This documentary made me sad, and I have no one to blame but myself. Not that it’s depressing or anything–it’s rather technical and really makes it seem that Mr. Mark Hamill’s narration comes straight off of a cue card. But rather this is all about the various special effects and techniques used while making Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, the second Star Wars documentary directed by Robert Guenette and written by Robert Schickel (the previous one being The Making of Star Wars). But as for why I got sad, well… I’ll get to that.
As the title suggests, this is a more focused documentary compared to The Making of Star Wars. It more or less goes through Empire scene by scene, starting with the techniques used for the tauntauns, the goat creatures Luke and Han rode on the icy Hoth (in reality, Norway). For scenes where we see them running through the snow, that was actually stop-motion photography done by Phil Tippett–the man behind Mad God–and Dennis Muren. Other films that used stop-motion are namedropped like The Lost World and 1933’s King Kong as well as industry legends like Ray Harryhausen. The documentary also splices in a Wilhelm Scream into a clip from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms? Other than assuming this is foreshadowing an interview with Ben Burtt, I’m not sure what to make of it.
They also talk about the various aliens that didn’t involve stop-motion. The wampa was played by a 7’4″ actor on 2 and a half foot stilts, which made walking in the snow a bit of a problem. Stuart Freeborn created many of the monster effects, and with Rick Baker the two were behind most of the aliens in the Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope cantina scene. We even get a short interview with Peter Mayhew–the man under the Chewbacca costume. Yoda was both voiced by and puppeted by Frank Oz, and while it’s not explicitly stated, for the record Yoda isn’t a Jim Henson Muppet. I know some people think that, but nope! Henson was busy and recommended Oz.
As sci-fi technology isn’t readily available to people on Earth in 1980, models were used throughout filming. The Imperial AT-AT walkers took 9 months to design and build, and their movement was modeled off footage taken of an elephant walking. The documentary even shows the process of filming a Rebel snowspeeder exploding mid-flight, an 8-hour process that was on screen for barely over a second. And we can’t forget about the Millennium Falcon! In addition to a life-sized version, the film crew had a 4′ model, a 2′ version, and even smaller ones clocking in at just 5″ and 2″, each used situationally depending on what the ship was being filmed next to.
And as mentioned there’s a brief interview with Ben Burtt, the sound designer for the original trilogy. I mentioned the Wilhelm Scream, which I’m sure you’ve undoubtedly heard since it’s become sort of an industry joke to add it into movies and shows. Well, that’s because of Burtt! He found the file–“Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams,” originally used in 1951’s Distant Drums–in a sound library and included it in each original Star Wars film. Burtt also played an Imperial officer that Han kills in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and as he falls to his death he tries his own hand at mimicking the scream. That last part isn’t actually covered in this doc since Jedi wouldn’t be out for another 3 years. And while I’m on fun facts, the voice behind the scream is most likely Sheb Wooley, who was an extra in Distant Drums as well as the singer of The Purple People Eater. You know, one-eyed, one-horned? There’s your fun fact of the day!
Throughout the documentary we see the work of kids and teens trying their hand at various special effects, predominantly stop-motion films. While it appears most of them didn’t go onto a career in film, apparently one girl–Laurel Hughes–went on to become a camera assistant on films like Virus, and even wrote and directed her own short film, Any Given Morning. Good for her!
Okay, so let’s get into why I felt sad watching this… At one point, Mark Hamill says, “It’s not fancy equipment that makes a special effects sequence memorable; the key factor is using what you’ve got imaginatively.” And that’s the line that got to me, because just about every scene covered in this documentary has been touched up and/or replaced thanks to the 1999 or 2004 rereleases. Several original effects remain, but so much was digitally enhanced, which I feel like it steps all over the work of these special effects masters who I actively tried to credit in this post. I’m sure they don’t feel the same way and for many it’s all just a paycheck, but watching scenes from the documentary played side-by-side with the version of Empire on Disney+, a lot of the cheesy charm was edited away. But that’s the way it goes, I guess. They’re not my movies, just movies I shaped my childhood personality around. And that’s just… sad.
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