George Lucas’s Star Wars films are a cult phenomenon. They are referenced numerous times in the Buffyverse. The original trilogy included the movies Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return Of The Jedi (1983) and the movies The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) were made later on.
- 2.01 When She Was Bad: when Xander and Willow play Guess the Movie from the tag line:
Willow: “Use the Force, Luke.”,
Xander: “Do I even have to dignify that with a guess?” - 2.03 School Hard: Spike told Angel that, “You were my Yoda!” Yoda was the ancient Jedi master who became the mentor and teacher for both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.
- 3.13 The Zeppo: A visual reference to Star Wars is seen when Xander runs into the corridor and runs back out with the gang members chasing him. Han Solo does the same thing in Star Wars.
- 3.19 Choices: Buffy says that Faith has turned to ‘the dark side’.
- 4.01 The Freshman: Xander confuses the Star Wars Jedi code quoted by Yoda in The Phantom Menace.
“Hate leads to anger…no wait…Fear leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side.”
Also in that episode, the old frat house that the vampires are holed up in is the Psi Theta house. If you write those two greek letters together, and pronounce them together, you get Sith.
- 4.04 Fear, Itself: Xander says to Oz, “Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Master?”
- 5.08 Shadow: Buffy using the chain to choke Sobek the snake-demon is reminiscent of Princess Leia killing Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.
- 5.17 Forever: Ben calls Glory’s minions “Jawa rejects” after the small hooded and robed creatures in Star Wars.
- 6.05 Life Serial: Andrew paints a Death Star from Star Wars on the side of the gang’s van. It’s the Empire’s revised design from Return of the Jedi, which Jonathan says is flawed.
- 6.21 Two To Go: Andrew says:
“We’ve got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds us all into to Jawa burgers and not one of you bunch has the Midichlorians to stop her.”
These are all Star Wars references: Darth is a title given to a Sith Warrior (such as Darth Vader); Jawas are the hooded creatures who live on Tatooine, and Midichlorians are micro-organisms which exist in all living things.
In that episode, Andrew says another two Star Wars quotes:“Laugh it up, Fuzzball.”
“…in a galaxy far, far away…”
- 6.06 All The Way: Tara and Willow see a couple dressed as Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker kissing in the Bronze. Willow asks:
“Do they know they’re brother and sister?”
- 6.09 Smashed: we see that the three nerds own a mint condition (though out of its packaging) 1979 Boba Fett action figure. Though Boba Fett was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back (made in 1980), the earliest Boba Fett figure was made in 1979, before the film was released.
- 6.13 Dead Things: Jonathan and Andrew play fight with green light sabres.
- 6.18 Entropy: Warren calls Jonathan “Padawan”.
- 7.07 Conversations With Dead People: Jonathan and Warren have the following conversation, all quotes from Star Wars:
Warren: “Come on, “If you strike me down…”
Andrew: “I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine…That boy is our last hope.”
Warren: “No, there is another.” - 7.12 Potential: Xander says to Andrew:
“Say Skywalker, and I smack you.”
- 7.11 Showtime: Andrew says, “I’m bored. Episode I bored.” He’s referring to George Lucas’s disappointing movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He also says: “Um, deflector shields - deflector shields up!”
- 7.09 Never Leave Me: Warren/The First says, “I’m like Obi Wan”. He also says to Andrew, “We’re right in the trench, and the exhaust port’s in sight.” This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars in which the Death Star is under attack.
- 7.10 Bring On The Night: Andrew says:
“I’m like Vader in the last 5 minutes of Jedi with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles…”
He’s referring to the last scenes of the final Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi. He also says:
“I admit I went over to the dark side, but just to pick up a few things, and now I’m back.”
- 7.16 Storyteller: there are two framed Star Wars comics on the wall in Andrew’s opening scene.
- 7.18 Dirty Girls: Andrew says:
“But like so many tragic heroes, Faith was seduced by the lure of the dark side.”
- 1.06 Sense And Sensitivity: Cordelia’s line “Jar Jar is getting his own talk show” is another reference to Star Wars.
- 1.05 Rm W/A Vu: Cordy says to her ghost, “Hey, hey - Phantom Dennis, put that back.” Jane Espenson says in her commentary fo the episode that she insisted the ghost be called Dennis to be able to pun the title of The Phantom Menace which was in cinemas at the time.
- 1.11 Somnambulist: Cordelia references Star Wars again when she calls Penn “Psycho-Wan Kenobi”.
- 2.03 First Impressions: Gunn says to Cordelia and Wesley,
“You two? I find Deevak, I’m gonna need more than C-3PO and Stick Figure Barbie backin’ me up, no offence.”
C-3PO was a droid in the Star Wars films, designed to assist with etiquette, customs, and translation so that meetings of different cultures run smoothly.
- 5.11 Damage: Andrew says (about Dana): “Driven insane by Yoda-knows-who.”
- 5.10 Soul Purpose: Spike references Star Wars, when he says “Sorry Mr Vader, but I don’t have an itch to join the evil Empire.”
- 4.15 Orpheus:
Wesley: “Sorry. I think my sense of humor’s trapped in a jar somewhere.”
Willow: “It does seem like you’ve given in to the grumpy side of the Force.”
Related episodes: 1.05 Rm W/A Vu, 1.06 Sense And Sensitivity, 1.11 Somnambulist, 2.01 When She Was Bad, 2.03 First Impressions, 2.03 School Hard, 3.13 The Zeppo, 3.19 Choices, 4.01 The Freshman, 4.04 Fear, Itself, 4.15 Orpheus, 5.08 Shadow, 5.10 Soul Purpose, 5.11 Damage, 5.17 Forever, 6.05 Life Serial, 6.06 All The Way, 6.09 Smashed, 6.13 Dead Things, 6.18 Entropy, 6.21 Two To Go, 7.07 Conversations With Dead People, 7.09 Never Leave Me, 7.10 Bring On The Night, 7.11 Showtime, 7.12 Potential, 7.16 Storyteller, 7.18 Dirty Girls
Comments on this trivia
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myfanwy on May 3rd, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Andrew’s mention of midi-chlorians is a pretty risky thing for a true Star Wars geekfan to do, given that they were introduced into the universe and canon in Episode 1.
And, as noted above, Andrew found Episode 1 boring. As did we all.
mairceridwen on May 18th, 2005 at 9:52 pm
yeah, but some geekfans liked the midi-chlorian thing, especially science geeks, which we know Andrew is. many geekfans are more concerned with displaying their all encompassing geek prowess, even if it means admitting to seeing the ep. 1 a dozen times to catch inconsistencies.
Seddah on December 22nd, 2005 at 9:30 am
“The original trilogy included the movies Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return Of The Jedi (1983)”
Actually, I’m fairly sure the first movie in the original trilogy was ‘A New Hope’.
Seddah on December 22nd, 2005 at 9:51 am
I thought so, as I’ve watched it a hundred times and every time, without fail, (as you’d expect with film) it begins with the standard recap of the galaxy goings-on and the movie’s title, “A NEW HOPE”, in bolded, yellow letters. ^_____^
ErinJade on March 4th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Ahh, but I believe (since the movie was made 9 years before I was born, I’m going on what I’ve been told here xD) that it was originally released as just “Star Wars” for the title, and later when it was released on video they renamed it to “Star Wars IV: A New Hope.”
I’m not a geekfan. Really.
Comfortador on March 5th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
IMDb Search
A search for “star wars” found the following results:
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Star Wars (1977)
aka “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope” - USA (reissue title) (new title)
aka “Adventures of the Starkiller: Episode 1 - The Star Wars” - USA (original script title)
aka “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” - USA (video box title)
deadmanjeff on November 2nd, 2006 at 5:19 am
In The Witch the villain does a force choke on Xander.
Wynter on December 26th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
There’s a reference to Star Wars in Damage, when Andrew says (about Dana): “Driven insane by Yoda-knows-who.”
Wynter on January 31st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Spike references Star Wars in Soul Purpose, when he says “Sorry Mr Vader, but I don’t have an itch to join the evil Empire.”
Wynter on July 25th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
In Sense and Sensitivity, Cordelia’s line “Jar Jar is getting his own talk show” is another reference to Star Wars.
Wynter on July 26th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Cordelia references Star Wars again in Somnambulist when she calls Penn “Psycho-Wan Kenobi”.
Meghann on December 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
From Orpheus:
WESLEY: Sorry. I think my sense of humor’s trapped in a jar somewhere.
WILLOW: It does seem like you’ve given in to the grumpy side of the
Force.
mymostbeautiful on April 13th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
About Andrew and the midichlorians: (and here I am revealing my true SW geekiness..) even though they weren’t mentioned in the movies until ep. 1 came out, they were part of the SW universe already. I don’t know what the original source was, but I read about them in the “Guide to the Star Wars Universe” when I was 12 or so (1995), so I bet there’s a good chance Andrew had come across them somewhere too.
insaneinthebasement on April 30th, 2008 at 7:30 am
There’s more to Andrew’s reference to Star Wars in 7.10 Bring On The
Night, first of all he says:
“I admit I went over to the dark side, but just to pick up a few things, and now I’m back.”
Which, by the way, I think is a great Andrew line.
insaneinthebasement on April 30th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Also I think in 7.11 Showtime when Andrew says “Um, deflector shields - deflector shields up!”, it was probably meant to be another Star Wars reference.