George Lucas Explains Why Yoda Speaks Backwards in ‘Star Wars’

According to George Lucas, Yoda’s distinctive speech pattern in the ‘Star Wars’ world was purposefully chosen to make sure that viewers would listen more intently.

 With his well-known phrases like “The dark side clouds everything,” Yoda, who made his screen debut in ‘The Empire Strikes Back, ’ is renowned for his unique backwards speech.  The future is impossible to predict.  Lucas revealed that he intended Yoda to be more interesting and thought-provoking while he was developing the character, particularly for younger viewers.

Lucas claims that if Yoda had used ordinary English, fewer people would have listened.  He thought that using a character accent or speaking in a challenging manner would make the audience pay attention to what he was saying.  Lucas considered Yoda to be the film’s philosophical voice and believed that he was crucial to engaging the audience, especially the 12-year-olds.

Image Courtesy: StarWars.com

 In addition to this, producer Rick McCallum recently revealed that Lucas’s ‘Star Wars’ television series was cancelled in the early 2000s.  It was said that the project, which featured more than 60 scripts and was characterised as sexual, violent, and dark, had the ability to completely transform the ‘Star Wars’ universe.  Disney would never have bought ‘Star Wars’ from Lucas if the series had been finished, McCallum thought.

There have been numerous ‘Star Wars’ movies and television programs since the franchise was sold to Disney in 2012 for $4 billion. These include the sequel trilogy, stand-alone movies like ‘Solo’ and ‘Rogue One’, and other series that have expanded the ‘Star Wars’ universe.  Additionally, as part of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) Film On Film Festival, the original Star Wars theatrical cut will be screened for the first time in years.

–Farheen Ali