The copy I had and then lent to somebody and never got back definitely had Luke and Leia getting a little too friendly (I specifically recall a mud-wrestling scene, and looking the book up on Amazon bears that out), and Vader fell into a big chasm. Luke also died, but Leia brought him back to life with some crystal thing.
It ended with a big lightsaber duel and Vader falling … I distinctly remember thinking that the author had intended for him to be dead. I could be wrong.
I’ll do my best to locate my copy, but I recall thinking I would never read it again because it creeped me out.
(But I re-looked up that thing I mentioned earlier about Owen being Ben’s brother, because I thought that was what somebody was going to challenge me on. )
Uh, this doesn’t sound plausible either. The only part of the Sandcrawler that was built full scale was one side of the caterpillar treads, used in close shots where the actors were standing next to the vehicle.
Not only that, but the Sandcrawler scene was filmed near Sidi Bouhlel canyon, much closer to the Algerian border than the Libyan border.
Bah. First rule of survival in a Call of Cthulhu campaign: If you don’t have the body, it’s not dead. Remember, the goal of all the Jedi is to die in front of Luke so they can become immortal. If they fall down into a pit and die, that’s no good.
-When filming Return of the Jedi, all locations were marked with signs calling the movie “Blue Harvest” in order to throw off the massive throngs of fans who tended to show up on set if they had heard a Star Wars movie was being filmed. Apparently props had a tendancy to disappear regularily.
-Chewbacca was inspired by Lucas’ large hairy dog (who was named “Indiana” btw).
-In the original concept script of ROTJ, Endor was supposed to have been inhabited by Wookies (Chewbacca’s species). Can’t quite recall why they changed this to Ewoks though.
Precisely why I thought he had to be dead. Falling into a pit=permanent death. Or, at least, it did at the time. Dying in front of Luke=cool ghost-Jedi projection.
I also read the book years before The X-Files premiered, which is the medium that taught me never to believe anyone’s dead until you see the body … and sometimes not even then.
From what I’ve read, Lucas wanted some very primative race or culture to have a major role in the Empire’s downfall. That was originally going to be the Wookies, but after seeing Chewbacca as co-pilot on the Millenium Falcon, helping with repairs, and so on, it was clear that Wookies had to be smart and reasonably adept with technology. Hence the Ewoks.
My books are packed up from a move, but I’m pretty sure I still have Splinter of the Mind’s Eye; I can go back and confirm details if anyone needs them.
In a related vein, Carrie Fisher said that she had a real hard time playing “angry” against Cushing during filming, since she had previously known him as both a refined actor and a gentleman.
…not that it fooled the fans for long. Some of the filming in the California Redwoods (for the Leia/Han Endor scenes) were punctuated by throngs of fans in the distance yelling, “Hey, Harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrison!”
She has also said she had a particularly hard time delivering the line “I recognized your foul stench when I was brought onboard” with a straight face, because Mr. Cushing did smell quite strongly – of lavender.
The shape of the Milennium Falcon was taken from a hamburger with an olive lying beside it. Apparently a couple of the designers were out for lunch one day and it hit them.
Cynics may consider that a lame rationalization for the change, though.
Cute, teddy-bear Ewoks were more marketable as plush toys than Wookies would have been. Gotta include a hook for six-year-olds, and never mind if it alienates the older fans.
Tataouine is the name of a town in southern Tunisia not far from Matmata, the town where a good deal of the desert scenes from the series were filmed. Three guesses what that became…
In Matmata you can also visit the cantina… there are still some props bolted into things in the town and I had a lot of fun poking around there, Star Wars or no Star Wars, southern Tunisia is cool…
The Wilhelm scream is a male scream which was originally in a 50’s Western movie and has been an in-joke in the Star Wars series and other films.
In Ep III it was
a minute or so after Count Dooku was killed, during the battle which ensued
I’m not well-versed enough in the Star Wars universe to provide more detail as to who/what/where was screaming in the above instance but I’m sure someone more knoweldgeable can provide more details.
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