Speeder bike

Speeder bikes and swoop bikes are small, fast transports that use repulsorlift engines in the fictional "Star Wars" universe. ' includes a prominent speeder bike chase; speeders and swoops also appear in ', ', ', and the Star Wars Expanded Universe's books, comics, and games.

Origin and design

Various concept sketches came from producer George Lucas' call for a "rocket powered scooter" in "Return of the Jedi".cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/speederbike/?id=bts|title=Imperial speeder bike (Behind the Scenes)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07] While Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) Nilo Rodis-Jamero designed a blocky vehicle with a large engine, Ralph McQuarrie's designs were more fanciful but with less of a sense of the vehicle's power source. The final designs resulted both in full-scale Imperial speeder bikes used by the actors for film against a bluescreen, along with miniatures mounted by articulated puppets. ILM used a steadicam recording at 1 frame per second to record the speeder bikes' path through the forest moon of Endor -- in reality, a California forest.cite video|people=Burns, Kevin and Edith Becker|date=2004|title=Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy|medium=Documentary] Playing the footage at the standard rate of 25 frames per second caused a blurring effect, what looked like 100MPH actually was shot at 5MPH , which ILM used to simulate the vehicles' high speed.

The BARC speeder in "Revenge of the Sith" was designed to appear like a predecessor to the speeder bikes in "Return of the Jedi". [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/barcspeeder/?id=bts|title=BARC speeder (Behind the Scenes)|publisher=Lucasfilm|work=Star Wars Databank|accessdate=2007-09-07] ILM's Doug Chiang designed Darth Maul's (Ray Park) speeder in "The Phantom Menace" to resemble a scythe, and Chiang's initial designs for the droid army's STAP vehicle resembled the speeder bikes from "Return of the Jedi". [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/sithspeeder/?id=bts|title=Sith speeder (Behind the Scenes)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07] [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/stap/?id=bts|title=STAP (Single Trooper Arial Platform) (Behind the Scenes)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07] An all-CGI swoop appearing in "A New Hope" stems from a design created for Shadows of the Empire, and the swoop also appears briefly in "The Phantom Menace". [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/flaresswoop/?id=bts|title=Flare-S swoop (Behind the Scenes)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07]

Depiction

"Return of the Jedi" features a speeder bike chase in which Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) pilot a pair of Imperial speeders to chase down scout troopers who might reveal the Rebel Alliance's presence on Endor. Darth Maul uses his speeder to chase down Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) in "The Phantom Menace". A pair of speeder-mounted clone troopers shoot down a speeder-riding Jedi when Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) initiates Order 66 in "Revenge of the Sith". Film and Expanded Universe depictions of speeder bikes and swoops consistently portray the vehicles as fast and maneuverable: Expanded Universe material describes the speeder bikes in "Return of the Jedi" as being able to travel 500 kilometers per hour.cite book|title=Star Wars Roleplaying Game|edition=Second Edition, Expanded & Revised|publisher=West End Games|year=1996|isbn=0874314356] [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/vehicle/speederbike/|title=Imperial speeder bike (The Movies)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07] Speeders and swoops achieve high speed and maneuverability, however, at the expense of size and protection for their riders. "Swoop racing" is described in the Expanded Universe texts and portrayed in LucasArts games as a dangerous, fast-paced competition between skilled pilots. [cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/kids/explore/lore/news20020128.html|title=Star Wars Sporting Events|work=Star Wars Kids|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-07] [cite video game|title=|developer=BioWare|publisher=LucasArts|platform=Personal computer]

Merchandise

Since their inception, speeder bikes have been included in several Star Wars product lines, including Lego models and Hasbro miniatures.

References

External links

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