AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: ESCAPE LEAP!

"All too easy.."

Darth Vader's preconceptions about Luke's lack of training in the Force are briefly challenged when the boy manages to Force leap out of the carbon freeze pit as it activates, a shot achieved by using a puppet filmed at ILM.

Dave Prowse is listed on call sheets as playing Vader (presumably for the non action part of the scene where Luke falls into the carbon pit) on the 29th June, 1979.

Vader Force-activates the carbon freeze mechanism but Luke escapes just in time!

An unused action idea from Ivor Beddoes as Vader strikes out and cuts varying pipes to injure and capture Luke.

The model as displayed for a Propstore Auction a few years back.

As used in the finished film.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: TREACHERY AT CLOUD CITY!

"No one's giving Han to this bounty hunter!"

An angry Lando finds the original deal he'd conceived with Darth Vader for the safety of his rebel fiends being compromised once again, especially with the presence of the deadly bounty hunter Boba Fett and his bounty from Jabba the Hutt for Han Solo's life. 

"Perhaps you think you're being treated unfairly...?"

With other commitments to a London stage play, Jeremy Bulloch is not available to play Boba Fett for the day's 21st May, 1979 filming, leading to the stills photography of a classic scene. Of similar height and build, actor John Morton, who'd also play the ill-fated Rebel Snowspeeder pilot Dack, fills in for the other actor. Morton is given advice by Bulloch on the character's unique body movements and subtle, dangerous gestures for the filming. 

Billy Dee Williams clowns around alongside Boba Fett (John Morton).

Irvin Kershner positions a stormtrooper at the entrance to the torture chamber.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: LOT OF TORTURING TO DO!

Han Solo faces his darkest hours yet on Cloud City. Firstly, suffering a bizarre and brutal interrogation from Darth Vader in which no questions are asked of him. But the worst is yet to come for our brave smuggler...

The torture sequence (which featured lots of sparks and screaming from Harrison Ford) was ultimately cut down by Irvin Kershner in the editing process- the film was already approaching its darkest point story-wise, and this scene would already upset younger audiences if dwelled on too long. The screaming sounds were instead transplanted to the next scene, now heard in the background as Vader confers with Boba Fett and Lando Calrissian.

A selection of images from the sequence...

Part of the torture device prop at Elstree.

UK FOX boss Peter Beale watches the preparations to film the scene.

Vader departs as the torture continues...

...then looks back one last time to see Solo's suffering in either a deleted scene moment or posed publicity image.

DELETED SCENE: A NEW PRESENCE...

Original STARWARS.COM caption for this photo: 'Darth Vader pauses about the second Death Star as he picks up a stirring in the Force.'

Newly arrived on the second Death Star, Darth Vader senses a disturbance in the Force, and the building powers of his son, in a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi. This info on the deleted scene originally came from the long-since-defunct Hyperspace section of STARWARS.COM of over a decade ago, though Howard Kazanjian, producer of the film, did not recall this sequence when AFICIONADO originally contacted him about it a few years back- alongside a brief corridor/life scene, previous unused footage of Vader in the meditation chamber from The Empire Strikes Back was utilized for Vader reaching out to Luke, alongside an ILM premises shot, post production scene of 'Luke' building his new lightsaber in a cave on Tatooine, which, too, would end up on the cutting room floor in 1983.

Posed image of Dave Prowse as Vader linked to this scene.

Prowse confers with Howard Kazanjian between takes.

A heads-up on an exciting all-new book dedicated to the producing career of Howard Kazanjian, from respected Star Wars behind the scenes chronicler, J.W. Rinzler:

https://www.thebeardedtrio.com/2020/07/making-of-star-wars-author-jw-rinzler.html

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE!

With his Master's recent arrival on the second Death Star, no one, not even a fellow senior Imperial officer, will stand in the way of Lord Darth Vader in seeing the Emperor, during a classic deleted scene moment from Return of the Jedi, and one of the rare scenes shot for it by David Prowse as Vader.

This previously unseen image is part of an incredible compilation of rare materials (photos/documents/conceptual art) to be savoured within Taschen Book's eagerly awaited and supremely lavish all-new 600+ page hardcover The Star Wars Archives: 1977- 1983, available next month, that gloriously focuses on the making of the beloved Classic Trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, collated and written by Paul Duncan.

Check out our original preview of the book:
https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2018/05/coming-soon-star-wars-archives.html

Get the book here:
https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/01170/facts.the_star_wars_archives_19771983.htm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1bbpk8jW3gIVSrDtCh0z6wi3EAAYASAAEgLewvD_BwE

CLASSIC IMAGE: VADER IN SPACE!

Like a threatening version of a Force ghost, the iconic image of Darth Vader conquers space in this lovely rare Japanese poster art for Return of the Jedi, from 1983.

CLASSIC IMAGE: GRAND DESIGNS...

In their primary conference room on the Death Star, Darth Vader and Governor Tarkin discuss the current situation linked to Princess Leia and the Rebel Base, in a scene from the original Star Wars.

Though equals in service to the Emperor, the former Expanded Universe history suggested that Vader was sent by his Master to act as a kind of watchdog on Tarkin in case he got too big for his boots in commanding the ultimate weapon. In the original film, however, you never get that feeling- Vader and Tarkin are comrades in evil, and Vader in some ways takes order from Tarkin. But, in a March 1976 pre-filming draft script for Star Wars released a few years back by Peter Mayhew (online via Twitter), they have one scene in the conference room where Tarkin briefly outlines his idea to Vader of eventually wrestling control of the Empire from the Emperor. Some of the dialogue from this Scene 97 eventually carried over into the revised final draft shooting script (notably the dialogue linked to the return of Obi-Wan), but some didn't...

SCENE 97 - DEATH STAR CONFERENCE ROOM

Darth Vader paces the room as Governor Tarkin sits at the far end of the conference table.

TARKIN: This operation will secure my place on the Emperor's council. With the right maneuvering I could be Emperor. The rebel base will soon be destroyed. I've sent a scouting unit ahead, we should get confirmation soon. What's bothering you?

VADER: A tremor in the force. A slight thing, but it's almost like being in the presence of my old master.

TARKIN: The Jedi, Ben Kenobi? He must be dead by now?

VADER: Perhaps, it's just a feeling.

TARKIN: The Jedi movement is dead. You, my friend, are all that's left of their wizard ways.

Their is a quiet buzz on the comlink and Tarkin answers.

There was a further additional line filmed but not used once Tarkin discovers that Leia has lied about Dantooine. He chillingly says to Vader:

"I'll find that hidden fortress if I have to destroy every star system in the sector!'

The line is also present in the Alan Dean Foster novelisation.

Intriguingly, the Brian Daley radio adaptation of the film has a scene where Admiral Motti plants the idea of further ambition for control in Tarkin's mind. Perhaps Daley had seen the earlier draft script and incorporated the idea, as he would so successfully in expanding other scenes and character moments for the eventual thirteen-part drama.

'INTO THE UNKNOWN' WITH DARTH VADER, AT THE UK'S BARBICAN CENTRE

One of the existing legendary masks of that infamous Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader himself, will be making an appearance next month at the London Barbican Ccentre, from 2nd June until 1st September, 2017, as part of an all-new exhibition celebrating the worlds of science fiction across all media: Into the Unknown.


More info on the exhibition here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/29/sci-fi-loses-its-fringe-status-with-barbican-exhibition

CLASSIC IMAGE: "YOU'RE FAR TOO TRUSTING!"

Grand Moff Tarkin. She recognised the "foul stench" of his evil the moment she boarded the oppressive Death Star space station, and now Princess Leia Organa has seen that evil at work, having lost her people, her world, to the orders of one cruel man commanding the universe's most fearsome energy weapon. Can anyone or anything help her or the Rebel Alliance in their desperate time of need?

Prior to the revised drafts for 1976 filming, it was planned that Tarkin would have met Leia earlier than this important scene, joining Vader for her prior torture in the cell bay. The idea ultimately made it into Alan Dean Foster's film novelisation.

James Luceno's highly enjoyable novel TARKIN now arrives in UK paperback from ARROW. Find out more about the man, the monster- his psychology and his shocking service and dedication to the Empire: Tarkin: Star Wars: Amazon.co.uk: James Luceno: 9780553392906: Books

Check out AFICIONADO's review: STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: AFICIONADO REVIEW: 'TARKIN'

Get it here: Star Wars: Tarkin (UK Edition): Amazon.co.uk: James Luceno: 9781784750077: Books