GOODBYE, BRIAN JOHNSON...

Brian Johnson at work for ILM with the impressive Star Destroyer model newly built for The Empire Strikes Back.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO was sad to near of the passing (this past May) of the legendary British special effects talent Brian Johnson. Having worked for the likes of Gerry Anderson (on his beloved Supermarionation series) and the legendary Stanley Kubrick (on 2001), Brian was contacted in 1975 by George Lucas and Gary Kurtz to handle the effects work on the original Star Wars but was then unavailable due to his ongoing epic commitment to the visually iconic Space:1999 TV series. Thankfully, he would be available to work on the practical UK effects (and be at ILM supervising model filming duties/adding various contributions) for The Empire Strikes Back, where his long-time experience would surely prove invaluable to Lucas (whom Johnson greatly admired at that time) and his team. 

It was extremely disappointing that Johnson's work on the saga was overlooked in Lawrence Kasdan's documentary series chronicling ILM and its evolving team/s several years back, but his quality work, not just on Star Wars but all the other productions he so importantly contributed to, lives on.

At the ILM model shop with Lorne Peterson, Marc Thorpe and others.