PT Why does Yoda talk backwards to the extreme in the Prequels, but not in the OT?

The last one. As evidence I refer to Yoda's line in ESB "My home this is"

I definitely agree that some of Yoda's lines in PT, for whatever reason, just come off as awkward. The way Yoda speaks is to emphasis something in particular because it's important, so when he just has short lines to seems weird like "to the command center, take me" or "how feel you?" They seem forced and unnatural even for Yoda.

 

Because you say so?? Or is there another valid reason?

 

I don't feel that at all. In my eyes, he's kept consistent throughout the saga.





- The Force is strong with this one.
- I sense much fear in you.
/LM

 

Someone posted the correct answer last page. it's in the newest making of ESB and on the Blu Ray ESB making of both GL and Kasdan mention that everyone was worried about Yoda's speech. Kasdan both times mentioned he worked to re-jumble GL lines and they were 'a bit of a mess'.

GL wrote all the lines in PT.

 

I think the problem is not the actual speech, but because Yoda gets more lines in the PT, that you notice it more.

 

I think people are selectively remembering things. Obviously, Yoda has far more dialogue in the PT than in the OT, but I don't see the proportion of Yoda-speak being any different.

 

I don't think it's just a question of proportion. If Yoda has 10 lines and 2 are spoken backwards, it's not the same effect as his having 100 lines and speaking 20 of them backwards. It's a question of total Yoda time and total Yoda speak. In the OT, there was a real fear that Yoda would be too comical, so they went with a less is more approach with him, which was easily done, as he's not directly involved in the story that much. In the PT, this was harder to achieve as Yoda is such a major player, screen-time wise. I feel that Sidious is a bit the same in this regard. A little of him goes a long way. A lot of him and he becomes less menacing and mysterious and more of a caricature.

 

Because I love it when he says "Not if anything to say about it I have".

That's why.

 

Yoda talks pretty much the same way in the prequels as in the OT. If anything Yoda is a much more comical character in Empire than in the other films. He is much more serious in the other ones.

 

His lighter side gave him personality

 

And he was old in ESB

 

Some linguists (not Chomsky, I imagine) have--for fun--looked at Yoda's generative grammar (e.g., here and here) and the most consistent thing about it is that it's internally inconsistent. For instance, even "backwards Yoda speak" isn't always the same--sometimes it's OSV (object-subject-verb), sometimes it's OSV. For instance,

(1) Anger, fear, aggression: the dark side of the Force are they.
(2) Anger, fear, aggression: the dark side of the Force they are.

Totally implausible of course, from a psycholinguistic point of view. I suppose that could damage the credibility of it all, but I suspect most people are lighthearted enough to not let that stuff bother them.

 

I always thought people overestimated how "comical" Yoda was in the OT. He pretends to be a doddering old fool when he first meets Luke, which is just his way of testing Luke. But once his true identity is revealed, he is all business.

 

Forget you have, what you saw before.