Sunday 13 January 2013

ROTJ AT 30: A NEW LIGHTSABER...


In an isolated cave perched atop a mountain, a mysterious figure puts the final touches to his newly constructed lightsaber, watched by an anticipating Astro Droid, whilst a lone protocol droid waits outside, ready to follow his master's instructions, in the now mythical deleted scene from the beginning of RETURN OF THE JEDI, finally revealed to amazed fans on Blu-ray in 2011.

For years thought incomplete, even members of the film's production team were not aware of the existence of the footage (I still annoyingly remember asking the film's Production Designer, Norman Reynolds, to an audience packed room at CELEBRATION IV, about the scene, and the importance of the lightsaber, and being pretty much laughed out of the place and friendly insulted by host Scott Chernoff, and an ignorant Reynolds. Though Don Bies, bless him, did at least speak up for me in remembering the special lightsaber for the scene still existing within the LUCASFILM archives!)

For the full behind the scenes details, check out our feature here, including an exclusive talk with JEDI producer Howard Kazanjian, who shares his own unique perspective on the once deleted sequence:

STAR WARS AFICIONADO MAGAZINE: LUKE AND THE LIGHTSABER: RESTORATION OF A JEDI!

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