A Space Opera Christmas, "All I Want for Christmas is Batuu" (Star Wars Christmas parody)

For those who have not read "Thrawn: "Alliances" by Timothy Zahn,

Star Wars, Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn, book page at Amazon.co.uk

Batuu is a planet in the Outer Rim of the galaxy far, far away. It is where Senior Captain * Mitth'raw'nuruodo (the future Grand Admiral Thrawn) first met Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and teamed up with him to rescue Senator Padme Amidala and foil a separatist plot.


 

There are WAY too many Star Wars, Star Trek and other science fiction or fantasy parodies of "All I want for Christmas" for me to use all of them, so I'm just going to post a few of the best.

"All I want for Christmas is Batuu" is probably the best of the Star Wars parodies of this song, based on the quality of the musical performance and originality of the humour. 



* Footnote. 

This footnote is only for real Star Wars detail nerds and any pedants who wondered why I gave Thrawn's rank as Senior Captain above.

Yes, I described Thrawn as being a "Senior Captain" when he met Anakin on Batuu. 

No, that's not a mistake.

Thrawn introduces himself as a commander when he first meets Anakin in "Thrawn: Alliances" but in "Chaos Rising," the first book in the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, author Timothy Zahn retcons this, and gives Thrawn's real rank at this time as Senior captain. 

In that book "Chaos Rising" another Chiss who hears Thrawn describe himself to Anakin as a commander assumes he is downplaying his rank to make himself appear less important, but Thrawn's actual motives are not given. Furthermore, "Commander" would probably have given a Galactic Republic general like Anakin Skywalker a better idea of Thrawn's actual status.

In the Galactic Republic, like the Empire which was built from it, a commander is higher in rank than a captain. A Republic navy commander holds the most senior rank below flag officers such as  Commodores and Admirals.

In the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet, as in most navies on Earth, commanders are junior to captains, and the senior grade of captain, Thrawn's actual rank, is the most senior rank below Admiral.

If Thrawn was aware of this, he might not have meant to deceive Anakin at all when he translated his rank to the Jedi as Commander, because a Commander in the Republic navy was actually the closest equivalent to his actual rank in the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet.
  

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