Lucas had intended for Jabba the Hutt to be big and furry, similar to Chewbacca. In A New Hope he had actor Declan Mulholland stand in the role wearing a shaggy coat, but the scene was cut until it was possible to have the Return of the Jedi style Jabba in the Special Editions. The eventual Hutt puppet took three months to build, cost $500,000 to make, had to be operated by 6 puppeteers and weighed 2000lbs. The puppet had to be repaired following each take of his death scene.
8. Litter In Space
Much of the special effects equipment required to achieve many of the shots in the Star Wars original trilogy were being invented and manufactured while the visual effects artists were working on the film. It made it very difficult to live up to expectations, schedule and budget. In some space scenes, the animators had to fill up the background, and as a result you can spot familiar objects floating around during action sequences because the crew thought no-one would notice. For example, you can see chewed-up gum, a sneaker and a potato among other things. They even deliberately put a kitchen sink in space in the prequels.
Recently graduated from University of Hertfordshire with a Film & Television Production degree. Usually found watching films, listening to music, writing for whatculture and writing reviews for awardscircuit.com and my blog.
