More Star Wars moments that demanded greater inspection.
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00:00From visually stunning action beats to strange easter eggs, blink and you'll miss it oddities,
00:06and slivers of incredible comedy, these Star Wars moments all begged fans to hit pause and
00:12just soak them in for a minute or two. So after already bringing you one list full of must-pause
00:17Star Wars scenes, I'm Gareth, this is WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 more of the most
00:23pause Star Wars moments. 10. The Holdo Maneuver
00:30Whether you love or hate The Last Jedi, it does lay claim to one of the single coolest images
00:35in Star Wars history, when Vice Admiral Holdo pulls off the near-mythic Holdo Maneuver.
00:40In a desperate attempt to fend off the First Order fleet and buy the Resistance precious time to escape
00:46to Krait, Holdo sacrifices herself by suicidally ramming her ship, the Raddus, into Snoke's
00:52flagship The Supremacy at near-light speed. The result is pure destruction, the Raddus slices
00:58through The Supremacy and obliterates the surrounding fleet, all of this depicted in
01:03eye-wateringly beautiful slow motion and near-complete silence. Every shot in this sequence as an explosive
01:10white streak tears through the First Order Armada is 100% wallpaper worthy, but they each pass quickly
01:16enough that you'll definitely want to smash the pause button a few times and soak in each individual
01:21frame. This might well be the single most paused moment in the entire sequel trilogy honestly,
01:27and it's not hard to see why.
01:299. Vader's Scalp Star Wars Episode 5 The Empire Strikes Back
01:34Here's a moment that left a ton of Star Wars fans wearing out their VHS copy of The Empire Strikes
01:39Back back in the day. The ultra brief blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse of Darth Vader's exposed
01:45burned scalp. Shortly after Luke crash-lands on Dagobah, a brief scene plays out where Admiral Piet
01:51visits Vader in his meditation chamber to update him on their efforts to catch the Millennium Falcon.
01:57At the start of the scene, though, we can see Vader's helmet being lowered down over his head,
02:02leaving his discolored, deeply scarred scalp visible on-screen for about two seconds. It passes quickly
02:08enough that it practically begs fans to go back and pause to take another look. And this was surely
02:13especially true when Empire first hit VHS back in 1984. It's a tiny moment that nevertheless provided
02:20an extremely tantalizing tease of the full Sans helmet Anakin reveal we'd eventually get to see
02:26in Return of the Jedi.
02:288. CGI Leia Rogue One A Star Wars Story
02:32Boldly and somewhat controversially, Rogue One included not one, but two digital recreations of Star
02:38Wars alums, Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia.
02:43Though it was publicized pre-release that a digital double of the late Cushing would be featured in
02:47Rogue One, the late film appearance of a young Leia, achieved by superimposing a CGI likeness of a
02:53young Fisher over standing Yngville Daila, was kept a secret for maximum impact. Critical and fan
02:59opinion was ultimately divided on the necessity of using not-quite-convincing digital trickery to
03:05recreate these characters. But at least in Leia's case, her screen time amounts to a single 7 second
03:11shot. And so the close-up of Leia's face practically invited fans to hit pause and scrutinize every last
03:17detail, looking for imperfections which gave the game away. The irony of course is that it looks close
03:23to perfect in a freeze frame, and the uncanny valley effect really only becomes apparent in a moving
03:28image, where the subtle movements of Leia's face just seem ever so slightly off. Still, it's certainly
03:34an impressive effort. But I want to know what do you think is the most impressive CGI moment in all
03:39of Star Wars? You let me know in the comments section down below!
03:43Number 7, Jango Fett Flying Head Star Wars Episode 2 Attack of the Clones
03:48For all of its violence, Star Wars is technically a family-friendly franchise.
03:53All the Fs. And so the movies often have to sneak in their gnarliest moments in fleeting fashion.
03:59Case in point in Attack of the Clones, we witness Jango Fett get decapitated by Mace Windu,
04:04with a swift swish of his lightsaber during the Battle of Geonosis. We very clearly see Jango's
04:09head parted from his body, though George Lucas still manages to keep the MPAA happy by showing not
04:15a drop of blood, courtesy of those wound-cauterizing lightsabers. We do, however, briefly see Jango's
04:21helmet flying through the air. And if you pause this shot, you'll see a somehow even grimmer
04:26implication. During this shot, there are actually two shadows on the ground. One of his helmet,
04:32the other of his decapitated head, which has seemingly slid out of the helmet and soared through
04:37the air on its own power. On one hand, it's good to know that young Boba doesn't end up cradling his
04:42own father's head when he picks up their helmet, but on the other, the idea of Jango's head flying
04:46off into the battlefield isn't a whole lot better. 6. Darth Luke Star Wars Episode 5 The Empire Strikes
04:53Back Of the many, many unforgettable moments in The Empire Strikes Back, one of the few that
04:59immediately burned itself into fans' brains was Luke's iconic trip to Dagobah's dark side cave,
05:05which in Yoda's words, is a domain of evil. As part of Luke's training, he must battle the dark
05:10manifestation of the force that resides within the cave, embodied as Darth Vader himself. The brief
05:16fight of course concludes with Luke decapitating Vader with his lightsaber, at which point Vader's
05:22helmet falls to the floor and the faceplate explodes open, revealing Luke's own severed head
05:27underneath. It's a totally haunting image which represents Luke's fear of himself succumbing to the
05:32dark side, and can also be said to visually foreshadow Empire's final familial twist. It's one of the most
05:39horrific shots in the entire Star Wars saga, but also one that'll have you examining the frame to
05:44try and figure out exactly how they pulled it off. The answer is actually rather simple though,
05:49Mark Hamill hated the prop head they were originally going to use for the scene,
05:52and so simply poked his real head up from underneath the set. That was it.
05:57Thanks for pausing your day to watch this great little Star Wars video today,
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06:055. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's Charred Corpses – Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope
06:12Because severed heads apparently aren't bad enough, here's a Star Wars moment so unremittingly bleak,
06:17there's a good chance you've spent decades denying that you've ever actually seen it.
06:21In A New Hope, Luke returns home and discovers that his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru
06:25have been killed by stormtroopers. And for a few brief moments, we can also see Owen and Beru's
06:31charred corpses, melted all the way down to the skeleton after their home was set on fire.
06:36As fans, we're left to ponder precisely how Owen and Beru ended their lives,
06:40but this haunting final glimpse of the pair certainly makes it clear it was not a good death.
06:45While it's an utterly traumatic image to include in a film watched by millions of children,
06:50it's one just about every card-carrying Star Wars fan has paused at some point now. It can't just be me,
06:55right? The morbid curiosity is overpowering, but even a prolonged stare at the burned bodies doesn't
07:01clarify whether they were shot and killed before being set afire, or were actually just burned alive.
07:06Fans are still fiercely debating it to this day, and we can only hope for the former, eh?
07:114. Mace Windu feels unlimited power – Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith
07:17We've previously discussed the must-pause shot from Return of the Jedi, where Anakin's strangely deformed
07:23skull is visible when he's electrocuted by the Emperor. But Revenge of the Sith offers up
07:28something of a sequel, or rather, prequel to it. Mace Windu's battle with Palpatine comes to a brutal
07:34close when Anakin slices off Windu's hand, giving Palpatine time to unleash UNLIMITED POWER,
07:40hitting Windu with a sustained blast of Force lightning, as eventually sends him flying out the
07:45nearest window to his death. Or apparent death, depending on who you talk to. Much like Vader's
07:50electrocution in Return of the Jedi though, a freeze frame of this scene lets us take a close
07:54look at Mace Windu's traumatized skeleton. In addition to being strangely elongated much like
08:00Vader's skull, it's also clear in many frames that George Lucas' VFX team simply superimposed
08:05a rather crude basic 3D skull model over the top of Jackson's face. Even accepting that Revenge of
08:12the Sith is nearly 20 years old, it's a pretty goofy looking effect, albeit one that's tough to fully
08:17notice in regular motion. So those pause buttons simply had to be smashed.
08:223. Snoke's Clones – Star Wars Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker
08:27There are many moments in The Rise of Skywalker that might leave you agape in sheer disappointed
08:32disbelief. Though one you'll likely want to examine with a fine tooth comb occurs in the opening minutes
08:37of the film. When Kylo Ren visits Zombie Palpatine's lair on Exegol, for a few seconds we can see a large
08:44tank that appears to contain a number of clones of Supreme Leader Snoke. This ties into Palpatine's
08:49revelation to Kylo that Snoke was effectively a puppet, created by him to lure Kylo to the dark
08:55side. And the visual of the tank where the Snoke clones are housed is just murky enough that you'll
09:00probably feel compelled to pause and take a closer look. While it's tough to glean much concrete from
09:06this quick shot, and it arguably only raises many more questions than it answers, it is a JJ Abrams movie
09:12after all. It at least appears that the clones are alive in some way.
09:162. Yoda Wants Luke to Concentrate – Star Wars Episode 5 – The Empire Strikes Back
09:22And now for something a little less serious. We have the hilarious moment in Empire when Yoda
09:27sits on top of Luke while he performs a handstand, and attempts to move some rocks with the force.
09:32Luke eventually loses his focus, causing the rocks to fall over and Luke to lose his balance,
09:38taking Yoda to the ground with him. As Yoda falls though, he shouts CONCENTRATE as his face bears a
09:44terrified bug-eyed expression. We get to see Yoda at his most visibly hilariously demented, eyes about
09:50ready to pop out of their sockets as he realises he's on a collision course with the ground. While the
09:56original trilogy has its fair share of unintentionally goofy puppetry shots of Yoda, this one was obviously
10:02absolutely intended, and ridiculous enough that you'll definitely want to take a more prolonged
10:07peek. That's if you haven't replayed it a thousand times already. I know I have.
10:121. The Death Star Explosion – Star Wars Episode 4 – A New Hope
10:17And finally, who among us doesn't love marvelling at a huge, awesome explosion? It's basically hard-wired
10:23into us to stare slack-jawed at them, and Star Wars has regularly catered to that part of our lizard brains.
10:29While the explosion of the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi is arguably much cooler,
10:34it isn't quite as statuesque as the original superweapon's destruction in A New Hope.
10:39Seeing the Death Star suddenly explode in a gigantic fireball, complete with that unforgettable
10:45shockwave ring, is an incredible payoff to everything leading up to it, and something surely
10:50any Star Wars fan worth their salt has rewatched time and time and time again over the years.
10:55Fun fact for the uninitiated, the shockwave ring was actually only added in the 1997 special edition,
11:02and honestly remains one of the most inspired changes George Lucas has ever made to any Star
11:07Wars movie post-release. So cheers for that, Georgie Boy!