AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: "MYNOCKS!"

Princess Leia's quiet time in the darkened Falcon cockpit is suddenly disturbed by a flying apparition outside the cockpit, and the reveal of a hideous creature attached to the vessel.

The outside cockpit shot view of the Myncock was filmed by Harley Cokeliss and a second unit team handling numerous pick-up shots during August 1979.

Polaroid shots of early Mynock monster concepts.

Original concept ideas for the Mynock were far more gruesome that what was ultimately seen, more  akin to something out of the Alien franchise. In the end the shot of it attached to the window was created as a hand puppet with a 'face' secreting a small amount of liquid onto the glass. The Mynocks were constructed at Stuart Freeborn's studio at Elstree, with wings separately attached and the entire creature held aloft by very basic pole/piano wire manipulation.

A technician works on the Mynock hand puppets inside Stuart Freeborn's Elstree facility.