}); The Road to Episode Infinity: Who is Camie?

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Who is Camie?





“I hate it when you look like that. Like you got cheated, and all this is a big mistake. Like you should have followed Tank and Biggs, and gone to the Academy like you wanted to. Like you were meant to be far away from here. Away from me.”

~Camie Skywalker




The novelization of “The Last Jedi” begins with a dream. Luke is on Tatooine. Luke never left Tatooine. Luke married Camie Marstrap. But who is Camie?

Though most fans haven’t heard of Camie, she has been around for a while. In fact, fans were first introduced to Camie in November of 1976, when the novelization of Star Wars hit book shelves. She was featured in the first issue of “Star Wars” the comic in April of 1977. She appeared in the 1981 radio dramatization of Star Wars. She was featured in the original Star Wars script. An actress named Koo Stark was cast to play the role of Camie and scenes were filmed. The only place you won't fin Camie is in the film itself. So what happened to Camie?

When I was growing up I heard fables of the “Lost Tatooine Scenes”. Some pictures of these scenes had been published, including Luke in his bucket hat and poncho.  Some fans will even swear they saw the Tosche Station scene in the cinemas, although they probably remember it from the novelization or the comics. Fans clamored for years for these scenes to be released and eventually they ended up on Youtube in 2008. Were these mythical scenes worth the wait? Or do they disappoint? You'll have to answer those questions for yourself. But if the scenes have one hidden gift, it is probably Koo Stark's portrayal of Camie. Koo originally auditioned for Princess Leia and could have probably pulled off Marion Ravenwood. She has a rough-and-tumble demeanor and could definitely take down a Tusken in a wrestling match.

“Don't worry about it, Wormie.”
~Camie Marstrap

In the deleted scene in question Luke Skywalker goes to the Tosche Station to "pick up some power converters" and "waste time with his friends". Luke’s friends, however, don’t seem especially nice to him. Camie frequently  calls him “Wormie” and her boyfriend, “Fixer”, doesn’t seem to like him much either. They treat Luke as if he were the middle-school dork (which he kind of is, especially in the lost scenes). Only Biggs seems to genuinely enjoy Luke’s company.

Biggs of course, is the one friend of Luke's who was not cut from the final film. Many fans did notice that "A New Hope" only really tells half of Biggs' story. In the deleted scenes we find the other half. In those scenes we find that Biggs is far more confident and competent than Luke "Wormie" Skywalker. Luke looks up to Biggs like an older-brother or a super hero. In the final cut of the film we don't see how much of a mentor Biggs actually was to Luke and how much it must have hurt Luke to lose Biggs during the Battle of Yavin. If the Lost Tatooine Scenes had been in the final cut, Biggs' death may have felt heavier to the audience. In that moment Luke lost the third of his three father figures- Owen, Obi-Wan, and Biggs- in about as many days. (Or all in the same day? I've never understood how time passes in Star Wars movies.)

Biggs is a fairly well-known Star Wars character, but Camie and her boyfriend “Fixer” kind of disappeared into obscurity. They did reappear in comics in 1979 and again in 2003. They even had action figures released in 2010. But it wasn’t until recently that Camie started to draw more interest from fans.


Since the novelization of “The Last Jedi” Camie has made a bit of a comeback in Star Wars fandom. There are a lot of “What-Ifs” attached to this character. What if her scenes weren't cut? What if she appeared in other Star Wars films? What if Koo Stark had been cast in the role of Princess Leia instead of Carrie Fisher? What if Camie married Luke Skywalker? What if?


"Who Is?" Series




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