John Rozum.com

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 24

2013-05-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Return of the Jedi even managed to find its way into the bathroom with a series of figural shampoo, bubble bath and lotion containers, and a series of toothbrushes.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 23

2013-05-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Thirty years ago, today, the cover story on Time magazine was about George Lucas and Return of the Jedi. Aside from being the first time I saw that jaw dropping picture of Lucas surrounded by all of the miniatures, maquettes, and props from ROTJ, it's most important tidbits did not involve the new movie, but hints about what to expect in the eventual prequel trilogy and sequel trilogy. Reading through this article again now, there isn't much you can glean from it this far afterwards, but that same paragraph pertaining to the six movies beyond the original trilogy remains intriguing now that the prequels have come and gone, and the sequels are apparently going to happen with the original cast now at the actual ages that Lucas envisioned their characters being.

That photo of Lucas surrounded by all of those props is still really cool, too.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 22

2013-05-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Among the various Return of the Jedi stationery and school supplies were a selection of pencils and figural erasers.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 21

2013-05-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

Among the various products spawned by Return of the Jedi, was a line of model kits produced by MPC. MPC had been producing popular Star Wars model kits since the first movie, and reissued a number of them with new ROTJ tie-in art on the boxes. The models came in basic snap-together forms which required no glue, and the traditional, and slightly more complicated, glue together variety.

Except for the X-Wing Fighter, I owned all of these kits. C-3PO, I recall being the one that was most difficult to build because there were rubber bands to be manipulated, so that the limbs could move, that had to be held in place while gluing his torso together, and I felt like I needed extra arms to pull this off.

My favorites were the Shuttle Tydirium with it's fording wings, R2-D2, the speeder bike, and the B-wing with it's rotating cockpit and folding wings. Most of mine bit the dust when a shelf broke landing on top of them, then causing that shelf to fall to the floor finishing off what was left.

Many of the images came from Fantastic Plastic and My Comic Shop.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 20

2013-05-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

The speeder bike chase was one of the most exciting scenes in Return of the Jedi. After seeing it, what kid wouldn't want their own speeder bike to tear around the neighborhood on?

For some lucky kids that fantasy became a reality, sort of. As a 1983 promotional sweepstakes, Kenner created a contest/in store display in order to sell more of their Star Wars action figure line. Approximately 200-300 of these speeder bikes were made for Kenner by Huffy and displayed in stores, where lucky kids could win them. These were not for sale, and now fetch some high prices.

If you didn't win one of the bikes, you still had a shot of having one of your very own to ride back and forth in your back yard. This speeder bike was a speeder bike shaped swing that had the benefit of actually being up off the ground where it seemed to float through the air if you were an imaginative kid. You'd have to be a superbly imaginative kid to envision the mounted tower playhouse above the swing as the AT-ST scout walker it's meant to be. Maybe it's easier to do sitting on the inside of it. In any case this is still pretty cool.

There is a modern ride on pedal bike manufactured by an Australian toy company called ToyMonster. I'm not sure what Star Wars movie they were working from, but adding a couple of tiny flaps next to the front wheel, an Imperial style logo to the wheel and the Star Wars logo to the seat does not make this thinly disguised Big Wheel/Green Machine a speeder bike. It's probably safer, and faster than the Huffy version, but it's nowhere near as cool.

Kids and adults still have a chance to ride a speeder bike by visiting the Disney Studios theme park in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This one doesn't move at all, but looks a lot like the movie version, and has a backdrop of the Endor forest with enemy Imperial biker scout. It makes for a great photo opportunity and can be found across from the fantastically upgraded Star Tours attraction.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 19

2013-05-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

Topps, the candy and trading card company, released a batch of candy heads in conjunction with the release of Return of the Jedi.

There were six heads (of which I have five, showing the popularity of the ewok, Wicket, who was sold out when I purchased the other heads). There were some obvious character choices, such as Darth Vader, two different ewoks, and Jabba the Hutt. Admiral Ackbar also seems like a fairly obvious candidate, but Sy Snootles? Why her over a Gammorian Guard, or the heavily marketed Klaatu, or even R2-D2 or one of the Imperial Guards?

The candy was obtained by opening a hatch on the bottom.

The candy itself, which was flavored and textured along the line of Sweet-Tarts, was molded in the shape of two different style of ewok, Jabba, Darth Vader, C-3PO, and R2-D2, but not Sy Snootles or Admiral Ackbar.

There had previously been a larger series of candy heads marketed for The Empire Strikes Back. These heads also had necks with The Empire Strikes Back logo embossed on them. The necks could be turned to align two holes through which the candy was dispensed, which was not in the shape of any Star Wars characters.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 18

2013-05-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

With it's own flyer announcing Revenge of the Jedi products to come, Kenner began to get kids excited for the next movie's worth of action figures, vehicles, and playsets. Sadly, No Return of the Jedi related items made it into the Micro Collection, which is a shame, since it was a cool line (though a bit pricey compared to the other toys, which probably led to its demise) and Jabba's Palce and Sail Barge would have served perfectly for this line of toys.

What was being made could soon be seen in the first of two booklets which shipped with their vehicles and playsets. The first booklet had the same cover front and back, and was filled with about half older product and half Return of the Jedi product. One comical snaffu is the blackbox substituting for censored photos of the ewok plush toy line, because the visual appearance of the ewoks were still top secret, yet they are clearly shown on the adjoining page with the Ewok Village playset, as well as on the first page of individual action figures.

Note that there are already two Klaatu action figures

The bulk of the second booklet were Return of the Jedi specific toys. In a telling difference between the nature of the toy business thirty years ago and today, Kenner was still pushing it's entire line of individual action figures implying that they were all still available (which to my memory they were), versus today where waves of action figures come and go over a few short weeks, with some missing some stores altogether, so that if you miss them now, ebay is your only hope.

The line would continue for a couple more years before dying off, and the toys made after the ones shown in these catalogues are the scarcest of the vintage Star Wars toy line. This makes sense, since coincidence would have it that this was the same time I went off to college, and even if I had the money to spend, was too self conscious to go buying toys that I'd have sitting around my dorm room, so my original collection also ends at this time with those now scarce figures still absent to this day.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 17

2013-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's an article on Carrie Fisher that came out shortly after Return of the Jedi opened.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 16

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

When Return of the Jedi appeared in movie theaters for the first time, there was no way of knowing just how iconic the above costume would become over the next thirty years. It's almost mandatory that there be at least one woman wearing this costume at every comic book and science fiction convention nowadays.

But, lest we forget, Carrie Fisher wore a number of outfits as Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, and she was fetching in all of them.

Rebel command uniform

Rebel command uniform with camouflage poncho

Ewok village outfit (though I'm mystified about why the ewoks had a handmade dress in her size available. I'll assume she did her own hair. )

Bounty hunter disguise - sans helmet

And the there's this one...

Does anyone have any idea of the story behind the above photo? This is not Yuma, Arizona, but an actual beach somewhere, and was clearly not related to the photography seen below.

If you want to make your own wearable Slave Leia outfit check out Leia's Metal Bikini which is home base for all the Leia cosplayers out there.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 15

2013-05-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a look at the Return of the Jedi - The Play-For-Power Card-Games from Parker Brothers.

The deck contains four of the above cards

The deck contains two of the 1 card, two of the 2 card, two of the 3 card, two of the 4 card, two of the 5 card, two of the 6 card, two of the 7 card, and one 8 card of the above subset of cards.

The deck contains one of the "trap" card, four of the 1 card, four of the 2 card, three of the 2 1/2 card, four of the 3 card, four of the 4 card five of the 5 card, four of the 6 card, four of the 7 card, and four of the 8 card.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 14

2013-05-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

In 1983, Pepperidge Farm introduced the tastiest of the Return of the Jedi merchandise tie-ins, Star Wars Cookies. They came in Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Vanilla varieties, and while they were truly delicious, they didn't seem to exist for long.

As you can see from the boxes above, and the tooling for the molds below, the cookies were molded in fairly detailed likenesses of many of the characters with their names legible on the cookies as well.

The cookies also contained an offer for plastic tumblers. These cups were a tad bigger than a Dixie papercup made of the same fragile plastic that the old 7-11 Slurpy cups were made of. The cups also differed in appearance from those on the coupon (see below). I was only ever able to obtain the first cup, which is the green one with Wicket and the droids, due to the cookies vanishing from the store shelves before I was able to obtain enough required ingredient panels. I do, still have a couple of the intact boxes -- minus the cookies. Even though they mention 4 tumblers, there was apparently a fifth.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 13

2013-05-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

This post takes a look at the two big beasts in Return of the Jedi, both of which are located on Tatooine. First up is the Rancor, a carnivorous beast from the planet Dathomir that averages between 16 and 32 feet in height. The one that Jabba the Hutt keeps as a pet in a dungeon beneath his audience chamber leans towards the shorter end of that range.

Described as being something of a cross between a gorilla and a potato, or a bear and a potato, the rancor was originally going to be portrayed in the film by an actor wearing a monster suit.

Test footage was shot using a roughly constructed suit in order to work out movement requirements and film speeds in order to make the rancor seem to be much larger than it actually is.

A finished suit was completed, and while it looks really cool, was not convincing enough in filmed footage to serve the film's high quality special effects, so the suit approach was scrapped.

A much more scaled down version of the rancor was constructed as a sophisticated rod puppet, which was shot on miniature sets and edited into live action footage of Mark Hamill and the actor playing the Gamorrean guard. A full size rancor arm was also constructed for the live action scenes.

While filming the live action, a life size cutout of the Rancor was placed on set for reference for both the actors and the special effects personnel who would operate the puppet.

The rancor was cared for by three staff members shown above, including the human, Malakili who provided the memorable moment, sobbing for his slain pet.

The rancor would find itself incorporated into toy form numerous times over the years, including this large scale action figure (above) from the original action figure line.

More recently, the rancor has appeared in numerous sizes and forms as shown above.

The second big beast was the Sarlacc found in the Great Pit of Carkoon.

The sarlacc originally appeared as what was essentially a giant ant lion, or if you want to be more cynical about it a giant vaginal maw in the sand.

CGI tinkering for the 1997 "special edition." added a mobile squid-like beak as well as more tentacles.

This version may have been more animated (take the pun as you will) but, to me, gave the sarlacc a much unneeded comical personality. It also seemed to give its victims a quicker more merciful death than the "new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years." that Jabba promises. The original ant lion/pitcher plant design lent more credibility to this fate.

Of course, if you think about it, such a slow digestive system combined with such a large organism existing in an environment where there isn't going to be a lot of foot traffic to ensure a steady supply of clumsy banthas and jawas to keep its nutritional needs met, is just plain silly. It's even more ridiculous when you consider the actual enormity of the entire sarlacc hidden beneath the sand. How enormous? Just look...

The sarlacc actually made its way into toy form a few times, believe it or not. First up was a Parker Brothers game which came out with the movie. It looks really cool, but as someone who owns it, let me just tell you I don't think I ever finished playing a single game. I remember it being complicated and actually pretty boring. I may have to pull it out again some day and give it another shot.

There was actually an action transfer kit as well. For those of you too young to know what one of these is, it was basically a foldout illustrated cardboard background on which you could position various characters that were like stickers, only you used a wooden stick like a sharpened, leadless pencil to rub the image from a transfer sheet onto the background. They were not reusable, and were a lot like an iron on transfer -- which you also probably are unfamiliar with. This is what us old people had for fun in the days before computers and the xbox.

There was also a more recent action figure set that included various characters, one of the desert skiffs, and the sarlacc that was made so that you could use it either in its original rubber prop look, or in its CGI form.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 12

2013-05-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

I've always liked the Star Wars drinking glasses released for each movie through Burger King. The glasses for Return of the Jedi were no exception, except in one regard. I lived in Massachusetts, so when the glasses were issued, we were the only state that received ours as plastic rather than glass. Apparently this was out of safety concerns. The designs on the plastic versions were the same as on the glass, but seemed lacking because of the nature of their make-up. I have a full set in plastic, but yet to pick them up in actual glass.

There were four designs:

Luke Skywalker, also featuring the Emperor, his minions, and Darth Vader.

Han with Luke, Jabba's Sail Barge and the Sarlacc.

Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia and the Max Rebo Band.

The ewoks with C-3PO and R2-D2.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 11

2013-05-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

The Battle of Carkoon was one of the showpieces of Return of the Jedi and included a number of interesting looking creatures to battle the heroes over the pit containing the deadly Sarlacc. The groups can be broken down into three locations; those on skiff one, those on skiff two and those on the sail barge. While Jabba's palace featured a vast range of alien types, the Battle of Carkoon primarily featured three types of aliens as well as humans.

Skiff one contains the prisoners, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo, a diguised Lando Calrissian, and the guards.

Vedain: A Red Nikto from the planet Kintan, Vedain is the pilot of the skiff and the guard knocked over the side with Lando Calrissian.

Unidentified Weequay : There are a number of Weequay guards featured in the battle. The species hails from the planet Sriluur. This one is the skiff master.

Velken Tezeri: Human skiff guard. He was the first to fall into the sarlacc.

Kithaba: A Klatooinian from Klatooine. He'sd the first guard to be knocked off the skiff by Luke, but manages to evade the sarlacc's tentacles until near the end of the battle.

Weequay skiff guard

Skiff two. Front to back: Sgt. Doallyn, Nikto guard, Pote Snitkin, Gailid, Barada, unknown mercenary pilot, Yotts Oren.

Sergeant Doallyn: A hydron-three breathing Geran from the planet Geran. He is first seen being thrown down the stairs by Chewbacca when the wookiee is led in as a "prisoner" of the disguised Leia.

Unnamed Red Nikto skiff guard.

Pote Snitkin: A Skrilling from Agworld - 2079. Pilot of skiff two.

Gailid: Human. Killed by Luke Skywalker.

Barada: Klatooinian from Klatooine.

Unknown mercenary pilot.

Yotts Oren: Green Nikto from Kintan

Here are the bulk of the guards from Jabba's Sail Barge...

Unnamed human guard and Klaatu, a Green Nikto guard.

Unnamed human guard.

Taym Dren-garen: Human guard. He's the one who shoots Luke in the hand.

Unnamed Weequay guard.

Another unnamed Weequay guard.

Nysad: A Red Nikto guard.

Vizam: A Red Nikto guard.

Klaatu: A Green Nikto guard.

Wooof: A Green Nikto guard.

Below are production masks for some of the above characters. Before I get to them, I want to say that the above names are from the now official canon sprung out of the expanded universe when background extras needed to be given names for role playing games and action figures rather than simply being called "green alien hitman." These names grew out of what the crew called the various characters in costume for scheduling and continuity. They also now have extensive biographies, which are often ridiculous, and which I've chosen to ignore.

I understand the reasoning behind doing this, but often times it makes matters confusing, and is often illogical. Lucasfilm's own notes on the the four primary non-human skiff guards are provided below the photos of their masks.

Nikto: A humanoid species with flat faces and multiple nostrils.

Klaatu: A reptilian, a variant strain of the Nikto known as fierce fighters and having cold obsidian-black eyes.

Barada: A native of Klatooine.

Weequay: Inspired by the Queequeg character in Moby Dick, and was referred to as Queequay by the ILM crew.

These seem to have been meant as species names, which is doubly confusing because Klaatu is now the name of an individual instead of a type, or species, and also because in spite of what it says, the Nikto and Klaatu do not look at all like they are divergent from one another as related species from the same planet, so calling then Red Nikto and Green Nikto makes little sense. You will notice that in other entries regarding merchandise, I've gone back to using their more generic names. Klaatu is any alien of that species and so on.

Also, it should be pointed out for those of you who don't know, that Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto were the three word instructions for deactivating the robot, Gort in the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 10

2013-05-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's part 2 of a look at Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings for Return of the Jedi.

In addition to scenes and locations familiar from the finished movie, McQuarrie also created numerous paintings for locations that were either ultimately unused, or used in later movies.

The above is a prairie-type environment that was a possible location for Jabba's palace.

At one point the Emperor's throne room was going to be housed on a lava planet, as shown above with Darth Vader bring Luke Skywalker before the Emperor.

Above is a view of the Imperial Palace on the capital planet which was entirely covered by an enormous city. This planet would eventually become Coruscant via the expanded universe material and would debut in the retooled ending of Return of the Jedi for it's theatrical rerelease in 1997, before becoming a central location in the prequel trilogy.

Above are three views of Monument Plaza on what would later become Coruscant. The Rock shown in the first and third views is apparently the top tip of a mountain, and the only natural feature to be seen on the planet in it's current state. This was to show just how tall the surrounding buildings had become.

This Friday at the Bottleneck Gallery

2013-05-09T14:08:00.002-04:00

The "I Love You Man" show opens at the Bottleneck Gallery tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. The show runs May 10 - May 26, benefits the World Wildlife Fund, and will feature a lot of great artwork.

I have two 3-D cut paper pieces in the show featuring "Calvin and Hobbes," which you can see below.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 9

2013-05-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

Ralph McQuarrie, who died a little over a year ago, really defined what the Star Wars movies would look like through his preproduction art. Not only did he bring to life many of the characters, vehicles, and exotic locations for the Star Wars films, but his paintings also conveyed the mood, energy and excitement that would later be transferred to the screen. Not only was he a master conceptualizer and artist, but he was a master storyteller as well.

Today and tomorrow you can look through many of the paintings that McQuarrie created for Return of the Jedi, firing the imaginations of the set designers, special effects artists, costumers, and production crew who would translate his concepts into the various elements that make up a film.

Many of these paintings were gathered together and sold as reproductions in a portfolio released in conjunction with the movie. Below are various views, environments and scenes within and without Jabba's Palace, including the battle over the Great Pit of Carkoon.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 8

2013-05-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

Return of the Jedi also allowed licensee, Don Post Studios to usher in a new bunch of full over the head latex masks to tie in with the movie. They advertised the masks in a variety of ads.

When you ordered one of their masks it came in a box like this one. I actually still have my Weequay mask, complete with the box. The boxes were pretty high quality, but the pricing was a bit high for most kids.

Don Post Gamorrean Guard mask

Don Post Admiral Ackbar mask

Don Post Wicket mask

Don Post Klaatu mask

For kids without the budget for a Don Post mask, there were still plenty of affordable Return of the Jedi costumes to choose from at Halloween thanks to Ben Cooper.

Above are the elements of the Ben Cooper Gamorrean Guard costume, which when worn together enabled a child to somewhat convincingly masquerade as one of Jabba's trusty guards like the child below.

There were other characters to choose from, such as Wicket the ewok...

Admiral Ackbar...

Darth Vader...

and the omnipresent Klaatu...

Kids could continue the role playing fun with this book of punch out masks from Random House, which surprisingly did not include Klaatu.

Here's a couple of masks that you can print and cut out. More print and cut Star Wars masks can be found here.

Ray Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 - May 7, 2013)

2013-05-07T23:57:00.001-04:00

He was a special effects giant, and and inspiration to so many, myself included. His movies, and the creatures that starred in them, enriched my childhood, and continue to enrich my adult life.

A few years back I wrote a post about Ray Harryhausen and his work for my (now much neglected) companion blog for kids. In that post I discussed the two lessons that Ray's movies taught me.

"The first thing I learned is that if you are going to tell stories using non-existent creatures in them, it's incredibly important to make them seem real. You need to convince the reader that these are living, breathing creatures with their own personalities and behaviors, that live in their own habitats and behave in a manner that suggests that they are interacting with their world in a believable way. Ray learned this from another stop-motion animator named Willis O'Brien who was responsible for the special effects in the original (and best) "King Kong" (1933). In "King Kong" there is a famous scene in which Kong fights an allosaurus. O'Brien could have just had the two creatures grapple with each other and still impressed people, but he went an extra step. Not only does Kong use wrestling and boxing moves to fight the dinosaur, but my favorite detail is the way the allosaurus swishes its tail back and forth when it's getting ready to pounce. O'Brien made his stop-motion puppets characters and actors, something Ray Harryhausen did as well. My favorite detail of Ray Harryhausen's is in "20 Million Miles to Earth" (1957). It's a scene where someone turns on a light and disturbs the baby alien Ymir, who blinks and starts rubbing his eyes at the brightness of the light. This detail makes the Ymir seem even more like a living creature reacting with its environment.

The second thing I learned from Ray Harryhausen is that your work and your play don't have to be two different things. As a writer, or any kind of artist, your workday never really ends. Even if you are not actively writing, or drawing, or playing music, you are thinking about it, generating ideas, and reading, watching and encountering things that might inspire your next big idea. I write about the things that I enjoy when I'm not working, and enjoy the sorts of things I write about when I am."

You can read the entire post here.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 7

2013-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

One of the more interesting licensing lines were the ceramic figures and figural mugs put out by Sigma. The figures, quaintly charming looking at them now, were rather detailed for their time. Each stood about 5-6 inches, and, except for Chewbacca, included all of the main characters as well as some of the more visually interesting supporting characters.

Darth Vader and the Emperor

R2-D2 and C-3PO

Han Solo

Lando Calrissian

Leia in her bounty hunter disguise

Luke Skywalker

Wicket

The bulk of the characters chosen for this collection came from the Jabba's palace portion of the movie. The Jabba the Hutt figure was actually made as a bank, and the Max Rebo Band is a music box which plays the Baroque music heard in Jabba's Palace and not the "Lapti Nek" song played by the band in the original edit of the movie.

Jabba the Hutt

Bib Fortuna

Boba Fett

Gamorrean Guard

Klaatu

The Max Rebo Band

There was also an Ewok music box which was clearly based on the Ewoks animated tv series and not on Return of the Jedi, but it came in a Return of the Jedi box.

While being passed over as a figure, Chewbacca did find himself rendered as one of Sigma's ceramic figural mugs. This line had some obvious choices such as Yoda, Wicket and Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker in an X-Wing helmet, Leia with her cinnamon bun hairstyle, and Han wearing his Hoth outfit from The Empire Strikes Back, which as far as I can tell were all originals for the Return of the Jedi line and not carry overs from a previous line of Star Wars mugs, so it's puzzling why these rebel characters were rendered in previous movie incarnations, unless you consider that the crudeness of the likenesses made it easier to recognize them for who they are with these outfits and hairstyles.

Imperial Biker Scout mug

C-3PO mug

Leia mug

Luke Skywalker mug

Darth Vader mug

Lando Calrissian in Skiff Guard disguise mug

Gamorrean Guard mug

Klaatu mug

Wicket mug

Yoda mug

Notice how obscure alien character, Klaatu was rendered both as a figure and a figural mug.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 6

2013-05-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

Back when Return of the Jedi was first released, Jabba's in house band, the Max Rebo Band was an energetic trio whose big hit was a workout song sung in Huttese called "Lapti Nek."

With the 1997 "special edition" rerelease, Max Rebo was no longer a focus of attention as the band gained nine new members in addition to the original trio. "Lapti Nek" was gone replaced by a new song that dated just as quickly. Return of the Jedi's analog to the cantina band of the first movie was much more colorful and diverse in its membership.

Max Rebo: Ortolan from the cold, mineral rich planet of Orto. Plays the red ball organ.

Droopy McCool: Kitonik from the planet Kirfo III. Plays a chidinkalu horn.

Ak-rev: Weequay from the planet Sriluur. Drummer.

Umpass-stay: Latooinian from the agricultural planet Shawti. Drummer.

Doda Bodonawieedo: Rodian from Rodia. Plays the slitherhorn.

Barquin D'an: Bith from the planet Clak'dor VII. Plays the kloo horn.

Rappertunie: Shawda Ubb from the planet Manpha. Plays the Growdie Harmonique, bi-tuminal wind cuspers, and the pit horn.

Joh Yowza: Yuzzum from Endor. Singer.

Sy Snootles: Pa'lowick from the planet Lowick. Singer.

Originally, Sy Snootles was a puppet with tusks, but for the 1997 special edition she was replaced with a CG character without tusks.

Greeata Jendowanian: Rodian from Rodia. Backup singer and dancer.

Lyn Me: Twi'lek from the planet Ryloth. Backup singer and dancer.

Rystáll Sant: Theelin/Human from the planet New Bomalex. Backup singer and dancer.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 5

2013-05-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Picking up where we left off yesterday, here are more of the thugs, mercenaries, henchmen, bounty hunters, guards, droids, and entertainers to be found in Jabba's Palace.

Yoxgit, an ugnaught

Worrt and its prey

Wortt's prey

Gamorrean guard

Tanus Spijek, an elom

Lando Calrissian in skiff guard disguise

Lando's costume

Salacious Crumb, a Kowakian monkey-lizard

J'Quille, a whiphid

Two Nikto guards, a human guard, Dengar, another human guard, C-3PO, Fozec, Jabba, Salacious Crumb, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, a Gamorrean guard, Boba Fett, Lando Calrissian, Bib Fortuna, a human guard.

Ephant Mon and Salacious Crumb

An Ishi Tib

Yarna d'al' Gargan

8D8

Two images of a B'Omarr monk

Hermi Odle

Saelt Marae and Ree Yees

A nikto guard, Boba Fett, Bib Fortuna and C-3PO beneath Wol Cabasshite, a ghoel

Oola

Ardon Crell, Boba Fett, and Nysad, a nikto guard. (Note that the frame is flopped here, and in the movie, with Boba Fett's targeting rangefinder appearing on the wrong side of his helmet)

Bossk, a Trandoshan bounty hunter who appeared in The Empire Strikes Back

Crowd of thugs surrounding Lando and Leia

Leia disguised as Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter. Behind her is Melina Carniss and a Mosep

Hermi Odle, Amanaman, two human guards, Wooof, Boba Fett, and Tessek

Fozec

Leslomy Tacema, a Duros

Sic-Six

Loje Nella

Tomorrow will focus on the Max Rebo Band

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - part 4

2013-05-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

The scenes in Jabba's palace are Return of the Jedi's cantina scene, filled with all manner of alien creatures, and unlike the cantina, droids are allowed. Here's a look at some of the creatures who hang out in Jabba's palace and environs.

Tessek, a Quarren

Jabba's major domo, Bib Fortuna, a Twi'lek

Beedo, a Rodian with a Jawa

Aaaghaah, a Yuzzum

A Rock Wart

Ephant Mon, a Chevin, along with a H'nemthe, and an Aqualish

Cane Adiss

Saelt Marae, a Yarkora

Garon Nas Tal, a Saurin

Yarna d'al' Gargan, an Askajian

Tanus Spijek, Shasa Teil, Wooof, Geezum, Klaatu, a Nysad

Amanaman, an Amanin

Arica, a human

J'Quille, a Whiphid

Harc Seff, an Ishi Tibb

Bane Malar

EV-9D9

Beedo, Saelt Marae, a Gamorrean Guard, Ree Yees, J'Quille, a Mosep, Melina Carniss, a Jawa, and Bubo

Hermi Odle, a Baraguin

Ree Yees, a Gran with C-3PO

Geezum, a Snivvian

Oola, a Twi'lek

Bubo

A Gamorrean guard, Tanus Spijek, Tessek, another Gamorrean guard, and Bossk

Wortt (the label claims its "Rock Wart" which is another creature shown near the beginning of this post)

Loje Nella

Shasa Teil, an Ishi Tib

BG - J38

Attark, an Hoover

Leia disguised as Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter

Two Gamorrean guards, Yarna d'al' Gargan, Tessek, Beedo, Luke Skywalker, Tanus Spijek, Shasa Teil, and Wooof

Tomorrow will continue looking at the denizens of Jabba's Palace.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 3

2013-05-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

I've written about Jabba the Hutt previously, but never really in the context of Return of the Jedi and since he is such a large component in this movie, I thought I should revisit him.

As most everyone knows, Jabba's cinematic adventures began as a human actor in the first Star Wars movie who was meant to be replaced by a stop motion creature. this footage was never completed -- until it was revisited and altered for the Star Wars Special Edition in the 1990s so that Jabba became a CGI version of the slug-like creature we were familiar with from Return of the Jedi. Above is a storyboard frame depicting the actor portraying Jabba along with a superimposed creature version of him that would appear in the finished film. Despite being a bipedal creature, Jabba surprisingly doesn't look all that different from how he finally ended up looking in Return of the Jedi. Note also the lemur-like creature next to him, which corresponds with Jabba's pet/court jester, Salacious Crumb in Return of the Jedi. George Lucas was fond of lemurs and kept trying to work into the Star Wars movies an alien species that was based on them. This would finally happen in the Clone Wars television series.

Given how close the image of Jabba in the above storyboard would represent his final, approved look for Return of the Jedi, it's surprising that that storyboard image was not the starting point for Jabba's design, work that would be tackled by artists Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Nilo Rodis-Jamero, and Phil Tippett who worked from George Lucas's instruction that Jabba have a sluglike body.

Nilo Rodis-Jamero thought of Jabba as being like a queen bee who is physically helpless, but is waited on and cared for, while exerting tremendous power over those in her hive. Jabba began to achieve his final look when Joe Johnston took Ralph McQuarrie's saggy fleshed heads and gave them a more cunning and sinister expression as shown below.

Stop motion animator took the drawings and sculpted a number of small maquettes including this one.

The schematic above shows how the enormous full size puppet of Jabba would be operated by a crew of puppeteers stashed within, without, and beneath Jabba's massive body.

Above are the operators (minus the little person who worked the tail) who provided Jabba with a wonderful, nuanced performance which must have required quite a bit of coordination on their part.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 2

2013-05-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

Before becoming Return of the Jedi, the third Star Wars film was announced as being titled Revenge of the Jedi. This title, and logo was printed on licensee announcements and movie posters, including the Star Wars rerelease poster shown above.

More famously it appeared on the posters above, one without the release date and one with. As most people knows these posters rocketed in value. I sold two copies of the dateless poster, mistakenly thinking that I still had a third, and though the hundreds of dollars I received were a welcome sum in my college years, I'd still rather have one of the posters. I do still have the Star Wars rerelease with the "Revenge" stripe in the corner.

Why the name change? Someone pointed out that by their nature a Jedi would not seek revenge, and so the title was changed to the softer, if more appropriate Return of the Jedi. "Revenge" would finally become part of the title of the third prequel film, essentially Return of the Jedi's counterpart, Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Even before Revenge of the Jedi, the third Star Wars movie was being filmed under an entirely false alternate title: Blue Harvest. The reason for this was twofold. During the making of The Empire Strikes Back, services would raise their prices to benefit from what was assumed a large budget for a big movie. By filming under a pseudonymous title, the production was able to dodge these artificially inflated costs.

The other reason was so that they could film Return of the Jedi without being overrun by vast crowds of Star Wars fans. The production of a movie no one ever heard of would generate little interest. A logo, and catch phrase for this supposed horror movie, starring the same actors as the Star Wars movies, was made and affixed to crew shirts and hats, equipment, stationery, and packages.

Was the ruse a success? Visitors to the scenes of Jabba's sail barge being filmed in the Yuma desert quickly caught on to what was really being filmed, but the crowds were minimal and non-intrusive. Of course the hot, remote, desert location could have helped on its own.

I have one of the Blue Harvest t-shirts packed away.