CLASSIC IMAGE: A WORLD OF ARTOO'S!

Highly regarded UK Special Effects boss Brian Johnson has a little sit down with the wide variety of Artoo Detoo's constructed for studio floor filming use in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Also pictured inside one of the shells is that cheeky droid operator himself, Kenny Baker.

Check out a great interview by Brandon Alinger with Johnson on the making of the film, and other career greats including ALIEN, here: Interview With Brian Johnson, Special Effects Artist (Special to the OPB) : The Original Prop Blog – Jason DeBord's TV and Movie Prop Memorabilia Resource

CLASSIC IMAGE: FRIENDS LOST AND FOUND!

Searching the dark and smelly recesses of the Jawa Sandcrawler, littered with droids old and new in various working and non-working states, C-3PO is finally re-united with his loyal Astro Droid chum Artoo Detoo in a great moment from STAR WARS.

AFICIONADO STAR WARS MYSTERY: KENNY BAKER IN CHICAGO!

Sometime between 1977 and 1978, Kenny Baker, in his US public appearances for the lovable droid Artoo Detoo, took part in what would apparently become a controversial STAR WARS related OLYMPIA beer promotion in Chicago, without the prior knowledge of LUCASFILM, which had the slogan: "The best thing to come out of a can since R2-D2."

Does anyone out there have this advertising image, or more information about the advert in general? Apart from the ONCE UPON A GALAXY BOOK written by Alan Arnold from 1979, and J.W. Rinzler's recent MAKING OF EMPIRE book I'd never previously seen or heard about this.

If anyone can help, please get in touch.

CLASSIC IMAGE: DROID TESTING

Here's some fun late 1975 (?) screen grabs of behind the scenes footage, presumably shot at ELSTREE, of UK practical special effects co-ordinator John Stears (the Oscar winning technician behind the early James Bond movies, I might add!) and George Lucas testing the droids that will eventually be used for upcoming filming for the STAR WARS Jawa droid sale in Tunisia in March 1976 and then through various scenes at ELSTREE afterwards.

The footage also shows an early test for a silver Artoo Detoo (there's someone in it who looks like hes wearing some kind of protective nappy?!) - we're not sure if its Kenny Baker in Artoo or not during this screen test filming (credited to Gilbert Taylor, about to finish his director of photography work on Richard Donner's horror film THE OMEN). Not all of the droids that Stears and his team constructed for filming, many of which would be re-painted and re-dressed over five months, actually made it into the finished movie-it would be intriguing to see the stills or deleted footage of those lost droids...

A selection of John Stears droid creations on the Death Star hangar set during early Summer 1976 (note the left middle Treadwell used for the deleted Tunisia scene with Mark Hamill).