ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: FILMING 'REAL' PEOPLE!

At the main ILM studio stage in early Summer 1982, many vital live action shots filmed against Blu-screen were handled involving Return of the Jedi's principal cast, as seen here with Hamill, Ford and Mayhew, along with a Weequay and Barada guards, filming necessary close-ups aboard one of Jabba's skiffs sailing to the Great Pit of Carkoon. In the final cut, the direction of the scene was flipped for aesthetic/continuity reasons to match Leia's looking towards them from inside the Sail Barge. The Weequay soon turns around to halt their conversation, but this is only seen in the long shot moment of the finished movie.

This image was part of a private collection sold by Phil Tippett from a few years back.

BEHIND THE SCENES: WEEQUAY'S WAITING!

Waiting to resume their background roles in the Coruscant sports bar, two distinctive Weequay extras, bearing equally distinctive Aussie accents, compare filming notes in this fun behind the scenes image from EPISODE II.

CLASSIC IMAGE: ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO!

Above the treacherous Sarlaac Pit, Luke Skywalker flexes his Jedi muscles in combat against Jabba's lethal alien henchmen, as the battle to liberate his friends gathers momentum, during Return of the Jedi.

CLASSIC IMAGE: WEEQUAY OF TATOOINE!

A battle scarred Weequay surveys the Tatooine desert, prior to the battle above the Sarlaac, in this atmospheric image from RETURN OF THE JEDI.

CLASSIC IMAGE: (NOT) LIVING THE GOOD LIFE!

Stuck with a Weequay inside the slow digestive belly of the Sarlaac, Boba Fett ponders why everything went so tragically wrong for him and his bounty hunter lifestyle, in this classic scene from the always hilarious ROBOT CHICKEN 3, getting an airing on the UK's SYFY CHANNEL this evening.

Clip: Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III - Boba Fett on Vimeo

CLASSIC IMAGE: PARTY ANIMALS!

Jabba the Hutt's party loving entourage enjoying watching Han Solo and Princess Leia suffer at the grubby hands of their big boss, in this gallery of the grotesque from RETURN OF THE JEDI. Note the Tauntaun head hanging up on the right side wall.

CLASSIC IMAGE: UNWELCOME WEEQUAY!

One of my favourite 1983 stills from RETURN OF THE JEDI, as Luke, seeing the top deck gunner of Jabba's Sail Barge shooting at his friends on the skiff, makes a brief but perilous leap on to the side of the immense red-sailed ship to stop it, and throwing a nuisance Weequay mercenary into the Sarlaac Pit at the same time.

Luke Skywalker was now a Jedi, and the audience was loving every minute of it!

NEW PROFIT MARGINS! HONDO OHNAKA RETURNS TO 'THE CLONE WARS'

Back to claim the universe: Hondo Ohnaka.

Fans of the Mandalorians and Darth Maul would no doubt have been thrilled by the upcoming epic action scenarios shown in the bootleg trailer for THE CLONE WARS Season Five, which did the worldwide Internet rounds last week, but I was more happy to see the return of another villain-well, more like lovable anti-hero, to the series instead: Hondo Ohnaka, that opportunistic Weequay pirate with the true flying saucer spaceship who's in it for the money and will be in service to goodies and baddies alike as long as the price is right. First introduced at the mid-point of Season One, Ohnaka and his drunk, and often brutishly bumbling, pirate-like buddies were a welcome breath of fresh air from George Lucas's imagination when they were able to capture Count Dooku, and it was great to see the characters, and their pet Kowakian monkey, return for some general baddie-ness/all-round thieving against Anakin and the gang in Lucas SEVEN SAMURAI/Kurosawa inspired episode Bounty Hunters. Heck, an in the past Hondo even managed to tame the wild side of psycho-girl Aurra Sing for a while (no mean feat!), and I loved his classic Season Two finale appearance when, accompanied by her new little pet to groom, Boba Fett, Hondo asked her, "Not mine, I take it?"

Hondo makes new (drugged) drinking buddies of Anakin and Obi-Wan in Dooku Captured.

Hondo fan tribute: Hondo Ohnaka - Discombobulate - YouTube

Glorious stuff. Can't wait to see what he gets up to next!

Weequay Wisdom: The Best Hondo Ohnaka Quotes | StarWars.com

BEHIND THE SCENES: UNWELCOME WEEQUAY!

One of the braided, fearsome Weequay warriors to challenge Luke Skywalker in the exciting Sail Barge battle above the Great Pit of Carkoon in RETURN OF THE JEDI poses for a few intriguing costume reference photos for LUCASFILM whilst on location in Yuma, Arizona during April 1982. Since ROTJ, the alien race have made several welcome re-appearances in THE CLONE WARS animated series.