Journal of the Bloopers
The following list is a quick guide to help you find the various bloopers,
goofs, inconsistencies and screw ups found in Star Wars, The Empire
Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
I'd like to thank all those who contributed to this list, especially
Brandon Gillespie who originally created the Bad Guide to Star Wars.
Please send any updates, new finds, comments or anything to Kevin Cox at
E-mail address Kevin.Cox@STARLINX.DAMAR.COM
Here is a quick explanation of the format used throughout most of the
FAQ:
CRITERIA: What type of incident it is. These are the four subsections
to the FAQ. Criteria can be any of the following:
Blooper: Bloopers are where something was messed up, either by
the actor or crew, but was still put into the film.
Mis-Cut: A Mis-Cut is usually an error, in relation to special
effects and editing.
Trivia: Trivia are little known facts that deal with a certain
aspect of the film.
Inconsistencies: These are aspects of the films that don't stay the
same from within each film and film to film.
FILM: The films will be in chronological order. Bloopers, Mis-cuts,
Trivia and Inconsistencies in Star Wars, Empire and then Jedi.
SUBJECT: A quick sentence describing the incident
SCENE: The scene, where you can find the incident.
EVENT: What the incident is.
NOTES: Comments on the incident.
** STAR WARS BLOOPERS **
------------------------
SUBJECT: Luke yells "Carrie!
SCENE:
This scene is right after the Death Star is destroyed, as Luke
is getting out of his X-Wing and is reunited with Han and Leia.
EVENT:
Leia comes running up to him just as he descends the ladder from
his X-Wing. He calls the character, Leia, by the actor's name,
as he yells out "Carrie!"
NOTES:
There are still many who hear Luke yell, "Heyyyy!" instead of
"Carrie!".
SUBJECT: C-3P0 (loose footing)
SCENE:
On Tatooine, when Luke is cleaning R2. Just after the line, "Well, my
little friend, you've got something jammed in here real good....."
EVENT:
Right as the hologram appears, C-3P0 falls off the step he is
on.
NOTES:
This could simply be surprise on C-3PO's behalf.
SUBJECT: C-3P0...robot 'self pleasure'...
SCENE/EVENT:
When Luke is trying to clean up Artoo in his home on Tatooine,
you can see Threepio behind him; watch what he's doing with
that rag.
SUBJECT: Storm Trooper's low clearance
SCENES:
When Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are inside the trash compactor,
in the Death Star.
EVENT:
After the compactor has started up and Luke is yelling into the
comlink. The camera cuts to C-3PO's comlink sitting on the
table, then to the security door. The door opens and Storm-
troopers walk in. The trooper behind and on the right of the
lead trooper hits his head.
NOTES:
There was a bit of debate about whether this was supposed to
happen, or was an accident, however, Ed Hirsh [duke@apple.com]
wrote:
The scene where the stormtrooper hits his head as he enters the
communications room is not in the script. Here is the scene as it is
written by George Lucas (Reprinted w/o permission):
---------begin Star Wars Script:
INTERIOR: DEATH STAR -- MAIN GANTRY -- COMMAND OFFICE.
A soft buzzer and the muted voice of Luke calling out for C-3PO can
be heard on Threepio's hand comlink, which is sitting on the deserted
computer console. Artoo and Threepio are nowhere in sight. Suddenly
there is a great explosion and the door of the control tower flies
across the floor. Four armed stormtroopers enter the chamber.
FIRST TROOPER: Take over! (pointing to the dead officer)
See to him! Look there!
----------end Star Wars Script
So the first trooper was supposed to say "See to him!" But it
was directed toward the previously killed officer.
SUBJECT: Darth Vader's light saber isn't colored
SCENE/EVENT:
Just after Darth Vader Kills Obi Wan Kenobi, on board the Death
Star. His light saber is white, instead of red. This is because
the coloring was added after the film was made, and the optical
effects crews forgot to add color to this one scene. The white
is the actual color of the saber.
SUBJECT: Vader's Mask
SCENE/EVENT: Seeing David Prowse's face through the
Vader mask
Lucas wanted to make it completely dark, but could not do it in
the first film, it was fixed in the later films.
SUBJECT: Millennium Falcon's stowaway
SCENE:
In the first scene of the Millennium Falcon's cockpit.
EVENT:
Behind Han and Chewie, there is a person with a green shirt standing
in the corridor. A few seconds later he moves out of the shot.
NOTES:
This might just be in the Letterbox version.
SUBJECT: Kenny Baker seen in R2-D2
SCENE/EVENT:
When Artoo first gets put into the Jawa's sandcrawler and he
looks around at all the creatures in there. You see R5-D4, and
then right after the SECOND time he looks at the red R2, when
they cut back to Artoo, he turns his head around and you can see
the face of Kenny Baker inside through the bubble on Artoo's
head.
SUBJECT: Cantina characters
SCENE/EVENT:
When Luke is sitting at the bar in the Cantina, he takes a glance
around the cantina. The camera then gives us shots of various
aliens. After the shot that shows a big alien apparently laughing,
they cut to two aliens(I checked the sourcebooks and they're known
as Duros) enganging in a conversation. One is holding up his
hands like he doesn't understand what the other one's saying.
Anyway, if you look at their hands, the one on the right has
big, purple, very alien hands. The one on the left(same species)
is wearing white gloves over human hands.
SUBJECT: Moving table pieces
SCENE/EVENT:
When Ben watches Leia's holographic message, the items placed on
the table change from scene to scene.
SUBJECT: The shadows.....
SCENE/EVENT:
When Chewie and Han arrive first in the hallway leading to the
Millenium Falcon ("Didn't we just leave this party?"), you can see
the shadows of Luke and Leia, who are waiting to run in on cue.
SUBJECT: That torture droid trick
SCENE: As Leia is about to be tortured on the deathstar
In Leia's cell, you can see the "crane" that they used to
"float" in the round torture droid between the droid and the edge
of the door.
SUBJECT: Porkins returns from the After Life
SCENE: The Death Star attack
As the rebels are attacking the death star, Porkins (RED 6) is killed.
Later on as Luke is flying down the trench, Vader hits part of Luke's
ship. He tells R2 to see if he can fix it. Right after that scene,
someone on the intercom system asks, "...RED 6, have you seen RED 5?"
The blooper is...how could RED 6 answer? He's dead! Watch and
listen, you'll hear it.
** STAR WARS MIS-CUTS **
------------------------
SUBJECT: Luke's cup keeps switching hands
SCENE:
When Luke is eating with Owen and Beru.
EVENT:
At the beginning part of this sequence, his cup is in his left
hand. Later on, it appears in his right hand.
NOTES:
This happens twice, and is probably a result of the film being
reversed, which happened several times throughout the film.
SUBJECT: R2-D2's bad guidance sensors
SCENE:
At the beginning of the movie on board the rebel corvette, which
is currently attempting to escape an Imperial Star Destroyer.
This happens as Leia is giving R2-D2 the Death Star plans.
EVENT:
After Leia gives R2-D2 the message for Obi-Wan, R2 starts to
roll away. If the scene would have continued on, he would have
rolled into the wall.
SUBJECT: Magical Space Ships
NOTES:
There are quite a few scenes which includes poor mattes, and bad
editing for the ships (primarily the multitudes of Tie fighters).
I will try to cover of them.
The matte used on the ships, is very noticeable...
SUBJECT: Threepio's moving dent
SCENE:
In ANH, C-3PO gets a dent on the left side of his head when he
falls and breaks off his arm; he still has this dent throughout
the movie, but in one shot at the end, when he's next to Leia in
the Rebel Control Room, the film has been reversed -- his dent is
on his right side, and Leia is now on the other side of him.
SUBJECT: Chewie in the compactor
SCENE:
When the trash compactor walls are closing in on our heroes,
aboard the Deathstar watch Chewie. His position changes in three
cuts. First he is holding the wall, next he is putting up his
crossbow, then he is again holding the wall.
SUBJECT: R5-D4 in two places at once
SCENE/EVENT:
After Owen buys R5-D4 it explodes. He points to R2-D2 and as R2's
head turns, you see the previous shot of the Jawas prepping R5-D4
BEFORE they take him away.
SUBJECT: Vader's gesturing
SCENE:
In ANH, there is a scene where Darth and Tarkin are talking about
Obi-wan. During part of the dialog, Darth stops talking, but
keeps gesticulating as though he is saying something. Tarkin
doesn't respond to his comment until after he stops gesticulat-
ing. Obviously, they had some difficulty timing the voice over
with Prowses' movements in this scene.
SUBJECT: That moving head piece....
SCENE:
When Luke announces that he is all right in the Battle of Yavin
sequence and you get a shot of one of the controllers. The
controller's headset is on his left ear one minute and then in the
next pan is on the right ear.
SUBJECT: The disappearing rag
SCENE:
Right after R2-D2 shows Luke the "Leia hologram".
Near the end of this segment, watch 3PO's sleight of hand.
In one shot, he's holding a rag, in the next shot he isn't,
and in then next shot ("I'm sorry sir, but he appears to have
picked up a slight flutter") he has the rag again, and in the
next shot he doesn't.
SUBJECT: The disappearing macrame thingy
SCENE: Just after Ben gets out Anakin's light saber
There is a "shawl" which temporarily disappears, and then re-appears
in Kenobi's house. It looks like a medium-brown "macrame" blanket.
It is hanging on the left side of the plaster "arch" in the house.
Notice it casts a shadow which sticks out to the left of the shadow
cast by the arch. Right after Kenobi finishes speaking "This is the
weapon of a Jedi Knight...", the shawl disappears. After Luke turns
off his saber it is back.
** STAR WARS TRIVIA **
----------------------
SUBJECT: DEWBAK
SCENES:
The Dewbak appears in two places on Tatooine. First:
The scene where the Stormtroopers discover the escape pod
used by C-3P0 and R2-D2. At the beginning of this scene,
you can see it with stormtroopers, in the distance.
The second time you see it, is the scene when Luke and
Ben have reached the city, and are parking the Landspeeder.
It is rather hard to find, as it is in the background. But,
if you look closely, you can see it next to (more info)
NOTES:
The Dewbak is a Giant Green lizard used for transportation.
SUBJECT: Millennium Falcon dice
SCENE/EVENT:
When Chewie runs to the cockpit to fly the Falcon out of Mos
Eisley, his head hits 2 small objects that look very much like
small dice.
SUBJECT: Shells for Laser ammunition?
SCENE:
Virtually in any battle, the best is in the battle with the
stormtroopers immediately after Leia has been pulled out of her
cell (right before she blows a hole in the wall)
EVENT:
The laser rifles are actually modified Sterling 9mm submachine
guns, and when filming the shoot-outs they used blank bullets
(so they would know when they were shot, and they would simulate
"kick-back") which ejected spent cases as if they were real
bullets.
SUBJECT: The Biggs Scenes
NOTES:
In the Script for Star Wars there are several Scenes which
includes a friend of Luke's, Biggs. These Scenes were filmed,
but when the final cut came around for the Star Wars films, these
Scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
Many people say they saw these scenes in the theater, but the
only place that any of the film containing the Biggs scenes was
reproduced, was in the story books.
SUBJECT: Threepio from New York?
NOTES:
C-3PO was originally scripted as a "used car salesman" type
SUBJECT: Gold five, who are you?
NOTES:
When Gold Five is going down on during the fight on the Death
Star. He calls out, "Gold Five to Red Leader." Red Leader's
response is "I copy, Gold Leader."
SUBJECT: Wookiee spelled wrong?
NOTES: (By: Gallandro)
If you read his [George Lucas's] biography _Skywalking_, it talks
about how his secretaries would type his notes, and he would have
the same name spelled different ways at different places in the
manuscript. The secretaries just used their own consistent
spellings which they then checked with George.
However, it is an acknowledged error that Wookiee is spelled with
one E in the original novel. TIE is generally capitalized because
it is an acronym; my assumption is that Foster (who ghost-wrote
the novel) didn't know this and spelled in a way that appeared to
him to be more logical.
Also of possible interest is the fact that at least one spelling
changed over the course of the trilogy. In any reference printed
before 1983, Jabba the Hutt is spelled with one T. With the
premier of Jedi, for some reason, the "official" spelling changed
to include 2 T's, perhaps to more clearly indicate that it was
Jabba's race (avoiding confusion with the English word "hut")--
but that is pure speculation on my part.
SUBJECT: George Lucas, Jedi Master
NOTES: Where George came up with 'The Force'
Lucas talked to many masters of Aikido, because he had heard of
the energy that is involved with Aikido. He ended up using a lot
of these ideas in designing the Force. Aikido is a form of
martial arts.
SUBJECT: The 'Stiffs'
SCENE/EVENT:
When the heroes receive their medallions at the end of Star Wars,
nearly all of the crowd are cardboard cutouts.
SUBJECT: Star Wars is number one!
NOTES: Keep in mind this is with inflation included
It seems George Lucas had trouble getting funding for this movie
because most studios thought people wouldn't go to see it.
Recently, after looking at a top ten list of movies *ever*
(inflation calculated in), Star Wars IV, "A New Hope" was in the
#1 slot.
SUBJECT: Sorry, I don't do windows....
SCENE/EVENT:
Has anybody noticed in ANH that the Jawa that tells 3PO
to leave the crawler as they approach Luke's home says,
"Here comes the window cleaner"? Listen, it is rather
funny.
SUBJECT: That wasn't Greedo, was it?
SCENE/EVENT: Cantina
From: Erik Pittock
IMHO, my vote for some of the worst effects in the trilogy goes to
the scene with Han Solo and Greedo in the Cantina on Tatooine. I
watched this on a video a few times and everytime I went past
this scene, something didn't seem normal. Sure enough, when I
ran the tape really slow right before Han blasts Greedo, you
see the actor Greedo replaced by a really bad dummy that explodes.
Obviously with Screen Actors Guild regulations being what they
are, they couldn't explode the actor, but the dummy doesn't come
close to matching the actor (much thinner, I think slightly
taller, and a different jacket too, if I remember correctly!).
Not only that but the background is quite different. I guess
this is classed "bad editing".
** THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK BLOOPERS **
--------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Vader's uncolored saber
SCENE/EVENT:
Before Vader ignites his saber for the first time in Cloud City,
you can clearly see the actual uncolored rod. However, it isn't
white like in the first film but dark gray which blends in against
Vader's costume.
The best way to see it is to wait until he ignites his saber, then
rewind the film with your eye on where the lightsaber was and
you'll see it clear as day. This also helps demonstrate the
effect of the actor tilting the lightsaber away from himself to
simulate extension.
SUBJECT: Han the ventriloquist
SCENE/EVENT:
Han and Leia in cockpit of MF while they were in the belly of the
space slug. Leia says, "Captain being held by you is hardly enough
to get me excited". If you look closely at Han's lips you'll see
that he's saying it with her in unison.
In Empire, when Luke knocks Vader off the deck, he walks around
a large machine and doesn't shut his saber off, you can see him
reach back and trade for a hilt with a hidden stagehand.
** THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MIS-CUTS **
--------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Luke's light saber should be missing
SCENE:
When Luke and Vader are fighting on Cloud City. As Vader is
mentally hurling boxes and objects at Luke, who is deflecting
them with his light saber (and his head).
EVENT:
After one of the pieces breaks the window into the huge shaft,
and Luke is sucked through. The next scene shows him hanging
from a catwalk with BOTH hands. He should have lost his light-
saber, while hanging on for dear life. However, in the next
scene, he's holding his saber in his hand again! Did Luke take
the time to put his saber back into his belt as he was being
sucked into a void? Or was their a friendly stage hand
available, to give him a new one?
SUBJECT: Chewie's Feet
SCENE:
On Cloud City in Empire where Chewie is running away from the
camera (specific scene unknown)
EVENT:
The angle is such that you see the bottoms of Chewie's feet,
and you see heel and sole of the boots that make up the feet of
Peter Mayhew's costume.
SUBJECT: Trampolines aboard Cloud City?
SCENE:
When Luke is fighting Vader. After he knocks Vader off the edge,
he jumps down behind him.
EVENT:
If you look and listen closely, you hear him hit a trampoline-like
device. Then, his head magically reappears at the bottom of the
screen, for a brief moment.
SUBJECT: Transport halo
SCENE:
In ESB, when the first rebel transport leaves Hoth, you can see
a matting error.
SUBJECT: I thought Luke lost that hand
SCENE:
When Luke is tumbling in the air shaft near the end of
The Empire Strikes Back, there is a very short scene (before
he gets dropped out the bottom of Cloud City) where you
can see his right hand, which should have been sliced off
by Vader.
SUBJECT: How does Lando do that?
SCENE:
I was watching TESB the other day (and hey, who wasn't?) and I
noticed that when Lando was escorting the gang to dinner that Lando
and Han switch sides from one shot to the next. In one shot, Han
is on Leia's right with Lando and her left and in the next shot,
as they head down the last bit of corridor to the dining room,
Han is on Leia's left with Lando on her right. Han stays on the left
for the rest of the scene and pulls out his blaster to shoot Vader
in that position.
** THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK TRIVIA **
------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Was that Cliff from Cheers?
SCENE/EVENT:
In the base on Hoth, there's a scene where a rebel soldier
(character name of Major Derlin) talks to Leia about having to
close the doors on the base despite Luke not being back, saying,
"Your Highness, there is nothing more we can do tonight. The
shield doors must be closed." The actor is none other than Cliff
Claven from TV's "Cheers" (real name: John Ratzenberger).
SUBJECT: A white protocol droid?
SCENE(S) & EVENT:
There is actually three scenes that this is seen in. The first
is in the command post on Hoth. The white droid is standing to
the left behind one of the glass monitors. It is in the shadows,
so it could easily be mistaken for C-3PO.
The second time is in the scene that starts with the line
"We can't protect two transports at the same time". At the end
of the scene you see the droid standing to the right, in the
background between two people. It is definitely NOT C3PO, as he
is standing in the foreground at the same time.
Last of all, the droid is seen sitting in one of the chairs
to the left of the command post, obviously non-functional at this
time.
NOTES:
There are a few scenes where we see silver protocol droids, like
C-3PO. But how often have you seen a white protocol droid?
SUBJECT: Over zealous security measures
SCENE:
The catwalk scene when Luke learns that Darth Vader is his father.
NOTES:
Lucas was concerned about preventing leaks with his next Star Wars
Film, The Empire Strikes Back. Infact, he had an elaborate
security system set up which included logs of reports about leaks
from actors.
Lucas was especially concerned about the catwalk scene where Vader
tells Luke he is his father. The lines Prowse actually spoke were
actually 'Obi Wan Kenobi is your father' not, 'I am your father'.
The lines we hear were added later, with the rest of Darth Vader's
dialogue.
SUBJECT: Potato salad
SCENE: Who knows for sure??
One of the asteroids in ESB with the falcon flying through
them is actually a potato. Anybody know which one it is?
But here is where I think the potato is (Craig Mackinnon):
Chewie and Han come up to the cockpit right after the line,
"That was no laser blast, something hit us". Han sits down,
and then it shows out the window of the Falcon and you see asteroids.
Two asteroids come across the front of the window, from (I think)
top left to bottom right.
SUBJECT: TIE fighter pilot on fire...
SCENE: Another, who knows for sure??
OK...I've always agreed on it NOT being a rumor, now recently
read that some F/X guys had similar fun in TESB (though not
out of frustration!). In an interview with one of them,
he said that in one of the astroid sequences, they had a TIE
Fighter blow up, and while it was blowing up, off the lower left
side you could actually see the pilot being shreaded in space...
(if I remember correctly, this is not easy to see in the actual
movie but he said that it was easier to find in the Trailor for
the movie).
** THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK INCONSISTENCIES **
---------------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Piett's changes rank
SCENE/EVENT:
In the end, if you look at Piett's (I think that's him) rank
insignia, it changes 1) sides, and 2) color!
NOTES:
Could anybody give me more detail?
SUBJECT: Han's change of clothes
FILMS: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
SCENE/EVENT:
During the Scenes when Han is about to be frozen in Carbonite.
EVENT:
Before he is lowered into it, he has shackles around the upper
part of is arms, which holds them to his body. However, in
Return of the Jedi, when he is unfrozen, he no longer has them on
his arms. Second, in one scene Han is not wearing his vest, you
see his torso as completely white (his shirt is white). Those are
the medium close up shots of Han. When the camera cuts to long
shots, Han is wearing his vest.
SUBJECT: Explosive Asteroids
EVENT/SCENE:
In the asteroid battle scene, there's a part where the camera
angle cuts to a wide shot of all the asteroids, and on one of the
asteroids there is something clearly exploding (it even makes a
sound), but nothing actually hits the asteroid. (There are two
TIE's chasing the Falcon at this point, but both are visible
during this part, and neither of them is the cause of the
explosion.) My guess is that there was originally more to this
scene, and the real cause of the explosion ended up sharing the
same fate as Biggs. (being left on the editing room floor, that
is.) Maybe we're supposed to believe these small asteroids are
volcanic? Or that some asteroid, too small to be perceived by
the viewer collides very forcibly with the larger asteroid just
at that point in the movie?
** RETURN OF THE JEDI BLOOPERS **
---------------------------------
SUBJECT: Vader's saber casts a shadow
SCENE/EVENT:
You can see a shadow of the light saber, just after Luke
knocks Vader down the stairs and Vader gets up. Vader's
lightsaber is casting a shadow on the ground.
SUBJECT: Oversized Ewok
SCENE/EVENT:
You won't see this unless you have a letterbox version of the
film There are two MAJOR mistakes in the scene where Threepio is
'king' of the Ewoks. While Luke & Co. are tied up, Peter Mayhew
dressed as Chewie, sticks his head from the left side of the
screen behind one of the Ewok huts. Also, there's a shot of
Artoo untied when he hasn't been cut loose yet.
SUBJECT: Boba's neat helmet trick
SCENE/EVENT: In Jabba's palace
As Boba Fett nods to Boushh (Leia) his antenna is on the right
hand side of his head, normally it would be on the left.
(His right.)
SUBJECT: Luke isn't sure about his hand
SCENE/EVENT: Endore Speeder Bike chase
Right before Luke can't move the Speeder Bike from in front of
the oncoming tree, you can clearly see that in three different
shots, Luke's glove is on his right hand, next shot, his left,
and back to his right again.
SUBJECT: Yoda's floating cane
SCENE: Luke and Yoda are talking in Yoda's
house
Luke and Yoda are talking in Yoda's house. As Yoda
says "Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall."
pay very close attention to Yoda's cane. It floats across
the screen for a split second!
** RETURN OF THE JEDI MIS-CUTS **
---------------------------------
SUBJECT: Emperor should have hit his head
SCENE:
When the Emperor is leaving the Imperial Shuttle Craft, on board
the Death Star.
EVENT:
While walking down the ramp, his head somehow manages to go
through the front of the Shuttle Craft, unscathed.
SUBJECT: The Emperors "slugs"
SCENE:
These can be seen is a few scenes, however the most prominent
is when Luke is watching the Rebel fleet being led into a trap.
EVENT:
Small black spots on the Emperors head, one notable one is on
the left side.
NOTES:
These are known as the "Emperor's slugs", due to their sluglike
appearance. Daniel Goldman [dgoldman@Xenon.Stanford.EDU] makes
an educated guess as to the reason of their existence:
You will notice that the Emperor's eyes are lit by a soft
sickly-green spotlight in that scene. The problem with
normal spots, is that when you try to get them that tight,
there is always a little spillover, which gets even worse if
the subject is moving. Probably, the green light was light-
ing things that should not have been lit, like the back of
the hood, or a part of his fact that had not been made up
(ears or hair, perhaps). The optics crew then manually
blacked out the `overflowing' area's.
SUBJECT(S): Magical Space Ships
NOTES:
There are quite a few scenes which includes poor mattes, and bad
editing for the ships (primarily the multitudes of Tie fighters).
I will try to cover most of them.
SCENE:
Right after the rebels arrive at the Death Star, and they figure
out that the shields are still up, right after Admiral Akbar says
"It's a Trap!" followed by Lando saying, "Enemy fighters coming
in."
EVENT:
As the Millennium Falcon flies directly at the audience, and
leaves the screen (upper right), pause the picture. You will see
2 little white "H" shapes on the Falcon's underside, where space
was reserved for 2 TIE fighters, that never made it into the film.
Per Alan Yates: The two ships in question ARE in fact in the film.
You can see for yourself by placing two fingers (or any other markers)
on the screen at the exact spot where the two "H" shapes appear on
the Falcon's belly. Then go backwards frame by frame (this is, of
course easier if you have a good Laserdisc player) or rewind a little
bit and play the scene again, frame by frame. You will see that the
two TIE's DO appear in the film. They are in the deep background of
the scene and are pretty much motionless, right where you have marked
your screen. The fact that they appear on the FX element of the
Falcon is a result of a forgotten black "blocking" matte in the
optical printing stage.
What had happened was that the Falcon had been exposed into an area
of the film where the TIE's had already been exposed (or vice-versa)
resulting in an overexposure the shape of the TIE elements. This is
why the area on the Falcon's belly is WHITE. If the area had been
left for two fighters to be matted in, the "H" shapes would have
appeared BLACK.
SUBJECT: Han the pervert
SCENE/EVENT:
In ROTJ, when Leia gets shot, Han grabs her and pulls her back to
safety...watch his hand...he grabs her breast!
SUBJECT: Hanging Han
SCENE:
When Luke, Han, etc. were to be thrown into the Sarlaac's Pit
on Tatooine, Han and Lando are standing on the levitating plat-
form and one of Jabba's men fires a shot, hitting the vehicle,
causing it to tilt at a precarious angle.
EVENT:
As everybody scrambles to balance themselves, you see Han grab
the edge of the ship with his hands, and is hanging over the
edge. But, a few seconds later, they show him hanging by his feet!
SUBJECT: Lando's moving bandolier
SCENE/EVENT:
When Han and Lando are talking in the rebel hanger right before
the strike team departs in the stolen Imperial shuttle. Watch
Lando, the gun belt strap across his chest changes sides between
different cuts during the same scene.
SUBJECT: Jabba on rewind
SCENE/EVENT:
In Jedi, in one of the Jabba's Palace sequences, when Jabba is
speaking, the film is actually running backwards -- if you look
closely, you can see the smoke from his pipe moving downwards,
and the same with the bubbles in his bong.
SUBJECT: Park fence.....
SCENE/EVENT:
Right after the Rebels have exited the shuttle Tyderium in ROTJ,
you can see a redwood fence in the background, of the variety
commonly found in earthly national parks.
SUBJECT: Lando's concussion
SCENE/EVENT: Jabba's Palace
Just after Chewie is taken away by guards in Jabba's Palace,
we get our first view of Lando in his skiff outfit. He bumps
his head on the ceiling just before he pulls his mask
down the show the audience who he is. Its a very noticeable
bump on the head because the mask cranks backwards for a second.
SUBJECT: Where did Vader get Luke's light saber?
SCENE/EVENT:
Did you ever notice that when Vader is talking about...
"A sister... so, you have a twin sister.... your feelings have
now betrayed her too...", that he is holding Luke's lightsaber
in his left hand?
SUBJECT: Lando's vanishing trick
SCENE/EVENT:
Luke is just about to jump into the Sarlaac's mouth. He nods at
Lando to his RIGHT. The camera goes to other shots (such a R2
standing on the deck of the sail barge, etc.). The camera comes back
to the skiff guard prodding Luke with his axe, so that Luke will jump.
At this shot, check out who's in the background (which is Luke's LEFT
side). Yep, it's Lando. Next shot shows Luke jumping in with Han
and Chewie at the same position Lando was at.
SUBJECT: Lukes bum hand
SCENE/EVENT: On the sail barge
Luke is on the deck of the sail barge. His hand gets shot. At
this point the makeup people did a pretty good job on his hand.
The next time we see his hand is when he is running to get the fallen
rope so that he and Leia could swing to safety. Well, I guess the
makeup people were on their break when they were shooting this scene
because his hand looks perfectly fine. About a second later, when he
actually grabs the rope, we see a damaged hand again. THEN, when
they are actually swinging, his hand is fine again. And, then
finally we see that his hand looks really bad when he is leaving
Tatooine in his X-Wing.
SUBJECT: Chewies moving bandolier
SCENE/EVENT: Jabba's sail barge
When Leia looks out of the barge at our 3 heros on the skiff the
view changes to a close up of Chewie, Han, and Luke (left to right).
Notice Chewies bandolier, it hangs from his right shoulder to his
left hip.
Next, right as Han says, "3PO, you tell that slimy piece...."
Notice that Chewies bandolier is hanging from his LEFT shoulder to
his RIGHT hip.
** RETURN OF THE JEDI TRIVIA **
-------------------------------
SUBJECT: Elephants, Nein Numb, and Feet
EVENT:
Lucas used several linguists to create languages for the aliens.
The one which Nein Numb speaks is based off a Kenyan dialect. By
accident or design, one of his lines ends up sounding like, "One
thousand herds of elephants are standing on my foot" in this
language.
SUBJECT: I know I've heard that before
EVENT:
When the droids first enter Jabba's throne room, you hear a lot of
alien voices murmuring... if you listen closely, one of them is
Greedo's voice speaking the EXACT same dialogue he said to Han in
Star Wars.
SUBJECT: Oola's failing costume
EVENT:
Oola, the green dancing Twi'lek girl in Jabba's palace, accidentally
"falls out of her costume" when Jabba is trying to drag her
towards him. Her breast can be seen for 1 or 2 frames.
SUBJECT: Star Wars on Star Trek?
EVENT: ST:TNG episode, "All Good Things..."
Would you guys believe that Star Wars received recognition on the
last Star Trek: The Next Generation episode? Beverly Crusher has
command of a medical ship, the USS Pasteur. Anyway there is a
dedication plaque on the bridge that reads:
USS PASTEUR
Hope Class Star Fleet Registry NCC 59929
Marin County, Star Fleet Yards, Skywalker Division
United Federation of Planets
SUBJECT: Noted 'extra'
EVENT:
In Return of the Jedi, there is a scene where Chewie climbs on a
Scout (Chicken) Walker and tosses out the occupants. One of these
men is really the (late) Richard Marquand, the film's director,
and the other is another notable, but I don't remember who it is.
SUBJECT: Ewoks who speak English
EVENT: Just after C-3PO sits up and the Ewoks
start to praise him
If you listen carefully, one of the Ewoks looks at Threepio and
says, 'That guy's wise.", and then the one next to him says,
"More than I am short."
SUBJECT: The special F/X of the light saber
EVENT:
The following is a conversation between Matt Bradshaw and
Bill Warren and DK (whoever that is!):
DK> First of all from the standpoint
DK> that reflecting something back at a higher intensity that the
DK> original light source is a physical impossibility. Second of all,
DK> it is widely known that the lightsabers were done with rotoscoping,
DK> they had a reflective surface on the "beams" so that the
DK> rotoscopers would have something to follow as far as length and to
DK> make sure the beams were straight.
BW> You're both right and wrong. In the initial film, the rods were
BW> covered with Scotchlite (or Scotchlight?), the reflective stuff
BW> made by 3M that's used for road signs, and in front-screen
BW> projection setups. And that stuff DOES, in essence, reflect back
BW> more light than it is getting, in that it's lenticular, so it
BW> focusses the light, and thereby amplifies it.
BW> However, it did not produce enough light to get the effect
BW> Lucas wanted, and so he had the lightsabers rotoscoped in. For
BW> the second two films, I believe the Scotchlight was dropped.
VIDEO WATCHDOG did an article on the light sabre effects not too long ago.
The Scotchlight was indeed dropped after the first film. For the EMPIRE
STRIKES BACK a simple metal rod was inserted into the light sabre handle
to give the animators a guide by which to rotoscope in the sabre blade.
For RETURN OF THE JEDI there was nothing attached to the light sabre
handle, making it much more difficult to rotoscope.
Also, sinch the Scotchlight blade was rotating it threw light onto the
actors faces. You'll notice that this particular effect (or side effect)
is absent in the second and third films.
** RETURN OF THE JEDI INCONSISTENCIES **
----------------------------------------
Anyone find any?
-Jason
jason.leblanc@gaquatic.iii.net