SPECIAL EDITION CLASSIC IMAGE: THE "CAPTURED FREIGHTER"

Here's another SPECIAL EDITION image from George Lucas' revised universe of 1997 that I think works very well-a shot of the captured Millennium Falcon in one of the Death Star hangar bays. The expanse of the hangar bay is better realized, the Falcon, though a little longer at its front end, is more detailed, the floor pattern tilings match better from left to right and the bay's right side wall has continuity to Imperial design from later films in comparison to the one originally created in 1977 by effects legend Harrison Ellenshaw. No disrespect intended to the brilliant Ellenshaw, though, as, at the time his original painting was done, no real design continuity for the saga had yet been mapped out.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: "ASTEROIDS!"

One of my favourite ILM effects composite images for the 1980 promotion of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, as a squad of TIE fighters gamely pursues their prey- the Millennium Falcon- through a densely packed asteroid field. These TIE pilots might be experienced and amongst the best in the Empire, but they haven't reckoned on the skills of the smuggling vessel's captain... a certain ex-Imperial pilot himself: Han Solo!

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: AN "EMPIRE" IN DEVELOPMENT!

On one of the deserted sound stages at ELSTREE Studios in London circa late 1978/early 1979, construction work continues for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on the Millennium Falcon's cockpit and interiors, whilst a Rebel laser cannon is readied for ultimate shipping to the cold climes of Finse, Norway for its battle against Imperial Walkers.

To check out more on the behind the scenes construction blueprints of the STAR WARS saga's legendary ships, droids, and planets interiors and exteriors, J.W. Rinzler, acclaimed author of THE MAKING OF STAR WARS and EMPIRE books has a lavish, if pricey, new tome out at the end of the year, full of never before revealed info and interviews with some of the top behind the scenes names to have worked on the amazing and influential production design side of the film. Check out the links to STAR WARS: THE BLUEPRINTS here: Star Wars: The Blueprints  and how to get it in Europe here: Star Wars: The Blueprints (Limited Edition Hardcover) @ Forbidden Planet

SPECIAL EDITION CLASSIC IMAGE: CLOUD CITY LANDING

Another lovely ILM image to enjoy from the 1997 SPECIAL EDITION's, this time from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, expanding the locations and beauty of the universe that is the STAR WARS saga, and showing the Millennium Falcon confidently making its way towards one of Bespin's numerous outdoor landing platforms. Not enough was seen of Cloud City's exterior in the final quarter of EMPIRE and this moment/extension is one of several additions that opens things up a bit more.

Could a few more picturesque sequences like this be appearing on the upcoming Blu-ray disc/special features for the film?

SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 3: THE SANDSTORM

This has to be the most famous and most desired deleted sequence shot for RETURN OF THE JEDI that fans worldwide want to see-in fact, this scene was the first sequence captured on film for the movie in January 1982 and one of the most difficult to realise at ELSTREE studio, as the STAR WARS actors, braving unfriendly conditions, were re-united for the first time in three years for their final Classic Trilogy movie.

For my thoughts on the famous sequence, head over to the main site: REQUIEM FOR A SANDSTORM

And don't forget, the exhaustive AFICIONADO back issue devoted to the making of the film is still available on PDF here: BACK ISSUE PDF CATALOG

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: JOE JOHNSTON'S FALCON

Here's some intriguing Joe Johnson sketches from September 1978 of the Millennium Falcon interior, and showing where everything was in relation to one another, when the vessel was to be re-built in 1979 on the ELSTREE Studios sound stages in London for the upcoming THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

A very nice piece of design history...

CLASSIC IMAGE: ESCAPE FLIGHT!

Making last minute adjustments to his beloved Millennium Falcon, currently berthed in Docking Bay 94, Han Solo is soon perturbed by a squadron of attacking Stormtroopers.

Check out our latest issue of STAR WARS AFICIONADO magazine: THE BEST OF ISSUES 1-4, which has a special section devoted to the Corellian pilot and Chewbacca (page example below), as well as the iconic actors that played them, here: BEST OF ISSUES 1-4 INFO and how to get hold of it, here:  BACK ISSUE PDF CATALOG

CLASSIC ART: "AMAZING STORIES" - "RUNNING THE BELT"

Here's a terrific spaceship art cover for a very hard to get hold of issue of the US published AMAZING STORIES sci-fi anthology tales magazine, issue no 597 (Summer 1999), which featured a special one-off STAR WARS story- RUNNING THE BELT- from EPISODE II adaptor/NEW JEDI ORDER devised writer R.A. Salvatore (who is also interviewed in its pages), and concerning the Solo children in a coming of age story. As well as STAR WARS being a major selling point, its probably even harder to get hold of because of the also unique BABYLON 5 after-series tale specially written for the magazine by it's creator, J. Michael Straczynski.

If anyone has the cover art as a better quality scan could they please send it through so I can update the Blog.

CLASSIC IMAGE: FALCON STORMTROOPER VIGIL

"Hey down there. Can you give us a hand with this?"

In the gargantuan hangar bay of the dreaded Death Star, two unsuspecting Imperial Stormtroopers stand guard over the seemingly empty captured starship, the Millennium Falcon

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

CLASSIC ART: ESCAPING IMPERIAL ENTANGLEMENTS!

Getting the New Year off to a bang, here's a wonderful space battle image from the finale of 1995's Steve Perry written STAR WARS adventure SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE, where our Rebel heroes in the Millennium Falcon, accompanied by Dash Rendar, try to escape Coruscant and the clutches of Prince Xizor and Darth Vader in this amazing art from the esteemed Hildebrandt brothers- commissioned for the TOPPS card series released that same year.

Click the pic to see the image in its full widescreen glory.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CLASSIC IMAGE: IMPERIAL ARRIVAL!

As our Rebel heroes within the Millennium Falcon try to blast away from the dying remnants of their once Echo Base, a force of newly arrived Imperial Snowtroopers wades into the deserted hangar, setting up their heavy weaponry in an attempt to stop their targets from escaping. Lord Vader wants them alive!

CLASSIC IMAGE: A LEGEND IS BORN!

In early 1976, on one of the biggest sound stages available at London's ELSTREE studios, the huge wooden/metal supported prop of the partial Millennium Falcon, and the Mos Eisley Docking Bay 94 interior around it, is under construction by the British carpenters and builders, supervised by Production Designer John Barry and assistant Norman Reynolds for filming in April that year.

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: DUEL OF THE FATES - THE SEQUEL!

I love this image (Kenobi and Vader fighting so intently, with the huge prop Millennium Falcon in the background), used in the pages of many a magazine of the day and even now. Its one of the earliest released stills shots and shows this by having Vader's lightsaber incorrectly blue instead of the usual demonic red. Why and how this error got through is unknown-it may have been due to time factors in the run up to the films release-Kurtz and Lucas must have been sooo busy trying to get the film completed, whilst FOX, pretty much oblivious to it all, probably didn't care and thought it had a turkey of a movie on its hands. It would be interesting to know which artist added the glow to the rod- not to blame them or anything, but just to know. It wouldn't have been Ralph McQuarrie, who also did airbrushing to selected images (adding blasts and lightsaber glows to certain posed shots, scene stills and effects images) - having been involved on STAR WARS since 1975 he would have been aware of the correct lightsaber colours. Most likely it was someone at that time in FOX's publicity department..

One thing I like to do where possible is show the image the way it was originally lensed by the stills cameraman. Many of the times this image has been used it has been cropped in too close (a major bug bear I have with some OFFICIALPIX images!)-so far in my picture research, this is the best I can get that shows more of the image - click on it to see it fully (if anyone can help with an even fuller version of this image please get in touch). I think it would be nice now if the official LUCASFILM Picture Archive, with the soon 35th Anniversary of STAR WARS, could go back to the original shot and do a new release with the blades at the correct colours, as well as keeping the original inconsistency frame.

CLASSIC IMAGE: "THE STAR WARS STAGE"

Built for filming in the Summer of 1979, THE STAR WARS STAGE at ELSTREE would then be the biggest studio soundstage in the UK, and, bar some inconvenient shooting linked to Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING (due to an unfortunate fire which had previously raged on another stage and burnt it down), was primarily first built for use by George Lucas and his teams on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and, three years later, RETURN OF THE JEDI. Supervised by Production Designer Norman Reynolds and his skilled team of craftsmen, the completed stage would first house the enormous Rebel base ice hanger, comprising a full size X-wing fighter prop, numerous prop snowspeeders and the biggest and best creation, the Millennium Falcon, previously built in Wales and sent to ELSTREE in sections for full re-construction. This great establishing shot, seen near the beginning of EMPIRE, shows not just the scale of the set and the incredible props, droids, costumed extras and backgrounds for the film but also evokes the feeling of awe and wonder of spirit in watching a STAR WARS adventure-the likes of which you won't see anywhere else, that there's nothing else out there capable of matching its emotional grandeur. Not in the whole wide world of cinematic entertainment!

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE- A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

Lovely 1976/77 reference art by ILM designer/storyboard artist Joe Johnston showing the varying sizes of the STAR WARS spaceships and vehicles in relation to each other. As always with Johnston's work its simple but elegant, very stylized and ultra cool.

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: FALCON COCKPIT

Great image showing the Millennium Falcon's trusty cockpit and control panels-we think the image is taken from the set of RETURN OF THE JEDI-probably between February and April 1982- when a lot of the first and second unit filming (some of which was handled by Lucas) was being done at ELSTREE.