Dear Kid,

In honor of Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you”) I have found some very interesting Star Wars facts.

In fact, My Friend The Internet almost passed out from overwork when I asked about weird Star Wars facts, because it turns out there aren’t just a lot of weird facts there are gazillions of weird facts. And there aren’t just a lot of site talking about the weird facts there are gazillions of sites talking about the weird facts.

Do you know what you get when you multiply a gazillion by a gazillion? Of course not, you’re on summer break.

A gazillion times a gazillion equals an internet saying “Really? All this before 7 am?”

Because there is so much out there, I will share only a few fun facts about Star Wars. (You’re on spring break so you have plenty of time to go visit all those sites on your own.)

An army of Wookiees was originally intended to help out on Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI Return Of The Jedi, but Lucas opted to use a smaller furry animal instead. And so the Ewok was born. Strangely, the word ‘Ewok’ isn’t actually mentioned at all in the film.

Yoda is the Sanskrit word for warrior.

The phrase “I have a bad feeling about this” or “I have a very bad feeling about this” is said in every Star Wars movie.

Every single Clone Trooper was computer animated (thanks to CGI for cutting the costume budget).

In Episode 1, the personal communicator used by Qui-Gon Jinn is actually made from a resin cast of a Gillette Ladies Sensor Excell Razor. Don’t cut yourself while speaking?

The sound of the TIE Fighter engines is actually the sound of an elephant call mixed with the sounds of a car driving on wet pavement. (I am in awe of whoever thought of that.)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was labelled “The Doll House” when it shipped to theaters, and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones was labelled “Cue Ball” when it shipped to theaters.

It took 10 puppeteers (using both hands) to operate Jabba the Hutt.

Chewbacca’s look was inspired by George Lucas’ dog Indiana (guess where the name Indiana Jones came from?).

Every Star Wars film has been released the week after George Lucas’ birthday on May 14.

And because you’re on break, you have plenty of time to watch the long version of the trailer for number VII.

Happy Star Wars Day,

Love, Mom