MONSTER AUCTION!

My good buddy Chris Baker recently got in touch with me on an event from last year that I wasn't previously aware of, and which I thought I'd pass the info and photos on. Here's what he said:

“These (attached) images are from a PIH Hollywood Auction Catalog I found online yesterday. The Auction actually happened back on December 17 & 18th of 2010, from the Saban Theatre in Beverley Hills. Phil Tippett added several pieces from his personal collection, These are the 'SW' ones from his lot

 

... wish I had a few extra hundred thousand just sitting around (lol)

    

(the images-click to blow up for more detail and caption info- are numbered in the order they were presented in the catalogue)”

Thanks for the info, Chris.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: MARIONETTE MASTER!

At ILM, Phil Tippett makes some Go-Motion filming adjustments whilst he and his crew film the brilliantly detailed miniature Luke on his Speeder Bike for the exhilarating Endor chase sequence for RETURN OF THE JEDI.

WAMPA: SAVAGE BEASTS OF HOTH!

Our penultimate feature celebrating the Thirtieth Anniversary of EMPIRE can now be found on the main site, this time linked to the filming of the Wampa ice creature sequences.

Check out the rare photo feature here:

http://www.starwarsaficionado.com/the_wampa_beasts_of_hoth.html

And don't forget, for all other things behind the scenes related to the film, our two EMPIRE special issues (from 2005 and our current BEHIND THE SCENES COMPANION) are still available as PDFs from the main site's BACK ISSUES area.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the above image.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: WALK LIKE AN AT-AT!

Two Imperial Walkers prepare to penetrate the Rebel ground defenses and destroy the enemy shield generator in this great stop motion image from 1979/1980-the Walker battle is still one of the greatest scenes in any film, let alone a STAR WARS one.

Check out this early EMPIRE trailer, too, to see the Walkers when, in early footage, they fired blue lasers instead of red: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH9z8se3Aho

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: A HELPING HAND!

Monster creator and all round effects genius Phil Tippett gives a little bit of support to the head of a cute, beautifully detailed, Tauntaun during stop-motion filming (or as they called their new variation: "Go-Motion") for the exterior Hoth scenes being recreated and filmed at ILM during EMPIRE's late 1979 Post Production phase .

CLASSIC IMAGE: DIA - NOGA ATTACK!

Luke almost becomes dinner for a tentacled beastie in this classic scene in the Death Star's trash compactor. Filmed in the UK's long hot summer of 1976 at ELSTREE, all of the principal actors had to wear diving suits under their costumes, whilst Chewbacca's fur began to smell very badly amongst the gunge. Mark Hamill also received a bad eye infection that lasted for a while, where he was unable to film certain close-up shots required in his to follow shooting of his X-wing fighter cockpit scenes. The Dia-noga creature itself was not the original design-which was abandoned for looking terrible (do any still photos exist of it?)- and a solitary tentacle was created instead as a replacement. The creature was later embellished with a stop-motion eye, operated by Phil Tippett, in post-production.

Despite all the problems, though, the scene is still quite rightly regarded as a classic.