Rare Photos That Show The Behind-The-Scenes Of The Original Star Wars Trilogy

Stormtroopers Unmasked

Stormtroopers, like Darth Vader, the Death Star, and all of the other classic Star Wars features, are undeniably iconic. Despite their reputation for not being able to aim, they nonetheless have a frightening presence. Their helmet designs were supposed to imitate skulls, and they were originally created to seem “terrifying, but also incredibly sleek, super clean.” Stormtroopers will always be the originals, despite the fact that a variety of “troopers” have appeared since then.

Stormtroopers Unmasked

George Lucas And Ewoks

There’s no disputing that the Ewoks are a contentious part of Star Wars folklore. This is owing to their remarkable likeness to teddy bears, in part. Return of the Jedi director George Lucas needed a tribe of primitive beings to help him take down the Empire, so he used the fuzzy animals. Originally, Luke, Han, and Leia were supposed to be aided by a race of Wookiees, but this proved to be too costly.

George Lucas And Ewoks

Making The Jawa Set

The charming yet mysterious Jawas are one of the first unusual characters we meet in Star Wars: A New Hope. The Jawas, who sound somewhat like Despicable Me’s Minions, are in charge of capturing R2-D2 and C-3PO before selling them to Luke Skywalker. The Jawas’ transporter, like many other structures in the original trilogy, was a small model with only half of the bottom being converted into a full-sized set. The Chief Jawa was performed by Kenny Baker’s comedic buddy, Jack Purvis.

Making The Jawa Set

Carrie Fisher And Warwick Davis

Warwick Davis is one of the youngest actors to have a big role in Star Wars. Davis got the role of Wicket E. Warrick, the Ewok Leia encounters on the forest moon of Endor, when he was barely 11 years old. Kenny Baker, the voice of R2-D2, was reportedly supposed to play the main Ewok in the film but had to cancel due to food poisoning. Davis’ personality drew George Lucas’ attention, and he opted to cast him as Wicket instead.

Carrie Fisher And Warwick Davis

Jabba The Hutt’s Creation

Jabba the Hutt has been mentioned in Star Wars: A New Hope and fans have questioned if they will ever see him in person. In Return of the Jedi, George Lucas and Richard Marquand were adamant about bringing the evil criminal to the big screen. Jabba the Hutt was brought to life by Lucas’s trusty team of puppeteers, and due to the alien’s size, three people had to control the puppet at any given moment. One was in charge of the head, while the other two were in charge of the arms.

Jabba The Hutt’s Creation

The Iconic Scene

The Empire Strikes Back’s game-changing twist has to be the most essential scene in the entire Star Wars franchise. It drastically transformed how viewers viewed the original Star Wars film and ended the tale on an enormous cliffhanger as Return of the Jedi approached. George Lucas managed to keep the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke’s father a secret from the whole cast and crew. He barely told Mark Hamill about this detail a few minutes before they shot the classic sequence.

The Iconic Scene

Carrie Fisher And Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were the heart and soul of the Star Wars film franchise for a long time. When it was revealed that Princess Leia was, in fact, Luke’s sister, it introduced a whole new element to the duo’s dynamic and caused viewers to rethink the original trilogy entirely. Not to mention the fact that, in retrospect, their kiss from The Empire Strikes Back was exceedingly awkward due to the reveal of them being siblings!

Carrie Fisher And Mark Hamill

The Falcon’s Cockpit

The Millenium Falcon is, in many ways, a character in its own right. It is arguably the most iconic starship in the history of sci-fi fantasy. George Lucas wanted the heroes to travel in a “flying saucer,” but he decided to build a cockpit on the side to make it a little more interesting. The crew built a set large enough to fit all of the principal characters inside the cockpit for scenes shot there. It was filmed from the cockpit’s front, peering in.

The Falcon’s Cockpit

Carrie Fisher Sleeping On Set

While filming the Hoth scenes in The Empire Strikes Back, Carrie Fisher takes a well-deserved nap on a snowmobile. Filming took place at Norway’s Hardangerjkulen glacier, and it goes without saying that weather circumstances had a considerable impact on the production’s development. Cast and crew members are said to have experienced the worst winter storm the area has seen in half a century. Temperatures were so low on one occasion that the crew couldn’t leave the hotel.

Carrie Fisher Sleeping On Set

Lightsaber Training

Lightsaber battles are a huge aspect of the Star Wars mythology, and they’ve developed through the years. The first combat was between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it is undoubtedly the rawest and most fundamental of them all. Sir Alec Guinness and David Prowse spent several weeks training together and mastering the fundamentals of Kendo sword fighting. The sequels attempted to restore to the original trilogy’s Kendo foundations, while the prequels focused on more complicated duels.

Lightsaber Training

Behind Boba Fett’s Mask

Boba Fett has to be one of the coolest-looking characters in the entire Star Wars universe. The bounty hunter first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and while the character’s backstory has expanded since then, Jeremy Bulloch was the first actor to play him. Despite Boba Fett’s untimely death in Return of the Jedi, the new Disney+ series The Mandalorian stars a new bounty hunter with a similar clothing design.

Behind Boba Fett’s Mask

Carrie Fisher Preparing For Her Role

Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fisher, defied the stereotype that the princess is the one who requires a man to save her. She was assisting Han and Luke in escaping the Death Star by the time they arrived in A New Hope. With each film, there seemed to be a growing demand for Fisher to play a more physically active role in the action. By the time Return of the Jedi rolled around, Leia had already been through some tough chase scenes and battles with stormtroopers.

Carrie Fisher Preparing For Her Role

Frank Oz Playing Yoda

Stuart Freeborn, who created Yoda’s appearance, was inspired by his own face and added wrinkles that he compared to Albert Einstein’s. Frank Oz was able to puppet Yoda because the set of Dagobah was erected five feet above the earth.

Frank Oz Playing Yoda

Kenny Baker And His Costume

R2-D2, everyone’s beloved droid, is one of the first characters to emerge in A New Hope. Kenny Baker, who died in 2006, was inside a two-legged variant of the traditional model. Other models, on the other hand, were operated remotely and moved on wheels by the production team. While Kenny Baker will always be associated with this iconic character, Ben Burtt’s sound effects for R2-D2 were created utilizing an ARP 2600 analog synthesizer.

Kenny Baker And His Costume

Riding The Tauntaun

The Tauntaun, which first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, is one of the many beautiful animals that are unique to the Star Wars world. Stop-motion animation and puppetry were used by Lucasfilm to create the horse-like creature. While this rare photo depicts the original trio posing with the “beast,” only Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were actually present for the iconic scene from the 1980 film’s premiere.

Riding The Tauntaun

The Men Behind Darth Vader

It’s incredible to consider how many performers have taken on the role of Darth Vader. In the prequels, Jake Loyd and Hayden Christensen portrayed Anakin Skywalker. Bodybuilder David Prowse and English stage actor Sebastian Shaw were the real guys behind the mask in the first trilogy. Because Lucas didn’t think Prowse’s high-pitched voice would match Vader’s towering stature, he chose James Earl Jones to portray the character.

The Men Behind Darth Vader

C-3PO Having A Drink

C-3PO delivered the first line of the Star Wars film franchise. Since then, Anthony Daniels has played the protocol droid, and he is the only actor to have featured in every Star Wars film. Daniels only tested on the iconic costume a day before shooting A New Hope, and he’s had trouble wearing it ever since. Mark Hamill is seen in this photo attempting to assist Daniels in sipping a drink with a draw.

C 3PO Having A Drink

The Man Behind Chewie

After watching his own dog sit up straight in the passenger seat of his own car, George Lucas was inspired to develop the character of Chewbacca. Peter Mayhew was cast in the classic part of the loveable Wookiee because he knew he needed a tall actor to play him. The original Stuart Freeborn outfit was constructed of mohair and yak hair. In later films, Joonas Suotamo took over as Chewie, although Peter Mayhew will always be associated with the character.

The Man Behind Chewie

Mark Hamill With Yoda And The Muppets

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of The Muppets wound up on the set of The Empire Strikes Back, given that Frank Oz was already recognized for his role as Miss Piggy. During his time on the Dagobah set, Mark Hamill had the opportunity to hang out with not just Yoda, but also Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog! Naturally, Hamill went on to become a well-known voice performer.

Mark Hamill With Yoda And The Muppets

George Lucas With The Lead Actors

While Star Wars contains a lot of famous and cool-looking aspects, the saga would never have taken off if Han, Luke, and Leia hadn’t been there from the start. From the start, George Lucas recognized that their connection had to be exceptional if A New Hope was going to work. Han, Luke, and Leia are still considered as three of the most iconic heroes of all time, despite the passage of time.

George Lucas With The Lead Actors

Ian McDiarmid As Emperor Paltine

What would Star Wars be like if Emperor Palpatine didn’t exist? For Return of the Jedi, Ian McDiarmid was cast as the dark lord of the Sith. Despite the fact that McDiarmid was only in his late 30s at the time, makeup technicians were able to convert him into an ancient-looking, decaying evil. According to him, applying all of the makeup and prosthetics took at least four hours. The Dark Side has never appeared so ominous.

Ian McDiarmid As Emperor Paltine

Carrie Fisher And Chewie

Carrie Fisher had a distinct personality that made it tough for her co-stars to keep up with her at times. While there were numerous complications on the set of the original Star Wars trilogy, the principal cast had little difficulty working together. They treated each other like family long after they had finished working together. The cast members were able to have a lot of fun in between takes, as evidenced by this photo.

Carrie Fisher And Chewie

George Lucas And Anthony Daniels In Tatooine

Tatooine, the desert planet where Luke Skywalker was first revealed to the public, is where it all began. These classic scenes were shot in Tunisia at numerous locales and confronted George Lucas and his crew with a slew of issues right away. Despite a rare rainfall interrupting production, the crew was able to capture nearly everything they needed in just two and a half weeks. Since then, the Lars Homestead has been revisited by filmmakers in both prequels and sequels.

George Lucas And Anthony Daniels In Tatooine

The Wookie Family

Who among us hasn’t been smitten with Chewbacca, the lovable Wookie? His past and origins, on the other hand, were mostly ignored, leaving followers hungry for more knowledge. This charming family portrait provides us a rare look into one of Star Wars’ biggest heroes’ origins. On Kashyyk, Chewie’s family includes his father Attichitcuk, son Lumpawaroo, and wife Mallatobuck. Chewie came home and reunited with his family after the galaxy was finally freed from the empire’s control. What a lovely group of people!

The Wookie Family

The Legendary Title Sequence

The original trilogy’s rollup was constructed with physical models that were laid out on the floor, which looks weird in this age of computer-generated images. The crawl effect was accomplished by moving the camera along the model, which was two feet wide and six feet long. “Every little blemish shows up. Any little bump, any little movement of the camera is going to screw up this big 2,000-frame-long take. It’s fun, but pure torture,” said Ken Ralston, the visual effects supervisor for Return of the Jedi.

The Legendary Title Sequence

The Elephant Named Mardji

The ponderous bantha was initially presented in the original trilogy, but most spectators could be forgiven for thinking they were puppets or CGI. They were originally drawn as horse-like creatures, but they were subsequently scaled down to elephant-like proportions. The elephant’s hairy clothing was made of yak fur and palm fronds, and he wore a head mask and horns fashioned of ventilation tubes. Mardji, a female Asian elephant who didn’t seem to enjoy her part and tended to shrug off the suit due to the heat, was the star.

The Elephant Named Mardji

The Man Behind It All

Before commencing production on the epic space opera Star Wars, George Lucas was fresh off his unexpected success with American Graffiti. After failing to pitch his vision to studios, 20th Century Fox decided to take a chance on the brilliant director. The final draft, however, would take another five years to finish due to rewrites. The studio allocated Lucas a $7.5 million budget for the film, which grew to $11 million, but it was a calculated bet that paid off handsomely as it launched one of the most popular film franchises in history.

The Man Behind It All

The Difficulties Of Playing C-3PO

Actor Anthony Daniels notably struggled with the intricate C-3PO suit. He broke it on the first day of filming, shattering the left leg, which pierced him when he attempted to walk in it. He couldn’t even sit in it while the first film was being shot! Daniels had to put up with a lot of knocks and risks while filming nine flicks in what appears to be the world’s most uncomfortable costume. In Return of the Jedi, he experienced panic attacks and couldn’t even take a decent break between scenes since he couldn’t take off the suit, so he had to bend over to relax. Daniels is the only actor who has appeared in every Star Wars movie.

The Difficulties Of Playing C 3PO

R2-D2’s Personality

Kenny Baker was the driving force behind R2-D2, everyone’s favorite droid. Despite being covered from head to toe in the droid-suit throughout the flicks, he managed to give the character his distinct personality. Baker initially declined the job, telling Lucas, “I don’t want to be stuck in a robot. What for, for goodness’ sake?” Baker also revealed that he didn’t think the film would succeed. “We all thought, ‘What a load of rubbish. This is going to be a non-event,'” he said. “How wrong we were.” Sadly, Baker passed away in August 2016 at the age of 81.

R2-D2’s Personality

The Concept Art

The significance of Ralph McQuarrie in the production of Star Wars is frequently forgotten. After being intrigued by some of McQuarrie’s early work, George Lucas sought him out as an artist. Lucas asked him to sketch a couple of scenes from the script to bolster his pitch to the company. Lucas used McQuarrie’s sketches to help him create the vision that would become the epic story. “I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like, I really liked the idea. I didn’t think the film would ever get made,” McQuarrie revealed. “My impression was it was too expensive. There wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s just too complicated. But George knew a lot of things that I didn’t know.”

The Concept Art

An Unlikely Friendship

The cast of Star Wars has developed some strong bonds over the years. After working together for so long, it’s only natural that people gravitate towards each other. R2-D2’s creator Kenny Baker struck developed an odd friendship with Chewbacca’s Peter Mayhew. Mayhew eulogized Baker when he died in 2016 by saying, “Although people liked to contrast the difference in our heights, we found we shared many of the same struggles, from finding clothes, driving cars, and fitting in airplane seats to health issues and the ever constant stares of strangers; we understood each other on a level that few others can.”

An Unlikely Friendship

Goofing Around

Carrie Fisher was known on set for being the life of the party, as evidenced by these behind-the-scenes images. She was clearly a klutz, flirting with Chewbacca, teasing C-3PO, and speaking to Gamorrean guards. Her personality seemed to pervade the rest of the group, making the set appear to be one of the most entertaining locations on the planet. Peter Mayhew shared one of his favorite Carrie moments, recalling how she and his wife ambushed the cast with water pistols.

Goofing Around

Working Their Studio Magic

Many of the magnificent sceneries and sets in Star Wars had to be hand-painted, far beyond the comfort of modern CGI, which most people are unaware of. Many memorable scenes in the original trilogy were put in motion by complex matte paintings (fake sets constructed of plexiglass and oil paint) created by a small group of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) artists. As demonstrated in this set of Dagobah, it was often easier to make a set rather than travel to a remote site. Although it appears that the shots were taken in an Amazonian rainforest, they were actually shot in a London studio.

Working Their Studio Magic

Making The Throne Room

A New Hope’s last scene, in which our heroes collect their medals, is a great way to end a perfect film. While numerous scenes from the film were shot at the iconic Elstree Studios, George Lucas wanted the awards ceremony to be held somewhere larger. While they didn’t truly have hundreds of extras to fill the vast hall, they did maneuver a small group of extras about the frame to give the impression that it was full.

Making The Throne Room

The Tusken Raiders

The Tusken Raiders, also known as the Sand People in A New Hope, ambush Luke Skywalker while he and R2-D2 are looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi. They were going to be Imperial spies sent to Tatooine to find the hero, who was initially known as Deak Starkiller in the script. Of course, the Tusken Raiders return in Attack of the Clones, only for Anakin Skywalker to massacre an entire tribe of them.

The Tusken Raiders

Mark Hamill And A Fake Skull

It’s not by chance that this shot of Mark Hamill holding a skull reminds you of Hamlet. Shakesperean aspects abound in Star Wars, and this shot perfectly illustrates it. Luke uses it to slay the rancor after it was used on the set of Return of the Jedi’s Rancor’s Den. When Kylo Ren speaks to Darth Vader’s “skull” in The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams pays respect to this idea.

Mark Hamill And A Fake Skull

Table Reads

During the table-reads of the original movies, there was a lot more room for improvisation and squabbling back then. The screenplay wars continued throughout the original trilogy, with Harrison Ford reportedly telling George Lucas, “George, you can type this [stuff], but you can’t say it!” Naturally, Ford ended up improvising one of the franchise’s most iconic lines, answering Princess Leia’s “I love you” with just two words: “I know.”

Table Reads

The Cantina Scene

Almost every Star Wars film after A New Hope seems to have attempted to include a cantina-style sequence. This is due to the fact that admirers fell in love with the watering hole, which was filled with aliens and strange characters. Of course, this is where we meet Han Solo and Chewbacca for the first time. For the legendary scene, George Lucas was able to recruit a large number of extras to dress up in various costumes. Also, for that sequence, John Williams wrote possibly the most unusual music in the entire series.

The Cantina Scene

The Wampa Cave Set

While the Wampa cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back only lasts a few minutes in the final edit, a lot of work went into making it happen behind the scenes. Randy Thom, a sound effects artist, recorded elephant noises at the Oakland Zoo to create the Wampa’s scream. Actor Des Webb wore a big sheepskin costume and walked around on stilts at first, but his scenes were eventually cut and replaced with puppet work.

The Wampa Cave Set

Gag Reel

Most movies now include a gag reel or bloopers on the DVD or online. There’s an entire reel of shots from the film that didn’t make the final cut but were hilarious due to the actors’ gaffes. Surprisingly, these are hard to come by for A New Hope. The following photo, on the other hand, looks like a still version of a blooper, with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Peter Mayhew finding something extremely amusing.

Gag Reel

The Iconic Jump Scene

When you first see Luke courageously carrying Princess Leia from one side of a Death Star exit door to the other in A New Hope, it looks like they’re risking their lives over a bottomless pit, almost like Tarzan. Of course, for health and safety considerations, the “pit” was only a few feet deep in reality. This sequence is also amusing because Carrie Fisher’s kiss on Mark Hamil’s lips got the final cut!

The Iconic Jump Scene

George Lucas And Mark Hamill Together

Here’s a photo of George Lucas and Mark Hamill having a heart-to-heart. Lucas gave Hamill’s character the name “Luke” as a tribute to himself, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. In many ways, he recognized himself in Luke’s story. Lucas saw The Empire Strikes Back as a way of dealing with his own unsolved concerns around his connection with his own father by the time he began working on it.

George Lucas And Mark Hamill Together

John Williams Composing The Score

What would have happened to Star Wars if John Williams hadn’t produced the original score in 1977? The maestro, as he is known, is responsible for every iconic theme song from the space opera, including “The Imperial March,” “The Force Theme,” and “Yoda’s Theme.” Williams’ magnificent music is undoubtedly the most important piece that binds the entire saga together, and he just finished his final Star Wars score for The Rise of Skywalker.

John Williams Composing The Score

The great thing about Star Wars is that there are now tons of films in a huge Star Wars universe with several ideas, characters and parallel themes. This means Star Wars will be around for a very long time, and we sure are glad. The films that followed the original trilogy, the three prequels, have certainly created divisive thoughts among their fans. These behind the scenes pictures will completely change how you see these three films, perhaps even improving your opinion of them! Check it out…

Miniature Tatooine

Although the Pod-race segment on Tatooine received a lot of criticism for its bad timing and disruption of the flow, you have to admit that this miniature of the Mos Espa Grand Arena is rather amazing. Thousands upon thousands of colored Q-tips were used to create the crowds in the stands for broad shots of the audience. Fans beneath the “seats” would start blowing air to give the sense of movement while the cameras were rolling.

Miniature Tatooine

Bendy Prop Lightsabers

We’re sorry to burst your bubble, but high-tech laser swords do not exist in the real world (yet). Because the team couldn’t get their hands on some genuine Kyber crystals, they had to make do with props like this bending green lightsaber. Of course, the props aren’t as showy or spectacular as their in-universe counterparts, but given how often trained Force users lose limbs while wielding lightsabers, it’s probably for the best that the weapons don’t exist in our galaxy.

Bendy Prop Lightsabers

Mace Windu’s Lightsaber

Prior to the release of the prequels, most Star Wars fans assumed that there were only three lightsaber colors: green and blue for the Jedi, and red for the Sith. They’re entirely adjustable and come in a variety of colors, as it turns out. Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber was first shown in the prequels. Samuel L. Jackson requested that the hue be used since he prefers to have at least one purple prop on set. The prop Jackson is holding in this photo is actually blue, green, and red rather than a vivid violet, because the distinctive lightsaber glow was created in post-production.

Mace Windu’s Lightsaber

Anthony Daniels Returning As C-3PO

Threepio originally appears in the prequels as a half-finished droid constructed by Anakin Skywalker, with his trademark gold shell still missing. As a result, Daniels wasn’t exactly portraying the worried protocol droid. Instead, he just provided the voice for the unfortunate droid as he was grudgingly dragged into the first of many adventures. When Threepio is fully finished, with total fluency in seven million kinds of communication, Daniels will assume the gold suit once more for Episodes II and III.

Anthony Daniels Returning As C 3PO

Japanese Bunraku Puppetry

Star Wars is primarily influenced by Japanese jidaigeki, or historical dramas. Even the title “Jedi” is taken from it, and the attire in the galaxy far, far away plainly has Asian influences. However, aesthetic features aren’t the only areas of Asian art that have been inspired. Puppeteers had to manipulate C-3PO while Daniels voiced him because no one could hide under his suit during the filming of The Phantom Menace. Bunraku, a classic Japanese puppetry method that originated in Osaka in the 17th century, was the technique they employed. Threepio, his exposed wires, and his bulging photoreceptors were subsequently digitally removed from the final footage, leaving only Threepio, his exposed cables, and his bulging photoreceptors.

Japanese Bunraku Puppetry

Obi-Wan, Anakin, And Grievous’s MagnaGuards

When the MagnaGuard appear in the prequel films, they have a sinister demeanor. But… not so much behind the scenes. Grievous’ bodyguards are famed for defeating Jedi, thus Obi-Wan and Anakin find themselves fighting them. In actuality, stunt performers wore tight blue outfits to make the CGI utilized to create the droids easier to work with. Whatever you think of the prequels’ acting, credit to the cast for maintaining their composure in the face of such amusing adversaries.

Obi Wan, Anakin, And Grievous’s MagnaGuards

Spa Night With Emperor Palpatine

Palpatine tempts Anakin to the dark side by telling the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise, a Force master so powerful that he could avert death. Despite the evil side’s alleged immortality, it appears that they have yet to perfect the secret of endless youth. In reality, after revealing himself as a Sith, Palpatine’s physical appearance alters dramatically. Ian McDiarmid is being converted into post-Sith-reveal Palpatine, or Darth Sidious, in this behind-the-scenes photo. Palpatine is dressed in a fluffy white bathrobe, as if he’s anticipating a much-needed facial as he plots the demise of the Jedi.

Spa Night With Emperor Palpatine

Padme Lives On?

Padmé does not appear in the original trilogies, therefore Lucasfilm had her die in childbirth to explain her absence. What is the explanation for this? She simply loses her will to life after giving birth to twins and dies of a shattered heart. The weak explanation enraged fans, who were understandably disappointed. After all, it’s not the most appropriate conclusion for such a determined and clever guy. In between takes, Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor converse as Padmé sits on the delivery table, offering viewers a peek of what might have been.

Padme Lives On

Jake Lloyd Has Some Fun On Set

Both Ahmed Best (Jar-Jar) and Jake Lloyd (Anakin) were chastised for their roles in the prequels. Lloyd was a ten-year-old youngster when he shot The Phantom Menace, as evidenced by this photo of him goofing around on set with a Rodian. In the photo, he appears to be having a wonderful time on set, but he has subsequently abandoned the brand, trashing all of his Star Wars memorabilia.

Jake Lloyd Has Some Fun On Set

R2-D2 Needs Sun Protection

The umbrella in the photo is obviously protecting Kenny Baker from the merciless Tunisian heat, but the perspective of the shot gives the impression that R2-D2 is also getting some much-needed sun protection. Even though Artoo is just a futuristic trash can on wheels, it’s astonishing that he can roll across the sands of Tattooine with such ease (in the best way possible). When you add in the fact that he’s magically compatible with every computer in the galaxy, you have a picture that nearly humanizes him. Sure, he can open any door and even has rockets at one point, but he still needs a red and white umbrella to protect all that sensitive machinery.

R2 D2 Needs Sun Protection

Battle Droid Reading A Call Sheet

Many new droids were introduced in the prequel trilogy, including the Trade Federation’s B1 battle droids. These battle droids, like Stormtroopers, are famously easy to destroy, so the Federation had to rely on mass production to keep them effective. Scenes involving massive droid armies were mostly created in CGI, but practical objects were also constructed. The crew would also cause havoc with the life-size replicas. With the help of floor runner Nathan Holmes, a battle droid tries to decipher the call sheet.

Battle Droid Reading A Call Sheet

Sculpting The “Bad Kitty” Model

Each creature, including the nexu that appears in the Petranaki arena on Geonosis, required maquettes to be sculpted. The team had to scale everything down while maintaining a high level of detail due to the nexu’s and most of the other Star Wars species’ huge size. The nexu was given the nickname “Bad Kitty” by the animation team at Industrial Light & Magic during the process, a term that can also be seen on Obi-gunship Wan’s in The Clone Wars TV program.

Sculpting The Bad Kitty Model

Padmé At The Droid Factory

Padmé has a highly rich attire, complete with traditional cosmetics and intricate accessories, as do all of her royal Naboo forefathers. She does, however, dress in sleek, utilitarian costumes on missions, such as the one she went on with Anakin to save Obi-Wan. On Geonosis, the two discover a droid factory and are apprehended. However, it appears that the majority of the action was CG, including the winged alien guards who attack Padmé and Anakin. More stunt performers in blue suits appear, and Natalie Portman reacts as though it’s the scariest thing she’s ever seen.

Padmé At The Droid Factory

The Naboo Starfighter Was Full-Sized

On set, miniatures were employed to replicate enormous landscapes and prepare for complicated CGI, while life-sized starships were built to accommodate the actors when necessary. The full-sized props, set against a blue screen, can actually transfer the pilots anywhere— just look at how many memes there are of Obi-Wan chilling and dancing in his starfighter against every backdrop imaginable.

On the set of The Phantom Menace, an astromech droid sits in the back of a Naboo N-1 starfighter, ready to help the pilot. Naboo starfighters may conjure up terrible memories of young Anakin’s awful one-liners, so you’ll be relieved to learn that a gigantic prop of Obi-Delta-7 Wan’s Jedi Interceptor was also there.

The Naboo Starfighter Was Full Sized

The Naboo Royal Starship Wasn’t Full Sized

While some smaller starships were functional props that actors could interact with, bigger galactic spacecraft, such as the Naboo Royal Starship, were only partially built. Padmé uses it to flee the Trade Federation’s occupation of Naboo, and the crew lands it on Tatooine for repairs, which leads to Padmé and Anakin’s fateful meeting.

Instead than erecting a gigantic ship, the spacecraft is officially 76 meters long, or over 249 feet, therefore just the ramp was built on set in Tunisia. However, a full spacecraft would have been quite a sight— it lacks offensive weaponry, but its clean and streamlined design with a magnificent silver finish would have been epic in real life.

The Naboo Royal Starship Wasn’t Full Sized