Chewbacca actually got his much-deserved medal long before The Rise of Skywalker...
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00:00From secret abilities he was forbidden to use in battle, to what actually went into
00:04the creation of his unmistakable growl and furry look.
00:08These are all of the things you likely never knew about the eventual pal of the Porgs.
00:13Gareth here from WarCulture Star Wars and here are 10 Things You Didn't Know About
00:17Chewbacca.
00:1810.
00:19He was nearly forced to wear a pair of lederhosen
00:22Before he eventually debuted in A New Hope back in 1977, Chewbacca went through quite
00:28a few different looks in the development stage.
00:31The great Ralph McQuarrie's early concept art showed off a version of the eventual Wookiee
00:35that resembled an unsettling lemur-ape hybrid.
00:39With those sketches eventually evolving into a version of the mighty alien, that looked
00:43like the less terrifying version of Chewbacca fans know and love today.
00:47And it was after a star who eventually scored a cameo in The Last Jedi, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
00:52posted some of these early draft images on X, that Mark Hamill delivered a fun fact via
00:57retweet that initially sounded too surreal to be true.
01:01According to the Luke Skywalker Superstar, 20th Century Fox execs raised little concern
01:06about Chewie's lack of pants, whilst the team were in the early stages of shooting
01:10the first Star Wars.
01:11In fact, they were so bothered about a naked Wookiee on screen, they even suggested throwing
01:16him into a pair of lederhosen.
01:18So a pair of family members being burned to a crisp was just fine, but a furry alien species
01:23wandering around in only a bandolier was oddly a cause for concern for this studio.
01:29How strange.
01:309.
01:31He has a wife and kid If you were someone that was only really introduced
01:35to the galaxy far, far away in the time after the original trilogy was first released in
01:40theatres around the globe, there's a good chance you've never been put through the
01:43bizarre experience that is the Star Wars Holiday Special.
01:47But if you do ever feel like celebrating Life Day with Chewie and the rest of the gang on
01:51Kashyyyk in this weird TV special, then you'll discover that Chewbacca has an entire Wookiee
01:56family that has never really been seen on the big screen at any point, and that Chewie's
02:01father is a rather horny old man who enjoys VR, um, experiences.
02:06The smuggler slash freedom fighter actually has a wife called Mala Tobok, and the pair
02:10also have a son known as Lumpawaru, or Lumpy.
02:14And while the pair wouldn't pop up again on screen in the time post-holiday special,
02:18Chewie did eventually reunite with his lost son and wife during the liberation of Kashyyyk
02:23after the Galactic Civil War, with Lumpy being forced to work in an imperial labour camp
02:28for years when the planet was enslaved by the Empire.
02:31And after all that, number 8, he actually retired at one point.
02:35That's right, after years of risking it all to smuggle goods across the galaxy and
02:39fighting the Empire, this brave rebel hero finally decided to take a step back from living
02:44the adventurous life.
02:46Not long after helping to liberate his homeworld alongside old pal Han Solo in the Aftermath
02:51Life Debt novel, this Wookiee chose to remain with his family on Kashyyyk, leaving his smuggler
02:56pal to manage his own shipping company and even oversee a piloting championship known
03:01as the Five Sabres at one point.
03:03But throughout all of that, Chewie still kept in contact with his longtime mate, and his
03:07New Republic Senator wife, Leia.
03:10Retirement isn't for everyone though, and it wasn't too long before Chewbacca was back
03:13smuggling for a living with his pal, after Han and Leia split in the wake of Ben Solo's
03:18fall to the dark side.
03:20The two then continued working together right up to the point they bumped into Rey and Finn
03:24on the Millennium Falcon during the events of The Force Awakens.
03:27Number 7, he had extendable claws but typically didn't use them in battle.
03:32More often than not, whenever this big ball of passionate fur was found taking down Stormtroopers
03:37on the battlefield, his weapon of choice was a rather effective Wookiee Bowcaster.
03:42What you may not have been aware of, however, is the fact that Chewie actually possessed
03:45another somewhat savage tool up his hairy sleeve, one that he was forbidden from using
03:50in combat.
03:51Despite boasting extendable claws on both hands, using these sharp parts of his anatomy
03:56for anything other than climbing was against the rules of the Wookiee Honor Code.
04:01And while Chewbacca would largely keep from ever unleashing said claws in the heat of
04:05battle, there was actually one moment shortly after Han Solo's tragic death when the Wookiee
04:10did suddenly decide to use his dangerous claws on a First Order Stormtrooper.
04:15In Chewie's mind, the First Order had zero honour, and Kylo Ren had broken all the rules
04:20after committing patricide, so he was only too happy to break the code for these vermin
04:24in the moment.
04:25Number 6, he once won a Lifetime Achievement Award.
04:29For decades, fans had been demanding justice for this valiant rebel hero, in the wake of
04:34being snubbed during the medal-giving ceremony that followed Han, Chewie and Luke successfully
04:39working together to blow up the first Death Star.
04:42And while the Wookiee icon would eventually be handed Solo's medal on screen, during
04:46the closing stages of The Rise of Skywalker by Maz Kanata, that wasn't actually the
04:51first time Chewie got his shaggy hands on a piece of gold.
04:55Back in 1997, during the MTV Movie Awards, that year's Lifetime Achievement Award was
05:00presented to, according to the host himself, one of the reasons Michael Myers became an
05:05actor.
05:06Chewie's homage showing off the Star Wars legend's finest moments fighting alongside
05:10his mates, and roaring his way through many a compelling scene soon followed.
05:14With Chewie then going on to finally be awarded the medal he deserved for two decades by Carrie
05:19Fisher herself, as the crowd went wild, it was a proud and entirely absurd moment for
05:25this giant of the industry.
05:27Number 5, he's a lot older than you think.
05:30Almost twenty years may have passed between the end of Revenge of the Sith and the start
05:34of A New Hope, but Chewbacca didn't look like he'd aged a damn day.
05:38And Chewie also didn't appear to possess any new grey hairs when he popped back up
05:42in The Force Awakens thirty years on from the conclusion of Return of the Jedi.
05:47The reason?
05:48Wookiees have a massive average lifespan of 400 years.
05:52So the entire Skywalker Saga timeline, 67 years, only really takes up a small chunk
05:57of his overall life, with Chewie actually already being a whopping 200 years old when
06:02fans first met him in Episode 4.
06:05This also explains why Chewie's able to go so long without seeing his family back
06:08home without feeling massively homesick.
06:11In Wookiee years, he wasn't really gone that long at all when he was away kicking
06:14Imperial slash First Order ass throughout the Galactic Civil and First Order Resistance
06:19Wars.
06:20And with Chewie still only being in his mid-200s coming out of The Rise of Skywalker, perhaps
06:25he could still show up in the upcoming Daisy Ridley-starring Star Wars feature to say hello
06:29to his old mate Rey while she's building the Jedi Order too.
06:334.
06:34His voice is a combination of multiple animal cries
06:37While the average person hasn't got even the slightest idea what the sharpshooting
06:40tech-savvy Wookiee is talking about the majority of the time, the various growls, cries, roars
06:45and howls that tumble out of Chewbacca's gob are actually more familiar than you realise.
06:51Chewbacca's voice was the first thing world-class sound designer Ben Burtt was hired to work
06:55on when creating the first Star Wars.
06:57And he'd spend a year recording a number of different animals that he'd use to create
07:01the iconic noises Wookiees would eventually make when communicating in this galaxy far,
07:06far away.
07:07Bears, walruses, badgers, lions and sick and domestic animals were all recorded by Burtt
07:12in that time, with the designer extracting different moans, grunts and purring sounds
07:18that he felt had emotional feelings connected to them.
07:21Burtt then ended up with a bunch of different categories of emotional sounds and began cutting
07:25those together to get a sense of speech out of Chewie, whilst also trying to land on a
07:30sound that felt believable coming out of a mouth that didn't really have articulated
07:34lips.
07:35So after recording everything from bears to badgers and a great deal of trial and error,
07:39the Wookiee way of speaking was born.
07:42The iconic costume has evolved over the years Chewie's voice wasn't the only thing that
07:46was created with a little help from some of our planet's various creatures.
07:50As revealed by the towering star beneath the Wookiee fur during the original trilogy, Revenge
07:55of the Sith and The Force Awakens, Peter Mayhew, the suit he would spend a ton of time walking
07:59around in on set was actually originally made from a combination of yak hair and mohair,
08:05a fabric or yarn made from angora goat hair.
08:08According to the late Mayhew, the suit during those first three films was heavy and warm,
08:12and the trick was to get in and out of it as quickly as possible.
08:16When he ultimately returned to the legendary role for episode 3 though, he was pleased
08:20to find the suit had been given a bit of an upgrade.
08:23This time around, the actor was treated to a new costume that was water-cooled and relatively
08:28easy to wear.
08:29Junosu Otamo, who would step into the role full-time from episode 8 onwards, would also
08:35note how the metal inside the costume was replaced with foam after episode 7, with the
08:39actor also explaining how his jaw is actually very much pushing down Chewie's lower jaw
08:45whenever the Wookiee speaks on screen, and that process is pretty tiring.
08:49The costume has certainly gotten more comfortable over the years, but it's still often hot
08:53and tiring work bringing this furry icon to life, y'know?
08:572.
08:58George Lucas' Dog Inspired Him To Create This Wookiee
09:01A long time ago, in the time when George Lucas was writing the first ever chapter in the
09:05galaxy far, far away, the Star Wars creator would often be accompanied by a furry companion
09:10of his own.
09:12His sweet Alaskan Malamute Indiana, the name that would later be used for another iconic
09:16Harrison Ford character, would always be sat next to him whilst he was scribbling away,
09:21with the large pooch even sitting in the front seat of his car whenever he went for a drive.
09:26And as he'd reveal in an issue of Star Wars Galaxy Magazine, having his 130lb canine with
09:32him all the time eventually inspired Lucas to give Han Solo a sidekick who was like a
09:37big furry dog.
09:38Lucas would swiftly add that this sidekick would not be quite like a dog, but intelligent.
09:44Ever wondered what went into naming Solo's best bud too?
09:47Well, that was seemingly a case of Lucas just changing a few words around to make Wookiee
09:51words and liking the sound of Chewbacca the best, with the Wookiee species getting their
09:57name.
09:58After the improvised line, I think I just ran over a Wookiee, Terry McGovern uttered
10:01in Lucas' THX 1138 film, you never know where inspiration's gonna strike.
10:07So now you know!
10:091.
10:10He Properly Died In The Expanded Universe
10:13Ending things on a rather depressing note, I am sorry.
10:16Star Wars Expanded Universe actually went and did what the Rise of Skywalker would only
10:20dare tease.
10:2113 years before Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, a novel by the name of The New Jedi
10:27Order Vector Prime was published, and it was in this story that Han Solo and Chewbacca
10:31ended up on the planet Sermpidal, with that world in danger due to its moon being about
10:36to collide with it.
10:38However, as the longtime pals attempt to rescue thousands of folks before the moon smashes
10:42into Sermpidal, Chewie is soon left on the planet after having to save Han's son, Anakin
10:47Solo, it was a different time, during the evacuation, and is actually killed when the
10:52moon finally comes crashing down.
10:54What?
10:55Sure, this heartbreaking death would ultimately be reversed when Disney decided to spend billions
11:00on George Lucas' brainchild, but there was definitely a time there when it looked like
11:04Chewbacca's days of protecting the galaxy were very much over, with the fallen Wookiee
11:09ultimately becoming a legend on his homeworld in the years that followed his heroic sacrifice.
11:14And that's our list!
11:15Know of any other things people didn't know about Chewbacca?
11:18Well let us know all about them in the comments section right down below, and don't forget
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11:24Also if you like this sort of stuff then please head on over to whatculture.com and find some
11:28more fantastic Star Wars articles just like the one this video you're watching right now
11:31is based on.
11:32I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars, may the force be with you as always, cheers
11:37for blasting in to see us today and hopefully we'll see you soon!