The new Star Wars needs a Wedge Antilles

[Soviet Heavy]

One of the biggest problems that I've had with recent Star Wars material, be it the prequels, the books, tv shows or games, is the way that most secondary characters are really sidelined and unimportant. I started thinking "this could really use someone like Wedge."

Wedge isn't a big character in the original movies. He's the X-Wing pilot whose accent changes every movie. But I always like seeing him, since I feel that his presence gives the films a bigger scope; that there are other people in the Galaxy than just Jedi and their immediate friends and loved ones.

There really isn't a Wedge character in the prequels. Maybe Captain Panaka from Phantom Menace, but does anyone really remember him except for being uptight security guy? Typho in Clones and Sith does even less, so I hesitate to consider him valid either.

Star Wars needs more everyman characters, the little guys who make big efforts. It can't be Jedi all the time.

Plus, Wedge is the only guy in the galaxy to kill two Death Stars.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I remember Panaka as the token black guy that got sidelined once Sam Jackson's role got padded for the next two movies, yes. Also, Wedge? The guy that speaks line one line between the 2 movies he appears in and does nothing but pad the rebel ranks? What you want with him?

Fun fact - guy that played Wedge is Ewan McGregor's uncle.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I remember Panaka as the token black guy that got sidelined once Sam Jackson's role got padded for the next two movies, yes. Also, Wedge? The guy that speaks line one line between the 2 movies he appears in and does nothing but pad the rebel ranks? What you want with him?

Fun fact - guy that played Wedge is Ewan McGregor's uncle.

The fact that he did pad the Rebels ranks and still played a not insignificant role is exactly why I want him or someone like him in the movies. He might not have much character, but he was recognizable and he got a badass scene in every movie. He flies through an exploding tie fighter, brings down the first AT-At with a tow cable, and killed a Death Star after flying inside it.

I'm not saying that the whole film should focus on the little guys, just that the little guys should be a bit more noticeable and have some personality. Even if it's just something to give each one a little quirk. I remember most of the X-Wing pilots from A New Hope way more than I remember any Clone Trooper. Yeah, they had nothing much to do but pad the ranks, but at least they made an effort to make them all different. There were by the book pilots, crazy pilots (the wing commander was a nutjob ramming the Death Star), fat pilots, panicky pilots, eager pilots, and Biggs' 70s Pornstache.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I can concur with this. Wedge was a hero who didn't crave attention or have a deep vendetta. He was a man doing what he thought was right for the side he recognized as the one representing true justice. He was good at his job, friendly to his comrades and did heroic things while being overshadowed by bigger events.

I've always had a soft spot for Wedge.

Spoiler

A lot of fighter jockeys in online games have his name worked into their username in some way or another.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I agree completely. Earlier today, someone asked in a thread what my favorite Star Wars memory was, and I listed the entire space battle of Endor. My reason is the same reason that you like Wedge--it showed other people. All those fighter pilots, all without names except for two of them, and they were getting stuff done. I liked seeing the little guys fighting for a change and not seeing the powerhouses slug it out. It added a real sense of depth to the battle.

Sadly, again you are correct about the prequels. These little guys were nowhere to be found. Phantom Menace had a small cast of pilots, but did any of them actually do anything? Nope. All Anakin. And then Revenge of the Sith was practically just Anakin and Obi talking in their cockpits. What? Was it too hard to get the same guy to do different lines (because hiring different extras wouldn't make sense with clones)?

So yeah. I am growing more and more reserved about the new Star Wars movies as I am a HUGE fan of the Expanded Universe (Wedge and Rogue and Wraith Squadrons are amazing!), but I do hope they put the little guys back in. Those extras that they just picked up off of street, but end up adding so much more weight to the movies.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah I liked Wedge too, he was one of the couple survivor on the assult on the first Deathstar, partake in the Battle of Hoth and he took the first shot at the second Deathstar core!
Maybe the new one could have someone related to Wedge or an older Wedge appear as a veteran?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, someone that does something without being a hero can really give a larger scale to a thing.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Maybe the new one could have someone related to Wedge or an older Wedge appear as a veteran?

Well, considering most of the original guys are in the new one, they should be able to write in Wedge... especially since in the EU, he and Leia continue to have a working relationship (even if it isn't shown in the movies).

What's great is that in the original trilogy, Wedge steadily gets promoted... he's Red 5 (I think) in Ep4, Red 2 in Ep5 and Red Leader in Ep6... then becomes Rogue Leader in the aftermath.

It's a pity that Denis Lawson has already ruled himself out of being involved in the new Star Wars projects... reckons he'd be bored from it. However, I'm not surprised, given that he discouraged Ewan McGregor from taking part. Eh...

Maybe they could include guys from Rogue Squadron... Corran Horn, Tycho Celchu, Bror Jace etc. *shrug*

Actually, what I'd like to see is more Imperial characters... eh...

 

[Timmaaaah]

I remember Wedge... Couldn't do much in the first movie because his engine got taken out and had to pull out, but in Jedi he takes down the Death Star with Lando. I'd love to see a wicked awesome space flight/shooter game based on his missions for the rebels, ending in the Death Star takedown.

I remember the liking the fact that he was that he was clearly a badass pilot but was still a minor character side-badass.

 

[Timmaaaah]

What's great is that in the original trilogy, Wedge steadily gets promoted... he's Red 5 (I think) in Ep4, Red 2 in Ep5 and Red Leader in Ep6... then becomes Rogue Leader in the aftermath.

Luke was Red 5 in ep 4 (Sorry, I'm a serial corrector).

 

[SckizoBoy]

Luke was Red 5 in ep 4 (Sorry, I'm a serial corrector).

No worries... kinda guessed I'd be wrong... just not sure how wrong...

You remember what callsign Wedge had in A New Hope?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Luke was Red 5 in ep 4 (Sorry, I'm a serial corrector).

No worries... kinda guessed I'd be wrong... just not sure how wrong...

You remember what callsign Wedge had in A New Hope?

"Look at the size of that thing!"
"Cut the chatter, Red Two."

Wedge is Red Two in A New Hope.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Wedge is Red 2 in A New Hope, Rogue 2 in Empire, and Red Leader in Jedi.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Wedge didn't have that large a role in the films and his personality was never defined. In fact, about the only thing I can remember us learning about him was that he and Luke were friends. It's a shame since in the books he's a great character with his own history who did so much for the Alliance. He was Rogue Leader after Luke IIRC in the extended universe, an commanded it for a lot longer.

There are some great secondary characters throughout the SWU, but we'll never see them.

 

[Zhukov]

So... the new films need some random background extra with like one line per movie who is later seized upon by the fandom and built up into a hilariously overwrought parody the same way the fandom does with absolutely everything?

Seems like an odd thing to need, but hey, why not?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So... the new films need some random background extra with like one line per movie who is later seized upon by the fandom and built up into a hilariously overwrought parody the same way they do with absolutely everything?

Seems like an odd thing to need, but hey, why not?

Exactly. The film needs more little people.

 

[Zhukov]

So... the new films need some random background extra with like one line per movie who is later seized upon by the fandom and built up into a hilariously overwrought parody the same way they do with absolutely everything?

Seems like an odd thing to need, but hey, why not?

Exactly. The film needs more little people.

Okay, well, I don't anything that you don't, but I'm preeeetty sure the news films will have background extras too.

Most films do.

 

[Squilookle]

Wedge is my all time fabvourite character in Star Wars, and I felt he got a decent amount of exposure in the EU. Now that Disney has thrown all that out, I somehow consider Wedge to be TOO good for the movies to come. So yeah, I don't particularly want to see him back.

Characters LIKE Wedge, the smaller nobodies that all pitch in during the battles? YES. One of the reasons why none of the prequel battles seemed to mean anything whatsoever. Another problem with Sith is every battle starts and finishes offscreen. What the hell is the poith of that?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So... the new films need some random background extra with like one line per movie who is later seized upon by the fandom and built up into a hilariously overwrought parody the same way they do with absolutely everything?

Seems like an odd thing to need, but hey, why not?

Exactly. The film needs more little people.

Okay, well, I don't anything that you don't, but I'm preeeetty sure the news films will have background extras too.

Most films do.

Most background people don't get to do cool things like Wedge though. I mean small bit characters who play a part in the greater whole of things. The individual fighter pilots or ground troopers, or anything that makes the film feel like its a living world and not just the main heroes doing everything themselves.

 

[DeimosMasque]

I agree 100%! Actually I'll say any series of movies needs a good B-Cast period.

I wouldn't have killed of Luke's friend in New Hope either and had him be a "always around even if he's not a main character" character. Wedge added some grounding to the Star Wars movies much like Yeoman Rand, Lt. Barkley, Ensign Gomez, Nog, Morn, Leeta and others did with Star Trek.

captcha: adapt. improve. succeed

Um... Captcha... while I agree that that's what the Star Wars sequels need to do, you sound a little like the Borg there.