AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: 'NO DISINTEGRATIONS!'

Darth Vader gives his instructions to the collected Bounty Hunters in searching for the elusive Millennium Falcon, but soon turns his specific notice to the infamous Boba Fett, warning him he wants the captured ship's occupants alive - 'No disintegrations!'

Filmed in early April 1979, great care was taken by Irvin Kershner and producer Gary Kurtz to get the visual look and menacing aura of new villain Boba Fett right for the sequence on the Star Destroyer bridge. Respected US film/TV character actor Jason Woodgreen would later provide the unique and truly slimy voice of Fett in Empire for several memorable lines during the film's American-based post production dubbing phase, and paid a minimal fee for his contribution- no one knew how successful the character of Fett was going to be in the days before release!

The close-up scene between Vader and Fett was additionally shot May 16th, 1979 by a second unit, as George Lucas wanted the 'no disintegrations!" line issued to him rather than Zuckuss, whom Vader originally talked to in the prior April filming.

A selection of various behind the scenes filming images from the bridge filming.

Unused shots showing Vader arriving to inspect the assembled Bounty Hunters.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: VADER'S 'EXTRA HELP'!

Vader confers with his guard over the assembled bounty hunters in a deleted moment. Image: Kurtz/Joiner Archive.

The word has been put out by Darth Vader, alongside a substantial reward offered by the Empire, to the galaxy's greatest and most formidable bounty hunters to search for the Millennium Falcon and capture its passengers wherever they may be hiding. The roll call of nasties being the humanoid Dengar (played by British stand-in/wrestler Moray Bush), the droids IG-88 (a prop operated by Bill Hargreaves) and 4-Lom (Chris Parsons, once again inside a droid costume), insectoid Zuckuss (petite actress Cathy Munroe), reptilian Bossk (actor/stand-in Alan Harris), and the most well known and lethal of the assembled cadre, the esteemed and ultra-reliable Boba Fett (as played by Jeremy Bulloch).

Filmed in April, 1979, of which the bounty hunters wore costumes cheaply culled and revised from existing stock, with additional masks created by Stuart Freeborn and his team for 4-Lom and Zuckuss (the latter originally called 'Tuckuss' at one point), the sequence has since become a legendary and beloved moment for fans, who, even back with the film's original 1980 release, were intrigued to learn more about this gruesome collection of characters.

A selection of posed images from the filming...

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE DEAD OR ALIVE SQUAD!

Seen ever so briefly but quickly making an incredible impact with STAR WARS fans in the Expanded and Animated Series Universes: the pantheon of diverse and lethal bounty hunters, most notably including the ultra-cool Boba Fett, assembled by Darth Vader to find our fugitive Rebel heroes and the Millennium Falcon, from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

CLASSIC IMAGE: DANGEROUS DENGAR!

On the main deck of the Super Star Destroyer Executor, the nefarious bounty hunter Dengar is ready to receive his next assignment from Darth Vader: to find the Millennium Falcon.

Played in EMPIRE (and possibly for a brief visual cameo in JEDI, too) by the late British actor/stand-in Moray Bush (who also occasionally doubled/stood-in for Dave Prowse and was Darth Vader's feet trampling the cloak of the 'dead' Obi-Wan during the original filming of STAR WARS), the character has made lots of appearances in the Expanded Universe of comics, but now, finally, makes an animated appearance in next week's THE CLONE WARS episode Bounty, alongside the return of a shaven headed Boba Fett and the Trandoshan Bossk, alongside Asajj Ventress. Oh, and Dengar's got a British accent! Who knew?!

CLONE WARS clip: The Clone Wars Ep. 4.20 "Bounty" Preview - YouTube

UPDATE/OPINION: In a piece of pure stunt casting, Simon Pegg will be providing the voice of Dengar in the episode cameo. In my book it's an incredible piece of hypocrisy, especially from the actor, considering how vocal he's been in his hatred for the Prequel Trilogy: now he's appearing in a Prequel Era set animated series! Is this some kind of alternate universe work ethic? Perhaps if I burn all my STAR WARS collection I'll be able to work for LUCASFILM!