FANgirl’s Star Tours Pop Quiz – Star Wars Expanded Universe Fans Take the Test

May 16, 2012May 16, 2012 Fangirl Cat Taber, Del Rey, Erich Schoeneweiss, EU, Fanboys, Fangirls, Jason Fry, Star Wars, Star Wars Weekends, The Clone Wars

Star Wars Weekends starts this Friday, but Expanded Universe fans might want to wait until the third weekend, June 1st through 3rd, to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason Fry and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss will be there, as will fangirl extraordinaire Cat Taber, voice of Padmé Amidala on The Clone Wars. Having a chance to talk the Expanded Universe with a few of its biggest fans made my Suvudu list of the top five reasons for making the trip.

Another reason is Star Tours, the theme park ride that truly gives Star Wars Weekends its focus. Star Tours is fantastic fan fun; almost every experience is unique, with 54 possible combinations to the ride. So, the question is – what might determine a fan’s ultimate version of the ride?

In the spirit of adventure and fun that is Star Wars, Jason, Erich, and Cat agreed to take my Star Tours Pop Quiz. I’d love for everyone to take the test and share their answers in the comments section.

Star Tours Pop Quiz

What’s your favorite trilogy?

1. OT

2. PT

3. Do I have to choose?

What’s the Star Wars line you’d most like to say?

1. “It’s a trap!”

2. “You’re my only hope.”

3. “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Pick your favorite Star Wars furry friend:

1. Wookiee

2. Tauntaun

3. Bantha

Pick your side:

1. Rebel

2. Imperial

If you’ve ridden Star Tours before, you might have figured out that I shook up the questions and presented them out of order compared to how they occur on the ride. Can’t have the quiz be too easy!

The last question determines which of the two scenarios – flee with the Millennium Falcon or face-off with Darth Vader – is your best opener. Apparently we have a bunch of Rebels in our midst; Jason, Erich, and Cat all picked the heroic side.

Erich: Rebel – Simply so I could fly an X-Wing or hitch a ride in the Millennium Falcon.

Jason: Rebel, but wish I could wear the Imperial unis. The bad guys always get the good togs.

Cat: Rebel!!!!!

Given his qualification, though, I’m awarding Jason the Vader opening so he can check out the really cool togs. For that opener, my tip is that Jason not get too overwhelmed by the fact that a Sith Lord is Force-hurling his ship – keep an eye on the background, where there are some pretty nifty Imperial accessories, especially those TIE fighters! I think Erich and Cat will enjoy joining the Millennium Falcon beginning. Hopefully they listen carefully to the voice of the hangar controller – it’s Carrie Fisher.

For the second phase of the ride, fans hyperspace jump to one of three locations – the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to battle clones on speeder bikes, the desert planet Tatooine for a podrace, or Hoth for some old school snowspeeder action. I used the corresponding animals from those planets to decide which option would fit our quiz-takers. There appears to be some like-mindedness between our EU fans on this part, too –they all picked Wookiee!

Erich: Wookiee – Easily. Who wouldn’t want to be best friends with a Wookiee.

Jason: Gotta go with the Wookiee. He can do stuff. The others just eat.

Cat: Wookiee, unless it is a BABY tauntaun – then it would be tauntaun.

Guess what? I found a baby tauntaun, so Cat gets to visit Hoth, where she’ll fly with Rogue Squadron as they take down AT-ATs. We’ll call it on-the-job training for when she plays Rogue pilot Jaina Solo. Erich and Jason will have to whoop it up in the jungle. Fair warning guys – watch out for Wookiees hitching a ride!

Once finished with your adventures on your first-visited planet, one of three Star Wars favorites – Princess Leia, Yoda, or Admiral Ackbar – delivers a secret message to your ship. All of my quiz participants got a bit rebellious on the second question, though, and ad-libbed their own lines.

Erich: I’m adding a fourth one, simply because it’s my favorite line. “You rebel scum.” I just love the way it’s delivered. I use it all the time.

Jason: Write-in for “Don’t everybody thank me at once.” Failing that, “Do or do not…”

Cat: “Never tell me the odds” is my favorite line, but let’s go with “Do or do not; there is no try.”

I mean, really? What am I supposed to do with this? I’m pulling a Mon Mothma and handing out assignments to this unruly bunch. If that fails, I’m going Mother Talzin on the three of them until we get some discipline. Jason did give me a fallback, so I’m sending Yoda his way. For Cat, in honor of Han Solo’s epic line, she gets Princess Leia. Admiral Ackbar will hopefully get the Rebel recruit Erich back into the rank and file. Otherwise it’s disintegration…

After receiving orders to protect the Rebel spy, C-3PO and R2-D2 send the Starspeeder 1000 back into hyperspace, headed for one of three final destinations. Here’s where I had to take some liberties with the question, because the ride does, too. For Original Trilogy fans, the Geonosis ending is probably the one for you. Although the sequence starts at a Prequel Trilogy planet, you get to duel with Boba Fett’s Slave I, make a run on the Death Star, and conclude with the Rebel fleet. For Prequel Trilogy fans, the Naboo ending fits the bill. This is the one segment that utilizes 3D sight gags; everyone jumping in surprise adds to the fun. Finally, dropping into orbit for the Coruscant ending, the visuals harken back to the epic fleet battles from Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith that should satisfy fans of both trilogies. This Triple Zero ending also pays homage to the original Star Tours ride as it comes to a close.

Erich: OT – Easily. I was seven when ANH was released. First kid on block to have a Jawa action figure (they were very rare in my neck of the woods), used to reenact the movie scene by scene in the front yard with my friends, wore a Star Wars t-shirt all the time. Do I need to go on? It stayed with me my whole life.

Jason: OT

Cat: Do I really have to choose?

Jason’s and Erich’s rides will come to an end at Geonosis. Hopefully they don’t try to create a retcon, though, or we may find them in brain overload down in Tatooine Traders. My advice for Jason – make sure you take tissues to hand Erich, just in case he does gets the Geonosis ending. As part of her job, Cat has visited Coruscant a time or two, but I bet never like this.

So after all is said and done – pencils down, quiz over – what do I predict will satisfy each of my test subjects’ fannish tastes?

Erich: Falcon opening – Kashyyyk – Admiral Ackbar message – Geonosis ending

Jason: Vader opening – Kashyyyk – Yoda message – Geonosis ending

Cat: Falcon opening – Hoth – Princess Leia message – Coruscant ending

I’m going to see if I can get our three VIPs to tweet their Star Tours combinations after they enjoy the ride in just over two weeks. We’ll find out if the Force is on their side, and they get their ideal Star Tours experience.

And what’s my favorite combination?

Tricia: Falcon opening – Hoth – Princess Leia message – Naboo ending

Now, the question is – what’s yours?

Special thanks to Erich, Jason, and Cat for playing along.

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Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero's Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue.

Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.