ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: "ASTEROIDS!"

One of my favourite ILM effects composite images for the 1980 promotion of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, as a squad of TIE fighters gamely pursues their prey- the Millennium Falcon- through a densely packed asteroid field. These TIE pilots might be experienced and amongst the best in the Empire, but they haven't reckoned on the skills of the smuggling vessel's captain... a certain ex-Imperial pilot himself: Han Solo!

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: DEATH STAR PATROL

A patrol of TIE fighters tear across the equatorial channel of the fearsome Imperial Death Star battle station in this terrific piece of conceptual art by ILM's Joe Johnston from 1977, as seen in the STAR WARS SKETCH BOOK of the time.

Its a great image and you can just imagine Ben Burtt's brutal sound design for the craft as they race by...

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: GLAMOUROUS SPACE-FARER!

A lovely ILM composite image for ATTACK OF THE CLONES showing Senator Amidala's FLASH GORDON-esque silver chrome Naboo cruiser departing the city world of Coruscant.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: UNSTOPPABLE WALKER

An All-Terrain Armoured Transport vehicle certainly makes its tremendous presence felt as it begins its attack on the ground level forces of the Rebel Alliance, in a classic stop motion effects scene from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: TO FILM A T.I.E.!

In a small ex-garage in Van Nuys, California, sometime during late 1976/early 1977, where an unsuspecting world outside of it has virtually no idea that STAR WARS is on the way, ILM Visual Effects Technician/icon Richard Edlund makes an adjustment to a TIE fighter model prior to blue screen filming.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: EPISODE II BLU-RAY TASTER?

Click the pic to fully enjoy this great ultra high res image from ILM for EPISODE II, featuring Obi-Wan and the Kaminoans inspecting the early battalions of Clone Soldiers, which clearly shows the kind of picture quality improvements/difference we should get when the film makes it's debut on Blu-ray in September. Made on digital video from the outset, the Prequel should look even more incredible to look at than ever before and be the closest we'll ever get to seeing how it was meant to be watched from the outset...

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: THE KILLING BLOW!

As the re-emerged Anakin Skywalker saves his son from the Dark Force energy blasts of Emperor Palpatine, his former Master's energy bolts surround and bombard the once Dark Lord of the Sith servant-with one particular blast hitting a fateful spot, reaching into Vader's helmet and destroying a fragment of his brain...

Despite many STAR WARS fans thinking that the animated bolts hitting Vader's head and exo-skeleton were an addition put on during the SPECIAL EDITIONS re-vamps they were actually on the original 1983 version of RETURN OF THE JEDI all along, but subtly animated in quick as a flash moments- so as not to disturb younger audiences- which you have to pause your VCRs/DVDs to fully see (intriguingly the X-ray image shows a metal neck and shoulders making Vader even more cybernetic than would be seen in EPISODE III in 2005). The bolts were a last minute inclusion to the film asked of ILM's animators by George Lucas during the final stages of its 1983 post-production. A clever and original decision from the Saga's creator.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

For more on the making of JEDI, check out our special issue here: BACK ISSUE PDF CATALOG

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: IMPERIAL MATTE!

One of ILM's distinguished Matte artists during 1982/83 post-production of RETURN OF THE JEDI makes some last minute work to the Death Star docking bay long shot showing the now parked Imperial Shuttle escorting Darth Vader.

To find out more about ILM's incredible work on the movie, check out how to get hold of our special MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI PDF special issue here: BACK ISSUE PDF CATALOG

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: JOE JOHNSTON'S FALCON

Here's some intriguing Joe Johnson sketches from September 1978 of the Millennium Falcon interior, and showing where everything was in relation to one another, when the vessel was to be re-built in 1979 on the ELSTREE Studios sound stages in London for the upcoming THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

A very nice piece of design history...

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: BALANCE TO THE FORCE!

Here's a few great effects reference storyboards (presumably from Joe Johnston, though David Carson and Nilo Rodis-Jamero also worked in that area for the film), circa December 1982, that we weren't able to incorporate for space reasons in our MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI issue of a few years back, showing some of the previously filmed classic scenes of Luke's conflict against Darth Vader when he discovers the truth about his daughter and uses the knowledge against his son, plus the all-time classic emotional moment where Vader, back to the good side as Anakin Skywalker (of which we're all now cheering him on), throws the Emperor down the shaft (referred to in the boards as "The Pit of Death"!).

Classic material, and we look forward to seeing more storyboard goodies and incredibly rare and unseen pre and post production art of all kinds when J.W. Rinzler's MAKING OF book comes out in 2013.

Meanwhile, in the long two year wait for the official book, head over to our back issues area and find out how to get out pretty exhaustive, and reader acclaimed, MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI issue: BACK ISSUE PDF CATALOG

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: DEATH STAR DEATH POINTS!

An intriguing look at the uncompleted but prime weapon ready Death Star II, as built by ILM in 1982 for model filming use in the Classic Trilogy finale RETURN OF THE JEDI.

"You may fire when ready!"

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: MARIONETTE MASTER!

At ILM, Phil Tippett makes some Go-Motion filming adjustments whilst he and his crew film the brilliantly detailed miniature Luke on his Speeder Bike for the exhilarating Endor chase sequence for RETURN OF THE JEDI.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: Y-WING CLOSE-UP!

Here's a great scale reference photo from ILM for the iconic Y-wing fighter seen in Death Star trench running action from the original STAR WARS filming of 1976/77. Note the tremendous model kit detail on the craft. Love the little Astro droid companion!

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: IN THE LAND OF THE EWOK!

Here's a great ILM matte painting of a part of the Ewok village on Endor. Can anyone confirm if this was done for JEDI (as some magazines have said over the years-if so, a deleted scene?) or for a scene I don't recall in the Ewok TV movies? I think its probably the latter (perhaps CARAVAN OF COURAGE?), but if anyone can help please get in touch.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: GOING IN FOR THE KILL!

Above the Death Star planetoids surface, two deadly TIE fighters move speedily to intercept a Rebel X-wing fighter (possibly Luke's, from looking at the Fourth Draft script) in a lovely ILM 1976/77 storyboarded image by artist unknown (presumably Joe Johnston).

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: AN EMPIRE IN FLAMES!

Here's a great shot of a destroyed TIE fighter from the 1982/1983 model filming of the epic space battle for RETURN OF THE JEDI, supervised by ILM's Ken Ralston. I loved the shot so much I thought it might make a great cover for our MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI Anniversary special issue a few years back (its still available in PDF format in our main sites back issues area-our biggest ever issue as well!) - the TIE in flames signifying the death of the mighty Empire - resulting in a few cover ideas that were put up by myself and regular AFICIONADO contributor Chris Baker.

Here they are (and I do still like them!):

Ultimately, however, because the image was just too dark, I decided against it and went with another rare photo of Mark Hamill in prime Jedi action on the Sail Barge instead (from an image kindly provided by another AFICIONADO contributor, Ian Trussler). As a nice curiosity I thought readers might enjoy seeing the above unused images anyway.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: WALK LIKE AN AT-AT!

Two Imperial Walkers prepare to penetrate the Rebel ground defenses and destroy the enemy shield generator in this great stop motion image from 1979/1980-the Walker battle is still one of the greatest scenes in any film, let alone a STAR WARS one.

Check out this early EMPIRE trailer, too, to see the Walkers when, in early footage, they fired blue lasers instead of red: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH9z8se3Aho

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: CALAMARI BUDDIES!

ILM technician/creature shop maker Kirk Thatcher (later to be well known to STAR TREK fans as the punk rocker nerve pinched by Spock in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME) poses with some well-known friends at the US workshop in late 1981/early 1982 prior to the upcoming filming of REVENGE OF THE JEDI.

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: SPACE STORMTROOPER

At ILM, Joe Johnston suits up in one of the then surviving UK built Stormtrooper costumes (with extra air piping) for an additional insert scene for STAR WARS filmed in 1977, showing one of the soldiers out on the Death Star surface watching as the captured Millennium Falcon is tractor beamed into one of its Docking Bays. The scene would be supervised and directed by George Lucas and quickly added onto the model work.

One of the key creative people at ILM to have worked on the Original Trilogies design front since 1975, Johnston was a storyboard artist, model maker, matte painting assistant, actor (check out his cameo in the Hoth Base Rebel Crusier Bay in EMPIRE) and puppeteer. Since departing ILM (of which he had worked on other non STAR WARS projects including Indiana Jones), he would become an acclaimed director of such interesting, wide ranging genre fare as THE ROCKETEER, JUMANJI and JURASSIC PARK 3, as well as family friendly films like the enjoyable horse race adventure HIDALGO (with LORD OF THE RINGS Viggo Mortensen), and horror films like the under-appreciated HAMMER HORROR-esque THE WOLFMAN (starring Benecio del Toro, Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins), of which Johnston took over the directing reins at the last minute from someone else who had departed the difficult project. Now, expectations are high for his next major production, currently filming in Manchester, England: the big budget film adaptation of MARVEL COMICS ground breaking superhero CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, with Chris Evans in the title role, and a strong supporting cast that includes Hugo Weaving (as the villainous Red Skull), Hayley Atwell, Richard Armitage and Tommy Lee Jones. The insider buzz on CAPTAIN AMERICA, to be released next Summer, is very positive, and lets hope that it propels Johnston ever further as a top name director of high quality and exciting movies, having gained so much top experience from his time working at LUCASFILM...

Check out the MTV website feature on CAPTAIN AMERICA here: http://splashpage.mtv.com/tag/captain-america/

ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: A HELPING HAND!

Monster creator and all round effects genius Phil Tippett gives a little bit of support to the head of a cute, beautifully detailed, Tauntaun during stop-motion filming (or as they called their new variation: "Go-Motion") for the exterior Hoth scenes being recreated and filmed at ILM during EMPIRE's late 1979 Post Production phase .