This's a Skywalker Sound sound effect. It's created by either Ben Burtt and/or Randy Thom for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It shouldn't be confused with SKYWALKER, EXPLOSION - DISTANT, FAINT EXPLOSIONS 01, which debuted in the aforementioned film, though that may be a modified version of the same sounds.
According to Ben Burtt in a recent interview , “The actual weight of the foot, Fwoomp! Fwoomp! Fwoomp! That was an artillery explosion that was recorded in Oklahoma. I went to a shooting range there where they fired at me from five miles away, and they were actual high explosive shells. It was the real thing. ...there’s a target out, maybe two or three hundred yards out in front of me, and we’re in a trench. I put my microphones out there on a long cable, ran it all the way back, and then got down in the trench with this soldier. We were hunkering down and they would fire at us from five miles away. You’d hear the shell coming, you’d hear the distant thump of them firing the shot, and then a moment later there was this — it sounded like a jet plane coming through the sky and that was the artillery shell. It would explode and send shrapnel everywhere, come pinging and zipping around….The pressure goes up in your ears and you feel the vibration. That whoomp! of the 155-millimeter Howitzers was used for the actual step of the feet. It was this nice, heavy, low-end, thump sound.”
Used In[]
TV Shows[]
- Ben 10 (Heard once in "The Big Tick".)
- Bob's Burgers (Heard once in "The Handyman Can".)
- Family Guy
- Godzilla: The Series (Heard once in "Metamorphosis".)
- Lego Star Wars: All-Stars
- Mammals vs. Dinos (European version only)
- Rick and Morty
- Spider-Man
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Heard once in "Escape from Kavado")
- Star Wars: Rebels
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Movies[]
- Apocalypse Pompeii (2014)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
- Beowulf (2007) (Used once along with the second half of SKYWALKER, SIZZLE - QUICK SIZZLE when the dragon falls into the ocean near the end of the film.)
- A Bug's Life (1998) (Heard once when the grasshoppers' insect feet came bursting through the ceiling.)
- Dinosaur (2000) (Heard once near the end, as the main villain hits ground off-screen)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
- Hercules (1997)
- Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
- Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
- The Incredibles (2004) (Heard once as Bob and Lucius burst through a brick wall in the burning apartment.)
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
- The Iron Giant (1999)
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
- Krakatoa: The Last Days (2006)
- Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Mars Attacks! (1996)
- Mars Needs Moms (2011)
- Minions (2015) (Used for Kevin's footsteps as a giant)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
- Pixels (2015) (Used for Pac-Man.)
- The Polar Express (2004) (Heard twice throughout the film. Once with the tail end heavily processed when the Hero Boy jumps into the tender before he hits the top of the entrance to Flat Top Tunnel, and once as sped-up in tempo and lower pitched variant with a muffled effect added to it when Santa's sack falls on top of his sleigh after the elves get the star back on the tree.)
- Red Tails (2012)
- Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) (includes a high-pitched version for AT-TEs)
- Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (debut)
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- War of the Worlds (2005) (A muffled variant is used once when a Tripod crashes to the ground after being shot down by several Javelin missile launcher rockets.)
- Willow (1988)
- Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
- Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen (1995)
Shorts[]
Video Games[]
- The Polar Express (2004) (Video Game) (The sped-up in tempo and lower-pitched variant with the muffled effect added is heard once during the cutscene after the blimp drops Santas sack.)
- Star Wars: Battlefront (2004 Video Game)
- Star Wars Battlefront II (2017 Video Game)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002) (Video Game)
Image Gallery[]
Audio Samples[]