The catchphrase, “It’s a trap,” from Richard Marquand’s Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), captures a moment of realization in the movie, when the Rebel Alliance realizes that they have been ambushed in the battle, but over the years, it has transcended its original context.
Delivered by Admiral Ackbar, the captain of the Rebel Fleet, voiced by Erik Bauersfeld, the quote is not only remembered as an iconic moment from the movie, but over the years, has become an iconic meme, too.
In this article, we’re tracing the journey of “‘It’s a trap,” from the silver screens to the touchscreens in our hands.
The Scene
The Rebel Alliance is on its way to a major space confrontation against the Galactic Empire. Admiral Ackbar is the commander of the fleet. All the spacecraft are in position to attack when they realize that there is a shield blocking their way. Additionally, they’re not able to get any reading on the shield up or down. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), a key leader in the Rebel Fleet, realizes that they’re heading towards an ambush and immediately orders his troops to call off the attack. Meanwhile, Admiral Ackbar is informed that the enemy ships have already arrived. Realizing that they’ve been tricked, Ackbar exclaims, “It’s a trap!”
Within moments, fleets of enemy ships appear out of nowhere and begin raining shots at the Rebel Fleet.
How Did the Quote Turn Into a Meme?
The first time the quote surfaced on the internet as a joke was in the early 2000s, when OMGWTFFBBQ, an admin in the Something Awful forum, created and uploaded an image macro by redesigning a screenshot of Admiral Ackbar from Return of the Jedi and slapped a caption on it that read, “IT’s A TRAP.” The image spread like wildfire, being adopted as a light-hearted warning against potential scams.
By mid-to-late 2002, FARK, an online community and news aggregation website, took it up alongside Photoshop Phriday threads, where it gained immense popularity as a running joke. The joke continued to become more and more popular, with multiple parody sites featuring the soundbite of the quote on YTMND (You’re the man now, dog!), another online community and memetic hub.
Then came different versions of the joke, “It’s a Tarp” being one of the most iconic derivatives, derived from intentional misspelling.
By the end of the decade, it appeared on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. By the end of the same year, Family Guy released a special episode dedicated to the iconic quote, retelling the story of Return of the Jedi as a parody of the Star Wars Trilogy.
Today, it continues to be one of the top shared GIFs and memes to be shared on social media. I wonder if Ackbar ever thought he’d be such a great entertainer?
Despite Admiral Ackbar’s limited screen time in Return of the Jedi, his distinctive reddish-pink, catfish-like appearance, paired with such an iconic poker-faced delivery of a crisp quote, makes him and the battle scene memorable. Today, when fame is measured by virality, both Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Admiral Ackbar continue to top the charts. All thanks to “It’s a tarp!”, oops, I mean “trap!’
