Over the past couple of weeks, HBO has been showing the original Star Wars Trilogy (movies 4, 5, 6). I hadn't watched these movies in many, many years, so when I was able to, I turned on the tube. I watched A New Hope and Return, but missed Empire. I was impressed once again at how good those movies were. They really made the first three movies look like crap.
Then it hit me. I realized that there was one hero whose abilities in the cockpit was greater than anyone else, but he received no recognition at all.
It wasn't Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader. Although Obi Wan claims Anakin was the greatest pilot he ever saw, Anakin wasn't all that. His first victory came by pure luck. With sheer crappy acting, he bungled his way onto a fighter and accidentally destroyed a battleship. He got his kills defending the first Death Star with the aid of two wingmen.
It wasn't Han Solo. He might be a cool leader, but in the cockpit, he scored little kills. His best kill during major combat came when he shot one of Darth Vader's wingmen. That's it.
Not Luke either. Yeah, he rocks in Beggar's Canyon, but he got shot down on Hoth. And if it wasn't for Han blindsiding Darth Vader, Luke would have been space dust. Luke is over rated because he dropped some acid and thought he heard his dead teacher's voice telling him how to blow up the Death Star.
It wasn't the generic Tie Fighter pilot either, even though he scored like a hundred Rebel kills.
It was Wedge Antilles. If you never heard of him, don't worry. He's not out for fortune or fame. He's just out to do his job. Although he is pure kick ass, he never bothered to have crazy ceremonies with vestal virgins giving him Olympic medals.
Wedge was instrumental in destroying the first Death Star. He covered Luke's butt, even eating bullets for him. In the end, Wedge kept Luke alive long enough for Luke to kill steal the Death Star.
Wedge also was the first to take down an AT-AT on Hoth. That kill required Wedge to do some fancy flying, while under fire, to tangle the AT-AT legs with a tow cable.
Guess who led the attack on the second Death Star. Yup. Wedge did. He out-piloted Lando through the tunnels heading into the power core. Lando almost flew his ship into a wall. Wedge also destroyed the power regulator which allowed Lando to get a shot at the power core.
And he also killed a shitload of Tie Fighters.
So when you find some geeks talking about Star Wars, you can approach them and say that the greatest character in the series was Wedge Antilles.
And these aren't the droids you're looking for.
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