Welcome to Star Wars Saturdays! Our Star Wars Fan Panel – a group of big time Star Wars fans – has gathered to talk all things from a Galaxy Far Far Away!
On Saturdays we share our thoughts on ranking anything and everything in the Star Wars galaxy! What makes us different? We vote with our hearts. Our lists are our top FAVORITE things about each Star Wars category. We believe there are already too many critical lists, artistry lists, film making lists… yadda yadda… we are simply talking about our FAVORITES – as all fans do.
Our merry band of rebel fans are:
Brer Brooke (@brer.burke)
Chris B (@thedisneynationtm)
Chris R
Evan (@homeawayfromdisney)
Gina
Jason (@fency53)
Jay
Jeremy (@disneyfamilytime)
Joe N (@joseph.nicholas35)
Jon Gus (thejonnygus)
Kevin (@thekevinawakens)
Meaghan (@homeawayfromdisney)
Steph (@saylikeyay)
And yours truly, Keith – founder of @mindofmodernman and @dadventuredisney
You can follow the Star Wars Panel on Instagram for all our updates!
This week – 12 of us spent a little time bonding with the Dark Side. We submitted ballots of our Top 10 Star Wars Villains. I took all the ballots and put the data into our super secret spreadsheet and it spit out our cumulative rankings for our 10 Favorites.
Just like with last week’s Top 10 Star Wars Droids, I’m sure you know many of the names that will be on this list. However, I bet there will be a few surprises here for you, too.
We had THREE different villains receive unanimous nominations (on every ballot). Can you guess the three? And only 4 different villains received first place votes – so we were all close in our thinking.
Check out the list and then some of my thoughts after. Then, hit the comments and sound off on what you feel about our Villains List!
On to the list… Punch it!
Assajj Ventress
First Seen: The Clone Wars
Top 10 Score: 1.42. Nominated on 4 ballots.
Did You Know: Her design originated as concept art by Dermot Power for a potential female Sith Lord during the development of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. However, the character was abandoned in favour of Count Dooku. – Wookieepedia
General Grevious
First Seen: Revenge of the Sith
Top 10 Score: 1.67. Nominated on 6 ballots.
Did You Know: “With General Grievous, I wanted somebody who was reminiscent of what Anakin is going to become, which is a half man, half robot. In this case, Grievous is sort of 20% alien and 80% robot.” ―George Lucas on the creation of Grievous
Grand Moff Tarkin
First Seen: A New Hope
Top 10 Score: 3.17. Nominated on 10 ballots.
Did You Know: Cushing was originally considered to play Obi-Wan Kenobi, but his friend Alec Guinness took that role when George Lucas decided that he was perfect for the role of Tarkin. – Wookieepedia
Jabba the Hutt
First Seen: A New Hope (mention)
Top 10 Score: 3.50. Nominated on 8 ballots.
Did You Know: In Return of the Jedi, Jabba’s slimy sound was primarily made using a bowl of melted cheese. – Wookieepedia
Grand Admiral Thrawn
First Seen: Heir to the Empire (Novel)
Top 10 Score: 3.83. Nominated on 6 ballots.
Did You Know: Author Timothy Zahn has stated that Thrawn’s character is a composite of various historical and fictional personalities, including Erwin Rommel, Robert E. Lee, Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great, and Sherlock Holmes, to name a few. – Wookieepedia
Boba Fett
First Seen: Empire Strikes Back
Top 10 Score: 3.82. Nominated on 9 ballots.
Did You Know: Boba’s name has quite the history. “Fett” is actually a corruption of the Mandalorian word “Vhett”, meaning “farmer”. Yup – the badass bounty hunter, feared across the galaxy, is basically named “Bob the Farmer”. – ScreenRant
Kylo Ren
First Seen: The Force Awakens
Top 10 Score: 5.25. Nominated on 9 ballots. 1 first place vote.
Did You Know: For the film’s soundtrack, composer John Williams wrote a theme for Kylo Ren that first appears in the track “Main Title and The Attack on the Jakku Village.” It is reprised throughout the film, including in “Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle. In composing the theme, Williams approached it as an extension of Darth Vader and “The Imperial March,” without it being too similar. He wanted the theme to convey Ren’s great and evil power and strength, as well as the threat he posed. These elements came together to create a theme that could be instantly accessible to the audience. – Wookiepedia
Darth Maul
First Seen: The Phantom Menace
Top 10 Score: 6.58. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots. 1 first place vote.
Did You Know: In The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul was played by martial arts specialist Ray Park and voiced by British (mostly comedic) actor Peter Serafinowicz. – Wookieepedia
Emperor Palpatine
First Seen: A New Hope (mention)
Top 10 Score: 7.08. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots. 1 first place vote.
Did You Know: In 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Darth Sidious was never identified neither by his real name or his Sith alter ego on-screen, as he was referred just as “The Emperor” by most characters or “Master” by Darth Vader.[18] The Emperor’s name was supplied in supplementary materials, including the script for Episode VI. It wasn’t until the 1999 film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, that the Emperor’s name and alter ego were first mentioned on-screen. – Wookieepedia
Darth Vader
First Seen: A New Hope
Top 10 Score: 9.42. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots. 9 of 12 first place votes.
Originally David Prowse was in the costume, Bob Anderson was in the costume for the lightsaber battles, Sebastian Shaw was Vader without his helmet and James Earl Jones has always been Vader’s voice.
Did You Know: In the Italian original and prequel trilogies, Darth Vader is known as Lord Dart Fener. In 2004, Lucasfilm announced a “referendum” to Italian fans about the changing of the name into Darth Vader for Revenge of the Sith, but “Dart Fener” won, and the name was reverted to “Darth Vader” for materials from The Force Awakens onwards.
It’s GOOD to be BAD! It’s amazing how endearing the ‘bad guys’ have made themselves to us throughout the Star Wars Universe.
A lot of the baddies on this list had a streak of good within them such as Darth Vader or Kylo Ren. Some were amazing to watch fight like Darth Maul and General Grievous. Some were bad for a job like Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett.
Over all we had 25 total names nominated. The newest being Moff Gideon from the final episodes of The Mandalorian.
Both the original trilogy and Star Wars TV produced 8 of the nominees. 4 were from the prequels, 3 from the Disney Era and 2 from the Star Wars Stories.
Who else was on the list?
General Hux 1.67 points
Supreme Leader Snoke 1.08 points
The following all had less than a point:
Count Dooku, Stormtroopers, Second Sister, Cad Bain, Grand Inquisitor, Moff Gideon, Krennic, Bossk, Hondo, The Client (Mandalorian), Jango Fett, Dryden Voss and Greedo.
Darth Vader may have been a no-brainer to come in first place, but he didn’t get unanimous first place votes. Curious which characters were nominated above him on the ballots that didn’t have him first? Here they are: Emperor, Snoke, Darth Maul, Kylo Ren and Stormtroopers.
What’s your order? Who are your favorites in the Star Wars Universe? Who didn’t make our list as a glaring mistake in your eyes? Are you surprised to not see Vader #1 on all lists? Have you read Heir to the Empire?
Hit the comments and let us know. Or head over to our Instagram Page and hit us up there, too!
On behalf of the Star Wars Fan Panel, thank you for reading and we’ll see you next time for another Star Wars Saturday.
Cheers!
Keith
Mind of Modern Man 