The Star Wars franchise is more talked about than ever, since Lucasfilms was purchased by Disney. At first, it was announced that there will be Star Wars spin-off films, there's a lot of speculation for what could be coming down the pipeline in the future. A few months afterwards, it was announced there would be a Star Wars film every year, starting in 2015 with Star Wars: Episode VII. In between the major Star Wars films, we'd be seeing spin-off films featuring some of our favorite characters, like Han Solo and Boba Fett. While it's true there's a lot of cool characters in the Star Wars universe, not every character would make for an interesting spin-off film.
While a Boba Fett and a Han Solo spin-off film would be super-cool, there's a few other characters who would work just as well in their own film, regardless of popularity. Here's a few Star Wars characters who could hold their own with their own film.
IG-88
In the Star Wars Universe, any time anyone says "bounty hunter," you immediately go to "Boba Fett," even though Empire Strikes Back has a whole line-up of really cool bounty hunters all with their own incredibly deep and cool back stories (especially Dengar). My favorite from that line-up isn't Boba Fett though. It's IG-88: the only robot bounty hunter in the mix.
There are tons of great stories from this character's past that could be made into films. The IG-88 we are all familiar with, from the movies, is actually IG-88B, one of the three IG-88 models created by the original IG-88(A). See? Things have already gotten a lot more interesting. While the IG-88 we all know was off trying to capture Han Solo, IG-88A had some larger, more notorious plans. It wanted to create a Droid Revolution more powerful than the Galactic Empire, and he had the means to create a robot army, millions strong.
Obviously, things didn't work out too well for the bot, since he was on the Death Star the second time it was destroyed, but there is a happy ending. IG-88 was reactivated and became a bodyguard to Tyko Thull. There's tons to work with here, and this character ties into a lot of other familiar faces in the SWU. While I may sound like a crazy fanboy claiming there's multiple films worth of material buried in here, this would for sure make one cool movie. Who doesn't want to see a droid revolution headed by IG-88?
Dash Rendar
If you're an expanded universe fan, you know exactly why this is on here. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was the first Star Wars related novel I ever read. It was also the first Star Wars related video game I became obsessed with. Dash Rendar's story has everything a Star Wars fan could ever want in a Star Wars film. Sure, there's a ton of fan service, but in novel form, it's done right.
Dash's whole story takes place in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It's the battle of Dash and the Rebels against someone just as powerful, evil, and influential within the Galaxy as the Emperor - Prince Xizor.
Not only does this story involve an extremely cool bad guy, but it also has cameos from some fan favorite characters: IG-88, Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Lando, and Chewbacca. It's the story of a criminal in power and how he is defeated. It has a ton of elements from the movies that people are familiar with, very interesting characters, and best of all, it fills that gap between Empire and Return.
The first time anyone mentioned a "spin-off" story, Shadows of the Empire immediately came to mind. Dash can easily hold his own as a stand-alone character, and this would be the perfect introduction to the expanded universe and its characters. It may be tough to do this film with all the cameos, since the actors that played them have gotten a bit older looking over the decades, but with the power of CGI, I'm sure this could work.
Yoda
So far, we've seen one character that appears in only a couple of shots in the original Star Wars trilogy, and one character that isn't in it all all to be highlighted. What about a character most fans know and love that doesn't carry a laser pistol at his side? What about a Yoda spin-off film?
Yoda has appeared in 5 of the 6 Star Wars films and numerous episodes of Muppet Babies (I thought you'd like to know that), yet much of his history and what he is are a completely mystery.
There are bits an pieces of Yoda's past within the expanded universe, but an origin film could put everything together. Have you ever wondered what alien species Yoda is? Most hardcore SW fans just refer to his as a member of "Yoda's Species." How did Yoda get to serve on the Jedi Council for over 700 years?
Out of every character I thought about for this piece, none of them has intrigued me more than learning the history of this character. He's without a doubt the most recognizable character from the franchise, and since he is one of the most powerful Jedi of all time, shouldn't we get to see how get got to be that powerful?
On top of all of that, it, once again, opens up the films to expanded universe elements, all of which take places centuries prior to Episode 1, so there's a whole new door opened there. I couldn't image a better character's origin to be explored. Sure, it may be a little redundant to watch a character go through Jedi training again, but I couldn't imagine a character's training I'd want to see more than Yoda's.
On the flip side of things, what about expanded universe characters that couldn't hold their own? Well, there's a ton of them, but I picked out a few special ones that have interesting back stories that just wouldn't work out on the big screen.
Malakili
Poor Malakili. All he wanted was to take care of his Rancor, in Jabba's dungeon, by feeding it those who were unworthy to be in the presence of the great Jabba the Hutt. After Luke Skywalker killed his beloved pet, Malakili started a restaurant in Mos Eisley. Storybook ending, right?
In Malakiling Me Softly, a young Malakili, growing up on Tatooine, finds himself in touch with nature. He loves animals and begins to take care of local Banthas, Womp Rats, and Dewbacks. The locals find he's great at this and he becomes a world renowned animal trainer. News reaches Jabba the Hutt and Jabba asks Malakili to train the untrainable, a Rancor. Although it's tough at first, mainly because the Rancor tries to eat him, Malakili achieves the impossible and tames the creature. Soon afterwords, the Rancor and Malakili fall madly in love and a whirlwind relationship begins, which ends with the death of Malakili's true love and Malakili putting all of his pain into his second love, bad bar food.
Odds of happening: 1-500
Max Rebo
While we all love the blue elephant who leads that little band from Tattoine, his story just isn't that compelling. Max Rebo may have escaped Jabba's barge during Return of the Jedi, but everything after that isn't exciting. Sure, he went on to play for the Rebel Alliance, in some weird USO-esque show, but after that, Rebo went on to start a successful chain of restaurants called "Max's Flanth House," and he settled on Coruscant where he lived as a filth, rich elephant-man. What's with all the SW background characters becoming restaurant owners?
In Citizen Rebo, we get to watch a talented musician come from nothing to become the most powerful and successful restaurant owner on all of Coruscant. Rebo slowly rises power in the very competitive Coruscantian fast food wars. After murdering the CEOs of the most successful restaurant chains in the planet, Rebo retires and later dies whispering the words "Max Rebo Band," to which a nurse, numerous rooms away, hears. Later, a group journalists report his last words and spends countless hours and days trying to figure out what it meant.
Odds of happening: 1-250
The Stormtrooper who hits his head on the door
Little to nothing is known about this mysterious Stormtrooper from A New Hope. According the Lucas, he was a clone of Jango Fett. Maybe this guy had a bad day. Regardless, if Jar Jar Binks can have numerous action figures, then this guy should get his own movie, since he's infinitely more intriguing. That's right, my Jar Jar Binks hatred still burns bright, 14 years later.
In The Not So Perfect Stormtrooper, one Stormtrooper is having a real bad day: he hits his head on a door, the Rebels have escaped, and the Death Star he works on just blew up! Can life get any worse? It can when that knock on the head somehow turned you into a Force ghost that has to follow Bib Fortuna around, in this wacky, coming of age comedy. Can the Stormtrooper help save Bib from Jabba's sail barge before it explodes or is this clumsy Stormtrooper going to drop the ball?
Odds of happening: 1-1,000,000
What ideas do you guys have for Star Wars spin-off, good or bad?
Mat "InferiorEgo" Elfring is a comedian, local idiot, editor of the website Crap Trap, and host of the podcast "Mat & Lewis Vs The Internet."
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