Need for Speed: The Best Star Wars Speeder Bike Moments

Speeder bikes™, sometimes called jump speeders or land speeders, are essential vehicles in Star Wars™. These mechanized modes of transportation carry our heroes across the galaxy.

While we do see them frequently, there are some scenes that are more memorable than most. Below, let’s look at the best Star Wars moments involving speeder bikes.

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Darth Maul’s™ Pursuit

In Episode I: The Phantom Menace™, the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn™ and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi™ are tracked to Tatooine™ and attacked by Sith Apprentice Darth Maul™. While Darth Maul appears early in the film, his first confrontation with our heroes contains as much melodrama as we’d expect from one of Dathomir’s™ diabolical Nightbrothers™.

Darth Maul races forward on his Sith Speeder™, a murderous look in his yellow eyes. Then he leaps off his jet-black bike, igniting his lightsaber while flipping and spinning into an intense duel with Qui-Gon Jinn. The whole sequence is ostentatious yet sinister, which is quite classically Maul.

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Anakin Skywalker’s™ Tatooine Turn

Whereas a lot of the other speeder bike moments are comedic or full of action, this one is dramatic and unsettling. Anakin Skywalker has just taken off into the night to reclaim his mother Shmi Skywalker™, who was imprisoned by a tribe of Tusken Raiders™. Music swells behind him as a burning, blood orange sunset spreads over the horizon. The palette is quite similar to the colors on the planet Mustafar™, where Anakin will make his final transition to Darth Vader™.

One of the best scenes in Episode II: Attack of the Clones™, this trip across the desert is an understated and tense turning point in Anakin’s life. The light and the dark compete as he rides, with the dark eventually consuming him. He will use this same swoop bike to carry his mother’s corpse back to her homestead.

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Ahsoka Tano’s™ Escape

“Gone With a Trace™” begins Ahsoka Tano’s™ arc in Star Wars: The Clone Wars™ season 7. The episode begins with her departure from the Jedi Order™. She rides a Joben T-85™ speeder bike from the upper levels of Coruscant™ into the working district. That’s where things go wrong. The bike malfunctions. It flips upside down, and Ahsoka desperately clings to it as she tries to maintain control. Although Ahsoka pilots it expertly, things continue to deteriorate. She eventually crash lands on a platform in the Coruscant underworld.

Fortunately, Ahsoka has landed at a repair shop. She meets Trace Martez™, and the two strike up an easy friendship as they talk engines and bike parts. And when Ahsoka is pressed for information about how she knows so much and how she flies so well, she says she was trained at the Skywalker Academy. We can thank the totaled speeder bike for this sweet moment.

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The Endor™ Chase

Perhaps the most famous speeder bike moment, the Endor chase is a whirlwind of fun — well, for the audience. It’s not as fun for the scout trooper™ who is both chasing and being chased by two of the galaxy’s best Rebels. Luke Skywalker™ and Princess Leia Organa™ display how awesomely in sync they are here, which hints at their Force sensitivity as well as their twin bond.

This Episode VI: Return of the Jedi™ scene puts a sci-fi twist on a classic car chase. With natural obstacles from the forest, bike rider swap outs, explosions, and of course the Wilhelm scream, it also brings a bit of lightheartedness to a battle-heavy film.

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Tusken Training Montage

In The Book of Boba Fett™, Boba Fett™ must train the Tuskens of the Dune Sea™ to ride land speeders so that they can overcome a train that has been attacking their territory. The whole montage is hilarious and heartwarming. Boba Fett uses the example of riding a bantha™ to help the tribe understand the mechanics. Still, learning how to drive is a big challenge for them. Learning how to jump from speeder to speeder? Also difficult.

Still, it’s refreshing to see warriors actually have to train for a new type of combat. This is what puts this speeder bike moment above and beyond many of the rest. Boba Fett and the Tusken’s worlds may have collided out of chance and necessity, but now they’re helping one another improve their lives exponentially. This is all made possible by Boba Fett’s heart of gold — plus some well-maintained speeder bikes.

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Mos Espa™ Hover Scooters

These candy colored speeders from The Book of Boba Fett are a hot topic. They’re ridden by a gang of street-savvy youths who modify their organic bodies with droid parts. Not only are they bridging the gap between man and machine, but they’re also quite fashion forward. This is shown through their costumes as well as their hotrod racing bikes.

If you don’t like these new scooters yet, that’s … kind of the point. Really. The Book of Boba Fett is all about the old embracing the new, and how Boba Fett has to navigate the antagonists who aren’t ready to embrace change. These kids are cool, and they’re unbearable about it. But the best Rebels and heroes, as we’ve seen, are made out of whiny teenagers from Tatooine.

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What’s your favorite speeder bike moment in Star Wars? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!