The ducks are official

From Star Wars: From the adventures of Luke Skywalker (aka A New Hope), chapter 5, page 77, a discussion between Luke and Ben:

Suddenly the boyish twinkle returned to those piercing eyes along with the old man's natural humor. "I understand you're quite a pilot yourself. Piloting and navigation aren't hereditary, but a number of things that can combine to make a good small-ship pilot are. Those you may have inherited. Still, even a duck has to be taught to swim."

"What's a duck?" Luke asked curiously.

"Never mind. In many ways, you know, you are much like your father." Kenobi's unabashed look of evaluation made Luke nervous. "You've grown up quite a bit since the last time I saw you."

Ducks have been one of the animals several of us turn to when folks say something about author's not being that creative when they come up with some stuff. More accurately, that particular bit of dialouge in the original novelization.

And it looks like that bit of novel dialouge has had an effect on the movies. I was at the OS earlier today looking up some Naboo creatures when I came across an entry for ducks. And the following is what I got:

Homeworld: Naboo

The Movies: An enigmatic waterfowl from worlds scattered across the galaxy, ducks are often reffered to in a number of colorful expressions. During Queen Amidala's escape from Naboo, Captain Panaka was heard to lament the likelihood of their being hit by Trade Federation cannonades. He likened their position to being "sitting ducks."

The Expanded Universe: When first training Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force, Obi-Wan used an analogy, explaining that even a duck must be taught to swim. Luke's rather provincial response was, "what's a duck?"

Well, according to the pics offered for ducks under the duck heading at the OS, their Canadian Geese and actual ducks.

It is likely that ducks were adde to TPM to make Panaka's line make more sense. But at the same time, it seems that Lucas decided to add something from the EU to TPM, something most folks wouldn't realize appeared in the novels before it appeared in the movies.

Now I'm not sure if this little tid bit, ducks being mentioned on the OS as SW creatures, has been talked about before or not. But after finding that ducks were now offical SW movie creatures, creatures orginally mentioned in the novels, I just had to bring it up.

 

this has been known for quite some time now.

 

Quack quack

 

I always thought the "sitting ducks" thing was a metaphorical translation. Maybe it meant the same thing as "sitting quigabooro" but no one would know what the hell Panaka is talking about.

Anyways, so what if there are ducks in both galaxies? There are humans in both galaxies too!

 

"I always thought the "sitting ducks" thing was a metaphorical translation. Maybe it meant the same thing as "sitting quigabooro" but no one would know what the hell Panaka is talking about."

Hum, do you have a clue about what a Gundark exactly is ??? (if you had only watched the movies, of course...)

 

What tastes better though, roast duck or roast nerf?

 

i would have to go with roast nerf.

 

Yeah, roast duck can be a little fattening

Apparently 9/10 slahrats prefer the taste of slashrat, the remaining slashrat being the one they are eating.

 

"It is likely that ducks were adde to TPM to make Panaka's line make more sense. But at the same time, it seems that Lucas decided to add something from the EU to TPM, something most folks wouldn't realize appeared in the novels before it appeared in the movies."

Seriously, I doubt that. They were shooting at an open stage for Naboo (I believe it was in either Spain or Italy), and it just so happened ducks were in the shot. I am willing to bet Lucas didn't mind becuase they added to the atmosphere and serenity of the shots. I seriously doubt Lucas's thinking was "Ok, now I need to add something from the EU to tie it all in!" And the line "sitting ducks" was just for our benefit, so we'd understand it, like in ESB, when Han told Chewie to "plug the professor in back", refering to C-3P0. Its just for audience comprehension.

That said, kinda neet that the duck thing is tied into everything, regardless of whether or not it was intentionally done so. Lol, love Luke's expression.

"What's a duck?"

 

If it was really an EU tie-in, they would be d'uc'k's.

 

If you think about it its perfectly normal for ducks to evolve on other worlds...

 

"Apparently 9/10 slahrats prefer the taste of slashrat, the remaining slashrat being the one they are eating."

 

PrinceXizor, no I don't know what a gundark is, but the context of that line is much greater.

"You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark"

We know basically gundarks have strong ears.

"If we don't fix the shields we'll be sitting quigaboorus."

? Not as obvious, I think.

 

Actually it's not the ears you worry about it's the whole body. A gundark are grumpy mean creatures with big arms and huge teeth. It's similer to the saying pulling the teeth out of an alligator. you could probably do it, but you lose a hand.

There is a second kind of gundark which is just a saurian with huge tongue.

Also horses, geese, ducks, ferrets can all be seen throughout the star wars movies. basically if humans can evolve other earth based species can evolve as well. Dogs and cats are supposed to exist as well, accordingt to the EU, along with several other earth species.

 

And dinosaurs! Gotta love the dinosaurs.

TC

 

If my memory is accurate, that databank update took place around April Fool's Day. I'd check for the original thread, but it probably followed the Put Adumar on the Map Coalition into the Thread Afterlife.

 

Quack quack.

Considering how ducks were spelled in the novelization, it seems highly unlikely the spelling would then be changed. However, the unlikely is possible when one looks at the spelling of Wookie from the novelization of ANH when compared with the spelling of Wookiee in virtually every other source.

 

Heh. Reminds me of Foster's 'droids.