CT Little Things in the OT

What background details always catch your eye? What little moments in the trilogy do you appreciate? I have a few myself.

• The Dagobah set using live reptiles
• That giant crane-like bird in Mos Eisley
• Wuher doesn't serve droids most likely because he's a veteran of the Clone Wars
• Banthas
• Jabba having a Tauntaun head mounted to the wall
• The way Han taps on the Biker Scout's shoulder in ROTJ
• Bossk snarling at the Imperial
• "Bounty hunters? We don't need that scum!" and the officer responds with "Yes sir". It's like a polite way of telling your boss to shut up.

These are just a few of mine. I'm interested in hearing what you guys have to say.

 

Snax Rebo I really like the Wuher idea, its so interesting.

Some of mine:

The creatures on Dagobah, how realistic they look.
The fossils in the Tatooine Desert.
The assembly of bounty hunters on the Executor
The emotion when Luke charges at Vader on the Death Star and beats him
The diverse aliens in Mos Eisley Cantina

 

When the fighters are getting ready to launch from Yavin, there are maintenance techs running around disconnecting power or fuel lines from the ships. I used to do that in the Air Force, so it's cool to see that some things don't change, even far far away.

 

Really?? I have never noticed that...

Because I have watched these films sooo many times I find myself searching the background for things I have never noticed... The other day I noticed a rebel pilot nearly face plant running through Echo Base on Hoth. The details that I appreciate the most are the banged up and scratched ships and uniforms - I love the lived in look! This is one of the reasons I didn't connect with the PT designs...they look like they were costumes put on then and there. I feel this way about some (just some - not all) of TFA costumes too.

 

Avnar, yep! There's various pictures of Jabba's trophy online. Here he is behind Sy Snootles.

 

So what's that trophy hanging to the right of Solo's carbonite block?

https://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi-1983/11/

Have not been able to figure that one out, yet. Also notice the head trophies overhead inside Jabba's sailing barge...

I'd like to think somebody took the inspiration from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, i.e. each of the thieves volunteering to find Ali Baba was beheaded for failure (according to my version of the story the volunteers knew that would happen to them, should they fail, something like "thief's honor").

 

If it were real, I would definitely like to explore Dagobah. The same goes for Endor. Beautiful forest moon.

I gotta say that the Emperor's throne room is my favorite set, despite how sinister and ominous it is.

 

The little sarcasting bowing Tarkin and Leia do when meeting like they're on some sort of official meeting.

 

"outgassing."

back when we watched on vhs and there were no subtitles my mom was convinced the trooper said "i'm gassy" and we were in paroxysms of laughter for five minutes.

 

As I noted in another thread, in ANH the dice hanging from the ceiling of the Falcon's cockpit when Chewie first walks in. Pity they weren't included later, and a bigger pity they weren't fuzzy.

Another one from ANH is during the escape from Tatooine when the deflectors on the Falcon start failing. Luke points to the warning light, and Han slaps his hand away. The kid hadn't yet earned the right to touch the controls.

 

There is a deleted scene from TFA where Han hangs up the dice after getting the Falcon back

 

I always notice all the small little background details, and how much care went into these films:

The interior of the AT-AT when it docks in ROTJ, the piping and panels and things like that
The slimy worm thing on Jabba's wall
Luke's hand gesture when he enters Jabba's Palace (Zen Buddhism)
The little thing turning and rotating when Han and Leia are about to kiss on the Falcon. I suppose it serves some critical function...
The oxygen tanks in the medic's office at Hoth (later seen aboard the Medical ship at the end of TESB)
Boba Fett's blinking rocketpack light (just noticed this recently)
Boba Fett casually raising his blaster when Han and Company enter the dining room (even with Vader around, he doesn't trust them)
Luke's survival kit box on Dagobah (looks like a sushi bento!)
The little thing on Yoda's belt (we pretended they were cigars on the toy!)
The detail of the E-WEB blaster on Hoth
Dengar is wearing an Imperial chestplate
Lando is wearing a Samurai helmet
In the Cloud City junk room, we not only see an IG model but a Zuckuss/4-LOM in the lower right of the screen
The little blue light that shines when Han and Leia are looking for a "safe port"
The Probots, Imperial Astromechs and TIE Bomber in the Death Star 2 hangar
Biker Scouts have a boot holster. Makes sense given how they sit on the bike. How cool is that?

 

Luke playing with his Skyhopper
Han with his feet up in the control room
All of the display graphics

 

The feeling of warmth among the heroes, and the emotions of Luke and Vader's Death Star duel. The portrayal of Vader in TESB should serve as an example for villains everywhere.

 

All the little blast points on the ships. They tell stories of battles never scene, but we know that they're there.

 

I love how the OT is so black and white, literally, especially in ROTJ. The interiors of the Home One (Akbar's flagship) are white, while the Death Star's interior is dark. Not to mention the leader of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma, is wearing a white robe, while Darth Sidious is wearing a black robe.

Other tiny details i liked.
The Tie Fighter's targeting computer graphics
Tatooine's twin suns
Satan-looking alien in the Mos Eisley Cantina
The lone AT-ST deployed on hoth

 

If you think about it, in the PT the Republic had the means to have clean/new equipment. In the OT the Rebels don't. They had to steal some of their ships and weapons and those got worn down. Look at the Empire during that time. They had clean and shiny ships, armor, and weapons that looked brand new.

 

All the OT blasters are repurposed 20th century guns
the general progression in the old canon of the imperials and rebels developing new starfighters to counter the other side
the emphasis in the OT to have British actors play imperials and American Actors to play rebels (the point of dubbing over actor's voices)
and the detail and reuse in rebel pilot helmets to show their individuality

 

https://de.pinterest.com/pin/87890630199269891/

Having finished accurate deck plans for the Tantive IV the image you see in the link caused me goose bumps. It's a corridor on the lower deck and starboard side of the Tantive IV and those Alderaanian Guards that are being let away probably tried to get to the starboard escape pods.

Now, that's the same corridor segment (aboard the ship) where Vader meets Leia. However, as she is being let away you can clearly see the bodies of two Alderaanian guards on the floor that aren't there yet in the image I provided the link for.

Put simply, two of the Alderaanian guards where executed on the spot, probably thinking they were taken into custody but instead killed in cold-blood the moment they exposed their backs to the stormtroopers.

 

Anakin's smile as he sees his son ''with his own eyes'' for the first time, and Luke's single tear as he mourns the father he barley knew, yet inspired him to accomplish so much.

 

I don't know if this is the right topic, but I haven't found another one where it would fit. This is not really a "detail", just something I noticed in ROTJ. Not sure if it's intentional or something they missed making the movie. The new DS is pretty much always shown from the same side: the super laser always slightly off-center to the left with the unfinished part always on the right. Shouldn't the angle change depending on which direction the DS is approached from? But as far as I can remember we never once see it from the other side, even from Endor. I would expect the view of the DS to be different when approached from space with Endor in the same shot, from seeing it from below, Endor's surface. There is nothing to indicate that the DS rotates or otherwise changes position either. Maybe they had made only half the model so that only one side could be shown? But then at least in that matte painting, where we see the DS in the background as Vader's shuttle lands on the platform, they might have given us a view from a different angle. Or was that the model also? Has anyone noticed this as well? Any thoughts?

 

Sith Lord 2015

You've just opened a perfect can of worms. For starters, here are some original behind-the-scenes images from the model making of the second Death Star: https://de.pinterest.com/pin/183099541077898141/
Working on all the details was such a pain in the a** that the members of the model shop had to take turns and were assigned "penalty" shifts so not a single person would get crazy doing that kind of detailing all by her- or himself.

Notice anything about these images? These are not flopped / mirror-inverted, but all the shots of the second Death Star in the film are!

Shouldn't the angle change depending on which direction the DS is approached from?

Yes, but we are probably looking at a George Lucas thing, i.e. don't show the audience a too much different angle because it might be confusing. The actual VFX model was also detailed on the other side (IMHO revealing a lot of interesting structural detail that remains obscured by the exterior "shell"), I can imagine some of the model makers being really angry with George (they put immeasurable manpower into detailing that monster only to find out later that half of their work wouldn't make it onto the screen, but that happens quite a lot in the film industry).

Except for the nighttime scene (and probably the DS orbiting Endor seen from the Rebel fleet's point of view) I'm not aware of other matte paintings of DS II. There were at least two for DS I, i.e. the one high above the equator (used in the fighters attack start) and the one with the "propulsion dish" sitting in the middle of the equator (of what I believe to be the "dark side" of the Death Star).

But did you also notice that the second shot from DS II (taking out the second Rebel Star Cruiser) appears to come from an upside down DS II while the subsequent shot reveals it to be coming from the superweapon dish above the equator?

 

Incredible. No, I wouldn't have noticed the DS II in the movie was mirror-inverted if you had not told me. I know this happens in movies sometimes but in this case we ONLY get to see the flopped version. Any idea why they chose to do that?

I guess so. The unfinished side looks pretty "finished" in those model pics. The detail, as in all the SW models, is just incredible. But I can somehow understand that Lucas might have felt it looked too "weird" and unfamiliar had they shown the unfinished side too. So I guess he chose what looked familiar to the audience and stuck with that.

Any idea if the DS I model was finished from all sides? If I remember correctly in ANH we tend to mostly see only one side as well, the one showing the super laser. I'm not sure but think I remember seeing the model showing that "propulsion dish" as well. I could have been a very good matte painting but I'm pretty sure it was a model. I didn't come up with anything on Google though. It must have been in that sticker album I had as a kid, where you buy a set of sticker pictures without knowing what you get, until you finally have the complete album. I think on the pic only the DS's "night side" is shown, illuminated from within without any outside illumination. In which scene do we the DS I's dark side?
Another thing I just noticed is that in the ANH pics of the Tantive IV model it seems to have a larger bridge than what we see in ROTS. Or do we see only one of those rectangular viewports to the sides of the bridge in that movie?

 

Sith Lord 2015

George Lucas felt the Death Star looked better mirror-inverted, according to the Making of ROJ

The problem with Death Star I is that there don't exist that many images. They forgot the VFX model in a storehouse and when it was cleared by the owner he didn't know what it was and demolished it.

As far as I can tell the propulsion dish only existed on that matte painting which could be lit from the back which explains the strange sticker in that Panini sticker album you and me remember so well (which now tells me that you are either from Germany, Italy or a serious international collector who started at a young age...).

Yes, the cockpit of the Tantive IV VFX model is actually very wide and not very deep. They realized the problem during the making of ROTS and rationalized it that we only see the central part of the cockpit (and that there are supposedly some partition walls inside the cockpit).

I, for one, would have liked Lucasfilm to set this straight for Rogue One and let the Alderaanian Cruiser be a different ship than the Corellian Corvette Tantive IV. But that's a story for another day and a reminder that I still have to finalize the presentation of the on-screen compatible and accurate deck plans for that ship which I started at the beginning of this month...

 

They already did before Rogue One - newcanon Complete Locations states that the Alderaanian Cruiser is the Tantive III.