SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 10: "LUKE'S RESCUE"

It's an oldie but a goodie-first picture released by LUCASFILM in 2000. We really want to see the footage of the safety tethered Lando Calrissian's dramatic rescue of the injured Luke Skywalker, after he collapses onto the Falcon from the under vane of Cloud City. It may have been only partially completed at the time due to Mark Hamill's sprained thumb injury during EMPIRE's long and arduous filming at ELSTREE, but it'd be nice to one day see the blue screen background scene, possibly one day replaced with an exciting new ILM Bespin vista behind it, too, for an upcoming Blu-ray release...

SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 9: LOBOT'S DUTIES

In one of the Art Deco corridors within the Bespin Cloud City, Lando Calrissian's aide, Lobot, as played by the late John Hollis, awaits further instructions. As well as having his few lines of dialogue removed - a decision made by director Irvin Kershner to make the character more interesting on-screen, he also lost several other intriguing filmed scenes, including his monitoring of the repairs to the Millennium Falcon (a sequence seen at the time of release on several ESB cards and stickers), and his final moments, where he is captured by Stormtroopers for termination (a scene Hollis himself recalled filming in an interview with STAR WARS INSIDER some years back. Cut, he thought, because it might scare young children). This latter scene will be included on the upcoming Blu-ray.

SPECIAL EDITION CLASSIC IMAGE: CLOUD CITY LANDING

Another lovely ILM image to enjoy from the 1997 SPECIAL EDITION's, this time from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, expanding the locations and beauty of the universe that is the STAR WARS saga, and showing the Millennium Falcon confidently making its way towards one of Bespin's numerous outdoor landing platforms. Not enough was seen of Cloud City's exterior in the final quarter of EMPIRE and this moment/extension is one of several additions that opens things up a bit more.

Could a few more picturesque sequences like this be appearing on the upcoming Blu-ray disc/special features for the film?

LANDO'S RETURN?

A classic image of Billy Dee Williams as he films a deleted Cloud City scene against blue screen for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

So, is something coming up on the STAR WARS front for Billy Dee Williams, who played our favourite Cloud City administrator, Baron Lando Calrissian?

Regular AFICIONADO contributor Chris Baker sent me this intriguing info regarding his recent Phoenix Comic Con Q & A appearance:

A younger fan asked a Q of Billy -

"if he had ever made any or been offered any cameo's in the PT"

- Billy says "ahh, no"

They confer for a moment then his handler/assistant/manager further states that he has to look something up on the Internet but he would like to expand on (or add to) the answer for that fan's Q

A couple of Q's later (in his follow-up) the assistant states that "Sadly, we can't actually say anything because it's a confidentiality thing and it hasn't been announced yet .. But!, if you all keep your eyes on star wars .com you will get what I'm saying in about 30 days I'd imagine.”

Lando would only be in his teens with the onset of the Clone Wars, so might Billy be voicing the characters father in the animated series? Or even a new character? Interesting possibilities to think about. With the new Live Action TV series (when it happens) pretty much removed from the core characters of the six films, it's either THE CLONE WARS or perhaps Seth Green's new animated SW comedy series for LUCASFILM. Time will tell.

Regardless of who he plays, it's just nice to have another Classic Trilogy actor back in action within our favourite saga...

 

CLASSIC IMAGE: A SHOULDER TO MOAN ON!

The battle damaged golden shell of See-Threepio rests uncomfortably on Chewbacca's furry back-an unlikely duo unique to STAR WARS- as they race to the Bespin landing pad sheltering Boba Fett's about to depart Slave One craft, in this classic race against time moment of comedy and suspense from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.