their freighters tractor beam after it was found floating in space not too far from the planet Jakku. Upon boarding their old vessel, Han and Chewbacca went about inspecting their ship and found the Jakku scavenger Rey and the defecting stormtrooper Finn hiding, whom Han assumed were the thieves that had stolen the Falcon. When Rey and Finn explained that they were going to take a droid named BB-8 to the Resistance as he had a map that would reveal Lukes location, Han and Chewbacca agreed to help them.[14]
Unfortunately, their freighter was boarded by two notorious criminal factions, the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub, who had hired Solo on previous jobs, which he had failed to complete. Not wanting Rey and Finn to be involved, Han placed both of them in the lower corridors of the freighter while he and Chewbacca went to meet with the criminals, with BB-8 accompanying them. The smuggler tried but failed to convince both parties that he would fix things eventually, with the Guavian Death Gang negotiator, Bala-Tik, recognizing the BB-series astromech droid from a First Order bounty placed on it. They demanded that Han hand over the droid and any stowaways he might have on board. As the scuffle continued, Rey accidentally released three rathtars. Han, Chewbacca, Finn, Rey, and BB-8 managed to escape the gangs and jumped into hyperspace in the Falcon, though Chewbacca was injured from a blaster shot during the escape.[14]
Chewbacca accompanied Han, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 to meet with Maz Kanata. After the First Order was tipped off that BB-8 was with them, they attacked Mazs castle. During the fighting at the castle, despite killing multiple stormtroopers, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn were captured by the First Order. However, the Resistance had also been tipped off, and Resistance T-70 X-wing starfighters led by Poe Dameron arrived to fight the First Order. A fierce dogfight ensued and resulted in the destruction of many First Order TIEs and the deaths of many stormtroopers from X-wing strafing runs. Ren ordered the First Order to pull out, saying they had what they came for. As the battle raged on above the castle, the remaining First Order troops boarded their ships and retreated, taking the captured and unconscious Rey along with them. Despite the First Order being driven off, Han witnessed Kylo Ren carrying Rey away. The remaining Falcon crew then rendezvoused with the Resistance at their home base.[14] There Chewbaccas wounds were treated by Resistance doctor, Major Harter Kalonia.[70]
As Starkiller Base prepared to wipe out the world of DQar, the site of the Resistances headquarters, the Resistance planned an attack of their own. Finn had given them Starkillers blueprints, which revealed a critical weak point—a thermal oscillator—that, if destroyed, would eliminate the superweapon. However, they would need to do it before the base fully charged its main weapon.[14]
Han Solo piloted the Falcon to Starkiller Base accompanied by Chewbacca and Finn. Their objective was to disable the shields and allow the X-wing squadron to strike, although Finns main objective was to rescue Rey. Flying through the shields at lightspeed, the Falcon landed roughly on the edge of a cliff. Han, Chewbacca, and Finn snuck into the main base and captured Captain Phasma, who they forced to disable Starkillers shields before disposing her in a garbage chute. They reunited with Rey, who had already escaped on her own. With the shields down, Blue Squadron and Red Squadron led by Poe Dameron commenced their assault. They fired on the bases weak point, but failed to destroy it as the First Order sent TIE fighters to stage a counterattack and throw the Resistance into chaos.[14]
Seeing this, Han, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey tried to create an opening by planting thermal detonators inside the base. Han then confronted his son, Kylo Ren, named Ben Solo at birth, on a bridge over a large pit, pleading with his son to reject Snoke and return to the light side of the Force. Ben, removing his mask and seeming almost regretful, handed his lightsaber to Solo, and asked for his fathers help, in which Solo replied that he would do anything for him. Ben then thrust his weapon through Hans chest. Witnessed by Rey, Finn, and Chewbacca, Han stroked his sons face for the last time, before falling to his death. Howling in fury, Chewbacca fired on Ren with his bowcaster, while Finn and Rey also fired on Ren and the surrounding stormtroopers. Chewbacca managed to land a hit on Rens waist with his bowcaster, injuring him, but Ren managed to chase them out of the base. Chewbacca then detonated the charges, allowing Poe to fly in and destroy Starkillers weak point thirty seconds before it drained the sun to charge its main weapon. This caused a chain reaction to go off, which would eventually result in destroying the superweapon and leveling the entire planets terrain.[14]
As Chewbacca made his exit from the base, he briefly debated upon whether to pursue and kill Kylo Ren. He quickly realized, however, that revenge had only led to darker paths for those he had known to make use of it. Thus Chewbacca quickly decided that saving those still alive was the better alternative. He quickly commandeered a snow speeder and headed back to the Millennium Falcon which was guarded by six Snowtroopers. One by one, Chewbacca took them out and entered the Falcon. The Falcon then rose from the snow and headed off to find Rey and Finn.[72]
Shortly afterward, Chewbacca arrived with the Millennium Falcon to rescue the scavenger and Finn, who was severely wounded by Ren. They and the remainder of the Resistance fleet managed to escape Starkiller Base as it erupted into a star, and entered hyperspace to return to DQar.[14]
The Resistance celebrated their victory while Leia, Chewbacca, and Rey mourned Hans death. R2-D2 suddenly awoke and revealed that he held the map to Lukes location, with the only piece of the map missing being the one BB-8 was given by Poe. Together they completed the map and revealed the location of the planet on which Luke Skywalker was hiding. Using this, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and Rey flew aboard the Falcon to Ahch-To, where Luke was exiled.[14]
After Rey tried and failed to recruit Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca decided to help her in convincing his old friend into helping them by busting in his hut. When Luke heard of Han Solos death, Chewbacca comforted him. Chewbacca was later seen aboard the Millennium Falcon when Luke came in to remember all the good times he had in his adventure. Later that evening, Chewbacca caught and roasted two porgs for dinner, but relented when their brethren approached him, watching sadly before scaring them away.[73]
During the Battle of Crait between the remaining forces of the Resistance and a First Order invasion army, Chewbacca piloted the Millennium Falcon, using it to lure the Orders TIE fighters away from a force of Resistance ski speeders. After the battle, he landed the ship and used it to evacuate the surviving members of the Resistance.[73]
FAQ
Is Chewbacca a real animal?
Is Chewie a dog?
