AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: CREATING DAGOBAH!

A new realm takes shape at Elstree Studios.

With the idea of location filming having been ruled out for time and practical reasons (though swamps in Florida, as well as other Latin American areas, had been prior checked out), it was decided that the newly built Star Wars Stage at Elstree would be the perfect controlled venue for creating the unusual and visually distinctive bog planet realm of Dagobah, which would not only include massive trees constructs (which could be moved and rearranged so as to be different forest areas), set decorated with huge amounts of foliage and brought-in reptiles of all shapes and sizes, but also needed a swamp lake to house an X-wing fighter prop and a small hut belonging to Yoda. This would prove a huge but rewarding challenge for Production Designer Norman Reynolds and his team, especially as the entire set had to be resistant to the various elements of rain and mud that would be thrown at it, and raised from the studio floor so as to make allowances for puppeteers to maneuver, as they started construction work in mid-Summer, 1979.

Here's a selection of shots showing Dagobah's evolving construction...

Building the pool area that will house the crash-landed X-wing.

The styrofoam-based material hut for Yoda is carved and created.