Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day observed annually on May 4 to celebrate the Star Wars media franchise created by founder and former chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, George Lucas. Observance of the day spread quickly through media and grassroots celebrations since the franchise began in 1977.
The date originated from the pun “May the Fourth be with you”, a variant of the popular Star Wars catchphrase “May the Force be with you”. Even though the holiday was not created or declared by Lucasfilm, many Star Wars fans around the world have chosen to celebrate the holiday. It has since been embraced by Lucasfilm and parent company Disney as an annual celebration of Star Wars.
Even the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) tried to ride on the fun and action. But their social media posts drew ridicule from some quarters.
The Singapore Army likened themselves to Stormtroopers in their Facebook. The Stormtroopers are fictional soldiers in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), the Stormtroopers are the soldiers shock troops/space marines of the Galactic Empire, under the leadership of Emperor Palpatine and his commanders.
Responding to the Singapore Army’s post, several Facebook users asked if the social media content creators knew that Stormtroopers are the bad guys, serve an evil lord and are very bad shooters. Others did a wordplay on Palpatine, the evil lord Stormtroopers served.
The post by Singapore Army is trending with over 440 shares, 880 likes and 260 comments. Responding to the comments on their Facebook, the Singapore Army said that they created the post to draw attention to the Army Open House from 28 to 30 May. Those that visited them at the open house could “view (their) actual capabilities, and see if (they) can shoot better than their troopers”, said the Singapore Army.
The Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre of the SPF also tried to cash in on the action with their own Facebook post; but they got it all wrong.
One Facebook user pointed out that the salute the officers in the post were making is a ‘Vulcan salute’ from the Star Trek franchise, and not from the Star Wars series.
Another top Facebook commenter said: “The PR department must really not know Star Wars well….”
While another pointed out: “oof, I don’t know what’s worse. The fact they’ve aligned themselves with the Empire or that they seem to think Star Trek and Star Wars is the same thing. Live Long, and Prosper ? is Star Trek.”
Others asked if the SPF is part of the oppressive empire filled with ‘bobo’ (bad) shooters.
The post by the Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre is also trending on Twitter.
DOES NO ONE IN FREAKING GAHMEN SOCIAL MEDIA ACTUALLY KNOW THE EMPIRE IS THE BAD GUYS RIGHT? The tyrannical dictatorship that blew a planet to bits just to get someone to answer a question yes, the evil system that jails ppl without trial like operation spectrum — oh wait. pic.twitter.com/8vQJEVXDBM
— Aloysius Low (@longadin) May 4, 2022