Rogue One Easter Eggs That Slipped Right By You

What is it with young rebels and blue milk? As a very young Jyn escapes her family's farm at the beginning of Rogue One, we see a glass of blue milk perched on a countertop, not unlike the questionable beverage that young Luke Skywalker had to endure in A New Hope. The blue moo juice also reappears in Attack of the Clones. Presumably, the junk comes from banthas, but no one is free from it, even on planets where banthas aren't a native species. Someone is importing this junk. Forget about building a Death Star, just corner the blue milk market if you want to conquer the galaxy.

It's a cameo that's impossible to miss. In the ill-fated city of Jedha, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor bump into a really, really ugly man and his walrus-faced pal. Visitors to Chalmun's Cantina on Tatooine will easily recognize the duo as Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, who try to start trouble with Luke Skywalker and lose an arm to Obi-Wan's saber for the trouble. Apparently, Ponda Baba could easily escape a city going totally nuclear, but couldn't keep his arms from falling off his body in a sleazy bar a few weeks later. Tough break, buddy.

There are a lot of scummy things going on in Saw Gerrera's ramshackle base, including, but not limited to, watching weird holo-porn of dancing Twi'leks ... which only reminds us of Grandpa Itchy's dirty dalliances in the forbidden Star Wars Holiday Special. But amid the many props and baubles found in the base is a very bootleg version of dejarik, the holographic chess game found aboard the Millennium Falcon. This dollar store version uses actual, physical pieces and not the hi-tech, animated, holographic stuff. Only in space is chess a game for scoundrels.

Also making an appearance in Gerrera's cave in especially Easter-eggy form are creatures from director Gareth Edward's 2010 film Monsters and his 2014 film Godzilla. The director told The Star Wars Show that it wasn't even him being cheeky; these were slipped into Gerrera's cave by the crew.

Early intel for Rogue One was adamant about the film having nothing to do with the ongoing animated series, Rebels, but now that seems like a bit of misdirection, for a few reasons.

First, it looks a lot like the Rebels ship Ghost is spotted among the fighters during the film's final battle, indicated by the unique pattern of lights on the rear of the ship. There aren't too many ships' butts that look like a surprised clown, but the Ghost is one of them. Second, the name "General Syndulla" is mentioned, and unless "Syndulla" is the "Jones" or "Smith" of the galaxy, that would have to be Hera Syndulla, the captain of the Ghost.

Some viewers have also speculated on the use of the name "Blacksaber" as one of the Empire's projects, mentioned as Jyn is searching the archives and just before she lands on the file she's searching for, "Stardust." While there are a lot of sabers in the universe, the darksaber is an ancient Jedi artifact once stolen by the Mandalorians and then wielded by Darth Maul, and yes, it has a black blade. "Blacksaber" could refer to just about anything, though, from Darth Vader's hellish home, to an undisclosed death weapon, to Grand Moff Tarkin's favorite pie recipe. Time will tell.

The Rebel Alliance existed long before a shaggy-haired farmboy-turned-Jedi came along to save it. While Luke was out collecting moisture in the desert and whining about not going to Tosche Station, a real rebel soldier was flying around in an X-wing with the callsign Red Five ... until he exploded during the attack on Scarif. A little while later, Luke would take the same callsign during the Battle of Yavin, destroying the first Death Star. Since, you know, no one was using it anymore.

But he wasn't the only hotshot pilot, and he wasn't even the boss. The head of the Red Squadron, Garven Dreis, survived the attack on Scarif and went on to attack the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin. Original actor Drewe Henley came back to play the role, at least via some amazing CGI work, since Henley was 76 at the time, and passed away 10 months before the film reached theaters.

We don't know if the Star Wars: Rebels character Zeb is still kicking around the galaxy at this point in the timeline, but one of his favorite curse words has made it into live action. The phrase "Karabast" is a Lasat expression used in surprising or frustrating situations. Zeb uses it fairly often, and it's been adopted by most of the Ghost crew at this point (most notably Ezra). It's not a very well-known phrase, thought it seems Pao from Rogue One has apparently spent some time with a Lasat or two over the years: when the AT-ACTs break on the beach of Scarif, he shouts "Karabast!"

One of the weirdest things about A New Hope was the sheer stupidity surrounding the way the Rebels take out the Death Star. It's ludicrous to think the Empire would've been dumb enough to leave a gaping security flaw in the design, and in Rogue One we learn why they're able to destroy the entire structure with just one well-placed shot: Galen Erso spent years building that design flaw into the heart of the Death Star, burying it deep enough that no one else would actually notice it. The Star Wars franchise has had a sketchy relationship with retcons (we're looking at you, Midi-chlorians), but this little tweak was brilliant.

Aside from sporadic mentions across the canon as the McGuffin that powers lightsabers, Kyber crystals haven't really played a massive role in the Star Wars canon. Until now. They're a massive plot point in Rogue One, as the Empire spends most of the movie either stealing or mining the crystals to power the Death Star. It was a clever way to tie the film to the plot back to the main mythology, and just thematically, it finds the Empire literally pillaging the power and honor of the Jedi to power their war machine. It's not subtle, but it certainly gets the point across. On the flip side, Jyn wears a tiny Kyber crystal on her necklace, giving her a tangible connection to the good side of the Force.

Edwards grew up watching movies like Alien, so when taking the helm of his own Star Wars film, the director decided to throw a little nod to Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic. He told Fandango the planet Eadu was directly inspired by LV-426, the small planet where the alien pods are first discovered in the Alien series. Now knowing Edwards was trying to pay tribute to the look, it's fairly obvious when looking at the scenes set on Eadu in the film. Now, how much longer until Alien vs. Predator vs. Jedi?