Everyone has seen the Star Wars movies. If you haven’t than you’re probably Amish. Most agree that the original trilogy was great, and the second was lacking. The interwebs is filled with a psychotic amount of nerd rage directed at Star Wars nit picking every minor detail but there is a glaring oversight in the first movie “Star Wars: A New Hope” which has gotten relatively little attention. Where is Chewbacca’s medal!
So its the moment of truth. Luke Skywalker is the only X-Wing fighter pilot left to destroy the Death Star. Vader and his cronies are hot on his tail, with a target lock. The Empire is seconds from destroying Yavin IV, and crushing the Rebel Alliance. All looks hopeless until the Millennium Falcon comes blazing in, blasting Darth Vader’s TIE fighter out of the trench clearing the path for Luke to “use the force” and save the day. Moment’s later the Death Star is is space rubble and the survivors of the battle return home for a great victory. There’s even an award ceremony granting medals to the heroes Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. Chewbacca is left on the sidelines!
Something is seriously not right here. Chewy was as important as Han was to the rebels’ victory. Han may have fired the cannon that hit Darth Vader, but if Chewbacca wasn’t there to pilot the ship, he wouldn’t have been able to. Throughout the entire film Chewy faces just as much danger as the rest of the characters and is just as worthy of glory. George Lucas has stated that the character is based off of his dog who used to ride as his ‘co-pilot’ in his pick up truck. I know he’s not human, and can’t speak English but he’s no dog. Chewbacca is intelligent enough to fly a space ship, knows the difference between right and wrong, and brave enough to fight evil. If District 9 and Enemy Mine taught us anything, its that even if someone isn’t a homo sapien doesn’t mean that they’re not a person. There’s some severe racist shenanigans going on in the Star Wars Galaxy. No one seems to care that Chewy’s left out, not even his best friend! Worse yet Chewy doesn’t seem to care. Can we assume that he’s accepted his subservient role as a second class citizen amongst his human overlords? Isn’t the Rebel Alliance all about freedom democracy and equality. All I know is that this shit would not fly in the Star Trek universe!
Click here to check out my DeviantArt Account