'STAR WARS' AT 45: INTO THE TRENCH!

"The exhaust port is marked and locked in."

With Gold Squadron's obliteration by enemy forces, it's turn for the first of Red flight's attack runs on the Death Star trench, undertaken by the courageous Red Leader and his wingmen. Despite their skills, and an incredible near miss at their thermal exhaust port target, the trio of Rebel heroes are soon dispatched by the return of Darth Vader and his equally lethal wingmen.

The X-wings begin their trench run.

Red Leader commands the first X-wing trench run, but he and his wingmen are also ultimately destroyed by Darth Vader and his pilots. Storyboards by Joe Johnston.

An X-wing is destroyed.

Death Star surface and trench conceptual art by Joe Johnston.

Planning the trench sequence with small X-wings on poles.

Two trench images taken by Dennis Muren,

Preparing to film another sequence.

Another view of the trench, this one leading to... Lorne Peterson!

Grant McCune with one of the model Imperial cannons. Image via the Alex Fish Collection.

One of the Death Star trench laser cannon emplacements.

Preparing to film the first part of the trench run entry sequence.

Capturing natural light pyrotechnics outside the ILM base at Van Nuys with a camera mounted van to capture the speed of the fighter attack.

'STAR WARS' AT 45: FALCON FLYING!

She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. The Millennium Falcon!

Whether it be illegally blasting out of Docking Bay 94 on Tatooine or one of the hangars of the Death Star, combatting four TIE fighter sentry ships or evading a barrage of asteroids, Han Solo's trusty souped-up Corellian smuggling vessel, the now-iconic Millennium Falcon, always manages to get our hero captain and his passengers out of a tight squeeze.

As we all know, the original design of the Falcon was changed due to its being too similar in design to the Eagle Transporter craft being shown in Space: 1999 during late 1975. According to Lorne Peterson at ILM, it was Lucas that suggested Joe Johnston make the new vessel a round hamburger shape, and that it could potentially move in space like a Sunfish. The idea of the rotating cockpit for the vessel sadly never progressed very far, presumably due to model filming practicalities of the time. The new design and model construction at ILM had to be done in mere weeks (with the design and model teams working round the clock) so that the set construction team at Elstree in the UK could construct the partial prop for the studio filming from its reference.

Here's a great selection of behind the scenes images linked to the ILM model filming (as well as other curios) from 1976/77.

Image at ILM, from Joe Johnston.

Adding further paint details.

A close-up look at one of the ship's guns.

The largest Falcon model is used for numerous seventies selfie photos at ILM!

The biggest size Falcon created for Star Wars in 1976, on display circa 2019.

John Dykstra supervises filming on the ILM stage.

Richard Edlund and Gary Kurtz.

Edlund makes adjustments to the incredible model.

Edlund with the Dykstraflex camera.

More underside work.

Steve Gawley and Lorne Peterson make some pole adjustments to the model.

Grant McCune makes an adjustment, with Steve Gawley and Richard Edlund in the background.

Byron Werner with the model in 1976.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: THE DEADLY PURSUIT!

"The opening shot was one of the most important shots of the movie for visual effects, because if the audience bought that shot you had them."

Notable words from the former ILM genius, and continuing effects genius, Richard Edlund about the opening scene to the original Star Wars - the Blockade Runner pursuit by an Imperial Star Destroyer above the desert world of Tatooine - which stunned the world, took us to that Galaxy created by George Lucas with pure film-making skill, and defined cinema and cinema-going forever more...

At ILM, Grant McCune and Doug Smith ready the upside down Star Destroyer for filming.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: MORE DROID FOOTAGE REQUIRED!

Grant McCune and ILM colleagues prepare Artoo near a hastily built Rebel base control console for a needed insert scene for STAR WARS.

With STAR WARS' 1976 principal photography at Elstree having been cut several weeks short by nervous money conscious execs at FOX, later scenes needing to be completed for the movie as it was in its final editing shaping were handled either in a small downtown Los Angeles studio (as in extra Cantina creature scenes) or at ILM, as seen here, with insert scenes shot requiring several of the R2-D2 shell's, out of UK storage and soon dispatched States-side.

Artoo is plugged in by a Rebel technician, in this ILM filmed insert scene.

Joe Johnston makes an adjustment to the three-legged Artoo.

An extra shot of R2's restraining bolt being added by a Jawa  (played by the late Penny McCarthy) was filmed.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: HIGH SPEED KILLERS!

Back in the Death Star exhaust port trench and accelerating faster than before, Darth Vader and his wingmen are gaining ground on Luke Skywalker's solitary X-wing fighter, eager to obliterate him.

Dennis Muren once more ready to capture some model filming at ILM.

Making an adjustment to the blue screen support.

Grant McCune and Lorne Peterson ready Vader's craft for a fake filming sequence for The Making of STAR WARS TV special, aired in 1977.