Something completely illogical about Yoda's appearance...

Okay, as many of you know, Yoda's species (whatever it is) can live to be 900 years old+. Now, consider this: an average person lives to be 70-ish. In addition, take into consideration that a 30 year-old man doesn't look to different than a 40 year-old one.

So 10 years pass in between TPM & AOTC. Now that you realize that a 10 year difference in a male from 30-40 wouldn't be very significant, how do you think that someone who can live to be 900 years+ plus would change? Not very much. In fact, it's possible they wouldn't change at all. Say Yoda was 900 when he died, then the time period between TPM & AOTC in only 1/90 of his whole lifespan. That being the case, why does the little guy look so damn different in AOTC from TPM? His face looks more aged, his eyes look 'squintier,' he's lost considerabel hair, gained more wrinkles, and, let's just say he looks MUCH younger in TPM than AOTC. If this 'logic' follows suit, than Yoda would look like a decrepit monkey skeleton in ESB.

Then why would ILM make him look so old? If anything, the TPM puppet should have looked like a very SLIGHTLY (and I highlight 'slightly') younger version of ESB Yoda. It just doesn't make sense, and doesn't follow logic.

 

I'd blame the TPM puppet more than the AOTC Yoda. It looked too young to start with, and I know that had been pointed out by multiple people before we even saw the AOTC Yoda.

 

Extreme stress, perhaps. Being forced into hiding for 20 years because an evil dictator has taken over the galaxy can do that to a person.

 

Who says Yoda's race grows at the same rate humans do? Maybe Yoda has no wrinkles when he's 100, grows wrinkles in 50 years, loses wrinkles, grows more, etc. etc. His growth rate may simply not be proportional to human growth rate.

Cometgreen

 

Given how little we know about Yoda's species, who's to say how they age? Maybe they don't age perceptibly for long periods of time and then undergo considerable physical aging for a brief time at various intervals.

 

i think it just has to do with him living in Dagobah... harsh environments like that cause any species to look aged.. i mean, in the prequels Yoda lives in this lavish palace type thing.. then goes into hiding in a swamp.. of course he's not going to look as pampered

 

Disease and stress?

 

Let's just face it. GL and ILM and Co. screwed up once again! Jeez! Will they ever learn.

I don't think it's a really big deal. If you ask me Yoda is looking better than ever. And he's cuter in AOTC than in TPM, so there's that.

 

Yoda has been doing some hardcore meditating over the last ten years since finding out about the existence of a sith master at the end of TPM. All this worry, lack of sleep, and subsequent indigestion has taken it's toll on his face and hair. He also recently lost his good friend Yaddle which was a harrowing event in his life.

 

He's been dippin' in the ol' Dark Side kiddie pool.



tf

 

I think it's just stress

Or maybe that's a characteristic of his species, they live to be strong and young looking for 850 years or so, then rapidly age

 

I think it's partly (from a real-world standpoint) the TPM puppet looking considerably too young for an 800 year old being.

Partly, it is the stress of the increasing alarming galactic events that are demanding more and more of Yoda's time. In a nutshell: Stress.

 

I don't think that Yoda really looked younger in TPM. He just looked . . . wrong. Age doesn't reshape bone structure.

I'll save you from making this arugment:

"Well, you don't know what Yoda's species is so maybe age DOES change his bone structure."

Then why not just have a twelve foot tall red yoda with eight appendages and say that this is part of the aging process that Yoda's species goes through. I don't think anyone would be happy with that.

CG Yoda in the Ultimate Edition. That puppet blows.

 

If you look at the TPM Yoda, he has a very square jaw. Now look at the AOTC and OT Yodas...they have a round jaw. This is one of the things that makes the TPM Yoda look younger. GL exaggerated Yoda in TPM way too much, making him look just too young.

 

Your point is somewhat skewed in that, you are correct, for us humans, the difference between a 30 year old and a 40 year old is not profound usually. But you cannot equate Yoda to be in the prime of his life.

It would be more correct to liken a human male at age 60 to Yoda in TPM. Add ten years to that, 70, and yes, there is going to be some big differences.

In the twilight of life, one year can make a huge difference in appearance.



.

 

you cannot call a comparison between a human being to a character in the star wars universe "logic".

You just don't compare thigns like that. Its more visually telling to show that Yoda ages throughout the 6 parts of the saga. It tells the audience of the time lapse - it would be confusing if he always looked the same because most viewers do not know that he is 800 years old. It's mentioned quickly in ROTJ and most people don't even know which movie ROTJ was to begin with!

Besides, Yoda's species might not age at all, until the last 50 years of its life.

Its the same reasoning behind how Watto can fly, yet be so fat. George said to the animators, "don't worry about it, maybe he has a belly full of helium or something".

 

Or how bout this

It's because of the force

There, can't argue with that

 

Have you ever seen how fast the homeless age? I think the same applies to Yoda too, especially since he's living in a swamp for 20 years and doing god knows what drugs to pass the time.

 

You know...I never got the idea that it was because of Yoda's species that he had lived for several hundred years. I always thought he was using the Force to keep himself alive so long.

My reasoning was because of that exchange in ROTJ:

LUKE: Master Yoda, you can't die!
YODA: Strong am I in the Force...but not that strong.

Made it sound to my ears like, "Yeah, I can sustain my life...for quite a while...but immortality is out of my reach."

*pshrug*

 

Botox hadn't been invented yet.

 

Maybe he all those cigarettes caught up with him

What else could have kept him so short?

 

Maybe the darkside cave on Dagobah cancels out the influence of the Focre making him age faster than he would if he were out in the rest of the galaxy.

 

I like that one paddy

 

Easy solution! TPM's puppet is crap, so ignore that one. AOTC's version is the TRUE Yoda. It is a masterful tribute to the fantastic original puppet. The TPM puppet is an insult to it.

-JDR.

 

Well said Jack! i totaly agree, and also, Paddy1, i realise that your signature happens to be from monty python and the holy grail. a masterful low-budget film.

ANYWAY. it has been said b4 and ill say it again, how the HECK do you know how Yodas species ages. look at Yaddle, she was 400 and had wrinkles already! i remember that when i was about 5 and saw ESB for the 1st time i thought Yoda was an 800 year old human.. bcuz you shrink when you get older. how stupid of me! could be possible though....