LOOKING BACK: OBI-WAN LIVES!

Obi-Wan Kenobi makes the ultimate sacrifice for his escaping friends in STAR WARS.

Prior to March 1976, Sir Alec Guinness, playing the wise and noble Jedi Knight, Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi, thought he was going to survive his duel with Lord Darth Vader and go on to the Rebel Base on Yavin IV to provide both support for Princess Leia and encouragement to Luke Skywalker whilst piloting his ship against the Death Star. Here are the late 1975/ early 76 storyboards by famed UK artist Ivor Beddoes of the original sequence, which culminated in a shield door cutting the devil horned, helmeted Vader off from Kenobi (injured in battle, the Jedi is then helped back to the Millennium Falcon by Luke Skywalker):

George Lucas, however, had other ideas, and didn't want Sir Alec as an actor and Kenobi as a character having very little to do but stand in the background for the films final act. So, in advice and consultation with wife Marcia, he took the brave step of killing Kenobi off- a wise move that added drama and sadness to the film and gave it a harder edge-that main characters, despite their abilities, could be killed off unexpectedly in the STAR WARS saga- though it was a decision that Lucas struggled with right up to the start of the films shooting in Tunisia and which worried Guinness. Fortunately, Lucas also had a little plan of having Kenobi come back as a spectral Force voice at the end victory, which meant that a return of some kind for Guinness/Kenobi, in person or in voice-over, for the future (if the film was a hit) was possible.

CLASSIC IMAGE: DROID TESTING

Here's some fun late 1975 (?) screen grabs of behind the scenes footage, presumably shot at ELSTREE, of UK practical special effects co-ordinator John Stears (the Oscar winning technician behind the early James Bond movies, I might add!) and George Lucas testing the droids that will eventually be used for upcoming filming for the STAR WARS Jawa droid sale in Tunisia in March 1976 and then through various scenes at ELSTREE afterwards.

The footage also shows an early test for a silver Artoo Detoo (there's someone in it who looks like hes wearing some kind of protective nappy?!) - we're not sure if its Kenny Baker in Artoo or not during this screen test filming (credited to Gilbert Taylor, about to finish his director of photography work on Richard Donner's horror film THE OMEN). Not all of the droids that Stears and his team constructed for filming, many of which would be re-painted and re-dressed over five months, actually made it into the finished movie-it would be intriguing to see the stills or deleted footage of those lost droids...

A selection of John Stears droid creations on the Death Star hangar set during early Summer 1976 (note the left middle Treadwell used for the deleted Tunisia scene with Mark Hamill).

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: THE FIRST FALCON!

Here's a great shot you don't see often - the ILM constructed model of the Millennium Falcon as it originally looked, conceived by Colin Cantwell and refined by Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston. This version of Han Solo's lovable and eccentric smuggling vessel - "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy!" -would be scrapped by Lucas due to its familiarities with the Eagle craft then being shown on 1975 TV screens worldwide in the hit Gerry Anderson sci-fi show SPACE: 1999, and its design would be replaced and re-thought very quickly - though it would keep the already planned for UK set construction cockpit and the idea of the top and bottom gun placements - for what would be the vessel's ultimate, and best, visual appearance- the one that we know and admire today- by the end of the year and into 1976. Meanwhile, the old Falcon would transform into the Rebel Blockade Runner seen at the spectacular beginning of STAR WARS in 1977. 

The big question I have about the original version of the Falcon model is, was any test footage of it filmed by ILM prior to its shelving? And, if so, might we see it on the Blu-ray?

With thanks to Chris Baker for the above image.

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE DENZIENS OF MOS EISLEY

Here's a great piece of McQuarrie artwork-I believe conceptual from STAR WARS early pre-production between 1975/76- that's rarely seen, showing another side of the streets of Tatooine's infamous Mos Eisley spaceport, where aliens of dubious distinction and morality mingle seamlessly with the evil tyranny of the Imperial Stormtroopers.

In my mind's eye, amongst the alien noises and Stormtroopers crackling voice mikes, I can just hear John Williams atmospheric Cantina Band music playing away in the far distance!

With thanks to Colin Kenworthy for the image.