Some quality & insightful info on building the Droids for the Original Trilogy…
An old friend sent me this very cool, insightful and informative link for background information on how some of the astro-droids were made for Star Wars (1977)…
I thought it may also be of some interest on here?
I: Designing R2-D2 - https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo/astromech-pages/designing-r2
Also of note, and very much worth a mention in here…
In the ‘The robotic R2’ section - https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo/astromech-pages/designing-r2#TOC-The-robotic-R2…
'In the end, fully robotic R2s were not possible, both in terms of budget and available time. Stears had to be satisfied with all-metal robots largely worn as costumes or occasionally puppeted externally. Only one robot was built with mechanization, and that radio-controlled R2 simply had driving motors in its outer feet, a steering mechanism in its middle foot, and a spring-loaded middle leg mechanism. It couldn’t turn its head or operate its arms.
It was Stears and his effects team who worked on the mechanisms of the RC R2, and the lights built into most of the droids. According to Stears in a 1978 Cinefantastique interview, his crew included “Dick Hewitt, electronics expert; Brian Warner, Bert Hamilton-Smith, Bob Nugent, all engineers; (and) Bennie Smith, electrician.”
Stears was quite upset that none of the people who worked on his end of the show were listed in the film’s credits, grumpily remarking that “the American crew credits included everybody including the teaboy, but my effects crew never got a mention.” Accordingly he placed a full-page ad in Screen International, a British industry magazine, thanking the people and companies who worked on the project. Note that this ad doesn’t just focus on the people who made R2-D2, but also people who worked on the landspeeder, the dewback mannequin, the light sabres, the non-R2 droids, and so on.’
^ The full page advert in the ‘Screen International’ trade paper that special effects director John Stears took out to thank and congratulate all the British-based effects people who went uncredited in the original Star Wars film (1977).
Another example of all those years that poor old George was forced to compromise his vision(s) by allowing award winning artists and technicians to collaborate on the original Star Wars Trilogy - including the two films he did not make / direct… 😉
I: Designing R2-D2
II: The Astro-droids of 1977
III: After Elstree: Pickups and Empire, 1977-1980
IIIa: Creating the Tatooine Desert
IV: Naming the Parts of a Droid
V: The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue
The Body
The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue Part A: the Dome
The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue Part B: the Body
The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue Part B: the Body
The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue Part C: Legs, Shoulders, and Feet
VI: R2-D2’s Arms and Tools
VII: Other Astro-droids
VIII: A Droidy Timeline
VIIII: References
Wheelie Bin Droid WB-5
X: The R2 Builders Club plans
and more on the Astro-Droid pages (with some superb behind the scenes photos):-
Other astromechs - https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo/astromech-pages/other-astromechs…
1 R5-D4
2 The R5-D4 Frankendroid
3 The R2-D2 Frankendroid
4 Background droids
4.1 Painted domes
• The Wheelie Bin Droid
• De Agostini/Fanhome “Build Your Own R2-D2” Kit Review
Also on the 3DSF site - https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo…
• Part I: The Miniatures
• Part II: the Sets
Part IIa: the Cockpit Sets
Part IIb: the Boarding Ramp Sets
Part IIc: the Docking Bay Sets
• Part III: the Lighting
• Part IV: Conclusion
• The Original Millennium Falcon
• The Five Foot Falcon’s Strange Cockpit
• The Mystery of the Five Foot Falcon’s Undersaucer Pits
• The Names of the Millennium Falcon
^ as well as some lovingly detailed information on the model kits of the Millennium Falcon available too.
This article, at the ‘Episode Nothing’ website, is also worth a thorough read through on the oft-overlooked work of John Stears:-
‘John Stears: the man who built R2-D2’:-
http://episodenothing.blogspot.com/2018/10/john-stears-man-who-built-r2-d2.html (the whole website is worth checking out too!)
As well as this insightful interview & article (info, sources, and a PDF for ‘A Look At Star Wars’), from CyberneticZoo, in 2011:-
https://cyberneticzoo.com/early-mobile-robots/1975-6-r2-d2-from-star-wars-john-stears-british
The 2019 Original Trilogy Film Crew & People Behind The Scenes: Profiles, Info & Links… OT•com thread may also be of interest.
‘The Lost Art of Star Wars’ article by doubleofive, on the Star Wars Visual Comparisons website, is also well worth a good read.
If any one else knows of any quality websites on the droids, their design, the making of, issues on-set etc, please post them up. 👍
The somewhat outdated The changes made to the Original Trilogy films down the years… OT•com thread has had the links to certain Star Wars websites in it updated - so that they are all now functional once more… via the Internet Archive’s Tardis ‘WayBack Machine’ 😃
Some of the longer-serving members on here may recall a few of the sites linked in it - ranging from the mid 1990’s to early/mid 2000’s. So definitely some retro rabbit-holes going on there.
And for the younger members here - that is indeed what the internet looked like back then…
(insert your own dial-up internet connection screeches here)
