20 Lesser Known Facts Surrounding The Making Of Star Wars
6. The Camera That Revolutionized Special Effects
Sure, we know that when Star Wars came out, the special effects were lauded as the best that had ever been seen in the film industry. But did you know that in order to get there, a completely new camera had to be created? John Dykstra created a camera that was able to go in multiple axes of motion: tilt, swing, boom, lens focus, motor drive, pan, roll, traverse, and shutter control. This camera became known as the Dykstraflex. Dykstra won an Academy Award for best special effects and special technical achievement for his work on Star Wars, and went on to lend his expertise to many other films that needed the same treatment. Unfortunately, due to disagreements between Dykstra and Lucas, Dykstra did not return for any more Star Wars movies. We should thank John Dykstra for his invaluable work that made Star Wars look real and not campy, though, as some science fiction films of the day turned out to be. The camera took Star Wars to the next level - I can only imagine what could have been done if Dykstra had stayed with the team.
5. Revenge Of The Jedi
Yes, you read that right. Originally, Lucas decided that the title for the third and final installment of the Original Trilogy would be "Revenge of the Jedi." Later, he changed his mind, realizing that Jedi do not necessarily take revenge. He decided that a more appropriate title would be "Return of the Jedi." But he was a little too late. Lucasfilm had already distributed some posters with the title of Revenge of the Jedi. On top of that, the photos had an error where Luke had a red lightsaber and Vader had blue. Lucasfilm stopped shipping the posters and most were destroyed, but 6,800 original posters still remain. Legitimate Revenge posters are hard to come by and unfortunately most of those being sold out there are actually bootlegged. And, as a side note - and in case you didn't realize by this point - Episode III's title, Revenge of the Sith, is a throwback to this discarded title from 1983.
