Ellberger was a female Human living during the waning years of the Galactic Republic whose homeworld was the planet Naboo. She was a troubleshooter of computer systems for years, which gave her a substantial amount of technical experience. Later, she became a member of the Royal Naboo Security Forces, and served as an officer in the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps. During the time of the Invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation in 32 BBY, Ellberger was part of Bravo Squadron as Bravo Five. As a part of Bravo Squadron, she flew an N-1 starfighter called Bravo 5, which had excellent maneuvering capabilities.

She was one of the pilots that was with Bravo Squadron when Bravo Leader Ric Olié called for all N-1 starfighters to attack the droid control ship that was controlling the Trade Federation's invasion army. During the attack, the weapons on the Naboo pilots' N-1 starfighters weapon systems could not penetrate the control ship's deflector shields, but a young boy named Anakin Skywalker flew an N-1 starfighter into the ship's hangar and fired proton torpedoes into the ship's reactor core. As Skywalker flew out of the ship, Ellberger noticed that the ship was exploding from the inside and informed Ric Olié of the event, which caused the surviving pilots to celebrate their victory while they returned to the surface of Naboo.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personality and traits 3 Equipment 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references 7.1 In other languages

BiographyEdit

Ellberger was a Human female^[1] who lived during the last years of the Galactic Republic.^[2] Her homeworld was the planet Naboo, and her first career was as a computer systems troubleshooter.^[1] During that period of her life, Ellberger had some unpleasant experiences, but she did gain a large amount of technical experience.^[5] Later in her life, Ellberger became a part of the Royal Naboo Security Forces as a pilot in the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps.^[2] By the year 32 BBY,^[6] she had enough piloting experience to fly one of the Royal Naboo's N-1 starfighters.^[7] During that year, Ellberger was a member of Bravo Squadron, also known as Bravo Flight, which was led by Bravo Leader Ric Olié. She flew in the squadron as Bravo Five^[2] and piloted a maneuverable N-1 starfighter with the same name as her callsign.^[8] During her time flying as part of Bravo Squadron, Ellberger was an officer, and her fellow pilots did not discuss her unpleasant past.^[5]

During the year 32 BBY,^[6] the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo and dispatched their Droid Army to take control of the world. After Naboo's Queen Amidala returned from the galactic capital planet of Coruscant, where she had failed to receive aid from the Galactic Senate against the invasion, a plan was made to defeat the droid army. A key part of the plan involved destroying the Trade Federation's droid control ship that was in space over the planet.^[2] Ric Olié ordered all of Naboo's N-1 starfighers to converge on the control ship,^[9] and Ellberger was one of the pilots who was part of the attack force. She was with the rest of Bravo Squadron as they approached the control ship, out of which poured a large number of droid starfighters that proceeded to attack the Naboo pilots.^[2] During the battle against the fighters, Ellberger used her technical knowledge to foresee and counteract the droid starfighters' tactics^[5] in order to aid the squadron.^[1]

As the attack commenced on the droid control ship, the squadron was informed by Ric Olié that the deflector shields on the ship were too strong for the weapons on their fighters to penetrate.^[2] Despite the ineffectiveness of the N-1 starfighters' weapons, Rhys Dallows, who flew as Bravo Ten, was able to destroy the droid control ship's receiver dish stations needed to launch additional droid starfighters. While Dallows attacked the receiver dish stations, Ellberger helped protect him from the control ship's droid starfighters.^[10] As Ellberger and the rest of the squadron continued to attack the control ship, an N-1 starfighter flown by a boy named Anakin Skywalker entered the battle and flew inside of one of the control ship's hangars. Skywalker then fired proton torpedoes into the ship's reactor core, which caused the ship to explode from the inside. Ellberger noticed these explosions and reported them to Ric Olié as Skywalker flew his fighter out of the hangar. As the Naboo pilots celebrated their victory, the surviving members of the squadron flew back to Naboo while the droid control ship exploded, deactivating the droid army it controlled. With their army deactivated, the Trade Federation's occupation of Naboo was at an end.^[2]

Personality and traitsEdit

Ellberger was skilled as a computer systems troubleshooter^[1] and was also a pilot^[2] who had some experience by 32 BBY.^[7] When flying her N-1 starfighter, she was able to stay a threat to a ship she was targeting for as long as she possibly could.^[8] During the battle over Naboo, Ellberger's technical experience allowed her to help Bravo Squadron counteract the battle strategies of the droid starfighters.^[1] She had a sour past that her squadmates did not speak about.^[5] Ellberger had green eyes, fair skin, and brown hair.^[3]

EquipmentEdit

Officer Ellberger flew Bravo 5, an N-1 starfighter^[2] with good evasion capabilities^[8] as part of Bravo Squadron.^[2] Bravo 5's maneuverability helped Ellberger oppose her targets for as long as possible.^[8] She possessed a blaster pistol as her personal weapon.^[1] As a pilot in the Royal Naboo Space Fighter Corps, Ellberger wore the standard flight suit that was worn by other pilots in Bravo Squadron during the time of the Invasion of Naboo.^[2]

Behind the scenesEdit

Ellberger was portrayed by British actress Celia Imrie in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, a 1999 film written and directed by George Lucas. In the credits at the end of the film, Imrie is credited as playing the role of "Fighter Pilot Bravo 5"^[2] who was later named Ellberger.^[5] The uniforms created for the Naboo pilots, including Imrie's character, were originally conceived of as sketches by artist Iain McCaig, who based them off of World War I flying uniforms.^[11] Imrie originally auditioned for the role of Shmi Skywalker, but when Pernilla August was chosen for the role, Imrie received the role of Bravo 5 instead.^[12]

Ellberger did not appear in the novelization of The Phantom Menace, and her line of dialogue about the droid control ship blowing up from the inside was spoken by Bravo Two.^[13] Her line about the droid control ship blowing up from the inside was featured in Star Wars: Battle for Naboo, a 2000 video game released by LucasArts.^[14] In Star Wars: Starfighter, a 2001 video game by LucasArts, she was one of the pilots covering Rhys Dallows, who was controlled by the player, as Dallows attacked the receiver dish stations in a level involving the attack on the droid control ship. A possible line of dialogue from the game had a pilot say "Bravo Five, you have one on your tail," indicating that Ellberger was one of the pilots present in that battle.^[10] Also in 2001, Ellberger first received her name in Theed Palace Limited, the eleventh and final expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game released by Decipher, Inc. The image used on her card was a reversed version of a shot of her from The Phantom Menace.^[15] Ellberger had an entry in the official Databank on StarWars.com before it was taken off the site in 2011.^[1] In 2008, she was given an entry in the Del Rey's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.^[16]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: Starfighter (As Bravo Five)
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (First appearance)
• Star Wars Manga: The Phantom Menace 2
• Star Wars: Battle for Naboo
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 4

SourcesEdit

• Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide (Picture only)
• Star Wars Customizable Card Game – Theed Palace Limited (Card: Bravo 5)
• Star Wars Customizable Card Game – Theed Palace Limited (Card: Officer Ellberger) (First identified as Ellberger)
• "Star Sightings"—Star Wars Insider 72
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Ellberger, Officer (Bravo Five)", "Bravo Flight (Bravo Squadron)")
•  Officer Ellberger (Bravo Five) in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link on Archive.org)

Notes and referencesEdit