Offering wise words but not necessarily in the usual order, Yoda is now considered one of the most memorable characters in the entire Star Wars universe.
Introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, we first meet him when he trains Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi, and has gone on to become one of the franchise’s most memorable faces (and, indeed, voices).
Despite this, little is known about Yoda’s backstory, even down to his species.
One thing we do know about his origins, though, is that Star Wars creator George Lucas didn’t always plan on calling him Yoda.
In fact, during the script outline for The Empire Strikes Back, George referred to the loveable character as “Buffy” (Yoda, The Vampire Slayer, anyone?).
It was only when screenwriter Leigh Brackett joined the project that she changed his name to Minch Yoda – later shortened to just Yoda.
Screen Rant explained that Brackett felt the name we now know better fit the conception of the character, which we kind of get.
As if this wasn’t intriguing enough, Yoda actually shares a voice and puppeteer with another cult figure – Miss Piggy herself.
Frank Oz provided the magic behind both characters and was apparently well-loved on-set.
Speaking to The Los Angeles Times in 2012, Mark Hamill enthused: “Frank is an absolute genius,
“At first, I was intimidated to act with a puppet. I wasn’t sure how it would work. But Frank made me so comfortable. He really brought Yoda to life. It was much more impressive than any computer-generated effect.”
