How Star Wars’ Admiral Ackbar Became An Internet Sensation

Erik Bauersfeld, the voice of Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars, has sadly died aged 93.

He didn’t have many lines in the films, but one belated exchange became an online sensation. In ‘Return of the Jedi, the lobster-headed mastermind of the daring attack on the Imperial space station realised the Death Star was being fully-operational.

The dialogue plays out thusly:

Ackbar: “Take evasive action. Green Group, stay close to holding sector MD-7.” Crewman: “Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector 47!” Ackbar: “It’s a trap!”

And as he bellowed those fateful words, so one of the most popular
internet memes was born.

If you judge ‘Star Wars’ characters by their ratio of fame to screen time (and let’s be honest, why wouldn’t you?) then Ackbar’s only real competition is Boba Fett, a bounty hunter whose sole moment of note in ‘Episode VI’ comes when he falls into an enormous vagina-monster in the sand dunes of Tatooine.

Born Gial Ackbar, the future space commander is a member of the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy’s Mon Calamari species, more squid-ey sounding than crustacean, but there we have it. He also has a detailed history thanks to the Expanded Universe of ‘Wars’ fiction, though this has sadly been deemed “unofficial” since Disney bought the series.

Tim Rose played the character on screen in ‘Return of the Jedi’ but his voice was provided by Erik Bauersfeld (above), who would later reprise his role in ‘The Force Awakens’. Originally hired as a puppeteer for the scenes in Jabba The Hutt’s palace, Rose most notably played the slug-like crime lord’s cackling pet Salacious B. Crumb.

Already a member of legendary visual effects man Phil Tippet’s team, Rose would late ask his boss about a name in the script - Admiral Ackbar, who Tippet described as a “background character”. It was then that he asked Rose to play him, unaware what a role it would become.

Always a fan-favourite, Ackbar enjoyed renewed popularity as the internet age dawned, proving to be a meme-in-waiting thanks to his most famous line of dialogue. In 2002, an admin on the Something Awful forums posted a picture of Ackbar with the famous line inscribed across it.

It’s since become somewhat synonymous as a messageboard reaction to online pictures of transsexuals or crossdressers, sometimes derogatorily referred to as ‘traps’, due to their initially indeterminate gender, generally meaning that the picture is one of someone with male genitals, whether they look like it or not.

The meme was also further embellished into another separate meme with a simple switching of letters, 'it’s a trap!’ becoming 'it’s a tarp!’, for reasons known only to the internet, but likely simply based on people typing too quickly.

Since 2002 there have been countless other variations on the line. Such as:

And…

In more recent years he’s been parodied countless times, with ‘Robot Chicken’ providing the best of all in 2007 when they aired an advert for Admiral Ackbar Cereal. “Your tongues can’t repel flavour of that magnitude!”

Even 'Family Guy’ has paid homage to the good Admiral, naming one of its hour-long 'Star Wars’ spoof episodes, 'It’s A Trap!’, a re-telling of the 'Return of the Jedi’ story in 'Family Guy’ style. It later served as the series nine finale, and was the third in 'Family Guy’s Star Wars parody trilogy, collectively called 'Laugh It Up, Fuzzball’. Ackbar himself appears in the episode, played by Klauss Heissler from 'American Dad’ (below), taking on the Admiral’s climatic part in the space battle over the forest moon of Endor.

Emma Stone is also a fan.

So is Sheldon from ‘The Big Bang Theory’.

Stephen Colbert also invoked the word of Ackbar on 'The Colbert Report’ in 2010, using his infamous line intercut with footage of Republican leaders dubbing President Barack Obama’s health care summit 'a trap’.

Later that same year, he found further fame after an attempt to make him the official mascot of the University of Mississippi went viral. The attempt gathered momentum after students pushing for it were considered to be attempting to mock the school. This just made them want it even more however and soon the internet caught on.

A video made by ESPN snappily documents what happened, from the initial drawing of one student to the letter sent to the university from ‘Star Wars’ production company LucasFilm. Sent with the requisite sense of humour it read: “Lucasfilm is flattered that our ‘Star Wars’ fans at the University of Mississippi are considering electing Admiral Ackbar as their mascot.

“The last time we checked in with Admiral Ackbar, he was leading the Rebel Alliance Fleet on a critical mission so it will be difficult for him to show up for the games!”

Unsuccessful, the University eventually selected a Black Bear as their mascot, which is not nearly as fun.

The good name Ackbar lives on though. Despite the sad passing of Bauersfeld, we suspect Ackbar will continue to be one of the cult heroes of the ‘Star Wars’ universe for many years to come.

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Image Credits: Everett, Tumblr, Disney