I Did Not Know That!

Matt Welch | May 19, 2005

There's a Darth Vader carved in the National Cathedral. (Link via Dr. Frank.)

Comments

|5.19.05 @ 2:53PM|#

How did you not know that? Everyone should know that He is our One True God. And a hell of an evil overlord.

|5.19.05 @ 3:01PM|#

Several years ago Smithsonian magazine had a number of the 'unique' gargoyles (including Vader) at the national cathedral that the workers had made. I'm sure there's some website listing the many that have been ID'd.

|5.19.05 @ 3:16PM|#

On the south side of the National Cathedral, above the lowest two levels of stained glass windows, there's a crouching, grimacing Orin Hatch gargoyle poised to strike.

...He's the third gargoyle from the corner on the right.

ed|5.19.05 @ 4:08PM|#

Poor Darth has not aged well. Problem with these pesky prequels is you can't go back and spruce up the old villain. Good lord, he has a cape and a utility belt! And a little box on his chest with toggle switches and what looks like an ON/OFF button. I'll bet one of those buttons activates a little door that pops open and a little paper cup drops down, into which coffee is dispensed.

|5.19.05 @ 4:16PM|#

"I'm brewing my own Sanka!"

|5.19.05 @ 4:30PM|#

"There's a Darth Vader carved in the National Cathedral."

There's also an Emperor Palpatine living in the Naval Observatory.

tap tap tap. Is this thing on?

|5.19.05 @ 4:32PM|#

Darth just isn't as fearsome as he used to be - reduced now to being in lame BK and M&M commercials.

|5.19.05 @ 4:39PM|#

P.O.G.L.A.,

Darth's getting older; like DeNiro and Hoffman, he realized it's time to cash in on his fame.

|5.19.05 @ 4:40PM|#

Darth just isn't as fearsome as he used to be - reduced now to being in lame BK and M&M commercials.

True. In fact, I think he really lost his oomph after he started doing those Thighmaster infomercials.

|5.19.05 @ 4:46PM|#

Speaking of Darth's on/off switches, I haven't watched the "remade" versions of the first three, where Greedo shoots first and stuff. Does the first episode still contain the 70s vector graphics, when they're explaining how to blow up the Death Star? That was awesome. Almost as awesome as the Commodore PETs used on the bridge of the Battlestar Gallactica, if memory serves.

Probably not a good idea to put neato computer gear in your SciFi movie, if you can help it.

ed|5.19.05 @ 4:50PM|#

That's why cinematic sci-fi rarely ages well, Brian. The more state-of-the-art gizmos at the expense of good story-telling, the shorter the shelf-life.

|5.19.05 @ 4:53PM|#

Darth just isn't as fearsome as he used to be

Here's where I go all geeky, and point out that "Darth" isn't Vader's first name. It's a Sith title of power.

Let the flaming begin.

|5.19.05 @ 4:54PM|#

Anyone ever see the old Doctor Who, wherein the Tartus gets stuck at the beginning of the universe because...drum roll...the "Travel Back Through Time" button on the console got jammed?

Really. The button. They had to jiggle it.

ed|5.19.05 @ 5:02PM|#

Don't even get me started on the garden hose appliqués on his belt...

ed|5.19.05 @ 5:03PM|#

Yikes.
Make that appliques.

|5.19.05 @ 5:04PM|#

I should point out that if I were an adult when the first Star Wars came out, I'd be repulsed by it because of the voodoo/superstition crap.

It's amazing how much we're motivated by childhood sentimentality.

|5.19.05 @ 5:06PM|#

Darth just isn't as fearsome as he used to be - reduced now to being in lame BK and M&M commercials.

George Lucas is a pimp. This makes it understandable that he put Darth out on the street to turn tricks, but it's hard to be scared of a ho.

|5.19.05 @ 5:10PM|#

I should point out that if I were an adult when the first Star Wars came out, I'd be repulsed by it because of the voodoo/superstition crap.

You mean...Daoism? I think about a billion Chinese might beg to difer on that account. Fortunately for you, as long as you don't throw any copies of the movie into a toilet I don't think they'll riot.;)

|5.19.05 @ 5:19PM|#

While we're on the subject of lame buttons, I've noticed in episodes 2 and 3 that it is apparently the design of naboo starcruisers that a single button in the upper right corner of a particular bank of controls has the following abilities:

1)Rerout transmissions to Coruscant
2)Bring up the location of Geonosis
3)Cause the ship to take off

I defy anyone to top my level of nerdiness.

|5.19.05 @ 5:26PM|#

mtc, whenever you see something like that, remember, a wizard did it.

|5.19.05 @ 6:48PM|#

joe:

I think you're thinking of the Tardis, not the Tartus

take that, nerd-wannabes

|5.19.05 @ 7:15PM|#

First, Darth Vader is a Christian? Cool. Church must be much more interesting now than when I was a kid.

Second, if Cheney is the Emperor, does that mean that he can shoot out bolts of demon lightning from his hands? Whoa. Maybe he'll just zap the next senator who interferes with a nomination or with legislation that he cares about: "Filibuster? The Emperor is not pleased!". Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaappp.

|5.19.05 @ 7:26PM|#

no dead elvis, its padme everytime.

|5.19.05 @ 8:56PM|#

http://darthside.blogspot.com

Vader is just misunderstood.

The above link is to his blog where he explains his true motives behind the events of ANH, ESB, and ROTJ.