Ponda Baba May Not Have Been The Original Cantina Patron To Lose a Limb in Star Wars

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Lightsabers haven’t been the cause of all the lost limbs in several of the Star Wars films, but it is the most frequent offender. One scene in the original 1977 Star Wars classic film may have had a different look to it than what was seen in the cinema. Read on for more…

 

The Star Wars universe is a dangerous place. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a droid, a creature, a bar patron, or a Jedi, a loss of limb comes with the territory. The Star Wars films have a higher disembodied limb count than you’d imagine their certificates would allow.

 

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The first disembodied limb ever shown in a Star Wars film is when the Tusken Raiders attack and tear off C-3PO’s arm. Since that’s a rather loose interpretation of “cut off limb,” however, let’s move on to the one most fans thinks of first. In the Mos Eisley Cantina sequence when Luke Skywalker orders a drink from the bar attendant and looks around, Doctor Evazan and Ponda Baba gives Luke a rough time and Obi-Wan steps in to help. He helps by cutting off Ponda Baba’s right arm.

 

Wioslea

 

StarWars.com’s Dana Jennings, a Lucasfilm’s content coordinator, recently spoke with Pablo Hidalgo, a Lucasfilm’s creative executive regarding a female creature named Wioslea. Pablo mentions that the creature was originally slated in the role that Ponda Baba had in the famous Luke Skywalker bar patron encounter.

This may not have been mere happenstance, as Hidalgo noted that the novelization for A New Hope hinted that it was possibly Wioslea — NOT Ponda Baba — who was originally slated to lose an arm to Obi-Wan’s lightsaber. (The book references Luke’s assailant as a “large, multiple-eyed creature.”)

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With approximately ten gazillion alien creatures packed into the Star Wars universe, Wioslea had to be one of the coolest and most memorable creatures in the original films. Although, Wioslea didn’t end up getting her starring role as the villain who doesn’t like Luke Skywalker and wanted in 12 systems, the multi-eyed character did end up helping Luke and Obi-Wan in the end.

 

Remember the speeder merchant who purchased Luke’s landspeeder to pay for passage to Alderaan? Well, the creature was Wioslea, the now proud owner of the famous landspeeder. She can also be seen briefly in the Mos Eisley cantina scene if you look hard enough. See if you can spot her the next time you watch the original Star Wars film.

 

Check back for more Star Wars news here at SWNN.

 

May the Force be with you…

 

Source: StarWars.com

 

 

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13 thoughts on “Ponda Baba May Not Have Been The Original Cantina Patron To Lose a Limb in Star Wars

    • May 9, 2016 at 4:50 pm
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      this and the Wampa at the filling station are my favorite Robot Chicken scenes. It kinda ruined star wars for me though because I think of Robot Chicken when watching any one of a bunch of scenes from star wars.

      • May 9, 2016 at 4:56 pm
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        My fav is Darth Vader calling the Emperor to let him know the Death Star was blown up.

      • May 9, 2016 at 7:27 pm
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        haha exactly! I love them so much, can’t wait for them to start doing ones on TFA lol

  • May 8, 2016 at 11:43 pm
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    Thats one ugly bitch.

  • May 9, 2016 at 2:31 am
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    Its also worth mentioning that Ponda Baba originally had a hoof like hand,…..which can be seen in some earlier shots,….but the severed limb was changed to a human hand for the audience to make sense of what happened

  • May 9, 2016 at 7:38 am
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    Obi-Wan’s really not a likeable character in the OT, He’s pretty damn shifty in IV-VI. One thing the PT did right was redeem him in that regard.

    • May 9, 2016 at 7:40 am
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      Living out in a hut in the middle of the Jundland Wastes for 19 something years would just about make even the nicest person cranky and shifty.

      • May 9, 2016 at 11:21 am
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        Especially after what happened with Satine and Anakin. He defeated Greivous, he basically ended the war …and what he gets in return??

      • May 9, 2016 at 11:34 am
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        I guess I’ll have to buy that as a canon non-canon explanation but on the plus side it gives Ewan more to work with if they do the Obi-Wan spinoff and show he goes from being the straight arrow of the prequels to the most untrustworthy one by the time of the originals.

  • May 9, 2016 at 4:53 pm
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    Notice Wioslea is wearing what we’d consider Jedi robes today? I also thought it was kinda strange that Obi-Wan, a Jedi in hiding would still wear Jedi robes. I think back then it was just considered to be “Tatooine clothing” back then and nothing else. Impossible to tell at this point. I think that is just more evidence of George Lucas not having everything planned like he said he did.

    • May 10, 2016 at 2:00 am
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      Of course he didn’t. When looking at the OT, it’s painfully obvious that Lucas was making it up as he went along.

  • May 10, 2016 at 2:50 am
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    Found this on Facebook and thought that this would be an appropriate place to share it.

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