Wired: Star Wars Lights Up the Pumpkin Patch

View
Track

By mememan - Posted on October 25th, 2008

:
You don't need a lightsaber to carve a Star Wars jack-o'-lantern.

All it takes to create your own Jedi-approved Halloween decoration is a pumpkin, a few tools and a little inspiration from one sci-fi's most beloved franchises.

Got your own geek-o'-lantern? Upload a photo of your geeky gourd to share it with Wired.com's readers.

Left:

A collection of Star Wars pumpkins.

Photo: dayna1/Flickr

:
R2-D2's dome top made a natural translation to a jack-o'-lantern, says Patrick Buechner, 42, of Berkeley, California.

"I work at a videogame studio, so this only improved my geek cred," Buechner said. He shows the pumpkin-carving tools he used on his blog, The Derringdos.

:
"Star Wars has been a favorite theme since I was a kid," said Marc Evan, 28, of Brooklyn, New York. "I believe it has played an important role in the development of our generation's creativity and imagination. It is the mythology that we grew up with."

Evan runs the Maniac Pumpkin Carvers website, and says Star Wars' rich universe has been a consistent influence in his pumpkin artwork.

"My family and friends often chide me about my love for these characters because I have become so immersed in their lore over the years," he said. "But at the same time they love how it has influenced my own creativity and work. As an homage to these great films and mythology I have carved my favorite Dark Lords of the Sith into pumpkins for Halloween."

Jim Reynolds, a self-described "huge Star Wars geek" who lives in Akron, Ohio, said he loves Halloween and carving pumpkins so much that he usually ends up with at least 10 gouged gourds each year. At least one of them is usually inspired by George Lucas' film franchise, as is this Darth Vader jack-o'-lantern.

:
"The general reaction from the wife, friends and/or family is a combination of impressed, pity and concern," says Jim Reynolds, 32, of Akron, Ohio, who also carved this imperial insignia pumpkin. "Not so much because of the Star Wars — more because of the amount of time/effort and my erratic, suggestive Halloween happy-dancing."

:
Sarah Darnell, 31, carved this Jedi master from a pattern provided by The Pumpkin Wizard.

"I can't imagine anything more fun at a Halloween party than the icons from Star Wars," she said. "It turns out that Yoda and friends are very well-suited to flickering orange."

Photo: Nige (aka Norbini on Flickr)

"I have been a fan of Star Wars since I saw A New Hope in our theater in my hometown of Woodstock, (Ontario, Canada) in 1977," said Travis Allison, 37, who carved this stormtrooper. "I remember being there with my dad but nothing else other than being so caught up in the story."

:
When the first Star Wars movie came out, it made a huge impression on Marty Hergert, 37, of Melrose, Massachusetts.

"It's a cultural touchstone for people my age who grew up with the original movies, so I guess I want to pass down the passion and imaginative power I felt to my own children," Hergert said.

He based his Yoda jack-o'-lantern on a mask printout from StarWars.com. "I made a line drawing out of it and used those Pumpkin Masters tools to do the fine carving. The difficult part was deciding what features to cut out and what to leave solid and have it still look like Yoda."

The diminutive Jedi master is perfect for a pumpkin because of dark and brooding demeanor, Hergert said: "His sage and mystical qualities come through perfectly in the orange glow."

"I chose a Boba Fett pumpkin for two reasons," said Kent "Drhaggis" McKay, a pumpkin carver in his 30s who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. "I thought the simple, iconic form of the helmet would translate well to a pumpkin and be recognizable. Also, my lifelong love of Star Wars made it hard not to do."

What was the reaction to the sci-fi pumpkin?

"My friends thought it was very cool, as I choose my friends carefully," McKay said. "My wife and I have also done Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter pumpkins. My fandom is worn fairly prominently, so it's never a surprise when I do something like this."

:
Star Wars fans David Newton and his girlfriend, Caryl, carved this Darth Vader pumpkin to battle Halloween ennui.

"At first we considered doing Yoda," he said, "but Vader's a scary dude and fit much better with Halloween." The design is based on artwork by Barry Bradfield of Basement24.com.

"Our friends back home, when they saw the pics, at first didn't believe it was real or, if they did, that we made it," Newton said. "It wasn't until we showed them some pics of us actually carving the pumpkin that they believed us.... Once we convinced them that the pumpkin was actually ours, I think they were pretty damn impressed."