CLASSIC IMAGE: FAST ESCAPE!

The time is now for Han Solo and Chewbacca, inside one of the main forward hangars, to join Luke and Leia in boarding the grounded Falcon and finally escape the Death Star. But at what cost have the nearby Stormtroopers been distracted from guarding the pirate ship?

A classic moment superbly captured by the original Star Wars lensman John Jay, as seen in The Making of Star Wars TV documentary of 1977.

On set photographer John Jay captures the classic image during filming at Elstree circa June 1976.

'JEDI' AT 40: DEATH STAR HANGAR ARRIVAL!

Cleared through the security shield protecting the Death Star, the lone Imperial Shuttle carrying its ominous passenger heads into one of the station's busy hangar bays...

The sequence would be an opening tour de force for the matte department, whose talents were put to the fullest (and beyond!) with their work across the many environments seen in Return of the Jedi.

A foreground miniature placed in front of the matte painting.

Shot on the ILM blue screen stage, two Space Stormtroopers at work welding. A last-minute filming addition, they would be blended into the final matte painting approach but were ultimately barely visible on screen only in the film's 1983 theatrical version.

Hangar arrival- again Shuttle model, ILM extras and matte painting combined. Note the painted TIE Bomber bottom middle.

The full matte painting which the model would be inserted onto.

Another matte painting used- showing the suspended TIE Bomber and a space for the Elstree Studios filming of hangar-arriving Imperial delegation.

As seen in the filming

Matte painting genius Frank Ordaz working on the first version of the above painting, one without the TIE Bomber and overhanging droid.

Full length revised version.

CLASSIC IMAGE: BATTLE PREPARATIONS!

On the superb Death Star hangar bay set at Elstree Studios of Summer 1976, the principal stuntmen of the original Star Wars (Peter Diamond, Colin Skeaping and Reg Harding, plus two others uncredited) get ready for their upcoming action scene against the escaping Rebels. Note the mattress in the chasm ready for Diamond to later fall on. A terrific camera angle and another look at the partially built, highly-detailed Millennium Falcon prop.

The remote controlled Artoo prop stands inert on the set.

A great filmed angle of the Falcon, not used in the finished cut.

BEHIND THE SCENES: MONSTERS OF THE EMPIRE!

An unknown Imperial extra, Dave Prowse and Ron Beck on the Death Star hangar bay set. Image: Ann Skinner.

The one true inhabitant of the Darth Vader costume, Dave Prowse, is given a final check over by Wardrobe supervisor Ron Beck before filming on the immense Death Star hangar (known on the sheet as the 'Death Star - Main Forward Bay') set on Stage 3 at Elstree Studios, for the inspection of the mysteriously abandoned Millennium Falcon vehicle. It was shot on Wednesday May 26th, 1976. The above image was a continuity polaroid taken on set by Script Supervisor Ann Skinner.

Miss Skinner's earliest 1976 pre-filming typed character and costume details for Darth Vader specifically list him as a ""Dark Lord of the Sith, at 7 feet tall, "Sc(ene). A3: face obscured by flowing robes and grotesque breath mask", with "LIGHTSABER", and a "Right hand to the Emperor"".

Dave Prowse's first shot sequence as Vader, prior April, was in actuality the now legendary deleted/The Holiday Special re-worked scene with Leslie Schofield's Chief Bast (originally scripted to have been a Stormtrooper Commander conferring with Vader).

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: CHIEF BAST

The same Imperial extra, Prowse, an unknown behind the scenes man, and Ron Beck.

Vader and Chief Bast (Leslie Schofield) in deleted scene BA53, properly revealed on the 2011 Blu-ray set.

Heavy commuter traffic in the heart of the Death Star.

With thanks to Ann Skinner and the BFI. Additional thanks to Chris Baker.