Star Wars is arguably the most expansive franchise in pop culture history, with movies, shows, video games, books, podcasts (including one that breaks down the episodic films, minute-by-minute), college courses, theme park rides, and so on. But not a single text or piece of media has been able to answer one of the biggest questions in Star Wars lore: who played the Stormtrooper who bonks his head on a door in A New Hope?
This is my “who are Rey’s parents?” Way more important, too.
It’s a mystery that filmmaker Jamie Stangroom set to solve. The Empire Strikes Door is a documentary that “aims to solve a Star Wars mystery! We know who Luke’s father is. We know who stole the Death Star plans. We even know who shot first! What we don’t know is the identity of the stormtrooper who cracked his skull against a Death Star door, in one of cinema’s most famous bloopers. I’m going to attempt to find out who it was,” the film’s IndieGoGo page reads. “I always wanted to find the Stormtrooper who hit his head, a moment so immortal in film history that when remastering the original movies George Lucas felt compelled to add a comedy sound effect highlighting the moment.” (Attack of the Clones also paid homage to the blunder, courtesy of Jango Fett.)
Stangroom’s investigation found three likely candidates, one of whom, Laurie Goode, blamed the head bonk on, uh, needing to use the bathroom. We’ll find out the truth on September 25, when The Empire Strikes Door debuts on Stangroom’s YouTube page.
(Via IndieGoGo and Comic Book)
