Everett Collection (2) E.T. and Yoda

Most viewers smile at the appearance of Yoda in the movie — he’s seen waddling around as a tyke in a costume when E.T. and the kids go off trick-or-treating. But it’s not the only time that Spielberg — a longtime pal of George Lucas — has put Star Wars characters in his movies. A tiny R2-D2 can be seen, hanging upside down, attached to the huge mothership in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and sharp-eyed viewers spotted a hieroglyph of both R2-D2 and C-3PO in the foreground of a famous scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Images from both can be found with a quick Google search.)

The far less prolific Lucas finally got around to returning the favor in 1999, placing a small delegation representing E.T.’s race in the huge senate chamber in Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace.

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