Sunday 22 January 2012

From Nought to Three-Hundred - Part 1 - The Print

As a fan of the Star Wars films one of the very best things that you can get the chance to do is to meet the people involved in the creation of the films from Production Staff, Crew, Supporting Artists and members of the Cast.

I've found that, for the most part, people associated with the movies are happy to talk about their time on the films, can shed new light on something or even add a new name to the cannon. I always try to add to the ever expanding collection of signatures and always try to get new or at least different images for them to sign.

As part of this Blog I'll be speaking to a lot of people involved in one of the best sequences in the saga, the Speeder Bike Chase on Endor. Sadly, one of the key people is no longer with us, the much missed Peter Diamond (Stunt Co-Ordinator for the Original Trilogy) but thankfully the majority of the other people who worked on this sequence from it's beginnings all the way through to it's appearance in the final film are still available.

As I speak to them I'll be bringing their insights to the Blog under the banner title of 'From Nought to Three Hundred' and also be asking them to add their signature to the image that I've made up to commemorate this.



I hope you'll join me on this journey.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

It's a trap...

A money trap that is.

In the early to mid 1980's the absolute nadir of entertainment was an amusement arcade. Flashing electronic cabinets that would swallow your hard earned pocket money as fast as you could funnel it in for all too brief gratification of beating the level or, at the very best, impressing a girl with your video game skills.

One of the few 'pusher' companies for this addictive drug were Atari who as well as keeping you entertained at home with their 'state of the art' 2600 home gaming machines were also providing games (or 'Cabinets') for a plethora of venues.

My own personal mecca of arcade goodness cam in the foyer of the 'Arena' skating rink in Bury, North West England. Never has there been such a 'hive of Scum and Villany'.

In Summer 1984 the wrappings were taken off a shiny new machine to replace an overused and half-destroyed 'Pac-Man' game.

Return of the Jedi had come to the arcades and I too could now play as my favourite characters against the evil forces of the Dark Side.

Despite being the third film in the trilogy it was actually the second arcade game with the 'Empire Strikes Back' game following on a year later.



Using the tried and tested scrolling shoot-em-up formula that had worked so well with games in the past, this time however instead of left to right it scrolled diagonally across the screen  from bottom left to top right. A multi faceted intricate game of all encompassing levels this was not but it was incredibly fun.

In fact, there was no actual levels. More like scenes that would endlessly repeat (at random and with slightly increased difficulty) until you ran out of lives or got bored, whichever came first. The scenes were :-


No. 1 - Speeder Bike chase on Endor as Princess Leia. The goal is to reach the Ewok village alive by dodging Biker Scouts and traps set by the Ewoks.

No. 2 -  Scout Walker chase on Endor as Chewbacca. The goal is to reach the shield generator again avoiding traps, Biker Scouts and rolling logs  

No. 3 - Millennium Falcon attack on Death Star as Lando. The goal is to reach and destroy the Death Star power reactor whilst being pursued through the innards by TIE fighters.

No. 4 - Pretty much reverse of No. 3 this time your goal in the Millennium Falcon is to escape from exploding Death Star.  



You can watch two of the scenes (1 and 3) here :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8OD3azmUic


As you can see, we were not talking about the same level of detailing and graphic capabilities that we are now used to in everyday life (Thank you Uncle George) but at the time, I can assure you it was fairly impressive.

Adding to the excitement of this machine was the controls. This was no longer just a stick and buttons. This felt like you were at the controls of an X-Wing Fighter with a dual handed approach.


However cool this looked and handled. This was, unfortunately, one of the first things to break and frequently frustrated arcade owners would be seen rifling through the owners manual and either attempting to fix it themselves or to order a new part.

The owners manual itself is lovely piece featuring very detailed exploded diagrams and parts lists as well as the no doubt much used New Part Telephone Order Line.





One of nicest things about these cabinets (and why they make such great, not to mention expensive, collectibles) was the side art on the machines and Return of the Jedi was no exception.



Not to mention a lovely backlit Marquee sign for the front of the machine with the lovely logo calling you to come and spend your cash.



There are still a few of these machines still kicking around in various states of repair so if you've got a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand sitting in you pocket burning a hole and you'd like something a little bit different you could keep your eye on auction sites for one of these puppies.

Man...I wonder how much money I did actually shove into one of these...I dread to think...








Finally for the techies amongst you here's waht the machine was using to provide those glorious images and sounds :-

Main CPU : M6502 (@ 2.5 Mhz), M6502 (@ 1.512 Mhz)

Sound Chips : (4x) POKEY (@ 1.512 Mhz), TMS5220 (@ 672 Khz)




Technical Information taken from www.arcade-history.com

Thursday 12 January 2012

Jabba ain't so bad...

Since the Blog went up I have received really nice messages from Toby Philpott and John Coppinger, both of whom were very closely associated with the creation and operation of that vile slug, Jabba the Hutt.

I have been provided with some call sheets from Toby (which just at a cursory glance have provided some wonderful information - some of which has shed light on a previously dark corner of my ROTJ knowledge) and has linked to the site from his website.

John has very graciously provided lovely, large links to the Blog from his own personal website.


I'd like to thank both gentlemen for their support and hopefully you'll be seeing interviews with them both very shortly.

Photo taken from Toby Philpott's Website - link above

Wednesday 11 January 2012

A long time ago...Well, 30 years ago...

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of day one of principle photography on 'Return of the Jedi'. Here's the Lucasfilm Press Release from Monday 11th January 1982.


The first scene in front of the cameras was Scene 44 (The Sandstorm on Tattoine) shot on Stage 2 and would be the very last time that the full size Millenium Falcon prop would be used before dismantling.

The scene was subsequently deleted from the movie but can be seen on the extras of the new Saga Blu-Ray boxset.



There was 17 Camera sets-ups for the scene which shot for 9 hours and amounted to one and a half minutes of screentime.

Here's the day's shooting progress report :-


Mark Hamill was the only actor to perform all the way through the first shooting day of the Trilogy. On Star Wars' day one in Tozeur on Monday 22 March 1976 he shot for 12 Hours and 50 minutes resulting in 2 minutes and 43 Seconds of finished film and on Empire day one in Finse on Monday 9th March 1979 Mark worked for 10 hours 50 minutes for nine shots and approximately one and half minutes of finished footage. *

Whatever the result, Return of the Jedi was off the starting blocks and into Production

*figures and information taken from 'The Making of Return of the Jedi' by John Phillip Peecher 

The scene itself can be found HERE

Monday 9 January 2012

'...my favourite decoration...'

As with every Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi was promoted in cinemas worldwide with a plethora of artwork.

For this entry I'm going to stick to the poster releases for the main territories of the US/UK (chiefly because some of the more esoteric artwork for the foreign markets is worthy of any entry all of it's own) which are pieces of artwork emblazoned in my minds eye as being possibly the greatest movie artwork ever. Or at least, the one that provides me with the biggest emotional response.

So let's have a look at them shall we?


The first image that we saw was the now legendary 'Revenge of the Jedi' poster.

As I'm sure you'll know if you are reading this Blog, Revenge of the Jedi, was the original title of the movie, changed in late 1982 when George decided that a it would not be in a Jedi Knight's nature to take revenge.

Not many of the original One-Sheets are still around but reprints can be had from Amazon.


















With the change of title came the change of poster. This poster debuted in theatres over the Thanksgiving Weekend 1982.


In March 1983 as the film edged it's way to completion the 'Style A' One Sheet was released harking back to the poster for Star Wars (as it was then still known).

An iconic image to be sure and one that would start to grace the covers of comics and tie-in movie books around the world.

A classic look with the blue sitting nicely against the stark black background.




















And then the floodgates opened...

On 27th May 1983 almost 6 years to the day of the release of the first movie Return of the Jedi exploded into cinemas.

It was accompanied by the Style B poster, clearly the most famous of posters for the film giving movbiegoers their first look at how the characters had changed from last we saw them and also debuting the Ewoks and other strange creatures.

This is, for me, my favourite Star Wars poster. It just has everything  that I want from a Star Wars poster.

I didn't actually see this poster until long after the film was out but when I did I fell in love with it and that love has never died.

But why did you not see this postewr? I hear you ask. Well then answer to that is...








Contained below...The UK Quad still ruled the roost at 'Picture Houses' up and down this sceptered isle and our art was, quite simply, just not as good.


Yes, all the elements are there but it just seems to cluttered. There's just too much going on. I can tell you one thing though. From the moment I saw the strange red-cloaked guards I wanted to know who they were and I also wanted to know who held Chewie captive.

I must have stared at this poster and the accompanying lobby cards for about 2 hours solid before the cinema opened and I was allowed in to see it (my Cousin Rachel's 10th Birthday Party if I remember correctly).

It was a film that didn't disappoint.

Then, some bright spark had a brainwave...'Why don't we put all three Star wars films on together? On the same day one after the other in the middle to the school Summer Holidays. The Kids will love it, the parents will love it and the cinemas will love it'



So it was that the marketing department of the UK arm of 20th Century Fox put together the single-most clunky piece of artwork there was ever been. It was however a 'once in a lifetime spectacular' well, that is if you were a dog because in 1987 to celebrate Star Wars' 10th Anniversary they re-released Return of the Jedi with, you guessed it...

All new art...


Of course, by now we'd all seen it a few times. It'd started showing up on TV, our VHS tapes were wearing thin with constant watching of all three films but rather than re-release all three films in a big way (as they would subsequently do) they chose only to re-release Jedi.

We, in the UK never had this re-release but I'll let you into a little secret. Shh...don't tell anyone...but...keep it under your hat now...

I can't stand this poster.

I think that it's because ever single expression on every character is off. They are recognisable but it's just 'off''.












and so a decade passed...The movies were digitally remastered and released on VHS in 1993 sporting all new box art but then we started to hear rumblings...the pre-internet fan grapevine was hearing whispers Uncle George was playing back in the Star Wars sandbox. There were to be updated versions of the movies released with added footage and effects that he couldn't accomplish whe  he originally made them.

What could possibly go wrong. The excitement around the world was fever pitch by the time the news broke properly. All the movies now retitled properly as Episodes and bearing the title 'Special Edition' would be released a fortnight apart from each other in Chronological order.


The three posters all bore a triptych of art from fan favourite Drew Struzan and when displayed side by side showed the true majesty of the Trilogy.

Return of the Jedi was released on the weekend of my 22nd Birthday. I had felt a little let down with Star Wars, I wasn't feeling some of the changes. Empire had restored my faith all of the amendments made only added to the film.

What would Jedi bring? That's the subject of another entry.

I hope you've enjoyed a look at the evolution of the Poster art for 'Return of the Jedi'. Check back soon for more content.

Contact from the Imperial Navy...

I have been informed by Alan Flyng that his scene and lines were in fact shot on Saturday 6th February 1982.

Whilst I am certainly not doubting Alan's word (his recollection is remarkable on all of his previous work) ROTJ was shot in the days when Unions ruled and to shoot on a Saturday would have cost the production at least time and a half/double time for the crew, the extras and the studio. As the production was not running over (indeed the Executor scenes were not due to be shot until the Thursday of the following week) and was restricted as to the UK budget I have not included formally into the production timeline.

I have a lead on some production notes, and indeed these may completely revamp my schedule but to the best of my knowledge and research the dates contained in the schedule are correct.

Sunday 8 January 2012

RETURN OF THE JEDI 
PRINCIPLE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOTING DIARY



UK STUDIO PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

EMI Studios, Elstree

PLAN OF EMI STUDIOS ELSTREE IN 1981



Monday 11th January 1982

Tattoine Sandstorm (Stage 2)

Tuesday 12th January

Jabba’s Palace Exterior, Int. gate & Hallway (Stage 6)

Arrival of the Droids
Confrontation with Bib Fortuna

Wednesday 13th January 1982

Same as Tuesday 12th

Arrival of a Jedi Master



Thursday 14th January 1982

Ewok Village Square  (Stage 3)

Arrival of the Captives
A Golden God 

Friday 15th January 1982

Same as above


Monday 18th January 1982

Ewok Celebration (Stage 3)
  

Tuesday 19th January 1982

Same as above


Wednesday 20th January 1982

Chief Chirpa’s Hut (Stage 2)


Thursday 21st January 1982

Same as above



Friday 22nd January 1982

Ewok Composite Stage (Stage 3)

Threepio tells a tale
Luke Reveals Truth


Monday 25th January 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Luke Hologram & Gift to Jabba
Enter Boussh & Chewie


Tuesday 26th January 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Jabba’s Party Time
Max Rebo Band


Wednesday 27th January 1982

Same as above


Thursday 28th January 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Han Defrosted


Friday 29th January 1982

 Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Han Defrosted & Imprisoned


Monday 1st February 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Enter Luke
Luke’s Threat
Rancor



Tuesday 2nd February 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Same as above


Wednesday 3rd February 1982

Jabba’s throne room (Stage 8)

Luke’s Ultimatum
Jabba passes sentence



Thursday 4th February 1982

Jabba’s Barge Interiors (Stage 3)


Friday 5th February 1982

Same as above


Monday 8th February 1982

Jabba’s Barge Interiors (Stage 3)

Jabba’s Barge Interiors
Death of Jabba


Tuesday 9th February 1982

Vaders Stardestroyer Bridge (Stage 2)

Approach to Endor
‘Luke’
Final Battle
  

Wednesday 10th February 1982

Rebel Briefing Room (Home one) (Stage5)

A plan revealed 



Thursday 11th February 1982

Same as above


Friday 12th February 1982

Mon Cal Cruiser Bridge (Stage 5)

Launch of Fleet
Battle Inserts


Monday 15th February 1982

Same as above


Tuesday 16th February 1982

Jabba’s Dungeon Corridor & Cell (Stage 7)

Chewie’s Walk of Shame
Chewie caged
Han & Chewie reunited


Wednesday 17th February 1982

Jabba’s Dungeon & Boiler Room (Stage 7)

The droids are taken to get their duties


Thursday 18th February 1982

Death Star Docking Bay (Stage 6)

Arrival of Vader
Vader Leaves
Luke & Vader arrive


Friday 19th February 1982

Death Star Docking Bay (Stage 6)

Arrival of the Emperor



Monday 22nd February 1982

Death Star Docking Bay & Corridor(Stage 6)

Vader and Emperor Talk
Vader/Jejerrod Face Off
Luke Drags Vader


Tuesday 23rd February 1982

Death Star Docking Bay (Stage 6)

Exit Vader, Enter Anakin


Wednesday 24th February 1982

Same as above


Thursday 25th February 1982

Emperors Throne Room (Stage 4)

Emperor’s prophecy
Vader seeks permission to leave


Friday 26th February 1982

Emperors Throne Room (Stage 4)

Luke meets the Emperor
Emperor Taunts Luke
The Fight Begins



Monday 1st March – Friday 5th March 1982

Emperors Throne Room (Stage 4)

The Duel
The Emperor’s End


Monday 8th March 1982

Yoda’s Hut (Stage 1)

Death of Yoda 
Truth revealed


Tuesday 9th March 1982

Same as above


Wednesday 10th March 1982

Dagobah Swamp (Stage1)

Kenobi explains
Luke Leaves


Thursday 11th March 1982

Dagobah Swamp (Stage 1)

Kenobi Explains
End Plate Shot of Kenobi & Yoda



Friday 12th March 1982

Rancor Pit & Holding Tunnel (Stage 7)

Luke in the pit scambling
The way is blocked
Gammy takes a fall
Rancor Keeper Grieves


Monday 15th March 1982

As above


Tuesday 16th March 1982

As above


Wednesday 17th March 1982

Luke v Rancor Blue Screen (Stage 7)


Thursday 18th March 1982

Same as above


Friday 19th March 1982

Endor Landing Platform (Stage 2)

Luke Surrenders
Father & Son 


Monday 22nd March 1982

Same as above


Tuesday 23rd March 1982

Endor Bunker Interior (Stage 1)

Rebels Enter
‘You Rebel Scum’
Imperials Deceived and Beaten


Wednesday 24th March 1982

Same as above


Thursday 25th March 1982

Death Star Control Room (Stage 9)

Vader Shuttle Approaches
Fire When Ready


Friday 26th March 1982

Millenium Falcon Cockpit (Stage 9)

Leaving the Fleet
Entering Hyperspace
It’s a Trap
Battle Over Endor
Into the Death Star
Escape from the Flame
Relief





Monday 29th March 1982

Same as above


Tuesday 30th March 1982

Interior Shuttle Cockpit (Stage 9)

Vader Approaches 
Leaving the Fleet
Approach to Endor
Luke Escapes the Death Star


Wednesday 31st March 1982

Same as above


Thursday 1st April 1982

Rebel Cruiser Docking Bay (Stage 6)

‘Not a scratch’


CAST & CREW WRAP PARTY



UK STUDIO WRAP



YUMA SHOOT


Monday 12th April 1982

Sail Barge & Skiff arrives at Sarlaac
Luke walks Plank


Tuesday 13th April 1982

Main Sail Barge


Wednesday 14th April 1982

Main Sail Barge



Thursday 15th April 1982

Luke from Skiff to Barge


Friday 16th April 1982

Luke on Barge


Saturday 17th April 1982

Boba Fett Falls
Lando Falls



Monday 19th April 1982

Close Ups on Luke
Luke Somersaults


Thursday 22nd April 1982

Han dangles for Lando


Friday 23rd April 1982

R2-D2 fires lightsaber


YUMA SHOOT WRAPS (2nd Unit stay on for 3 day 'pick-ups')


REDWOODS SHOOT



Monday 26th April 1982

Bikers Lunch


Tuesday 27th April 1982

Shuttle Landing site
Bikers Crash


Wednesday 28th April 1982

Leia Crash


Thursday 29th April 1982

Leia Crash site


Friday 29th April 1982

Exterior Bunker (AT-ST)


Saturday May 1st 1982

Creeping through woods
Carried on Poles & Throne


Monday 3rd May 1982

Exterior Bunker


Tuesday 4th May 1982

Ewok Net gag



Wednesday 5th May 1982

Battle for the Bunker


Thursday 6th May 1982

Battle for the Bunker


Friday 7th May 1982

Battle continues
Leia gets shot


Saturday 8th May 1982

Same as above


REDWOOD MAIN UNIT WRAP  (2nd Unit stay on for Ewok only 'pick ups')


ILM BLUESCREEN SHOOT

Monday 10th May 1982

Skiff Shots
  

Tuesday 11th May 1982

Speeder Bike Chase


Wednesday 12th May 1982

Same as above


Thursday 13th May 1982

Same as above



Friday 14th May 1982

Same as above


Monday 17th May 1982

Bikers Chase Ewoks


Tuesday 18th May 1982

Same as above


Wednesday 19th May 1982

AT-ST Cockpit Shots
  

Thursday 20th May 1982

Ewoks Flying


 RETURN OF THE JEDI PRINCIPLE PHOTOGRAPHY WRAPS