Editing Yoda (section)

==Creation==
The ''Star Wars'' franchise was created by [[George Lucas]], who wrote and directed the [[Star Wars (film)|original ''Star Wars'' film]] (1977).{{Efn|Originally titled ''Star Wars'', the film was later retitled ''Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope''.}} He created the character [[Obi-Wan Kenobi]] as a mentor for [[Luke Skywalker]], and originally planned for Obi-Wan to continue training Luke in the sequel, ''The Empire Strikes Back''. However, Lucas ultimately decided that Obi-Wan would die in the first film. Lucas then introduced a new mentor character, who was originally a diminutive frog-like creature called "Minch Yoda".{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|pp=22, 34}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2005 |title=Unscripted With Hayden Christensen and George Lucas |url=https://www.moviefone.com/movie/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith/17722/video/qvNPYXmc/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331083039/https://www.moviefone.com/movie/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith/17722/video/qvNPYXmc/ |archive-date=March 31, 2024 |access-date=March 31, 2024 |website=Moviefone |at=Event occurs at 5:22 }}</ref> The name "Yoda" was chosen because Lucas envisioned the character as a "little [[Dalai Lama]]", and he wanted him to have an "Eastern-sounding" name.{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=241}} One of the film's screenwriters, [[Lawrence Kasdan]], said that Yoda was based on Shimada, the lead samurai from the 1954 [[Akira Kurosawa]] film ''[[Seven Samurai]]''.{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=363}} According to Lucas, the narrative goal of Yoda's design was to teach Luke "to respect everybody and pay attention to the poorest person". Lucas wanted the Jedi Master to be the "exact opposite" of what audiences would expect.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Nathan |first=Ian |date=2020-05-20 |title=The Empire Strikes Back At 40: The Making Of A Star Wars Classic |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-making-empire-strikes-back/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=Empire |language=en |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112021758/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-making-empire-strikes-back/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The film's visual effects art director, [[Joe Johnston]], sketched hundreds of different versions of Yoda. The design that Lucas finally settled on was described by Johnston as a combination of a leprechaun, a troll and a gnome.{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=165}} Lucas gave Yoda a [[Object–subject–verb word order|backward speech pattern]] because he felt the character needed a unique way of speaking that was more dramatic than an accent.{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=241}} The filmmakers considered several ways of portraying Yoda before they decided on a sophisticated puppet. These potential methods included dressing a monkey, a child or a dwarf in a Yoda costume, or using stop-motion animation.{{Efn|For wide shots of Yoda moving around, the dwarf actor [[Deep Roy]] wore a Yoda suit.{{Sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=1229}}
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