Speeder bike

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Speeder bikes (also known as "jumpspeeders" or "hover bikes") and swoop bikes (or just "swoops") are small, fast transports that use repulsorlift engines in the fictional Star Wars universe. Return of the Jedi includes a prominent speeder bike chase; speeders and swoops also appear in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace , Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones , Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith , Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (added in the 1997 Special Edition, but absent on every earlier print), the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels , and the Star Wars expanded universe's books, comics, and games.

Contents

Origin and design

Various concept sketches came from producer George Lucas' call for a "rocket-powered scooter" in Return of the Jedi. [1] 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. [1] The final designs resulted in full-scale Imperial speeder bikes used by the actors for film against a bluescreen, along with miniatures mounted by articulated puppets. [1] 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. [2] Playing the footage at the standard rate of 24 frames per second caused a blurring effect, which ILM used to simulate the vehicles' high speed; what was shot at 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) looked like 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). [2] [ contradictory ]

The BARC speeder in Revenge of the Sith was designed to appear like a predecessor to the speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi. [3] 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. [4] [5] An all-CGI swoop appearing in A New Hope stems from a design created for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire , and the swoop also appears briefly in The Phantom Menace. [6]

Depiction

In the Star Wars universe, speeder bikes are a type of "repulsorcraft", vehicles which use anti-gravity devices called repulsorlifts to hover above the surface of a planet. Compared to other repulsorcraft, speeder bikes sacrifice unnecessary systems in order to achieve greater speed or agility. [7] Swoop bikes, being little more than an engine with seats, are similar but better suited for operating at higher altitudes. [8] In the Legends video game Knights of the Old Republic, swoop racing is a main part of the story with the player having to work for The Hidden Beks, a swoop gang, by infiltrating rival swoop gang, The Black Vulkars, and competing against them in a swoop race in order to rescue Bastila. [9] "Swoop racing" is described as a dangerous, fast-paced competition between skilled pilots. [10] [11]

Types of speeder bikes

Cultural impact

Ben Brosofsky of Screen Rant has called speeder bikes an iconic part of Star Wars ever since their introduction in Return of the Jedi and described them as capturing the intensity of the movie. [22] Ryan Britt of Inverse and Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant both describe the speeder bike chase as one of the most iconic scenes of the Star Wars saga. [23] [24] Ken Napzok in Why We Love Star Wars: The Great Moments That Built a Galaxy Far, Far Away contrasts the speeder bike chase scene with the drag race scene in American Graffiti and how both represent George Lucas' love for "fast-moving things". [25]

The speeder bike, specifically the 74-Z as seen in Return of the Jedi, was ranked as one of the top vehicles of the Star Wars universe by Dean Evans of DRIVEN Car Guide. Described as the "ultimate superbike" and "cooler than Boba Fett", he argues its real-world equivalent would be the Ducati 996. [26] Ken Napzok also praises the 74-Z as being a sublime design which even young fans can grasp easily. [25]

Many fans of the Star Wars series have also been inspired to build life-size "working" replicas. In 2016, a group of fans used Jetovator water-propelled jet packs to create several 74-Z replicas to film a recreation of the speeder bike chase scene. [27] Vintage Works of Green Bay, Wisconsin, built a replica 74-Z speeder bike in 2017 using a Zero electric motorcycle. [28] Also in 2017, a team from Lithium Cycles worked with YouTube prankster Jesse to build a pair of 74-Z bikes using their Super 73 electric street motorcycles which they showed off on the streets of New York City. In order to give the appearance the vehicles "hovered", the team placed mirrors underneath the bikes to shroud the wheels. [29] [30]

Although lacking the anti-gravity technology ascribed to speeder bikes, real-life hoverbikes utilize different principles of levitation with the goal of achieving a similar effect. Mark DeRoche of Aero-X maker Aerofex said it was "a tribute to George Lucas' team" that their prototype hoverbike – a low-altitude tandem duct aerial vehicle – resembled Star Wars speeders. [31] The HoverSurf HoverBike has also been compared to Star Wars speeder bikes, though it achieves flight by the same methods as a traditional quadcopter. [32] The Japanese manufacturer AERWINS Technologies introduced in 2022 the XTURISMO hoverbike, which was inspired by and has been compared to Star Wars speeder bikes. [33] [34]

Since their inception, speeder bikes have been included in several Star Wars product lines, including Lego models and Hasbro miniatures. [35] [36]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Imperial speeder bike (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm . Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  2. 1 2 Burns, Kevin and Edith Becker (2004). Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (Documentary).
  3. ↑ "BARC speeder (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  4. ↑ "Sith speeder (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  5. ↑ "STAP (Single Trooper Aerial Platform) (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm . Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  6. ↑ "Flare-S swoop (Behind the Scenes)". Star Wars Databank. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  7. ↑ Barr, et al. (2017), p. 188-189
  8. ↑ Barr, et al. (2019), p. 315
  9. ↑ "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic/Swoop racing - StrategyWiki". StrategyWiki. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  10. ↑ "Star Wars Sporting Events". Star Wars Kids. Lucasfilm. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  11. ↑ BioWare. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Personal computer). LucasArts.
  12. ↑ Walker (2018), p. 36
  13. ↑ Barr, et al. (2019), p. 311
  14. 1 2 Walker (2018), p. 28
  15. 1 2 Barr, et al. (2019), p. 296
  16. ↑ "Count Dooku's Speeder". StarWars.com. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  17. ↑ "Imperial patrol speeder". StarWars.com. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  18. ↑ David, Margaret (2020-11-11). "The Mandalorian Season 2 Features One of Star Wars' First Traffic Stops". CBR. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  19. ↑ Phipps, Keith (2019-12-06). "The Mandalorian Recap: Bounty Flaw". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  20. ↑ Keyes, Rob (April 11, 2019). "Mandalorian Speeder Bike Revealed At Star Wars Celebration 2019". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  21. ↑ "Outer Rim speeder bike". StarWars.com. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  22. ↑ Brosofsky, Ben. "Star Wars Outlaws Forgets What Makes Speeder Bikes So Cool". Screen Rante. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  23. ↑ Britt, Ryan (31 July 2024). "Star Wars is About to Reboot its Best Vehicle". Inverse. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  24. ↑ Sherlock, Ben (19 July 2019). "The 10 Most Thrilling Chase Sequences In The Star Wars Saga, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  25. 1 2 Napzok, Ken (15 May 2019). "Racing Through Endor: The Allure of the Speeder Bike Sequence". Why We Love Star Wars: The Great Moments That Built a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Mango Media Inc. ISBN   9781642500011.
  26. ↑ Evans, Dean. "Ranked: The top six vehicles from the Star Wars universe". Drivencarguide.co.nz. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  27. ↑ Grossman, David (9 December 2016). "Watery Jetpacks Become Star Wars Speeder Bikes" . Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  28. ↑ Brandt, Eric (12 July 2017). "Check Out This Real-Life Star Wars Speeder Bike". TheDrive.com. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  29. ↑ Bullard, Benjamin (26 March 2021). "Homemade Star Wars Speeder Bikes Turn Heads on Streets of NYC". Syfywire.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021.
  30. ↑ STAR WARS SPEEDERS IN NEW YORK - The Speeder Build. YouTube (Video). Super73. 30 October 2017. With links to other videos showing the "hovering" bikes in action.
  31. ↑ Barry, Keith. "Jedi Hover Bike Is as Awesome as It Looks, But You'll Never Fly One". Wired. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  32. ↑ Richard, Mike (24 March 2019). "The HoverSurf Hoverbike Is a Real-Life, Star Wars-Esque Speeder Bike". TheManual.com. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  33. ↑ Burgess, Luke. "They Built a Star Wars Speeder Bike That Actually Flies!". Outsider Club. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  34. ↑ Delouya, Samantha. "You can ride like a Jedi on this 'Star Wars'-inspired hoverbike that just went on sale for $550,000. See it in action". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  35. ↑ Bartholomew, Peter (7 January 2015). "Review: 75090 Ezra's Speeder Bike". Brickset.com. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  36. ↑ Bartholomew, Peter. "Bandai: Star Wars Speeder Bike w/ Biker Scout 1:12 Model Kit Review". The Fwoosh. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
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