AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: WHO'S THAT YODA?

At Elstree, Alan Tomkins measures the potential simian inhabitant of a Yoda costume.

Following on from a chimpanzee being used successfully to bring Battlestar Galactica's electronic 'Muffit the Daggit' to life in 1978, an early idea for the creation of Yoda for Empire was to also use their own trained simian inside some kind of mask and costume. Thankfully, the idea was aborted at a very early stage- animal rights control in TV/movie-making may not have been as powerful then as it is now, but I'm sure someone would have rightfully deemed the idea very cruel and uncomfortable for the monkey.

The simian wears a mask for a test photo.