Heilemann

I went through all of the original trilogy extras disc yesterday, and there is definitely some nice little gems on there. In particular, I liked that Colin Cantwell's models were displayed and talked about, albeit far too little (it is seemingly impossible to find out information about Cantwell himself). I always liked Lorne Peterson, and his stories were among my favorites, as were the shots of the matte paintings, w. close-ups. The only problem is that it was too scattered and too light on proper information. Now this from the guy who's specialized in the evolution of idea to screen in Star Wars, so maybe I'm just too eager for more info.

Also, I still don't care what anyone says, there is no way the Falcon redesign was inspired by a burger.

I popped in ANH for a few scenes, and it looked alright, although the color timing was as to be expected.

As for the changes; how anyone could approve the new rockwall R2 is hiding behind boggles the mind. It looks just plain BAD. And Obi-Wans Krayt call... Well, you know.

Another highlight by the way, was the Holiday Special cartoon. It IS actually quite awesome...

skyjedi2005 said:

I want the complete interviews of Kurtz, and Pollock and not the 3 minutes or so each of them got in the film while idiots who loved the prequels and morons in costumes got more time.

Amen.

I found it on an auction site.

SilverWook said:

Interesting how some of the buildings look like the ones in Cloud City.

I found this drawing in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe p26:

I don't remember having seen this McQuarrie drawing before (shown here at half size); anyone know when and where it's from? My best guess would be that it's for The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (which I don't have next to me), but I don't recall seeing this painting in there.

Here's the only storyboard I've ever seen of the Syd-Mead-esque Falcon redesign. In fact, it's the only other rendition of that cockpit I've seen aside from McQuarrie's production painting.

The resemblance is uncanny.

Love this by the way.

I've never seen any direct quotes from Lucas in which he said that the Falcon was based off of a burger. But I've seen the story perpetuated over and over again, as if he had (as with so many other half-truths and non-truths; sourcing claims is not something people are big on).

So let's take it from the top; Dale Pollock, in Skywalking page 210:

And who else [but Lucas] would refer to the *Falcon* as “a hamburger-shaped spaceship”?

 Doesn't indicate anything, except that the Falcon is somewhat hamburger-shaped. Says nothing about the design process. And then from the previous quote:

[...] whose redesign by Joe Johnston was purportedly inspired by Lucas’ idea of a hamburger in space.

Which could just as easily have come out of Johnston saying something along the lines of: "You know, George said just the other day, that the Falcon looked almost like a burger flying through space," and the writer not being careful enough with his choice of words, much like the 'Slave 1 was based on a streetlamp'-myth (untrue).

I don't disagree with that*, but that still doesn't explain why there is no visual development of the new Falcon design. You don't just build a $150.000 (1977 dollars) model without a plan. Hell, russians don't take a dump without a plan, how would you build a model spaceship?

* Currently wishing I could find out when the cockpit interior was built in relation to the final design/model

You're probably thinking of this quote from Cinefex #65, p80):

Among the largest of them was the *Millenium Falcon*—whose redesign by Joe Johnston was purportedly inspired by Lucas’ idea of a hamburger in space. “The original concept called for the *Falcon* to sail like a giant sunfish,” explained Lorne Peterson. “It would lift off on its horizontal axis, then rotate into a vertical configuration and fly opened on edge with the front mandibles pointed forward. We never actually shot it that way, though, because George decided he liked the look of it flying horizontally.

I have a pet theory that it was inspired by a John Berkey painting. But still, from that idea, to the final McQuarrie drawing? A huge hole...

As far as I can tell, there is no significant concept development of the Millenium Falcon between the intial blockade runner design and the subsequent 'real' Falcon. One moment it's the blockade runner, the next it's the falcon as we know it.

For a design departure that radical, you'd think there had been some sketches or mockups of some sort, right? The roughest, earliest drawings I've been able to find, are the thumbnails McQuarrie did for his revised Docking Bay 94 painting in A Gallery of Imagination, and clearly those were almost fully fledged designs!

So where did it come from? Am I just missing something obvious? (And no, it wasn't inspired by a burger.)

I'm guessing you don't have the rights to sell the book digitally yourself?

Excellent breakdown; just what I've been looking for. Thanks!

Here it is again in 'The Star Wars Album' from '77.

It said Webberg whereever I was reading about it; I swear!

Check out the Deathstar. See anything out of the ordinary? Must be a production painting or something; I don't have any of my books at my disposal, but I seem to remember seeing drawings or paintings of it with the superlaser on the axis before, but don't recall this particular one.

Can't wait to watch this. Are you providing a list of sources with it?

Any good, rare photos inside perhaps?

Does anyone have this?

That's Martin Ansin's poster.

none said:

Don't know specifically, but NYU's film school or the Film Anthology Archives come to mind.

http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/

http://filmtv.tisch.nyu.edu/page/home.html

 

The other option is contacting USC's archives and they might know other locations which have the films or if they might be shown outside the school.

I'll see if I can find the time to contact them and see what they say.

I find that tactless and distasteful sir. They would obviously be plaid:

msycamore said:

SilverWook said:

As for my avatar, it comes from the July 1975 issue of Analog Magazine. More than a few people think it heavily influenced the design of Chewbacca.

http://binarybonsai.com/2010/09/18/george-lucas-stole-chewbacca-but-its-okay/

I suspect I saw that cover at some point in the 70's, as it seems to have subliminally influenced a character I created back in college!

Thanks for enlightening me. :) Didn't know about that interesting story, great article. Zombie, your name is spelled wrong in there. ;)

Thank you for the kind words, I'm working on a stack of related material. I can't find where I would have spelled Zombies name wrong; if it's in there, please let me know, I'd hate to have it stay that way.

And just so I don't derail this thread; I wish there was something I could do to help with this project; but if nothing else, it's got my support. THX remains one of my favorite films, and even though I don't mind the retooled version so much (the image on the blu-ray is quite astonishing), it's about time it got the restoration treatment.

Is anyone in possession of Herbie, The Emperor or Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town? Or does anyone know if there is a library in New York which has them one file?

Thanks for posting it anyways.