May the 4th be with you ... Breaking down Star Wars picks pool

Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you. Times may be tough, but I mean come on, few things are more uplifting than Star Wars Day. It actually came at the perfect time right? With everyone stuck inside, there’s no reason not to fire up a Star Wars marathon featuring all nine films and the three separate trilogies. What? You’re not watching Stars Wars movies all day long? What’s the matter with you?!

Our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook are offering a picks pool to celebrate, and I was tasked with breaking it down. I will admit I’m not the biggest Star Wars nerd, but I dabble.

Best Jedi?

• Anakin Skywalker
• Luke Skywalker
• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Qui-Gon Jinn
• Rey Skywalker
• Yoda

Nothing against Rey, but this is tough competition for her to go up against. Personally, I’d go with Obi Wan or Qui-Gon, but that’s me, I’m a sick person. In my eyes this is student vs. the teacher in Luke vs. Yoda. In the end, you can’t mess with the Jedi Master. Which is Yoda. Yoda is the pick here.

Best Movie?

• Phantom Menace
• Attack of the Clones
• Rise of the Sith
• A New Hope
• Empire Strikes Back
• Return of the Jedi
• The Force Awakens
• The Last Jedi
• The Rise of Skywalker

So basically all nine movies to pick from and it’s safe to say none from the second or third trilogies should win here. It’s probably between Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi. I’ve always leaned Empire over Jedi by principal. Personally, I love a Phantom Menace, which was a fine movie outside of Jar Jar Binks and the awful CGI job. We’ll get into some more reasons why later I’m sure.

Best non-human character?

• BB8
• C3PO
• Chewbacca
• Jar Jar Binks
• R2D2
• Wicket the Ewok

First off, who’s to say the human characters are even human ... Anyway, it’s Chewbacca. Who didn’t spend their childhood trying to perfect their wookie call? I don’t know if that’s what it’s called, a wookie call, so I’ll probably be crucified for that. I wonder if the trolls come out in full force and Jar Jar ends up winning this, that would be something. I’d go Chewy with R2D2 a close second here.

Best non-Jedi character?

• Boba Fett
• Finn
• Greedo
• Han Solo
• Lando Calrissian
• Leia Organa
• Padme Amidala
• Poe Dameron

This is probably Han Solo in a land slide, though I’m not sure many diehard Star Wars fans even like Han that much. It’s not a new character like Finn or Poe. Lando is the man, so I can see him winning here. Boba Fett is the first choice and he’s the most badass of the bunch. I’d argue he’s probably the best non-Jedi character. I don’t know much about lore, but Leia is related to like two of the best Jedi’s ever, right? Why can’t she have some Jedi blood in her? Seems sexist, but okay.

Best lightsaber color?

• Blue
• Red
• Green
• Purple
• Yellow

The answer to this one is simple. Purple. Remember when the second trilogy came out and Samuel L. showed up as Mace Windu with the purple lightsaber and everyone was like, “hell yeah I want a purple lightsaber!” Oh, you weren’t in that group? Well, get with the program bud, the purple lightsaber is the coolest, hands down.

Best lightsaber battle?

• Duel of the Fates (Ep I)
• Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda vs. Count Dooku (Ep II)
• Anakin vs. Obi-Wan (Ep III)
• Yoda vs. Darth Sidious (Ep III)
• Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan (Ep IV)
• Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader (Ep V)
• Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader (Ep VI)
• Finn/Rey vs. Kylo Ren (Ep VII)
• Rey vs. Kylo (Ep IX)

So admittedly I haven’t seen the most recent film, but most of you will probably either tell me it sucked or it was great. It’s also not going to be in the running for best lightsaber fight. They couldn’t even put the names in there, they had to use “Duel of the Fates” for it. I mean, the only lightsaber fight we an ACTUAL NAME? Of course it’s going to win. For those of you unaware, this is Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon vs. Darth Maul in Phantom Menace. For all the shortcomings of the first trilogy, they got a lot right in this one.

Best sith villain?

• Count Dooku
• Darth Maul
• Darth Vader
• Darth Sidious
• Kylo Ren

If you read the above statement, then you know what’s coming from me here. It’s Darth Maul for me, dawg. Dooku was weak. Vader is Vader, sure, but Darth Maul was still the most badass Star Wars villain and that’s all that matters right? My guess is that this will come down to Maul vs. Vader in the end.

Most memorable line?

• Do or do not. There is no try.
• Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.
• I’ve got a bad feeling about this
• It’s a trap!
• May the force be with you. Always.
• Never tell me the odds!
• No. I am your father.
• Punch it, Chewie!
• That’s no moon ...

So, a lot to unpack here, but let’s make it quick. It’s probably Yoda’s quote in the first line, though I feel like it’s more impactful for Yoda’s overall character. May the force be with you stands out as a potential winner here as well. If it were me in this pool, you know I’d be going with my dude Admiral Akbar and “It’s a trap!” ... this at least has more weight in the pop culture universe.

Best other Star Wars story?

• Clone Wars TV Show
• Rebels TV Show
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• The Mandalorian

So while I haven’t seen either of the Star Wars TV installments I have heard that both of them are better storytelling than any of the spin-off movies, and even the most recent trilogy. Rogue One was sweet, but I don’t know if it has the name value to win here. The Mandalorian gets recency bias since it was what most of you have watched most recently to this pool.

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