NOT QUITE THE WARM REUNION WE WERE HOPING FOR...!

Harrison Ford, wearing his best COWBOYS & ALIENS promotional hat, was on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show in the US last night and had a fun comedy sequence where he's re-united with his old Wookiee buddy, Chewbacca. Alas, the iconic expected meeting does not go as expected- "I'm done with that STAR WARS crap!"- in this fun skit directed by Jon Favreau.

Watch out, Daniel Craig, you're Ford's "Wookiee Bitch" now!

Here's the ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY link: Harrison Ford fights with Chewbacca on Jimmy Kimmel | Inside TV | EW.com

Jimmy Kimmel, Chewbacca and Harrison say "Cheese!" Image: Randy Holmes/ABC TV.

CLASSIC IMAGE: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOOKIEE?

Peter Mayhew in his iconic Stuart Freeborn created Chewbacca costume poses for a side angle publicity/costume reference image from 1982 for his final Classic Trilogy STAR WARS appearance in EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.

AFICIONADO POLL 7: "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON THREE

Ahsoka Tano's pairing with the mighty Chewbacca in THE CLONE WARS episode WOOKIEE HUNT was surely one of the best decisions ever made by the LUCASFILM ANIMATION production team and undoubtedly a main highlight of the Third Season, too. But what did you think of that whole year of animated storytelling in general?

Why not spare a minute of your time and tell us, by taking part in our current AFICIONADO poll, here:
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON THREE?

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.

AFICIONADO REVIEW: "WOOKIEE HUNT"

Please note: This blog contains a very mild spoiler...

I don't normally post advance reviews of CLONE WARS episodes (especially as US fans don't see the two part finale until April 1st), but I saw WOOKIEE HUNT yesterday and I'm happy to report that its an absolute winner which STAR WARS fans will love from beginning to end, and a real highlight of this season. Dave Filoni does a terrific job with this episodes direction, with its shades of PLANET OF THE APES, JURASSIC PARK and PREDATOR, and Chewbacca's introduction into the tale is cleverly handled. The much-loved iconic character, thoroughly immersed into the story (whch Expanded Universe fans will really get a kick out of), gets to show all of his best characteristics and works well with his new colleagues-in-arms. And boy is he a beast of action this time! As shown in the online documentary, the animators, alongside Peter Mayhew, have really done a fine job re-creating the character, and kudos to the sound design for resurrecting all the great Chewie barks and subtle language noises, too. My only complaint is that the episode, already tight and exciting, was too short. Another two or three minutes would have been even better-lets hope the eventual Blu-ray and DVD season release of this episode has extra material.

With a last ten minutes where fans of all ages will be cheering at the screen a lot, WOOKIEE HUNT brings Season Three of THE CLONE WARS, after a mixed start, to a very successful and very satisfying close.

Episode rating: a worthy 5 out of 5

With thanks to SKY MOVIES HD.

"WOOKIEE HUNT" - BEHIND THE SCENES

In anticipation of next weeks exciting Season Finale of THE CLONE WARS: "Wookiee Hunt", featuring the return of Chewbacca, SKY MOVIES HD, showing the episode in a world exclusive this weekend, have kindly sent me a couple of great behind the scenes pics relating to it- one of the Chewbacca CGI animation maquette reference, and the other of original Wookiee costume encumbent Peter Mayhew with Series Supervising Director Dave Filoni, joining forces in bringing Chewie to life in the animated medium.

CLASSIC CHEWBACCA: WOOKIEE WORLD!

I found this scan online a while back of a pre-production drawing of the Wookiee civilisation on Kashyyyk (love the mountain climbing Wookiee in the bottom right corner!), but I'm not sure who did the art or whether it was done in post production in 1978 for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (when there were early plans to have the Wookiees involved), THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL, or, much later, in 2002-4, for EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH.

If anyone out there can help with any info, please get in touch.

CLASSIC CHEWBACCA: THE BOWCASTER.

Continuing our celebration of our favourite Wookiee's return to the STAR WARS saga with THE CLONE WARS, here's a great behind the scenes reference image of the Bowcaster, the distinctive crossbow/laser weapon hybrid which Chewbacca has but ultimately doesn't use in the first STAR WARS, though he soon proves an excellent shot with it in a very cool moment from RETURN OF THE JEDI, when he skillfully takes down an accelerating Speeder Bike pilot within the forests of Endor.

I'm not sure if the Bowcaster was a specially made prop for the films or an adapted weapon from a British armourers (I'm assuming the latter), so if anyone has any more info on it, please get in touch...

CLASSIC CHEWBACCA: THE RUSS MANNING ADVENTURES

In the UK, STAR WARS fans get to see the new two-part Chewbacca/Ahsoka CLONE WARS episodes on SKY MOVIES HD a few weeks prior to their US cousins, so, in celebration, this week I'll be putting up a few more blogs linked to our favourite Wookiee species, and their number one son.

First up, here's a few scans of a classic 1979 Russ Manning Los Angeles Times Syndicate Wookiee related strip: THE DEPTHS OF KAZHYYK. I loved Manning's colourful tales set just after the first STAR WARS (I wish LUCAS BOOKS could have collected all of them in their original state and put them up as a glossy set of hardcover books rather than the DARK HORSE comic compilations of the nineties)- look out for the use of Ralph McQuarrie's Wookiee tree dwellings from THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL, and, long before the CLONE WARS, and like early MARVEL SW comics, see the Stormtroopers without helmets: as individual soldiers rather than Clones. Let's hope that some of the Kashyyyk environments and creatures seen here make it into the animated series...

Check out our archive on another classic 1979/80 STAR WARS Russ Manning adventure, THE FROZEN WORLD OF OTA, guest starrring Boba Fett, below: http://www.starwarsaficionado.com/theforzenworldofota.html

THE WINNING WOOKIEE!

Love that exclusive cover. Well done, INSIDER!

CLASSIC IMAGE: WOOKIEE LEGEND!

To celebrate the welcome return of Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca in THE CLONE WARS two part Season Three finale, here's a great pic you don't see much of these days of the legendary 200 year old Wookiee from the original STAR WARS, from the characters first filmed scene at Docking Bay 94.

STAR WARS: BEHIND THE SCENES FILMING NOTES FROM "THE ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA SHOW" 27th/28th NOVEMBER 2010

Compiled by Ian Trussler and Scott Weller

It’s that time of the year again, and here’s some more rare STAR WARS behind the scenes info gathered from the event (previously known as COLLECTORMANIA) for you to enjoy:

Vivienne Chandler (X-wing fighter pilot (pictured above): EPISODE VI): Spent 3 days working on ROTJ. She only filmed scenes in the cockpit set, which she thought looked a bit cardboard, against bluescreen, and had at least a page and a bit of scripted dialogue. All the days she filmed she was with just one other actor, a male pilot, whom sadly she cannot remember the name of. She doesn't recall any other women filming as Rebel pilots. She enjoyed her time on the film and also stated that she attended a screening of the movie that did contain her scenes and was philosophical about their subsequent deletion. This was her first ever convention/signing and she found it fascinating and awesome.

Trevor Butterfield (Bossk, other roles – EPISODE VI): He spent 38 days working on ROTJ, much of which was spent as Bossk within Jabba’s Palace and within the Sail Barge interior sets. He was wearing the same Bossk costume as Alan Harris had previously worn on EMPIRE, he was lucky that it fit him. The well known photo of Boba Fett and Bossk from Jabba’s palace was not a posed publicity shot but was an actual scene he recalls filming. He also believes that in that photo/scene it may well be Alan Harris wearing the Boba Fett costume as he remembers Harris did some stuff as Fett on JEDI. Sadly, most of his Bossk footage was cut from the movie. Also on JEDI he played an Endor Rebel soldier in the Falcon cockpit scenes with Lando and Nien Numb, another Rebel during the Ewok Celebration and was also a Klaatu guard who escorts Luke from the Rancor pit. He previously had worked on EMPIRE for 3 weeks playing Stormtroopers and Imperials.

Matt Doran (Elan Sleazebaggano- EPISODE II): The very pleasant Matt recalled that he worked on AOTC for only one day. He got the job as he was originally in the casting process for various voice-over work on the film (though he was not involved in any of the auditions for Anakin Skywalker (later played by Hayden Christensen)), but then ended up being involved in the live action where he and several other selectees were slotted into certain parts of the film. Matt was lucky enough to have one of the classic scenes early on in the movie, and recalled enjoying working with Ewan McGregor.

Paul Weston (various stunt aliens – ROTJ): A long experienced stuntman and co-ordinator with credits as far ranging as TV's SPACE: 1999 and the JAMES BOND films, Weston worked on JEDI for about 4 weeks, filming only in Yuma location. He was contracted via Peter Diamond to shoot the whole movie in ELSTREE and Crescent City locations but broke his leg in Yuma doing the stunt where Lando and the Nikto guard fight and fall off the skiff. Prior to the accident, he played a variety of Jabba's alien henchmen for the Sail Barge scenes. The actual stunt he broke his leg on was performed with Billy Dee Williams stunt double. After the accident LUCASFILM honoured his contract despite his inability to work and he enjoyed a holiday in the Beverley Hills hotel after leaving Yuma.

John Coppinger (various aliens in EPISODE I, part of the Jabba the Hutt operating team for EPISODE VI): For EPISODE I he was working as part of Nick Dudman’s creature workshop re-creating aliens for the Mos Espa scenes. He was approached to play the part of the Wookiee Senator in the Senate scenes because he was the tallest of the crew. For the scene he wore a vintage archive Chewbacca suit that was modified with white hair and had a rebuilt face mask as it was in a fairly poor state of repair. He spent a day on the blue screen senate pod set being filmed by second unit, so George Lucas was not present. He was filmed in three separate segments so the composite shot could be created, so he actually appears as all 3 Wookiees in that scene. For JEDI he was hired by Stuart Freeborn who he knew from working on the SUPERMAN movies. Freeborn particularly liked the fact that John had previously worked at the Natural History Museum, recreating dinosaur skeletons. He was principally the clay sculptor for the Jabba puppet and went on to operate the remote control eyes as part of the team who bought Jabba to life.

Ahmed Best signs for the fans. Image: Ian Trussler.

Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks – EPISODEs I – III, THE CLONE WARS): The actor revealed that he will be in more Season Three CLONE WARS episodes upcoming, and has recently finished recording duties for Season Four, too. It was fans negative reaction towards the previous voice over work from another actor portraying Jar Jar (who didn’t want to do any more episodes for the character after his original commission expired anyway) that saw LUCASFILM cave in to pressure and bring Ahmed back – they realized that the character didn’t work without his unique voice skills. When making EPISODE I back in 1997, Ahmed had no idea how much a distinguished and popular actor Brian Blessed, playing Boss Nass, was, continually referring to him as “the Bird Guy” from the FLASH GORDON film that he had always enjoyed as a kid! He confirmed that there were other Jar Jar related scenes from EPISODE II that had been filmed but cut, but only one extra scene with him was filmed but deleted from EPISODE III, where he says “hello” to Anakin and Palpatine at the Senate Building as they are conferring about lies concerning Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme.

Gary Kurtz (Producer - STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK): Gary revealed that he has not been involved at all on anything to do with the upcoming STAR WARS films on Blu-ray, though on the extras front, as far as he is aware, apart from the deleted scenes, the additional material will pretty much be all the documentaries and supplemental features found on previous releases in other formats.

CLASSIC IMAGE: TAKING A BREATHER!

One of the EPISODE III behind the scenes crew assists Tarfful the noble and fierce Wookiee leader, played by Australian star Michael Kingma, in a filming break on an ILM green screen stage somewhere between 2003 and 2005 in the US. Much of the footage for the Wookiee battle, albeit seen far too briefly in the finished movie, would be directed by respected animation supervisor Rob Coleman.

CLASSIC IMAGE: CORUSCANT- A CITY WORLD OF WONDER!

One of the great things that the STAR WARS Prequels did so well, and what continues to make them stand out and be so pioneering in comparison to so many other modern sci-fi films and TV programmes out there, is the incredible worlds of wonder that George Lucas and his team of artists and digital/model makers would think up and create over the space of three movies. And especially so for EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH - from the volcanic and dangerous Mustafa to the lush, tropical Wookiee world of Kashyyyk, and to here, in this picture, the incredible and beautiful capital and Senate District of the sadly corrupt Republic, and the later birth place of its Imperial Empire- Coruscant- as seen in this terrific ILM image - a true testament to the films amazingly talented artists and model makers.

We look forward to seeing these incredible vistas once again on both the small screen (with pristine quality Blu-rays next year) and, even better, the big screen, and in 3D, in the hopefully not too distant future...

CLASSIC IMAGE: SNOW RAGE!

Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) braves the outside sub-zero temperatures of the icy planet Hoth and barks out his dissent to the nearby Imperial Probe Droid, for a scene filmed by Irvin Kershner and his EMPIRE first unit crew on location at Finse, Norway in March 1979.

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: LOVE STORY!

I think Carrie Fisher's always had a thing for big hairy guys, even if they are Wookiees!, as this hilarious 1979 out-take picture shot for EMPIRE publicity at ELSTREE clearly proves.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.