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Content approaching. 'Star Wars: Force Collection (Card: Colonel Dyer (★★★))–class.

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"Freeze!"
―Dyer confronts Solo[1]

Colonel Dyer was a male human who served the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War against the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Biography[]

When the Galactic Empire began construction of a second Death Star in orbit of one of Endor's moons,[1] Dyer was stationed on the moon's surface as the commander of the Death Star's shield generator bunker,[3] with Commander Altadan Igar and Major Hewex serving under him.

When the Rebel Alliance began their attack on the incomplete Death Star in the Battle of Endor, they sent a squad to the surface of Endor, which infiltrated the bunker in order to destroy it. Dyer and a group of Imperials confronted the rebels as they attempted to set explosive charges inside the bunker, but General Han Solo hurled a toolbox of explosives at the colonel, knocking him over a railing and down into the generator room below. The rebels ultimately destroyed the generator and then the Death Star II.[1]

Personality and traits[]

Dyer had brown hair and eyes and fair skin.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

"I had the opportunity to play a very minor part in the film as an Imperial officer. In the Endor power station, who jumps out from behind a wall, at the power station, and holds a gun on Han Solo then gets hit with a toolbox and then falling into a generator room below. And my big line was 'Freeze!' "
―Ben Burtt, discussing his role as Dyer in the Return of the Jedi audio commentary[4]

Colonel Dyer appeared for the first time in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, where he was portrayed uncredited[1] by Ben Burtt, who was also the film's sound designer.[4] The character's name was confirmed to be canon by the reference book Ultimate Star Wars, which was released in 2015.[5]

BenBurtt Freeze

Ben Burtt portrayed Dyer in Return of the Jedi

Dyer was a late addition to the film; his character was not in the original revised third draft of Return of the Jedi nor in Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays.[6][7] In the script, both Dyer's and Lieutenant Renz's lines were merged, and the person who shouts "Freeze! You Rebel scum" was identified simply as "Commander."[6] However, in the latter, Renz was identified as "Commander" while Dyer was named "Imperial officer."[7]

Actor Barrie Holland, who portrayed Renz in the film, recalled that shooting the scene that featured the characters Dyer and Renz was difficult due director Richard Marquand having conflicting views with his assistant director and first cameraman. Shooting the scene took "several beats" in order to get it right, and Holland believed that a stuntman played Dyer before finding out that the character was played by Ben Burtt.[8]

In the 2004 DVD release of Return of the Jedi, Burtt commented about his cameo as Dyer in the audio commentary.[4] The scream that Dyer makes when he is knocked off the catwalk into the generator room was meant to be an attempt at replicating the Wilhelm scream, which Burtt has attempted to include in all of the films on which he has worked.[9]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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