Why Gandalf is the best pilot in the
Federation
Star
Wars is full of awesome pilots. Han Solo, Anakin Skywalker, Jean-Luc
Picard, Poe Dameron, the list goes on and on. But truly no pilot in the entire
saga compares to the skills of the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself, Gandalf the
Grey.
Gandalf is without compare when it
comes to his piloting skills. Who could forget the classic scene where he
breaks his friends out of prison by turning off the artificial gravity and
piloting the watchtower they’re in out? Only one really skilled in flying could
accomplish something like that.
But really, Gandalf’s mastery of
piloting would be nothing if you didn’t know where he came from. His origin
story about how he first joined the Federation of Planets and worked his way up
to be the celebrated captain of the U.S.S Enterprise is one of the biggest
tearjerker stories in the entire Expanded Universe, one I am personally stunned
that Disney hasn’t decided to adapt into the new canon.
Who could forget the iconic story of
Gandalf and his crew being stranded on the moon of Pandora, where they
befriended the blue-skinned locals and learned how to fly on pterodactyls? I
felt that not only did it further Gandalf’s character to discover people living
off the land like that, but it provided a fitting end to Ripley’s arc with the
Xenemorph Attack storyline concluded. I also loved how future writers payed
homage to this story later on, with Gandalf often being seen flying a giant
eagle when he isn’t riding his Nimbus 2000 broomstick or piloting his trademark
ship, the Millennium Falcon.
Strangely enough, the most famous
Gandalf storyline features no space battles or interaction with the rest of the
Star Wars galaxy. In fact, you could
take away the Star Wars branding and
I bet nobody could tell the difference.
Written by some upstart named J.R.R
Tolkien, Star Wars: The Fellowship of the
Ring sees Gandalf visiting the distant planet known as Middle Earth, where
he’s apparently already quite famous. While there he’s wrapped up in a
conspiracy about an evil ring and he must assist Frodo, the true hero of the
story, in completing his quest to destroy said ring.
While this story is one of the most
popular Star Wars Expanded Universe
novels to date and is essentially perfect from a story and character
perspective, I personally have some concerns about it. As I mentioned before,
if you removed Gandalf from the books nobody would be able to tell that it was Star Wars. Gandalf’s right hand man Mr.
Spock is nowhere to be seen, and at no point does he mention his home planet of
Bespin, a crucial part of Gandalf’s character as explained in detail in many
past books. Middle Earth is also never mentioned again in any future Star Wars content, making me think that
this book and the two sequels that came later were more or less filler content
while they were waiting on someone to write the next real story.
Despite these problems, Fellowship does have a crucial scene
where Gandalf is struck down by the hellbeast known as the Balrog. It’s made
unclear whether he survives or not, but I’ve heard he comes back in Star Wars: The Two Towers as “Gandalf
the White”. I kinda think that this was more Lucasfilm intervening and making
sure this awful writer wouldn’t kill off one of their best characters than
anything, but it does make for a cool scene.
So that’s what makes Gandalf not only
the best pilot in the Star Wars Saga,
but the best character in fiction overall. I personally would love to see
Gandalf make the jump to the big screen, as he was portrayed very well by
unknown actor Ian McKellen in a trilogy of fan films based on the Middle Earth
books. These films were tragically snubbed from nomination at the Star Wars Fan Film Awards, but if you
can be lucky enough to find yourself a copy I’d highly recommend giving them a
look. They are notoriously rare, so best of luck in finding them.
Also Happy April Fool’s Day. See you
next week.
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