Those of us old enough to have seen the original Star Wars film during it’s initial run have a fond memory to cherish. When the Flash Gordon-inspired, yellow text crawled its way up the screen, it began with, “It is a period of civil war,” and then continued on. There was no subtitle to the film since, we assume, no one really knew if it would be a hit or not. If you’ve seen the film since the 1980s, though, then you’ve most likely seen the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added above the crawl. (For a GREAT article on May 25, 1977 and all that goes with it, please see May 25, 1977: A Day Long Remembered by Michael Coate.) Read More
Tag: Episode IV
The Chewbacca You’ve Always Wanted
If you are anything like me, you watched Star Wars as a child and had dreams of robots, aliens, and flying through hyperspace. For most fans there is at least one scene or character that just grabs you and becomes a favorite. For me, that is Chewie. Chewbacca the Wookiee. I don’t know if it was because he growled and threw people around, or if it was the way Han somehow knew what he was saying, or just that he was so darn BIG. Whatever it was, I’ve been collecting everything from backpacks and mugs, to action figures with his likeness.
Kenner and Hasbro have been doing Star Wars action figures since the movies came out, but a relatively new company named Hot Toys just created the Chewbacca you have (well… I have) always wanted.
The Battle of Yavin
Yavin IV is a small moon orbiting the gas giant Yavin. It’s also where the Rebel Alliance decided to set up camp. Most of the battle preparation scenes took place in the hangar, briefing room, and throne room, not counting the few exterior shots. The battle obviously took place in space and there were a few changes made from script to film. Let’s take a look.
The Death Star
That’s no moon. It’s a space station full of deleted scenes. Let’s examine some of the Death Star leftovers. Read More
The Cantina
When I think back to 1977 and seeing Star Wars for the first time, I remember that the Cantina scenes contained some of the most memorable imagery. There were all these wonderfully crazy aliens, our introduction to Han Solo and Chewbacca, the over-zealous Greedo, the catchy music with the swinging band, a bar fight resulting in the loss of an arm, and more. All the TV shows and news programs aired clips from it all the time. However, even the most memorable scenes fall prey to the mighty editors.
Life on Tatooine
Tatooine was home to Luke Skywalker. His friends lived there. He grew up and was educated there. He worked there. The only family he knew about lived there. It seemed that he was content but as with most teenagers, all he thought about was leaving. Until Obi-Wan came calling, it didn’t seem like that would be happening any time soon.
Biggs Darklighter
Luke’s childhood friend, Biggs Darklighter, was a big influence on him. He was the friend that got away, joined the Academy, and did something with his life, leaving Luke at home on the farm. Luke longed to be like his friend. He wanted off the farm and to have his own adventures. He got them all right. The relationship between Biggs and Luke was quite lost in the final film, however. There are casual mentions of Biggs and another friend Tank. There’s the short reunion with Biggs during the end battle. That’s about the extent of it, though. Biggs’ missing scenes fill in a lot of those blanks in Luke’s backstory.
The Droids You’re Looking For
C-3PO and R2-D2 are two of the most beloved characters in popular culture. They are also central to the Star Wars universe. Those first lines spoken by C-3PO (“Did you hear that?”) started us on a never-ending journey full of action and adventure that will live on forever. Faithful companions and servants, it’s a safe bet you’ll never see a Star Wars film without them in it. This semi-comedic pair never seem to be out of trouble and someone’s always searching for one or both of them at any given time.
Vader’s Floating Cup
In both the Marvel Comics adaptation and the novelization of Episode IV by Alan Dean Foster (writing as Lucas) Vader does something a little odd. He reaches out with the force to make a cup float to him. This is during the Death Star scene where Vader chokes Admiral Motti.
The novel simply states: A huge metal-clad hand gestured slightly, and one of the filled cups on the table drifted responsibly into it.
This can be found right before the line “Don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerer’s ways…” which is actually spoken by General Tagge in the book (not Motti). In fact, he’s also the one who gets choked by Vader. The comic version is similar but the dialogue is closer to the film version.
In an interview I did with Alan Dean Foster, I asked him about this scene and here’s how the questions went:
T: This is obscure, but do you remember a scene where in the conference room on the Death Star, Vader chokes Admiral Motti (In your novel it’s Tagge) and before he does it, he floats a cup over to himself using the Force. Was it in the script?
ADF: As I recall, the floating cup was my invention. A way of illustrating Vader’s casual mastery of the Force.
T: What would he have done with it? Maybe a little mechanical straw would come out? 🙂 I guess what I’m asking is – was it just done for effect?
ADF: I didn’t think that far ahead. At the time, nobody knew whether Vader’s mask was fixed, whether he could breathe without it, or even if he was human (as opposed to being an alien, or a droid).
Matthew Yenkala, an expert on all things Marvel, wrote in with some clarification:
The novel came out around the same time that the Marvel series was commissioned–late 1976. Shortly thereafter Thomas & Chaykin were shown a rough cut that included both the Biggs scenes and the Jabba scene–hence their presence in the comic. (Ironic that after the movie came out some readers wrote in and complained about Marvel “tampering” with the story by “adding” these “unauthentic” elements!) T&C were also given the script and the novel. Therefore the novel WAS present in their source material and consciousness.
Here is what is specifically said on the topic in the “STAR WORDS” letters page of Marvel issue #4, after a reader, generally praising the comic, comments on the lack of exposition in the comic compared to the novel (this was before the movie came out):
“You hit upon one of Roy & Howie’s greatest problems….Even spreading the adaptation over 100 pages, there was much that had to be left out. Only thing is, we think you’ll find when you see the movie that the comic book is closer to the spirit of the film itself than to that of the paperback, from which Roy took only a few phrases. He and Howie based the comic almost entirely on the film script, and many of the things you missed from the book aren’t in the movie either….Movies and comics, unlike straight prose, are VISUAL media, no matter how much dialogue they may contain, and they will always tell you less than a book–though making up for that loss, hopefully, by showing in pictures what books can only suggest. All three media have their own uses, their own problems, their own special virtues–and we encourage one and all to compare movie, paperback and comic book after they’ve perused all three.”
So there you have it; obviously one of these “few passages” is the cup scene (another would be the “Luke had heard of Wookiees….” line in the cantina scene).
It is worth noting that Marvel issue #1 contains a VERY enjoyable and enlightening pair of essays about the genesis of STAR WARS and Marvel’s involvement. One of them is the same as the promo piece in the colour section of the original paperback, but the other has not reappeared anywhere that I know of–though I am sure someone has transcribed it online.
Interestingly, this material puts the lie to a lot of other myths that have cropped up about the Marvel series, including the notions that Lucas had “little input” in the Marvel series and that “Marvel didn’t care about continuity.”
As it turns out, this scene with the cup is in both the Janusary 1, 1976 and March 15, 1976 versions of the script. In the January version there is even a second bit in which Vader uses the force to crush the cup. This part is not included in the March 15 revision.
Here’s an excerpt from the January 1, 1976 script:
MOTTI
It won’t be long before the Death Star
is completely operational, then we will
easily be able to destroy a planet or
an entire system … possibly even a sun.
No doubt there is a plan being built up
against us, but it cannot prevail. If we
were to destroy every planet that is even
suspected of being sympathetic to the
Alliance
TARKIN
The senate would not support the emperor.
A move like that would only aid the
rebellion.
TAGGE
Governor, the senate wouldn’t dare oppose
us. Now that we can take such definitive
action to enforce our will we need no
longer worry about legalities.
MOTTI
The Death Star is now the ultimate
power in the universe
Vader stirs slightly and a cup mysteriously floats into
his hand.
VADER
Don’t become too proud of your pretty
machines … for The Force of Others
is still the ultimate power in the
universe.
MOTTI
Don’t try to fear us with your sorcerer’s
ways. Even with your religious hocuspocus
you were unable to retrieve the
stolen data .. or find the hidden rebel
base .. you’re ways ahh …
Suddenly Motti chokes and starts to turn blue.
VADER
Your lack of faith is disturbing.
TARKIN
Enough of this, release him! These
arguments are pointless. Lord Vader we
still expect you to find the hidden
rebel base before this station becomes
operational. It is the Emperor’s will
… you were sent here to enforce it.
VADER
As the Emperor wills it, so it shall be.
You will have the location of the rebel
fortress and I will have the stolen data
destroyed.
He raises his hand and crumples the metal cup before him
without touching it.
Leia’s Torture
There has been a long standing rumor about a scene in Episode IV where Leia was hung upside-down by Darth Vader and extensively tortured while being held prisoner in the Death Star detention block.
Ryan Silva helped with the debunking of this old rumor. Here is the entry from the “Debunk” section of his old Lost Scenes web-site:
A friend of mine was just telling me about the Leia-Vader torture scene. She said that she was reading an interview with Carrie Fisher, and in the article she described the scene as the most awful day of filming on the set. She described the scene in very much the same way it was portrayed in the [NPR] radio drama. She described being hung upside down while they filmed her being tortured until she eventually passed out. She then noted how pissed she was when she saw that it had been cut from the movie.
From ROLLING STONE, issue no. 322, July 24th, 1980: p. 35. Carrie Fisher Interview:
“…Fisher laments the fact that several exotic scenes never made it into either film. ‘In the original script, I was captured, and when Mark and Harrison found me, I was hanging upside down with yellow eyes, like in THE EXORCIST. They shoulda just gotten Linda Blair for it. Some form of radar torture was done to me and I was in a beam, bruised and beaten up, suspended in midair. The reason it was cut from the film was because I was unconscious and the Wookie[e] would have had to carry me for, like, the next fifteen minutes. But I loved the idea of having yellow eyes and being beaten and carried.'”
The torture scene Carrie Fisher remembers reading about WAS NOT FILMED. That scene is part of the 3rd Draft by Lucas. She hangs upside down with yellow eyes, and Chewbacca must carry her for about 10 scenes onwards. Of course, this scene is NOT in the shooting script, the 4th Draft.
The Lost Cut of Star Wars
There are many phases associated with making a film. First there’s the preproduction phase, where much time needs to be invested otherwise you’re flying blind for the rest of the production. There’s the actual shooting of the live action, known as the production phase, which is where you capture your vision on film. Then there’s the postproduction phase, where everything comes together and you use your skills and talents to create an end result that’s pleasing to not only you but hopefully to everyone who sees it. In between those three phases, however, lie many sub-phases too numerous to mention here. From writing and casting to lighting and cinematography to editing and looping dialogue; the process can be very involved but it’s that end result, the zenith of the director’s vision and the crew’s hard work, which makes it all worth it. Getting to that point is the real challenge. Read More