The success of a long-running franchise is a curious thing. There’ll be people who call themselves huge fans, who have zero clue that the series even existed before their time.

Take Doctor Who, for instance. The series as most of today’s generation knows it began in 2005, when Christopher Eccleston kicked off the reboot in his inimitable leather-jacket-and-hilarious-ears style. For the oldies among us, though, William Hartnell will always be the First Doctor, kicking things off back in 1963.

This is just a fact of… you know, time. As all the controversy surrounding Jodie Whittaker’s appointment as the Thirteenth Doctor proves, the series is just as relevant as ever. As the vast, absurd, rolling-in-sacks-of-cash-like-Scrooge-McDuck success of The Last Jedi proved, so is Star Wars.

Both these franchises are examples of just how enduring a decades-old franchise can be. This is a rare and special thing, particularly in a genre like sci-fi, which has been dismissed as niche and nerdly in the past.

On to Star Wars in particular, then, just what is it about the series that’s so timeless? Is it the huge, epic space battles? The lightsabers? The good old-fashioned human-interest stories at the heart of a huge and impossible futuristic drama? Is it Yoda?

Yes, it is. It’s totally Yoda. But it’s also all those other things, and many more. Most importantly, as far as the internet’s concerned, the Star Wars universe is a place bursting with hilarious memes. Here are some of the very best.

25 When Yoda's Wrinkly Green Wisdom Has Nothing On Chewbacca's Wise Words

In the Star Wars franchise, it’s generally down to the good guys to deliver the inspirational words, the wisdom, the true life-affirming advice and guidance. Over at the Empire’s HQ, there’s very little of that to be gleaned. It’s all "crush those sorry Rebels into teeny defeated hunks of space-spam and sycophantic yes, Lord Vader, immediately, Lord Vader, they’ll be sending the shattered hunks of his body home to his mama in a matchbox, Lord Vaders."

None of which is particularly enlightening. So we usually turn to the Rebels, or more specifically the Jedi. But heck, it’s not all about Yoda. We all know that he’s super smart, that’s old news. We should really be paying more attention to what Chewbacca, Wookie scholar and wise (furry)man has to say.

24 When Luke Didn't Check The Lightsaber Instruction Manual

When we first met Luke Skywalker, back in A New Hope, you could be forgiven for not quite seeing his potential. For underestimating him. For thinking things like, "what’s this whiny little floppy-haired farmboy going to achieve? A grand adventure? He’ll probably trip over in the kitchen, packing the sandwiches his aunt made him for the journey, and keel over right there. Game over."

Little did we know, however. What a darn transformation over the course of the movies. You might as well have called in those singing women from Hercules to drop Zero to Hero over a Rocky-style training montage.

Now, sure, everything considered, we can’t expect Luke to have had the faintest clue what to do with a lightsaber, on first being given one. I don’t think that makes this okay, though.

23 When Obi-Wan's Secret Past Is Finally Revealed

The movie Troy is one of my favorites of all time. I have absolutely zero clue why this is, and probably against my better judgment, but there it is. I’m just a sucker for historically-questionable stories and huge scale battle scenes, I guess. Or maybe it’s Brad Pitt’s hilarious blonde hairpiece, which is the worst thing I’ve ever seen (possibly tied with Tom Hanks’ in The Da Vinci Code).

So, yes. I’m telling you all of this because, in my eyes, the movie seems to present the Trojans as the ‘good guys’ and the invaders as the villains of the piece. It’s all in the way you tell a story, I suppose. Check out this snarky meme right here, for instance. I’m not sure heroic and benevolent old Obi-Wan comes off quite so well in this version.

22 When R2-D2's Mouth Was Just Unbelievable

As Star Wars’ more ardent fans will know, the bleepy-bloopy noises made by the majority of the series’ droids is actually a completely legit language. It’s called Binary, or simply Droid. The best-known speaker of Droid is R2-D2, of course, but as the series expanded, so did its use. The much-beloved BB-8 now speaks a more modern, but totally recognizable, form of the language.

So, yes. This is all above board and makes perfect sense. However, where’s the fun in that? I prefer to believe that the little guy was just an outrageous potty mouth, and the censors on the movies had to work overtime to spare moviegoers from being traumatized.

It’s not too far-fetched. After all, South Park’s Kenny’s voice is constantly muffled by his coat for much the same reason. This is a conspiracy theory I can get on board with.

21 When You Quite Clearly Do Have A Favourite Child

Now, if you ask just about any parent of multiple children, they’ll tell you that they have no favorite. That they love them equally. This is the party line, anyway, and whether it’s actually true will depend on all kinds of factors. If their son has just been convicted of that thing with the goats again, say, or if their daughter is still dating that guy she’d been warned about four times.

That’s just the way it is. Favouritism is a tough thing to deal with (just ask Friends’ Ross and Monica Geller), whether it’s really there, imagined, or anything. Now, nobody’s casting aspersions on anybody here, but I can’t help but notice that Leia clearly got the better end of the deal here. What’s that all about?

20 When You're Super, Super Close Siblings

Following on from that last point, then. Before Darth Vader dropped that heavy-duty bombshell about Luke Skywalker’s parentage (“Luke, I am your father. Sorry about your hand, son, by the way. It was your right, too, wasn’t it? Shame, you’ll probably be needing that. It’s a lonely life, Jedi-ing, if you know what I mean. I winked a little as I said that last bit, incidentally, you just couldn’t see it behind this ridiculous helmet”) he had slim-to-bupkuss to go on re: his parents.

At this point, the poor guy must have felt all kinds of conflicted. Not only because of the obvious repercussions of being Vader-spawn, either. The true horror came with a separate revelation: that the woman he had been low key falling in love with was actually his twin sister.

19 When Those Stormtroopers And Their Blaster Skills Become The Butt Of The Joke... Again

You know, I sometimes feel sorry for the Stormtroopers. Granted, they’re a faceless, merciless, vicious symbol of oppression, but still. They’re the most snarked on and laughable merciless symbol of oppression in the history of anything ever.

If you ask the internet at large what comes to mind when they hear the word ‘Stormtrooper,’ they’ll probably answer with one of these things: hilariously bad aim with blasters, shiny white armour that wouldn’t protect them against a divebombing gnat, or, you know, Finn being cool and all. The latter’s all well and good, but thanks to those first two things, these guys are nothing more than an intergalactic joke.

Not to the residents of the planets they invade and conquer, no, but to the web.

18 When Admiral Ackbar Reminds You Valentine's Day Is Coming Up

Oh yes. Now we’re talking, friends. A huge franchise like Star Wars is a hotbed for memes, as I’ve already said, but even so, there are still going to be a select few that just rise above. Our fishy friend Admiral Ackbar is probably the most meme-worthy character in the whole series, on the strength of one iconic line alone.

It’s a trap! is, in and of itself, a pretty unassuming line. That priceless delivery is everything, though. Plus the fact that it’s just so versatile. It works on so many levels, in so many different context, and that’s the key to a truly legendary meme.

I’ve chosen to include this particular use of it, mostly, because it’s just about the right time to give you all a warning about Valentine’s Day.

17 When It Was Totally All Yoda's Fault

As we all know, the Star Wars community feels some kind of way about the first three movies. Not the original trilogy (A New Hope to Return of the Jedi), you understand, but the original trilogy (The Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith). There’s some tolerance, some Jar Jar Binks-centric rage… it’s a mixed bag, all told.

If nothing else, there’s some interesting backstory to be gleaned from episodes one to three; backstory that will only be hinted at once Luke’s trilogy kicks off. If you choose to pretend that those movies never existed, that’s the trade-off.

In your heart of hearts, though, however vociferously you try to deny it, you’ll know that they really did exist. They always will. At the end of the day, it’s all Yoda’s fault.

16 When Your Cookies Are Even Better Than The Dark Side's Cookies

So, yes. If you’re familiar with the notorious Anakin Skywalker trio of movies, you’ll have witnessed the poor guy’s entire story arc. What a darn journey that poor guy went on. Along the way, there were more befuddling plot twists than a Dan Brown novel, more cliff-hangers than the whole Goosebumps series (remember those books? Every darn chapter ended in a cliff-hanger, I don’t even know how R.L Stine managed to shoehorn so many in).

Key to all of this was the conflict within Anakin. It’s a similar situation to that which new kid on the block Kylo Ren finds himself in, with the current trilogy. Should he go full dark side on everyone’s cheeks, or should he turn to the light?

If you want everything to go well for the galaxy, you’d better start stocking up on peanut butter cookies.

15 When Your Admiral Has Failed You For The Last Time

In a lot of companies and offices around the world, the whole employee of the month thing can get a little out of hand. The extra competitive element can motivate employees to excel, and that’s totally great, but it can drive things too far. When you’re working on commission, say, and you’re putting in a billion percent as it is, this is the sort of thing you and your blood pressure just don’t need.

Motivate, sure, but don’t push your workers until they’ve worn their fingers down to sad defeated stumps. Pull back a bit every now and then. Maybe don’t force choke your admiral and leave him mouldering on the floor, just because he left the toilet seat up again. There’s such a thing as being too harsh, Darth.

14 When It's Darn Cold On This Planet, But The Tauntauns Are Lit

When it comes to unsung heroes, there’s really no more tragic injustice than that of the unnamed tauntaun. What if this guy hadn’t come along and emptied it out on the snow so that Luke Skywalker could live? Luke’s story would have ended there, keeled over face down in the snow, and that’s no fitting end for an up-and-coming Jedi master.

By extension, the whole history of the galaxy would have been changed that day, without that tauntaun. Maybe Darth Vader would never have thrown furious dwarf Palpatine to his doom, and would never have found his redemption.

So think about that, snarky meme makers. Have a little respect for these glorious, harmless, totally freakish creatures. This is no time for jokes, darn it.

13 When It Turns Out That Snow Actually Kind Of Sucks

Following on from that, I guess it’s just further proof of the fact that snow really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I guess it’s a different matter if you have frequent heavy snow, and your way of life is adapted to it, but not me. I live in London, where we set our phasers to darn dreary rain for about 350 days of the year. Rain, we know how to handle, but snow? Jiminy jillikers, no.

Our roads become horrifying, slushy, icy disasters, and all trains instantly retreat back into their stables (no, trains don’t live in stables here in the UK) at the faintest hint of a snowflake. It’s an utter shambles.

Snow may be fun to play in for an hour or so, but after that, I’m out of there.

12 When Your Meme Is Fire And It WILL Be Respected

True creativity and originality is a tough thing to come by on the internet. Call me a cynic, but most of the time I just refuse to like or retweet a great joke or one-liner I see. Why? Because it’s more than likely going to have just been copy and pasted from somebody else, in a desperate bid for approval.

There’s software you can use to check academic papers and such for plagiarism, and I think it’s something that should be mandatory in social media as well. How about a feature where, if you try to pass off somebody else’s tweet as your own, Wolf O’Donnell’s iconic can’t let you do that, Starfox soundbite will play?

Now that’s an update that I would be 100% on board with.

11 When The Force Hits The Snooze Button

Now, don’t get me wrong here. As arbitrary titles go, Jedi master is one of the coolest you can hope to get. It’s intimidating, yet mysterious. This is the perfect combination. Nobody knows quite what you’re capable of, but they know it’s going to be something darn impressive, so they don’t want to screw with you. At the same time, they don’t expect anything of you in particular.

For this reason, then, the likes of Yoda are free to just cruise around a little swamp world all day, maybe mentoring the occasional curious young guy or gal who comes their way. It’s a pretty easy schedule, all told, and nobody’s going to mind if you hit the snooze button once or twice. If you’re up at the crack of dawn, it’s only because you’ve chosen to be.

10 When Your Ship Looks Just A Little Shonky

As a general rule, the ships and vehicles of Star Wars are quite a darn impressive bunch. This is a huge part of what keeps the franchise so iconic, such a big deal in pop culture. Super standard looking sleek grey spacecraft with grey interiors, grey inhabitants and a big old helping of grey steak with a side of grey and lashing of grey sauce doesn’t cut it around here.

It’s the shape of things that really defines Star Wars at a glance. A TIE fighter, X-Wings, Y-Wings and such are unmistakable, and that fact alone has been a huge asset to the franchise over the years.

This isn’t to say that everything’s spot on and perfect every time, though. Just what in the name of Jabba the Hutt’s huge slimy… tongue is this thing again?

9 When Darth Vader Plays The Bagpipes While Riding A Unicycle

Stop it now, come on. Don’t laugh. Everyone needs a hobby, a break from the everyday stresses, strains, and stomach-ulcers-growing-as-we-speak of life.

To look at the Empire in action, you’d think that they all only have one mode: work. When do you ever see anyone there in the Death Star stopping for lunch, or even pausing for a toilet break? Never, that’s when.

So, I only see two possibilities here. Either Vader and his cronies just have the greatest bladder control and work ethic in the galaxy, or they just wait until the cameras stop rolling and then unicycle off into the sunset playing the bagpipes.

I sincerely hope it’s that second one. After all, did you see the state that Vader was in at the end of episode three? If anyone’s earned a break, that guy has.

8 When The Lightsaber Is Still The Coolest Weapon Of All Time

When it comes to unique, iconic, awesome weaponry, there’s a whole range of options out there to pick from. Where do you even start? Comics? Movies? Video games? TV shows? I mean, Castlevania features a weapon called Terror Bear, which is a stuffed teddy filled with iron sand that you swing like a club. That’s how high the bar is here.

The scope for this sort of thing is endless. Why not look back through mythology too, and include things like Thor’s hammer or Excalibur? The fact is, however hard you try, you’ll never find anything quite as awesome as the lightsaber. It’s the sci-fi icon to end all sci-fi icons, and even the sound it makes as it swings is just… it’s perfect.

7 When That Darn Music Follows You EVERYWHERE

Now, let’s be real here. Nobody’s knocking the Imperial March with this one. That’s for darn certain. Nobody will ever hear a word against that theme, because it’s just a classic. It’s another little part of the Star Wars mythos that has broken away and become iconic in its own right, even when separated from the movies themselves. It’s just a force to be reckoned with.

So, sure, Darth Vader was lucky to have one of the greatest villain themes ever devised dedicated to him. It was as much a part of him as his James Earl Jones voice. Still, though, that doesn’t mean he (or any of his lackeys) would want it playing constantly. Does it kick in when he enters the bathroom, stop when he closes the cubicle door, and then start up as he leaves again?

6 When Porkins' Fifteen Minutes Of Fame Run Down Real Fast

Oh, Porkins. For a moment there, you carried the hopes and dreams of every big-boned child who was picked last in gym class with you. You were a poster child, a hero, a fearless, impetuous pilot who was bringing those dastardly empire goons down.

Jek Tono Porkins, or ‘Piggy’ to his friends, was a trader from the planet Bestine. He later joined the Rebellion, and proved his abilities piloting an X-Wing during the Battle of Scarif. Sadly, we saw very little of him on screen, as he was shot down at the height of the Battle of Yavin.

Don’t worry though, Porkins. You went down like a hero, and were a crucial part of the battle that saw the first Death Star destroyed. Way to go there.