Star Wars Episode 7: 10 Awesome Characters We Don't Want To See

9. Admiral Ackbar

Admiral Ackbar We love Admiral Ackbar, but it's not clear why we do. He's a one-trick pony, famous for a single line in "Return of the Jedi." Like a Seventies sitcom star, he has his own catchphrase: "It's a trap!" Why did that line strike a chord with the audience? Maybe it just sounds funny when delivered by a guy with fish lips. George Lucas obviously intended for Ackbar to be a joke. Otherwise, why say that the admiral belongs to a race called the "Mon Calamari"? And why put an apparently non-oxygen-breathing creature on the bridge of a ship? Ackbar isn't so much a character as a meme. His signature phrase is so brief and so recognizable that fans can't resist inserting it into their creations €“ anything from an amateur YouTube video to an episode of "Family Guy" €“ for a quick laugh. Admiral Ackbar was fun in the original context. But to bring him back to reprise his quotable line in Episode VII would just be too campy.
Contributor

Debbie Gilbert is an award-winning journalist who's been writing for magazines and newspapers since 1988. A Memphis native who grew up near Graceland, she became a Star Trek fan in 1975.