Chewbacca

"Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?!"

- Princess Leia

Chewbacca is one of the central figures in the Star Wars franchise and one of the most recognizable sci-fi characters of all time. Played by Peter Mayhew, he was introduced in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. Mayhew reprised the role of Leia in the film's two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. A younger version of Chewbacca was briefly seen during the Battle of Kashyyyk sequence in 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Chewbacca also played a major role in the televised 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.

Biography
Chewbacca was a wookiee, born the son of Attichitcuk on the planet Kashyyyk two-hundred years prior to the Battle of Yavin.

In 19 BBY, Chewbacca and many of his fellow wookiees assisted the Grand Army of the Republic in their war against the droid armies of Count Dooku. When Chancellor Palpatine instituted Order 66, which caused the clone armies to turn against the Jedi, Chewbacca stood on the side of the Jedi. Jedi master Yoda personally thanked Chewbacca for his heroism at the conclusion of the skirmish.

With the conclusion of the Clone Wars and the rise of the new Galactic Empire, wookiees were highly sought after by Imperial forces for slave labor. Chewbacca was captured and taken aboard an Imperial starship. A young cadet, Han Solo, took pity on the plight of the wookiees and betrayed his command by helping to free Chewbacca. In recognition of Han's sacrifice, Chewbacca was beholden to Solo and owed him a "Life Debt" which, in wookiee culture, meant that he was now obligated to protect Solo for the remainder of his life. Escaping from the Imperials, Chewbacca and Solo became smugglers and outlaws.

"It's not wise to upset a wookiee."

- Han Solo

In 0 BBY, Chewbacca and Han Solo were at a cantina in the Mos Eisley space port on the planet Tatooine. Chewie encountered a retired Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi who was looking for a pilot to transport himself, a young man named Luke Skywalker and two droids to the Alderaan system. Chewie introduced them to Solo who negotiated his fee for transporting them through Imperial territory. As they prepared to leave however, a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers tried to apprehend them and Chewie exchanged blaster shots with them before boarding the Millennium Falcon. Once the ship was in hyperspace and they were safely away from those "imperial slugs", Chewbacca took some time to relax. He entertained himself by playing holochess] with the droid [[R2-D2. Artoo was easily beating Chewie at the game which incited him to snarl with anger. At the urging of Han Solo and Artoo's companion C-3PO, Artoo decided to "let" Chewbacca win.

When the Millennium Falcon came out of hyperspace, Chewie and the others found themselves in the middle of a meteor shower. In truth, the meteors were debris left behind by an explosion that obliterated the planet Alderaan. Shortly thereafter, the Falcon was discovered by the Empire's newest space station, the Death Star. They captured the ship and anchored it onto the station with a tractor beam. Chewie was forced to conceal himself from an Imperial scanning crew by hiding inside a smuggling compartment beneath the deck plates of the ship. Chewie, Luke, Han, Obi-Wan and the droids were able to sneak off the ship and hide inside of a computer room on the Death Star. Han and Luke disguised themselves as Imperial Stormtroopers in order to blend in with the station's personnel. When they realized that the Imperials were holding an important Rebel Alliance dignatary named Leia Organa prisoner, Luke convinced Chewie and Han to help him rescue her. Part of Luke's plan involved pretending that Chewbacca was an Imperial prisoner being transferred through the station's detention levels. Having been a prisoner of the Empire in the past, Chewbacca did not care for this plan at all and only agreed to take part in it at Han's urging.

As per their plan, Han and Luke, still dressed as Stormtroopers, marched Chewbacca down to the detention level. When they were stopped by Lieutenant Shann Childsen, Chewbacca pretended to break loose from his binders and go on a rampage. Grabbing a rifle, he began systematically shooting out all of the video cameras and audio feeds in the room. After a brief fire fight, the room was cleared and Luke had enough time to find Princess Leia. Getting back to the Falcon presented even more problems however. They found themselves cut off by Stormtroopers and Leia had to provide them with an impromptu exit strategy by blasting a hole through a panel into an adjacent garbage chute. With his enhanced olfactory senses, Chewbacca immediately detected an unpleasant odor and refused to go into the chute. Han had to kick him in the back side to get him to dive in. Chewbacca's mood did not improve after landing hip-deep in a room full of industrial waste. The group managed to escape from the chute and get back to the Millennium Falcon. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had gone off separately to deactivate the tractor beam controls was killed while battling the Sith Lord Darth Vader. However, he did succeed in his task and Chewie and the others were able to escape the Death Star.

The Imperials sent a squadron of TIE fighters after them and Chewbacca flew the Falcon while Han and Luke manned the laser cannons and defended the ship from the approaching enemy vessels. Afterward, they brought Princess Leia to the hidden Rebel Alliance base on Yavin IV. Like Han, Chewbacca seemed interested only in collecting whatever reward money was offered for rescuing Leia and had no interest in taking part in the Rebellion. During the Battle of Yavin, Han had a change of heart and Chewie and he made an eleventh-hour rescue, destroying two TIE fighters and crippling Darth Vader's personal TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter. This enabled Luke Skywalker the opportunity to fire the "kill shot" which destroyed the Death Star. When the battle was over, Chewie attended the heroes' celebration at the Massassi Temple on Yavin.

Having gathered their reward money for rescuing Princess Leia, Chewie and Han left Yavin IV to go pay back Jabba the Hutt. En route however, they ran afoul of a notorious space pirate named Crimson Jack. Jack stole the reward money and Chewie and Han were lucky to be left with the Falcon.

Their next stop was the outer rim world of Aduba-3 where they assisted a Verpine priest bury a dead cyborg.

Notes & Trivia

 * Despite being a veteran of both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, Chewbacca has never held a military rank.


 * At the end of Star Wars: A New Hope, only Han and Luke received medals of honor. In the Marvel Comics adaptation however, Chewbacca received a medal as well. Due to his height, Princess Leia had to climb up onto a table to drape it over him.

Pop culture references

 * In the "Lock and Load" episode of the CBS sitcom series $#*! My Dad Says, the character of Vince Goodson opens a squeaky cabinet door to retrieve a pornographic movie. The sound it makes is the trademark warbling growl of Chewbacca.

Parodies

 * A pastiche of Chewbacca appeared in the 1977 parody short Hardware Wars where he was played by a hand puppet. One of the scenes showed the puppet attempting to eat one of the doughnuts that comprised part of Princess Anne-Droid's distinctive hairstyle.


 * In the 2008 comedy Meet the Spartans, Sean Maguire's King Leonidas taunts the Persians by making wookiee sounds.


 * In the "Blue Harvest" Star Wars tribute from season six of Family Guy, Chewbacca was patterned after the character of Brian Griffin (the family dog) and voiced by series creator Seth McFarlane. This version of Chewbacca also appeared in the sequel special, Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side and Family Guy: It's a Trap!.

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