"Even in the later, original movies, Tarkin was nothing more than a glorified sidekick," Lucas explains. "In the prequels, we wanted to give some psychological background, showing the history of ridicule and mockery that hardened Tarkin into the withered little despot we see in A New Hope."

In Here Come the Jedis!, the role of the hapless Tarkin is played by rubber-faced comedian, Don Knotts. Having drawn the lowest post in the Imperial Service, the jumpy Knotts cruises the surface of Mayberrine in a decrepit landspeeder that looks suspiciously like a 1963 Ford Galaxie, maintaining order with an unloaded blaster. The oppressive quietude of the Imperial outpost is broken only by quarterly church socials and periodic visits by Otis the Hutt (a giant, slug-like inebriate who checks himself in from time to time to sober up).