'STAR WARS' AT 40: FACTORY PILOTS!

Andrew Ainsworth poses outside Shepperton Design Studios, London, with the various TIE fighter pilot helmets that the company created en bulk for filming at Elstree in Summer 1976. A sequence on the Death Star was filmed of the pilot group racing to their ships but was deleted from the film, though part of the footage turned up eventually in RETURN OF THE JEDI.

https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/behind-scenes-imperial-summer-fun.html

https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/classic-image-death-star-battle.html

'STAR WARS' AT 40: ATTACKING THE FALCON!

"They're coming in too fast!"

Even with its ever angled deflector shields, the Millennium Falcon gets a laser pounding from the TIE fighters, in the above pilot's eye view shot that's as stunning today, especially on the big screen, as it was back in 1977.

Filming the scene with the overhead Dykstraflex camera in 1976 over the large Falcon model.

Ralph McQuarrie production painting.

TIE fighter pilot in cockpit, shot at Elstree in July 1976.

ROGUE ONE: INTO THE VAULT!

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT! Having discovered that "the weapons test" is in actuality the Death Star, and before the plans to it are stolen in an epic finale conflict on Scarif, the middle of ROGUE ONE will, according to our own Rebel spies, see Jyn and Cassian going undercover as TIE pilot and Imperial officer to infiltrate a mysterious facility, some kind of underground bunker/vault, that will likely bring our heroine into a welcome reunion with her missing father. Certainly, the filming of the action scene, as seen in the CELEBRATION 2016 "Sizzle Reel", adheres to John Knoll's original conception for the film as having some specific MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-esque moments of disguise and infiltration.

Taking the Stormtroopers by surprise.

BEHIND THE SCENES: IMPERIAL SUNBATHER!

A member of the London-based Shepperton Design Studios, responsible for the original film's stormtrooper-related costume constructions, models one of their then newly built and intimidating looking TIE fighter pilot heads, of which only fourteen were apparently built in the long run, during the very hot Summer of '76.

Original Stormtrooper- Accept No Compromises
'A worthless bit of plastic': Fiona Bruce fails to feel the force of Star Wars helmet worth £50k! | Daily Mail Online

For more behind the scenes information,anecdotes and rare imagery on the creation of the now iconic costumes of the Classic Trilogy, from heroes to villains, check out Brandon Alinger's lavish new book on the subject, STAR WARS COSTUMES: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY, out now from TITAN BOOKS. Here's the publishing blurb:

Who can forget the first time they saw Darth Vader with his black cape and mask? The white hard-body suit of the stormtroopers? Or Leia’s outfit as Jabba’s slave? These costumes–like so many that adorned the characters of that galaxy far, far away–have become iconic. For the first time, the Lucasfilm Archives has unpacked the original costumes to be revealed in breathtaking detail.

Featuring all-new photography, Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy affords both new and longtime Star Wars fans the opportunity to examine the stormtrooper armor and discover how it changed from movie to movie; explore Boba Fett’s suit and inspect the rarely seen details of his blaster and jetpack; compare the helmets and jumpsuits of the rebel fighters; and study the details of the Hoth fighter uniforms.

This lavish large-format book not only showcases high-quality photography of each costume, it also pairs these stunning images with original sketches, behind-the-scenes photographs, production notes, and stories.

Get it here: Star Wars - Costumes: Amazon.co.uk: Brandon Alinger, J. W. Rinzler: Books

And look out for AFICIONADO's review of the book in the not too distant future.

BEHIND THE SCENES: IMPERIAL HEAD WEAR!

Here's a couple of helmet scale/costume reference images of a distinctive and menacing Imperial TIE fighter pilot, though I'm not sure from which Classic Trilogy film (probably JEDI, as a lot more costume reference photo material exists for that one compared to the original STAR WARS).

CLASSIC IMAGE: DEATH STAR BATTLE STATIONS!

As alarm lights blaze and sirens fill the air within the corridors of the Death Star, elite TIE fighter pilots rush to their ships, ready to engage the attacking Rebel X and Y-wing ships, in this deleted scene from STAR WARS, filmed by Gary Kurtz's second unit at some point in July 1976 at ELSTREE. A partial clip from the deleted footage would later be used in RETURN OF THE JEDI.

I'd have love to have seen a sequence where we see the pilots actually get into their TIE ships and take off. In the film we see Vader and his wing men depart the docking bay, but there's a great moment in the MARVEL comic strip adaptation of the time (above image) where we see Vader actually getting into his ship.

I wonder if that was just writer Roy Thomas/artist Howard Chaykin's visual idea, or whether there was a scripted scene that was possibly filmed? Or perhaps the scene was planned for but unfilmed due to time and money pressures- Script Continuity Supervisor Ann Skinner has the scene in her shooting script (currently held in the British Film Institute), so it looks likely. Perhaps the Blu-ray will solve the many mysteries once and for all...