11. Flying through Death Star 2
With the Death Star 2’s energy shield out of action, Lando Calrissian and his mouse-faced co-pilot Nien Nunb fly the Millennium Falcon into its innards and commence an exhilarating race towards its main reactor.
“It was quite a complicated thing to get the camera in there, disassembling the set as we were moving through right before the camera hit it,” explains Jedi’s FX supervisor Dennis Muren.
12. Head-banger
A New Hope’s classic gaffe: a stormtrooper marches into a Death Star gantry office and bumps his head on the door-frame. But who was it? Actors Laurie Goode and Michael Leader both claim the incident, leaving the identity of this clumsy Imperial a mystery.
13. The chasm swing
If you had to pick one scene from A New Hope to sum up Lucas’ vision for an old-fashioned, Saturday matinee space-opera, it would be Luke and Leia’s chasm swing – a moment of pure popcorn-spilling perfection. With reckless disregard for health and safety, Hamill and Fisher completed the swing in one take.
14. Starkiller size guide
Imagine J.J. Abrams’ dilemma when making Star Wars: The Force Awakens. How could he create a threat even more powerful than the Death Star? As Poe Dameron loads up a hologrammatic side-by-side comparison, Han Solo has the answer: “So, it’s bigger…”
15. Obi-Wan’s death
“You can’t win, Darth,” Obi-Wan warns Vader as they lock lightsabers in A New Hope. “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” But then he lets Vader do exactly that, creating just the distraction Luke needs to make his escape.
George Lucas was in two minds about whether Kenobi should perish, to Alec Guinness’ annoyance. “Irritated by Lucas saying he hadn’t made up his mind whether to kill off my part or not,” he wrote in his diary. “A bit late for such decisions.”
