'JEDI' AT 40: TRAVELLING BUDDIES!

Our droid heroes walk the road to Jabba's palace, of which a classic glass painting was supervised on the location filming by Richard Edlund.

On December 11th, 1982, the scene of the droids walking to Jabba's palace was shot at Walkwing Parkway - at a place in Death Valley, California called Twenty Mule Team Canyon, with Anthony Daniels as Threepio for his final filming on Return of the Jedi and the robot controlled Artoo prop. It was directed by George Lucas, and camera photographed by Hiro Narita (who would later go on to do impressive cinematography for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). 

A wary Threepio walks with Artoo.

Working with Artoo, Daniels would recall to Star Wars Insider magazine: "Artoo doesn't do sand and they had earlier found he didn't do rocks. Years later they would find that he didn't do forest floors either. In each case they would carefully lay plywood sheets on the tricky terrain and paint them the appropriate colour; sandy-yellow, browny-grey or greeny-brown. Cunning! Well, you never noticed, did you?" 

At one point during the location filming rehearsal, Lucas bends over next to Threepio pretending to be Artoo and beeps his lines– something which brings great amusement to Daniels. 

Directing the long walk.

Clapperboard image. Though Richard Marquand is credited as director, the sequence was ultimately handled by George Lucas.

Michael Pangrazio's unused landscape painting for the journey to Jabba's palace.

The originally planned matte exterior for Jabba's palace, seen top image in the Marvel Comics adaptation that was replaced- when the new location filming for the revised scene was underway, the art for the adaptation was likely already commenced.

More on the original unused sequence of the droid's arrival at the palace:

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: CLASSIC ART: DESTINATION: JABBA THE HUTT!

'JEDI' AT 40: CAVE PREPARATIONS!

A relatively last-minute addition to the film - though it did also manage to find partial inclusion into James Khan's novelisation published May, 1983 - Return of the Jedi's opening in the post production editing phase included a moody scene where Vader reaches out from his meditation chamber (unused footage filmed for The Empire Strikes Back) on the Death Star II to a shrouded Luke Skywalker, now arrived on Tatooine and residing in a small cave, completing the build of his own unique lightsaber. His efforts are keenly watched by Artoo, whilst Threepio waits outside for order from his master. Though a fine sequence, it was ultimately cut. Instead, the filmmakers decided to make Luke look more mysterious and dangerous with his later cloaked arrival into Jabba's palace - ultimately a much better cinematic entrance for the character and more satisfying for the audience keenly awaiting his arrival at that point in the story.

More on the sequence, originally shot with an ILM crewman lookalike, which made its way onto 2011 Blu-ray, and which would have Mark Hamill's face likely (and cleverly) CGI doctored onto the footage:

STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: LUKE AND THE LIGHTSABER: RESTORATION OF A JEDI!

November 22nd, 1982 storyboard for the additional scene filmed at ILM without Mark Hamill.

The cave sequence interior was filmed at ILM at the end of 1982, at a time way beyond the original completed principal photography in London, and supervised specifically by the US crew end of the movie with director Richard Marquand and Lucas. Once the studio material was completed, a small crew travelled to Death Valley, Arizona in December, 1982, to capture exterior location photography of Artoo and Threepio outside Luke's cave and then heading on to their unique journey to Jabba's Palace, replacing the original version of their arrival that was to have been done with an alternate matte painting exterior...

Artoo emerges from the cave (with special instructions from Luke) to meet Threepio as they now journey to Jabba's palace on Tatooine.

Lucas helps the small crew as they get ready to film the sequence.

Lucas and Anthony Daniels for the extra scene filming.

Filming the droids as they begin their journey to Jabba's palace.

Deleted scene of the droids looking down into the valley housing Luke's X-wing and the Millennium Falcon.

January 7th, 1983 storyboard for the extra scene, presumably by Joe Johnston.

Anthony Daniels poses with Death Valley park ranger Rick McIntyre in December, 1982.

'STAR WARS' AT 45: MARDJI AND THE TUSKENS!

Bob Spiker would ride Mardji the Asian Elephant in his role as a Tusken Raider.

There's an old saying out there that Elephants never forget, and I don't think the late, great female Asian Elephant called Mardji, of California's Marine World Africa USA Amusement Park, would certainly have ever forgotten her iconic role in the original Star Wars, playing a Bantha creature during last-minute additional Tatooine sequences, filmed by George Lucas and a small unit at Death Valley, California in January, 1977, featuring those fearsome desert nomads, the Tusken Raiders (aka Sandpeople), with their unique beasts of burden.

Alan Fernandes, also playing a Tusken.

ILM veteran Doug Beswick with the then 22 year old Mardji.

Carroll Ballard and Lucas prepare for filming.

https://skywalkingthroughneverland.com/meet-alan-fernandes-the-tusken-raider/

Mardji with the Bantha 'costume' at Marine World Africa USA.

BEHIND THE SCENES: THE 'LITTLE PEOPLE' AT WORK!

Having sneakily captured the unawares Artoo Detoo in the mountain regions, those trade hungry scavengers, the Jawas, take the little droid back to their immense Sandcrawler vehicle. Originally, the scene was filmed on location in Tunisia at the end of March 1976. Allegedly, film damage discovered afterwards, and once the Star Wars film crew had left that country, ultimately necessitated the scene being reshot in the US, at Death Valley, California around Jan 1977 as part of other pickup shots and scene reshoots. 

Since there was no money or time available to find and reassemble the original Jawa Sandcrawler scaffold prop constructed by John Stears and his UK practical effects team (if indeed its sections still survived at the Elstree Studios backlot), newly shot scenes (which we understand were undertaken by Gary Kurtz and his own Second Unit) saw local children (including Tim Donaldson and Andrea Wickman-Miller) hired as Jawas carrying the droid to a similar flat area of the Death Valley US location, in which the Sandcrawler was then subsequently matted on by ILM.

The Jawa Sandcrawler scaffold prop in Tunisia.

Getting ready for night filming in Tunisia.

Colour footage as seen in early dailies footage.

A stencil link to where a matte painting was to have been added above and replacing the scaffold sections in the original Tunisia filming.

Local children play Jawas for the Death Valley reshoot- Jan 1977.

Matte painting of Jawa Sandcrawler for revised scene.

How the final scene looked in the film.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: BANTHA MAKE-OVER!

Based at the Marine World Africa Zoo in California, the adaptable Mardji the Elephant gets a makeover she surely never expected, costume decorated to become a horned Bantha creature for Sandpeople-related extra scenes needed for post production insertion in the original Star Wars- circa January 1977, filmed at Death Valley, and a small unit by George Lucas. According to producer Gary Kurtz, it would take six weeks for Mardji to become used to wearing the costume. Lucas would enjoy watching the playful Mardi loving the outdoor environment during the eventual filming.

As Mardji appeared in the film- a still linked to the film's international release.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: THE JOURNEY "HOME"!

With the discovery of slaughtered Jawas from Imperial Stormtrooper blaster fire- the same little critters who originally acquired the droids, Luke's concerns that the sale could be traced back to his adoptive family soon has him running to his Landspeeder and making all possible speed to the homestead, where a grisly discovery awaits...

Rare early footage of the Landspeeder filming, we presume in Death Valley, California (1977), in which the car version of the vehicle had reflective mirroring on its sides to hide the automobile wheels and create the illusion of it floating above ground. It didn't work, however, and other footage was used with painstaking optical masking/animation in order to fix out the visual problems.

The underside mirror section breaks off against the awkward terrain.

Star Wars Landspeeder - YouTube

BEHIND THE SCENES: FILM HISTORY IN THE MAKING...

STAR WARS Fan Club art by Ralph McQuarrie.

Today is the 39th anniversary of the original STAR WARS, yet 2016 is also the 40th amazing anniversary year in which the film started filming, under (mostly) snobbishly ignorant gazes, little press attention or studio enthusiasm, at London's Elstree Studios, and transatlantically via George Lucas's in-development effects house ILM, at what many thought was a shoddy but now iconic building/garage located at Van Nuys, California.

Here's a taster of the amazing work being undertaken in that incredible and now history-making time- some great, very rare B/W images which previously appeared on mega-fan Kevin Burton's now seemingly defunct UK website: www.swrealprops.com, which once dealt in rare props and imagery selling.

R5-D4 gets a close inspection from Luke, in one of the first scenes filmed for the movie in Tunisia. March 1976.

Mardji the Elephant is costumed to become a Bantha for additional California filming in January 1977.

UK crewman Jim Marlowe dons a Threepio suit for costume assembly reference photography.

"I think we took a wrong turn!"

The original, ultimately unused shot of the Jawa Sandcrawler filmed on location in Tunisia, replaced by additional footage at Death Valley, and with a further matte painting enhancement.

A shot of the Tusken Raider view of the canyon soon traversed by Luke's Landspeeder.

The droids wait in an alcove of the Death Star Hangar.

"What a piece of junk!"

The classic Lars Homestead location, as the sunset occurs.

The Jawas acquire Artoo on location in Tunisia- March 1976.

A close-in look at Luke's Landspeeder.

The missing Artoo is found as filming continues at the now famous STAR WARS Canyon in Tunisia.

Anthony Daniels and Mark Hamill film their soon deleted Landspeeder scene against back projection at Elstree, near the end of the film's UK shooting.

Peter Cushing's Tarkin watches a graphic-less view screen on the Death Star overbridge.

Troopers at Tunisia prepare to see the to-be-added Falcon blast off from the spaceport.

Nice shot of a droid and human extras at Ajim, Tunisia, during April 1976.

More of the Tunisian extras for the Mos Eisley spaceport scene.

Sir Alec Guinness film the tractor beam scene, in this great above the studio image.

Another image- the Death Star elevator section -  that will be enhanced with a McQuarrie matte painting

Filming at the UK's Cardington Airbase hangar for the Massassi Temple arrival on Yavin.

Han Solo blasts a TIE fighter. Storyboard: Joe Johnston.

Blue Leader is ready. Note the lost of kills!

At the Death Star equator. Storyboard:

The Death Star is approaching...

Point of view within the Death Star trench.

"All wings report in." Storyboard: Joe Johnston.

Soon a classic image on film. Storyboard: Joe Johnston.

Y-wing commander Red (later Gold) Leader is killed.

X-wing fighters almost ready for paint detailing at ILM.

Closer shot of an X-wing.

Another closer shot.

Darth Vader's striking persoanl TIE fighter.

HAPPY THIRTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY TO THE ORIGINAL 'STAR WARS'!