Yoda Lingo 101 | StarTalk

So I was sure nothing would come of Yoda. And here's Yoda the wise. Who's to say? So who gave you that call?

Actually, George. George. George. And the pope. George Lucas, through his producer, asked Jim-- we're doing them up in a movie in Los Angeles-- Jim was obviously too busy and knew he hadn't he couldn't quite do that. He has incredible talents, but this one he couldn't quite handle as much as I could, he felt. And that's how it happened; it was through the support of Jim. And then I started doing it.

So you invented the voice?

Yeah.

Did anyone tell you, speak this way?

How could anyone possibly tell you to speak that way, because no one had ever spoken that way before? - Right.

You know why he says that? Why he talks that way?

I've no idea. There's always a reason for something. I've come to learn that as a scientist.

Yeah? My view of it is-- first of all, it was Larry and George who wrote it-- and I said, hey, this is nice-- they use it halfway, and I said, can I do it all the time? They said yeah. The way I view it is, Yoda is-- This is where adjectives and nouns are switched in places-- I'm not smart enough to know what an adjective or a noun is.

OK.

Yeah, the sentence is fully understandable but clearly from another syntax. It's because that's the way the original Jedi spoke. It was a very formal and elegant language. He is now 700, 800 years old at that time. And not unlike the Native Americans trying to keep their language alive, he also is trying to keep the formal Jedi language alive while these surf kids are talking to their language.

Right. And so he feels a tremendous responsibility to talk that way, even though nobody else talks that way. Even though he could probably speak the way everyone else speaks? - Right.

But he has the integrity and he feels--

A cultural imperative.

Yep. That's what I believe.

Well, you don't have to believe it because you did it. So therefore it is.

Yeah, it is. And it gives him dignity and an integrity that's important to his gravitas.

So Adam, why is Yoda so beloved?

I mean, I think, first of all, the performance that Frank gives is incredible. And it's got-- because he's right there actually puppeting the character, there's a real humanity to the performance. You really connect with it. And then he starts out, this small little creature living in the bog. And he turns out to be this wise, incredibly powerful creature. That contrast is so interesting and funny and stays with you.

Charles where you come in?

I think we all want to be Yoda. We all somehow feel we're inadequate, perhaps a little ugly, a little short-- but within us we have the power to move mountains with just our mind.