Since its creation, the Star Wars galaxy has logically been full of creatures with sometimes completely improbable names. Like the one who acts as court jester to Jabba The Hutt in “Return of the Jedi”, known for her shrill little laugh.
Since its creation and its variation on all possible supports and media, from films to series, video games and novels, the Star Wars galaxy is logically full of creatures and characters, all with their own little identity cards: age , origin of the planet, race, height, etc. We are talking about a figure of 20 million species living in the four corners of the galaxy.
Some are obviously ultra well-known and much put forward, like the indestructible Jabba The Hutt. Well, not quite since he ends up strangled by Princess Leia in The Return of the Jedi. And it is precisely one of the creatures surrounding Jabba in question here. Her name ? Salacious B. Crumb.
You remember ? This insufferable little creature with a high-pitched laugh, with an orange crest reminiscent of a Mogwai, was first seen in Return of the Jedi. A Kowakian monkey-lizard with a height of 70 cm, he acted as Jabba’s jester, with the obligation to make him laugh at least once a day on pain of being executed.
Little video sequence to refresh your memory…
In the wonderful making of Behind the Scenes – The Collection, Phil Tippett tells the tasty little anecdote behind the completely improbable name of this creature. He and his colleagues spent a lunch break washed down with plenty of beer, racking their brains to come up with a name for it.
The meal ending without having found an idea, Tippett asked his colleagues to wait for him because he had to tie his shoelaces. Except that, slightly tipsy, he threw a “I need to tie my soolayshes”, instead of “shoe laces” for shoelaces.
Soolayshes? A fun word; why not give this name to this creature precisely? They pitched the idea to George Lucas. No more impressed than that, the Star Wars progenitor put some letters back in another order, to get “Salacious”, which means “salacious”. Which ultimately isn’t that bad to characterize this creature that will come to an end just as disastrous as its master.