Snootles, Sy

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Species:
  Pa'lowick

• Gender:
  Female

• Size:
  1.6 meters

• Affiliation:
  Max Rebo Band

• 

From the Movies

Sy Snootles was the lead singer of the Max Rebo Band. The flamboyant Snootles somehow managed to squeeze a huge voice out of ruby lips on the end of her thin protruding mouth-stalk. She could even reach the loudest high notes of such songs as "Lapti Nek."

From the Expanded Universe

Easily the most pragmatic of the flighty members of the Max Rebo Band, Sy Snootles was determined to make a name for herself and carve out a successful musical career.

Though she remains tight-lipped about her early career, Snootles and Max were together when the band was under the managerial and creative control of Evar Orbus. When Orbus was killed on Tatooine, Max put his name on the ensemble.

The food-obsessed Max Rebo negotiated a long-term contract with Jabba the Hutt. Snootles was outraged to find out Max's deal specified the band would be paid in meals, and not money. She tried desperately to get out of the contract, but her furtive searches for loopholes and escape routes were done discreetly to avoid raising the ire of their Hutt benefactor.

The Pa'lowick singer found a way to earn actual credits by working as a spy for a number of Jabba's enemies. Rather than risk death by rancor, Sy was actually a double agent, disseminating false information provided to her by Bib Fortuna.

The singer never realized just how good she had it with steady paying work. When Jabba's criminal empire collapsed, Snootles' information racket dried up and the Max Rebo Band split up. Snootles tried to make it on her own, but her recordings never sold. She ended up touring Outer Rim dives under a number of stage names.

Behind the Scenes

During production, Sy Snootles' nickname was "Ms. Snooty." The decision to make her lead vocalist in the Max Rebo Band came after she was designed, so creature craftsman Phil Tippet had to devise a method of articulating her lips to accommodate lyrics. The crowning touch -- the big ruby "Mick Jagger lips" were suggested by George Lucas.

In the original filming of Return of the Jedi, Sy Snootles was an articulated puppet. In distant shots, two puppeteers operated her like a marionette, with one above in scaffolding controlling her upper body and another concealed beneath the stage moving her legs. For close ups, she was operated more like a traditional hand puppet with mouth-stalk articulation provided by a nearly invisible wire connected to the microphone stand.

When revisited in the Special Edition, Sy Snootles was resigned as a digital creation (though one shot of the puppet still remains in the finished film). Her character design was streamlined -- tusks that had previously adorned Ms. Snooty's face were removed -- and she was given more alluring eyes.