AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: DUMPING THE GARBAGE!

Han Solo knows all the smuggling tricks of the trade, as well as Imperial Star Destroyer procedures, hiding the Falcon in the Avenger's debris field before the enemy enters Hyperspace. Their next stop is Bespin, but Han and company are unaware of another talent aware of the same escape tricks: the bounty hunter Boba Fett!

ILM filming of the space junk.

Debris field revised shot incorporating Slave 1.

Slave 1 pursues the Falcon.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT!

Using an old smuggler's trick, Han Solo has achieved the impossible: literally disappearing the Millennium Falcon in plain sight right under the Imperial Death Fleet's noses, and now has to plan an unceremonious way of escape in order to find a new safe port.

https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.com/2013/08/ilm-classic-image-i-can-see-you.html

The miniature Falcon model on the massive Imperial tower head.

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: ELUDING PURSUIT!

Out of the asteroid field, the Star Destroyer Avenger, commanded by the eager Captain Needa, has the Millennium Falcon in its grasp, until it decides to turn around and head towards them at ramming speed, before ultimately disappearing off Imperial bridge sensor scopes. A mystery indeed for the dutiful (and soon doomed) commanding officer, especially when Darth Vader's pursuit enquiry communications demand updating...

Great angle from the pit area of the uncompleted set. The computer consoles would be sold off after re-use filming of Return of the Jedi and appear as set dressings in numerous episodes of Doctor Who.

With added matte painting ceiling and windows fill-in.

ILM storyboard of the Falcon flying over the Star Destroyer bridge and disappearing.

Ultimately bored by his time filming, and just another job amongst many in his varied career, British actor Michael Culver poses for a publicity image.

CLASSIC IMAGE: DOWN IN THE PIT!

Actor Mark Jones (far left, looking towards the technician at console) gets ready to film a scene in the bridge technical pit of the Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger, for a classic moment from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. After filming of the Classic Trilogy, some of the larger consoles seen here were either sold or rented out to the BBC for use on the sci-fi series DOCTOR WHO, during the mid-eighties.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: I CAN SEE YOU!

At the ILM facility in San Francisco, Lorne Peterson playfully hides behind the huge close-up model of the Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger's com tower, with the Millennium Falcon secretly attached. An image taken either late 1979 or early 1980.

For more on the continuing visual effects legacy of ILM, check out this great feature: ILM Modelmakers Share Star Wars Stories and Secrets - Tested