Wampas are tough creatures, there’s no doubt about that. And their grip isn’t the friendliest “How do you do?” In “Wampa”, a great idea made even better by fluid animation, the Wampa is humanized and the thought here is that perhaps the Wampa is lonely. There’s not much to do on Hoth and this particular Wampa wants to be friends with anyone that comes along, even attempting to play a game of ice chess with a snowman.
Shades of “Monsters, Inc.” with the Abominable Snowman are in this particular Wampa, almost down to the nod to John Ratzenberger’s voice in that film. And the Wampa even gets a chance to do a little “Monty Python”. Luke Skywalker may have seen the Wampa as a threat to him, but sometimes creatures, even the loneliest, black-hearted, and dangerous of all creatures just might need a little love. That’s not to say that Darth Vader would ever have been able to be turned away from the Dark Side, but “Wampa” shows a great consideration of what the Wampa might actually have been saying, from the Wampa’s point of view.
