AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: 'THE WATCHER' DISCOVERED!

Luke and Artoo's odd little campfire discussions are interrupted by the presence of a quirky little creature keenly interested, perhaps more keen than he should be, in the the new arrivals to his Dagobah domain. The duo soon consider the being an irritant, especially when it turns its attentions to their food and supplies, but when the stranger then reveals knowing the mysterious 'Yoda', and can take Luke to him, the situation takes a major U-turn for the Jedi-to-be.

Here's a selection of scene images and Frank Oz and his performance team (including Kathryn Mullen and David Barclay) at work, often operating in cramped conditions from underneath the set (and using tiny black and white TV monitors for reference), but nonetheless delivering stunning puppeteering skill sets. Yoda's first scenes to be filmed, including this sequence, began from Monday August 6th, 1979.

The Yoda used here was not the Stuart Freeborn version, which was not ready for filming and had broken down mechanics. Instead, Nick Maley's back-up Yoda, which had different operating mechanics, created after nearly sixty hours work with one of the Freeborn team assistants (Bob Keen), was initiated to remarkable effect. 

"Like we're being watched!"

"I mean you no harm..."

"How you get so big eating food of this kind..."

Superb shot showing just how many people it takes to film a Star Wars scene, especially linked to the complexities of making Yoda a reality. Note the UK puppeteers at work underneath Yoda.

Other little Yoda quirks in this scene would come via the stars and film-makers. Oz, who created his own personal character history/bible for the character, recalls the early introductory scene:“(Irvin Kershner is) the one who suggested fighting Artoo with the cane. Yoda is a wise Zen master, but like any Zen master, he'll smack you if you're wrong.” 

Another great BTS shot- note Kenny Baker in a partial shell R2 suit in the background.

"Take you to him, I will."

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.

BEHIND THE SCENES: YODA's SUPPORT TEAM!

On the Dagobah set, Jim Henson Studios British talent Kathryn Mullen helps get the Gimer stick holding Yoda puppet ready for filming, assisted by the hand of an out of frame Irvin Kershner, in a scene shot in August/September 1979 at Elstree for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Puppeteer: Better than Yoda, no character is | The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Arts & Entertainment

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: TWO TYPES OF MASTER!

Man of many talents Frank Oz, still in the heyday of his Muppet work, gets down and dirty on the Dagobah floor set at ELSTREE STUDIOS, alongside one of his puppeteering assistants (Kathryn Mullen), to operate the Stuart Freeborn created Yoda for a key dramatic scene of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Prior to the ultimate puppet creation being realized, a very basic idea of what Yoda would ultimately look like had been constructed, primarily for reference use by the various department heads working on the film. Despite its age, this incredible early puppet, made of polyfoam, filled with buckwheat and possessing a burlap coat, has recently been put up for online auction. Check out the full info here (with thanks to Chris Baker for the heads-up): Yoda on-set rehearsal puppet from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back