This week on The Star Wars Show!
Peter sits down with visual effects legend, Dennis Muren!
We check out the latest Star Wars table top games, and much, much more.
Now, from the Lucasfilm headquarters, it’s The Star Wars Show!
Hello I’m Peter Townley And I’m Andi Gutierrez. Welcome to The Star
Wars Show: Episode 4. Only we’re not calling it Episode 4 until
it’s re-released in theaters a couple of years from now.
Google it. Hey! Let’s talk about some news!
If you’ve ever wanted to get your hands on some of the props used in Star Wars: The
Force Awakens but don’t have a name that rhymes with Maisy Didley or Madam Biver, we
have the next best thing.
Introduced this morning by Lucasfilm, the Star Wars Collectibles: Ultimate Studio Edition
offers made to order replica props featured in The Force Awakens.
Crafted by the prop makers at Prop shop in Pinewood Studios, the replicas are created
using the same digital data as the original props.
They’re even finished using identical techniques to the screen-used props by the same people
who made them in the first place.
Eight different prop replicas are available to order right now, and we happen to have
two of them right here. Darth Vader’s melted helmet and Rey’s staff.
Wow. Which I am never giving up.
That’s really…can I tou- Can I just hold it for a second though?
No. I just wan-
No. No. But-!
For more information on these incredible replicas visit Star Wars Ultimate Studio Edition.com
Also launching today is audience voting for the 2016 Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Narrowed down from nearly 500 entries, the top 25 films were selected by the Lucasfilm
staff and now you can view and vote for your favorites on Star Wars.com.
The award winning films will be announced this summer during Star Wars Celebration Europe.
And while we’re on the topic of celebration- Nice segue!
Tickets for Star Wars Celebration Orlando in 2017 went on sale last week and they are
selling fast. In fact the VIP packages are completely sold
out. But don’t worry, 4-day and single day passes are still available. For tickets and
more information visit StarWarsCelebration.com. Finally Star Wars Fan, Martin Panchaud created
this sprawling 400 foot infographic depicting the entirety of the script for A New Hope.
StarWars.com spoke to him about the creation of this massive project, his favorite sections
to re-create and his plans for a follow-up. To read the full article or more Star Wars
information from around the galaxy check out Star Wars.com
Pew, pew, pew, pew! Star Wars!
Some want Princess Leia to become First Senator of the New Republic, but did you know she
isn’t even a real princess?! Fact!
Leia Organa is not of a royal bloodline.
She says she’s a champion of small business. But would a champion of small business murder
an entrepreneur in cold blood?!
She touts her strong family values, but did you know she married a notorious scoundrel
and spice trafficker?
Leia claims she’s for alien equality, then why doesn’t she think Wookiees deserve medals?
(Wookiee roar)
What else is she trying to hide?
Paid for by Centrists for a Strong Republic.
Hi everybody! I’m here with Dennis Muren the Senior Visual Effects Supervisor and Creative
Director at ILM. Dennis, thank you so much for being on the show!
Sure! Yeah! Glad to be here! Yeah, welcome back.
Last week, uh, you asked if you could answer some questions from the fans.
Sure. So we’re just going to get started.
Alright! And, uh, Ch-33z can you bring the questions
over please? Thanks, buddy!
So, our first question comes from IronGolem101. How did you get the job at ILM?
I was living in LA and was in my mid-20s and heard that George Lucas was doing this science
fiction film and I had never met him, and, and, I always loved movies. So, I tracked
down somebody who I heard was working on it and was doing the effects, and that was John
Dykstra. Mmm-hmm
And uh, they were just starting up, and I asked to see if maybe I could get some work
on it as a camera guy or whatever, an effects camera guy, and he said, “come on over”
and I did an interview and that was it. So, I, I walked in to a place that I had never
been to. worked with people who I had never worked with before and, uh to meet George
it was just a great experience and it changed my life.
Next question from Boston Peterson: Were you thinking that the special effects in Star
Wars: A New Hope were going to revolutionize film?
I didn’t think so. No?
Uh, I was thrilled to work with George and thrilled to work with the gear and the crew
was wonderful. They were a whole different type of people, person than I was. Uh, car
racers and stuff like that. Movie guys, real, real machinists and stuff like that.
I just thought it was going to be a one-off and that was sort of it. And I couldn’t
tell if the film was going to be any good or not?
AJ Minotti asks, “Was there a time that an attempt at a high-tech solution that failed,
and then a low tech solution became the right way to do it?”
There was talk at the beginning of the walker sequence to build real robotic walkers that
would actually walk, and I just thought that was a really, really bad idea. I just pushed,
you know we really, really shouldn’t do that. Let me do it stop-motion. Because I
knew that, I knew the people that could do it, and George said, “fine!” And, uh,
I just set it up the way that the original King Kong had been set up; with big painted
backgrounds, and you can put the puppets in front of, and you can light them correctly
and tweak and that stuff just has to be lit and photographed perfect to look really, really, good.
We have a question here from Mr. Bob A Feet… I see what you did there.
What was themost painfully rewarding special effect, or special effects, that you worked on?
It’s Empire Strikes Back. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and uh, it was far
beyond what Star Wars was, as far as the effects go. Many more shots, much more complicated
with the light backgrounds, the snow backgrounds, and the cloud backgrounds. So the matting
had to be better. So many more designs, so many different types of things between the
walkers and the asteroids sequence. Just the asteroids sequence alone… We just barely
got that show done.
Ben Wiles asks, will Dennis Muren be working on more Star Wars films?
You know, I’m working a little bit. I’m just sort of consulting. But I am kind of
looking at the dailies and making comments and saying, you know, not wanting to copy
the other films, but there is a world that they need to be in. That needs to be true
to itself, and so I sort of make suggestions.
Sort of like Obi-Wan in Empire Strikes Back, you come and mmm… it’s not ready yet.
Maybe like that. I dunno if it’s like that or not. Or maybe that slug creature that comes
out of the compactor thing and looks around and goes back… Woo, let me out of here.
Thank you so much. Sure, yeah.
Thank you for being here, talking with us, and giving us your wisdom.
Alright, thank you. Stick around, more Star Wars show in a sec.
I’m here with Steve Horvath of Fantasy Flight Games who has brought some really great stuff
over here to Lucasfilm. Steve, you just showed up with some games, what’s going on?
We did! We brought them out today for a special experience
for the employees to come see all the stuff that they work with us on to get out to the
world to everybody else.
You go off on all these crazy adventures and kind of retell the original saga. It could
be Leia who gets frozen in carbonite. You can make all of your head-canon come true.
The two of you are making your way into an Imperial facility.
We have two advantage and I have one despair. We’re gonna try and blow up the whole base.
Alright.
Andi Gutierrez! What are you doing here? Learning how to play X-Wing.
All you have to do is you pick where you’re gonna fly each turn, anticipating where your
opponent is going to fly. You roll your attack dice-
OOOOOOH!!!
Biggs Darklighter almost destroyed Darth Vader, and a droid in love snuck into an Imperial
base with the help of a Chadra-fan spy, all made possible by Fantasy Flight Games and
my imagination.
Dude! That game is so much fun. Taking out TIE Pilots
Taking them out… got my Ghost. Got my Phantom. Ready to go.
You’re all set! Yeah, man. I’m gonna have to take you down later.
Show you who’s boss! Oooooh! Challenge!
But that’s our show the week. Huge thanks to Dennis Muren for stopping by,
and to all of you out there who sent in questions. Finally, seeing as how next week is our own
episode 5, we wanted to find out from you, the viewers, who your favorite underrated
character from The Empire Strikes Back is.
Are you hinting at a return of Everything is Important?
Possibly…
Leave your answer in the comments below or tweet them to @StarWars using the hashtag
#StarWarsShow5 …deep breath…and remember to like the
video, subscribe to the channel, leave a comment, check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
Tumblr, Google+, and Star Wars.com for more Star Wars Show.
See you next week! Yeah!
Can I touch the staff now? Nope! No, it’s mine. Bye!