14 Star Wars Original Trilogy Easter Eggs You Need To See

Impressive, most impressive.

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Lucasfilm

The original Star Wars films (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi) boast incredible designs and an incredible sense of world building. And, of course, an abundance of easter eggs.

In the pre-CGI days hiding things in film was a lot harder. Nowadays all it takes is five minutes of a programmers time, but when everything was models each hidden in-joke had to be flawlessly executed. This would make you think that the original trilogy would be much lighter on easter eggs than the more recent films. And while a few of these were added in the fan-maligned Special Editions, many were present from initial release.

That's how much effort was put into these films....

14. Crowd-Surfing Stormtrooper

Star Wars Crowdsurfer
Lucasfilm

Next to CGI Jabba and Hayden Christensen as a blue ghost, the galactic wide celebrations at the end of Return Of The Jedi appear like rather trivial additions made for the Special Edition. But while they do make the finale work as a top off to the whole saga, the montage of planets celebrating the death of the Emperor (we see Corsucant, Naboo, Tatooine and Bespin) isn't without its problems.

For one the Naboo shot features a Gungan, meaning Jar Jar has had an impact on the originals now (shudder), while it makes no sense for the death of the Emperor to lead to immediate galaxy-wide peace; in the Expanded Universe the Imperial Remnant exists for decades after Endor. There are some fun additions in there though.

In the bottom of the Coruscant clip you can make out a Stormtrooper being jostled by the crowd. Whether it's crowd-surfing or an empty suit being waved in celebration is unclear. Either way, it adds something to the otherwise repetitive crowds.

In amongst the fireworks and confetti there's also a statue of Palpatine being toppled, which, given it was added to the DVD in 2004, must be a nod to the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

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Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.