AN 'EMPIRE' AT 45: MEANWHILE, ON THE COMEDY VARIETY SHOW PLANET!

Taking their first steps on a comedy variety show planet!

Frank Oz helped bring the magic of Yoda to the Star Wars saga, so it was only fair that the compliment was returned back to him, Jim Henson and the Muppet Show, as Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and the remote controlled Artoo Detoo made an hilarious special appearance on the UK/international comedy hit during 1980, filmed at the nearby ITC Elstree Studios. Hamill, notably, would get to stretch his comedy muscles in a double role (himself and Luke Skywalker) alongside Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and the legendary Miss Piggy, give a notable 'Gargling Gershwin' rendition, and even indulge in a little bit of musical variety!

Hamill and Daniels rehearse the finale with Kermit.

Luke and Threepio discuss the bizarre universe they are in!

Mark/Luke with his new porky Princess!

Original preview press cutting, from the files of the Kurtz/Joiner Archive.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: BOG PLANET BLUES!

Life behind the scenes on the Dagobah set at Elstree Studios.

As The Empire Strikes Back nears the end of its long and often gruelling filming at Elstree Studios with the ambitious lensing on the bog planet stage during August/September 1979, director Irvin Kershner is secretly a frustrated and at times unhappy man. Due to schedule overruns and escalating money pressures, the inspired visualist has recently seen wholes sequences linked to Yoda and his training of Luke in the Force be cut down to the bare bones or be deleted completely (due to the complex shooting of Stuart Freeborn's one-of-a-kind puppet - just one sixty second scene often taking up to nine hours to successfully complete!), whilst a second unit has had to compete shots that he alone wanted to finish - the director knowing that the completed shots will not be what he ultimately considers 'his own', despite the best intentions of his talented team. There is also a mildly strained relationship between the director and his star Mark Hamill, the lone actor on set missing the previous camaraderie of his castmates whom he'd previously enjoyed working with on the original 1976 movie, and who himself has been on edge whilst his lovely wife, Marilou, prepares to give birth to their first son, Nathan. Health-wise, however, Kershner remains in good spirits, always keeping fit as much as possible and wearing a mask when needed to protect himself from the misty, noxious fumes atmosphere filling the soundstage, whilst George Lucas continues to be a rock steady line of behind the scenes support where possible.

Even Artoo needs a 'stand-in' from time to time!

A memorable special visit from The Muppet Show's Miss Piggy and Kermit hilariously lifts the cast and crew's spirits during difficult filming.

Lucas and Kershner exchange filming details.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: PUPPET MASTERS!

Frank Oz at Elstree with the reference mock-up of Yoda, where the face was still in development. 

As Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston spend 1978 and early 1979 trying to visualize the character, early ideas for the creation and filming of Yoda may have included shooting him as a stop-motion character but this has never been confirmed. In the end, having him as a live action presence seemed the best solution, creating a puppet. But a puppet needs an operator (or two). Jim Henson, creator of The Muppet Show, is the obvious choice to create and operate the puppet, but he is not available. Henson recommends his friend and associate Frank Oz, best known then as the voice and manipulator of Miss Piggy on the hit Henson show. Oz recalls of his involvement playing Yoda to Star Wars Insider magazine: “We were doing The Muppet Movie in Los Angeles, and Gary Kurtz came. In my trailer, I saw a picture of what Gary described as a little guy called Yoda. Sometimes I have trouble getting characters and it takes a while, like Bert took me a year to get. Other characters evolve, like Grover. And other characters hit immediately somehow. Yoda hit immediately off that page to me... I strongly felt what he should be like.” Oz adds to this in a later interview: “So all I remember was that he (Kurtz) said, “Come over here, I want you to meet this guy and look at this character.” So I went in my trailer on the set, and Gary talked about it a little and showed me this character, and sometimes you "get" a character immediately. So he opened up this book and I saw this drawing, and for some reason, I immediately knew what this guy was. I can't tell you why. I just knew it. Can’t tell you why. I just knew it. From then on, I was the one who kind of put all the elements of Yoda together, and although Jim (Henson) didn't make Yoda, George and he had an understanding that they would exchange technology information. George would give to Jim and Jim would give some of his people to George to help. Wendy Froud helped out a little bit with the character and two other people from Jim's company worked the cables for me. It was not Jim who made the puppet, he just consulted on it, then I continued on after that.”

Once filming began, Frank Oz would provide the voice of Yoda on set but it was by no means set in stone that George Lucas would be using it in the film during its final post production ADR process later in the year, a  similar situation of which occurred with Anthony Daniels, whose original voicing of Threepio for the original Star Wars was also almost replaced. 

The Yoda reference doll as later presented in an auction.

Muppet Show legend Jim Henson would offer invaluable advice on the plans to puppeteer Yoda at Elstree Studios.

Joe Johnston shares a prop-testing drink with his new friend.

An important production meeting to discuss the future mechanics and puppeteering skills needed for Yoda, as Kathryn Mullen (with Frank Oz) consults the reference dummy.

Stuart Freeborn has fun with the Yoda dummy during filming of promotional material at Elstree.