BEHIND THE SCENES: INSIDE THE POD RACE HANGAR!

Despite the rise of CGI with the new Star Wars Prequel filmmaking universe, may critics and fans still need to be reminded that Episode One regardless had many partial and practical sets/props built for its storytelling at Leavesden Studios during 1997, like this impressive Pod Hangar bay.  

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: A TIME OF CHANGE!

A posed publicity image of Yoda and Obi-Wan.

In an empty area of the palace, Yoda confers with Obi-Wan on the uncertain future of young Anakin Skywalker, but Obi-Wan, now qualified from his Jedi trials against Darth Maul, is resolute. He will train Anakin, without the approval of the council if he must. Yoda has no choice but to agree, despite the potential warning he gives to the former Padawan of "The Chosen One" prophecy believed in by the late Qui-Gon Jinn.

A line early in the conversation from Obi-Wan was filmed but never made the final cut: "Qui-Gon believed in him. I believe in Qui-Gon."

Behind the scenes, Oz was not fully happy with the all-new puppet made for the film, created from heavy silicon, and often found it very hard to operate due to its weight in comparison to the original lighter puppet created by Stuart Freeborn in the eighties.

Frank Oz, properly returned as Yoda.

The opening wide angle scene featuring Yoda walking was achieved as a digital shot (from a created CGI version of Yoda that wasn't used - deemed not up to scratch technology-wise - apart from this one moment). The rest of the sequence was shot at a time period after the main batch of principal photography had been completed, with Frank Oz returning to primary puppeteering/voice duties alongside Ewan McGregor (wearing a hair piece) on a raised set built at Leavesden Studios.

One of only two shots in EPISODE I filmed with a test digital camera.

"The actors were so taken by Yoda it was extraordinary. I was very flattered. I think people respond to the character because he is very much like a Zen master- and I think everyone would love to have someone like him to talk to. Yoda is universally appealing."

Frank Oz - 1999

Obi-Wan confers with Yoda on Anakin's future.

"We could see what Yoda was doing on TV monitors beneath the set. If George was satisfied with a take, we'd move on. Other times, we'd play back the performance and decide to make some adjustments."

"From a physical standpoint, Yoda is very demanding, but I'm always happy to revisit the character and to work with George."

Frank Oz - 1999

"Frank is the character. We (his puppeteer team assistants) just tried to give him freedom, and to work with his performance, to flow with it. No matter what we rehearsed, Frank would always do something a little more, a little different for the real take."

Kathy Smee (Yoda Puppeteer) - The Making of EPISODE I book - 1999

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: THE NEW PEACEMAKERS!

Naboo has been freed from the slimy grip of the Trade Federation, and joy has come for the planet and its people with the news that the noble, dutiful Senator Palpatine has been elected to the highest office in the galaxy- the Republic's Chancellor. Surely this will be a time of new peace and prosperity for all as the happy Palpatine arrives to congratulate Jedi hero Obi-Wan Kenobi and the intriguing powers of young Anakin Skywalker, whose career the statesman will watch 'with great interest'!

A terrific scene with subtly grim foreboding, and one added onto the film late in the day during additional reshoots during early 1999. Care had to be taken to keep Jake Lloyd out of close-up shots because he had gotten older-looking a year and a half on from the original period of filming.

Due to the late scheduling of the reshoots, so close to the film's release, many of the actresses playing the Handmaidens were not available to return, so other members of the production team (including Nick Gillard, who fitted one of the available costumes) and Jake Lloyd's mum, Lisa, took the back ground roles. Another extra filled in for Sio Bibble when actor Oliver Ford Davis was not available - a fact all too clear on screen!

The re-shoot handmaidens, including middle left to right: Lisa Lloyd, LUCASFILM's Lynne Hale, and Nick Gillard! 

Additionally shot in that extra principal photography was the departure of the captured Trade Federation villains, awaiting trial on Coruscant. This replaced an earlier scene filmed but cut, set in the Throne Room with Amidala.

Filming the Trade Federation leaders being taken away.

Rounding off the VIP cameos at the Chancellor's arrival were three key men from the making of the Star Wars films, including Sound Designer/Editor Ben Burtt, Producer Rick McCallum and co-Film Editor Paul Martin Smith.

Ben Burtt in character for blue screen filming insertion 

Burtt, McCallum and Smith line up for the shot filming.

From Pablo Hidalgo/Twitter.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: SUPREMACY ON CUE!

As additional material/re-shoots for EPISODE I continues at Leavesden Studios in early 1999, Ian McDiarmid returns to film a new near-finale scene of the newly elected Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's arrival on Naboo, added to hint at the future father-figure 'friendship' he will have with young Anakin by the time of EPISODE II.

On the ship's ramp following Palpatine and his blue armoured senate guards are the Jedi Council members. Samuel L. Jackson was not available for the new scene, as part of the Order's arrival on Naboo, so instead an unknown extra filled in for him all too noticeably! Yoda was played by a proud Warwick Davis, in a special mask and costume, for a walking shot that never made the final cut, of which no behind the scenes stills have so far been released of this moment.

"We will watch your career with great interest!"

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: TARGETING OBI-WAN!

As we know, there were a quite few moments from the now classic three-way lightsaber duel between Jedi duo Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi against Sith Darth Maul, brilliantly choreographed in first and second unit sequences by Nick Gillard, that didn't make the final cut of EPISODE I. In this scene move from Obi-Wan (played by Ewan McGregor and his double Andreas Petrides), the character has to evade being cut in half by Maul's double-edged blade.

Ray Park's Darth Maul makes a flying tumble to pursue Kenobi (Andreas Petrides) far right middle, in a deleted moment. 

Petrides as Obi-Wan makes a running back flip over Maul's blade slice effort.

More deleted action from the Theed hangar:

https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2016/10/deleted-scene-agile-opponent.html

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: DROID CONTINUITY!

Image by Keith Hamshere.

Always the most important element in bringing the iconic Artoo Detoo to life in the saga, Kenny Baker made a welcome return to EPISODE I, operating it once again and also being on hand to watch and give potential advice linked to the important three-legged electro-mechanical remote controlled versions newly built for the film, as seen here on set in 1997, watching the practice of a unit. Behind Baker are stand-ins Ray Griffith (left) and Gavin Hale, for Jake Lloyd and Liam Neeson.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: SADDLE FUN!

Filming against blue screen can be a chore for any actor, but at least Natalie Portman has the good fortune of having Prequel Trilogy Stunt Coordinator/Swordmaster Nick Gillard to hang around with at Leavesden Studios, as the actor films a sequence of Padme and Jar Jar Binks riding Eopie beasts back to the Naboo Cruiser from the Boonta Eve arena- a small sequence filmed in 1997 ultimately deleted from the film, with never completed effects (that we're aware of).

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: NEGOTIATING WITH WATTO!

Confident of Anakin's skills as an intuitive pilot, and knowing how heavily the Force is imbued within him via a prior discovered, off the chart Midi-chlorian count, Qui-Gon, with Jar Jar Binks in tow, seals his prior financial deal with the greedy Watto for the boy's entry into the Boonta Eve pod race, alongside some sly use of the Force to win Anakin's freedom once his victory is confirmed. Though impressed with his slave, Watto has instead gambled on the dangerous and cheating Sebulba - Anakin's rival, confidently expecting the Dug to win, with Qui-Gon's Nubian-built ship as part of the extra profits!

A selection of life size prop pod racers built for use in Tunisia would also be staged on the partial hangar set at Leavesden, with ILM model shots/set extensions created/superimposed in post production.

High angle shot of the Leavesden set.

One of the Twi'lek female extras gets some make-up application.

The Twi'lek girls alongside the Sebulba reference cut-out.

Ahmed Best, Liam Neeson and Andrew Secombe rehearse their scene.

A closer look at the UK built pod racer props.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: STREET OCCUPATION!

Screen image via General Grievous Tributes.

Though a small underground movement of resistance fighters will soon be activated in opposition, the majority of Theed's citizens are swiftly rounded up and sent to detention camps by swarms of Battle Droids. The establishing scene here was filmed on the enormous backlot area of Leavesden Studios with a select group of several hundred extras (and white boiled suited artists filling in for Battle Droids) positioned and shot at varying points of the exterior set and fused together with gorgeous models and matte painting work from ILM in post production.

The film's production team gathers for an official shot on the Leavesden backlot.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: LIGHTSABER DAY!

The big moment has arrived for Ewan McGregor, watched by Nick Gillard and Ty Teiger.

"So we walked down there (to the prop room), and then the props guy came out with this big wooden box... Now I romanticise this meeting, I must warn you... but I remember it was this big wooden box, with padlocks on it, which he unlocked. He said, "Are you ready?" And I said, "Yeah." He opened it up and there was like 9 or 10 different lightsaber handles. It was like going to buy a Ferrari and trying to choose which model you like!"

"There were all different shapes (of lightsabers). I mean, if you look in the film you'll see that Liam Neeson's lightsaber handle is different shaped than mine. I, however, got the first choice, and I got the sexier one!"

Ewan McGregor - Entertainment Tonight web interview - May 1999

"It was an extraordinary kind of moment. I lost myself in it. I got to choose my own lightsaber. It's a sexy one, of course."

Ewan McGregor - Empire magazine - August 1999

BEHIND THE SCENES: RACING FOR DEPARTURE!

On the EPISODE I Theed hangar bay set at Leavesden Studios in Summer 1997, George Lucas and the film crew get set up for a scene involving Jake Lloyd and Celia Imrie (as fighter pilot Bravo Four) rushing to her ship with her trusty Astro Droid, as the Battle for Naboo begins. The completed brief scene ultimately ended up being deleted for timing and pace reasons.

BEHIND THE SCENES: HEAD PROTECTOR!

For those tough long days on set, and in restrictive costume, Ahmed Best's chair was surely well deserved, and especially well looked after by his unique alter-ego! A fun image from the Leavesden 1997 filming of EPISODE I.

Discover the incredible and ground-breaking story behind the origins/creation and practical/CGI realisation of the first main alien supporting star of the Prequel Trilogy, inside the detailed pages of the excellent all-new The Moviemaking Magic of STAR WARS- Creatures + Aliens, written by Mark Salisbury and published by ABRAMS, out now in all good bookstores and online.

More on the book here:
https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/search/label/THE%20MOVIEMAKING%20MAGIC%20OF%20STAR%20WARS-%20CREATURES%20AND%20ALIENS

Get it here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moviemaking-Magic-Star-Wars-Creatures/dp/1419728199/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532089567&sr=8-1&keywords=the+moviemaking+magic+of+star+wars+creatures+%26+aliens

BEHIND THE SCENES: JEDI CLOSE-UP!

As Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard keeps a careful eye on ground level, a raised Ewan McGregor films his Obi-Wan reaction shots as part of the tense lightsaber duel set in the Theed Power Room, for a second unit team at Leavesden Studios around Summer 1997, for EPISODE I.

BEHIND THE SCENES: THE 'OTHER' HANDMAIDENS!

On one of the earliest days of shooting for EPISODE I at the UK's Leavesden Studios in 1997, George Lucas closely watches as the the heavy Japanese-inspired headgear for Natalie Portman's character of Padme is adjusted by wardrobe technicians.

Find out more about the Classic and Prequel Trilogy costumes with the travelling exhibition: STAR WARS AND THE POWER OF COSTUME: Star Wars | Denver Art Museum

CLASSIC IMAGE: "BANG!"

The bridge of the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship goes up in flames, as will the rest of the vessel, in a pyrotechnics session filmed at Leavesden Studios in 1997 for EPISODE I (then known as The Beginning)- one of the last scenes captured by the second unit during the original first phase of the movie's top-secret shoot.

BEHIND THE SCENES: ARE WE DREAMING THIS?

Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson enjoy the fun of clashing lightsaber blades (or rather rehearsal rods) with Ray Park, as duel choreography continues at Leavesden Studios, during the Summer of 1997, for EPISODE I.

"I nearly s++t myself! I just died of excitement." So said Ewan McGregor of filming the stunts/action for EPISODE I, to FILM REVIEW magazine's June 2002 issue.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO sends Happy Birthday greetings out to Ewan McGregor today!

EPISODE I AT FIFTEEN: DOUBLE's DILEMMA!

Watched by Stunt Coordinator supremo Nick Gillard, stuntman and Obi-Wan double/ swordsman Andreas Petrides test/rehearse some crucial wire work for the tense scene where our Jedi hero is kicked over the edge of the Theed City reactor pit by Darth Maul. Part of a superb and now iconic scene from EPISODE I.

Hopefully catching an all-new generation of fans in the build-up anticipation to EPISODE VII, EPISODE I will be getting a prime-time evening showing next Saturday on the UK's ITV 1 channel.

LAUNCHING THE LEGEND. PIC FOUR: 'THE PHANTOM MENACE' 1997

"Good luck everybody. Now lets kick some ass!" Rick McCallum snaps the clapperboard to EPISODE I's filming.

In the run up to commencement of EPISODE VII's PINEWOOD STUDIOS principal photography, apparently slated for May 14th, 2014, STAR WARS AFICIONADO presents a key image from the first days shooting of the previous six films of the saga.

June 26th, 1997. With the Original Trilogy completed and satisfying audience expectations by May 1983, STAR WARS fans would have a very long wait for the technological capabilities of the special effects industry to catch up with George Lucas's dreams and ambitions for his history-revealing Prequel Universe. By 1997, and the release of the souped up STAR WARS TRILOGY: SPECIAL EDITIONS packed with new CGI creatures and environments bolstering and recapturing his enthusiasm, along with sustained box office profits (combined with a massive merchandise tie-in deal with BURGER KING/PEPSI-COLA), the long-promised three-film saga showing the rise of the Empire and the fall of a Republic, that would gradually lead into the events of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, could finally, excitedly, begin.

After years of conceptual art planning, animatics and story formulating, Lucas, with his new long-time producer Rick McCallum, was ready, as were the spirited and excited new international cast and crew assembled, as the UK's Leavesden Studios facility became home to intense and pioneering STAR WARS production with EPISODE I, then with the working title of The Beginning. No ambitious, time-consuming action scenes would be tackled on the first day, however-instead there would be a key scene introducing the new series deadliest super-baddies, specifically the return of Ian McDiarmid as everyone's favourite malevolence, now at a time before becoming The Emperor, and referred to here by his Sith Lord title of Darth Sidious, conferring with his new protege: the lightsaber duelling, Jedi killing nemesis that is Darth Maul, played by stuntman Ray Park. From the night-time balcony of Senator Palpatine's luxurious office apartment on Coruscant, the duo's plans for the domination of the Republic will secretly begin.

The Phantom Menace has emerged...

BEHIND THE SCENES: A BEGINNING FOR 'THE BEGINNING'

The first script table reading at LEAVESDEN for George Lucas, casting director Robin Gurland and the assembled cast of EPISODE I in the Summer of '97, minus Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson, both of whom were not available yet and off making other films- Silas Carson and Ahmed Best filled in for them in their roles.

Early next year a new table reading will be taking place at PINEWOOD, for EPISODE VII, with a whole new cast and, hopefully, a few familiar faces, too.

CLASSIC DESIGN WEEK. PIC FIVE - THE THEED HANGAR BAY

Out in the UK this week is the long-awaited, new nice price edition of the lavish and informative STAR WARS: BLUEPRINTS hardcover book by J.W. Rinzler. In celebration of the must-have title, we're having a week-long tribute to some of the six film's classic production designs.

Now a firm part of movie and box office history, the Classic Trilogy passes the STAR WARS adventure and excitement torch to George Lucas's next generation of equally iconic heroes and villains-making drama and conflict from the events leading up to A NEW HOPE- the Prequel Trilogy, whose first film, The Phantom Menace, would begin top-secret filming at London's Leavesden Studios in 1997 (Leavesden ultimately replacing the sadly smaller in scale Elstree Studios-now more a TV making facility, its STAR WARS STAGE long since demolished). Norman Reynolds is departed as Production Designer, but his legacies for innovation, imagination and dedication continues through Gavin Bocquet, already having an association with Lucasfilm through the YOUNG INDIANA JONES TV series, proving he has "the right stuff" as the sagas new UK visual successor, seeing in his era with digital film-making techniques to a degree then unparallelled in their combined use of partially built sets with CGI, matte work and models. A bold, if controversial, new age in making blockbusters had begun.

The other side of the Leavesden Hangar- an unseen angle in the movie showing Naboo soldiers fighting Battle Droids (here played by men in white suits, before CGI overlay). 

The largest practical set built for EPISODE I, the Theed Hangar of the under-siege peaceful planet of Naboo, plays host to several big action sequences, primarily the finale, as our Jedi heroes fight emergent Sith Warrior Darth Maul in an incredible three-way lightsaber duel, whilst Queen Amidala, alongside her handmaidens and brave warriors, liberate the building in order to send their glistening fighters up against the in-orbit Trade Federation droid control vessel, whose robot soldiers are overwhelming the planet.

With thanks to BlueHarvest.Net and StarWarsUniverse websites for the images.

Get hold of STAR WARS: BLUEPRINTS here: Star Wars - The Blueprints: Amazon.co.uk: J.W Rinzler: Books