(Originally from the Movies Trivia FAQ) Copyright (C) 1993 Murray Chapman # American Graffiti - License plate on John Milner's (Paul LeMat) car is ``THX-138'' _THX 1138_ is a film also directed by George Lucas. - There is a rumor that while George Lucas and a co-worker were editing the film, the co-worker asked Lucas for ``Reel Two, Dialog Two'', which abbreviated to ``R2D2'', a name which surfaced in Lucas' later film _Star Wars_. # Apocalypse Now - Harrison Ford's character wears a name badge which reads ``G. Lucas''. George Lucas directed Ford in _American Graffiti_ and _Star Wars_, two films which made Ford famous. G. D. Spradlin's character is named ``R. Corman'', after producer Roger Corman. # Close Encounters of the Third Kind - It is possible to see an upside down R2-D2 (from _Star Wars_, etc) in part of the large spacecraft that flys over Devil's Mountain. The SFX people needed more detail, and so supposedly there are many more such items, such as a shark from _Jaws_ (Also directed by Spielberg), etc. R2-D2 is visible as Barry's mother first sees the mothership up close from her hiding place in the rocks. # E.T. - Harrison Ford played the school principal, but his scenes were cut. There is a rumor that you can still see his back. Ford's wife Melissa Mathison wrote the screenplay. # Empire Strikes Back, The - Lighting for SFX was so strong that several models melted. - The AT-AT's were based on ship loading structure in an Oakland, California shipyard. Walking patterns of elephants were studied to make the movements seem as realistic as possible. - Before this film was made, Mark Hamill (Luke) was driving his BMW along a highway. Realizing was missing his turn, he swung sharply, but ended up rolling his car and suffering facial scarring. Despite the efforts of plastic surgeons, his appearance was noticeably different. For this reason, the scene where Luke receives facial scars from a Wampa was written. - Further scenes with the Wampa Ice Creatures were shot, and later cut. R2-D2 encountered one within the Rebel base, where it was killed by troopers. Later, the beasts were lured into a prison within the complex. In the completed film, a medical droid is seen examining the wounds of a Tauntaun killed by a Wampa, and Princess Leia mentions the ``creatures'' while discussing the Imperial Probe Droid. A scene filmed but cut had Han, Leia and C-3PO running through a corridor. Han went to take a short-cut through a door with a sign on it, but Leia warned him ``that's where those creatures are kept''. They run off, but not before C-3PO rips off the sign, hoping that the stormtroopers will enter the room. - Luke cuts off the Wampa's hand. C-3PO loses an arm when blasted by the Stormtroppers. Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand. See also _Star Wars_ and _Return of the Jedi_. - There is a rumor that one of the asteroids is actually a potato. - The following characters ``have a bad feeling about this'': Leia. See also: _Star Wars_ and _Return of the Jedi_. - Wedge Antilles (Rebel pilot who trips an AT-AT walker) is played by Dennis (two ``n''s) Lawson. See also _Star Wars_ and _Return of the Jedi_ [rumor] - Security surrounding this movie was so intense that George Lucas had regular reports about ``leaks'' from actors. Lucas was so determined that the ending be kept secret that he had actor David Prowse (Darth Vader) say ``Obi Wan Kenobi is your father'', and dubbed it later to be ``I am your father''. - Captain (later Admiral) Piett is left in command of the Imperial fleet by the end of the film, and is still in charge during _Return of the Jedi_. - The designers at ILM wanted a radical design for Boba Fett's ship. They ended up using the end of a lamp post from the street outside the ILM building. - This is Carrie Fisher's favorite movie of the trilogy. Despite this, there were claims that she was heavily into drugs at the time. The scene where Han Solo was to be carbon frozen was a long a complex scene which required many takes. Eventually, Leia says ``I love you'' to Han Solo. Harrison Ford had heard this line so many times that he changed the scripted ``I love you too'' to ``I know''. George Lucas didn't want to film the scene again, and thought it read much better that way, so it remained. - FTP site wpi.wpi.edu is the official rec.arts.sf.starwars archive. # Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Begins with a shot of a rock in Utah which is reminiscent of the Paramount Pictures logo. See also (_Raiders of the Lost Ark_, and _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_) - Shows origin of Jones' fear of snakes in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. - Harrison Ford cut his chin in a car accident in Northern California when he was about 20. In the movie, this cut is explained by young Indiana Jones cutting his chin with a whip. See also: _Working Girl_. - When making _Star Wars_, George Lucas owned a dog named ``Indiana''. - The dog barking when young Indy passes with the cross in his hand is an Alaskan Malmute, the same type of dog the Lucas's owned in the late 1970s. - Walter Donovan was played by Julian Glover, and Donovan's wife was played by Glover's wife. - DIRTRADE(Steven Spielberg): [music] # Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Begins with a shot of a mountain on a gong which is reminiscent of the Paramount Pictures logo. See also (_Raiders of the Lost Ark_, and _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_) - Short Round was named after screenwriter Willard Huyck's dog, which was named after the orphan in _The Steel Helmet_. - The club at the beginning is called ``Club Obi Wan'', a reference to a _Star Wars_ character. - Shots of mining-car roller-coaster ride done with models and a 35mm camera modified to hold extra film. - Rehash of the ``shooting the swordsman'' joke from _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. - Suspension bridge only shown from one side, to avoid showing the Grand Coulee Dam. - Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg are married. - CAMEO(Dan Aykroyd): meets Indiana at the airport at the beginning. - CAMEO(Frank Marshall [producer]): a tourist in the background in the airport scene at the beginning. - DIRCAMEO(Steven Spielberg): a tourist in the background in the airport scene at the beginning. - DIRTRADE(Steven Spielberg): [music] # Raiders of the Lost Ark - Begins with a shot of a peak in the jungle which is reminiscent of the Paramount Pictures logo. See also (_Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_, and _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_) - Tom Selleck originally cast as Indiana Jones. - Frank Marshall (the film's producer) played the airline pilot. [?????] - Jock's airplane at the beginning has the registration number ``OB-3PO'', referring to Obi-wan and C-3PO from _Star Wars_. - Script originally included a long fight between a swordsman and Indiana with his whip. Actor Harrison Ford was suffering diarrhea at the time, and asked ``Why don't I just shoot him?'', so they filmed this instead. - The truck that didn't have Marion in it was flipped over by firing a section of a telephone pole through the floorboards. - The hieroglyphics in the map room include engravings of R2-D2 and C-3PO (from _Star Wars_, etc), however they do not appear on film. - DIRTRADE(Steven Spielberg): [music] # Return of the Jedi - Members of the SFX crew inserted a sneaker into a complicated dogfight sequence. - Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy, the producers claimed to be making a horror film called ``Blue Harvest (Horror beyond your imagination)'', and even had caps and t-shirts made up for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs. - Experiments with a computer to generate a random but logical language for some creatures produced a dialect of Greek. - Luke's hand gets shot. Leia gets shot in the shoulder. Luke cuts off Darth Vader's hand. See also _Star Wars_ and _The Empire Stries Back_. - The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls in. - Carrie Fisher's birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a mounted laser gun. - Rumor has it that Nien Numb speaks a Kenyan dialect, and one of his lines is ``One thousand herds of elephants are standing on my foot''. - Lando Calrissian and The Millenium Falcon originally scripted to perish in the Death Star explosion, but this was changed after a poor preview audience reception. Note Han's line when Calrissian leaves in the Falcon: ``...like I'm not going to see her again...'' - It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and Han Solo. Dark Horse4s Comic ``Dark Empire'' is based on that fact and presents Han and Leia as a married couple. - Dennis (two ``n''s) Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in _Star Wars_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_ was unavailable for this movie. A new actor was hired in England, given the name Denis (one ``n'') Lawson, filmed on a secret sound stage (all his lines are from within a fighter cockpit). [rumor] - Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt's entourage are ones named ``Klaatu,'' ``Barada'' and ``Nikto,'' after the command given to the robot Gort in _The Day the Earth Stood Still_. The aliens are not referred to by name in the film, nor do they have any lines. Klaatu is the character who tries to push Luke into Sarlacc. - The name ``Ewok'' is never used to refer to the teddy-bear creatures in the film, though it does appear in the credits. - The following characters ``have a bad feeling about this'': C-3PO, Han, and Lando. - The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found another car and was about to leave when the Ewok's bus pulled up, and all the Ewok actors got off wearing ``Revenge of the Ewok'' t-shirts. - Darth Vader's body was played by David Prowse, his voice by James Earl Jones, and his face by Sebastian Shaw. - One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: ``Det luktar flingor har'', which is Swedish for ``It smells of cereal here.'' - The title ``Revenge of the Jedi'' was leaked early in production, so that pirated merchandise could be easily spotted when the film was released. The official reason for the change was that ``...a Jedi would not take revenge''. Some authentic pre-release movie posters actually had ``Revenge'', and are worth a lot of money today. - Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San Francisco skyline. - FTP site wpi.wpi.edu is the official rec.arts.sf.starwars archive. # Spaceballs - One of the ships parked at the diner is the the Millenium Falcon from _Star Wars_. # Star Wars - Director George Lucas had trouble getting funding for this movie, most studios thinking that people wouldn't go to see it. - The Director's Guild of America (DGA) didn't like the fact that there were no specific credits at the beginning of the film. They ``ordered'' Lucas to recut the film and put some credits at the beginning. Lucas refused, claiming that this would destroy the opening of the film. The DGA fined Lucas, who paid up, and promptly quit the DGA. - Derived from (among other things) a Japanese movie called _Hidden Fortress_. Obi Wan Kenobi was modeled after a Samurai warrior type, and C-3PO and R2-D2 are derived from a couple of petty crooks he conscripted to help rescue a princess. - The word ``Jedi'' is derived from the Japanese words ``Jidai Geki'' which translate as ``period drama.'' A period drama is a Japanese TV soap opera program set in the samurai days. Lucas mentioned in an interview that he saw a ``Jidai Geki'' program on TV while in Japan a year or so before the movie was made and liked the word. - Jodie Foster was Lucas' second option for Princess Leia, Christopher Walken was second in line for Han Solo. Lucas also considered Nick Nolte for the role of Solo. - A great deal of the film was shot by vintage 1950's VistaVision cameras, because they were of higher quality than any others available. After the film was released, the prices of these cameras skyrocketed. - The episode number and subtitle ``A New Hope'' did not originally appear in the film's opening crawl. These were added in a later re-release to be consistent with those seen in _The Empire Strikes Back_. - There is a rumor that while George Lucas and a co-worker were editing _American Graffiti_, the co-worker asked Lucas for ``Reel Two, Dialog Two'', which abbreviated to ``R2D2'', a name which stuck in Lucas' mind. - Scene of escape pod leaving Leia's ship was the first ever done by ILM. - C-3PO originally scripted as a ``used car salesman'' type, and designed after the robot from _Metropolis_. - The Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia. There is a town in Tunisia called ``Tatahouine''. - The sounds of the lasers were made by striking one of the guy wires of a power pylon. - There is a rumor that Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) was having trouble timing his conversations with R2-D2, as R2-D2's dialog was to be dubbed in later. Supposedly, Daniels asked Lucas to make some kind of noise to help him, but when Lucas forgot, the matter was dropped. - Chewbacca was modeled after Lucas' dog, Indiana. See also _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_. - C-3PO loses an arm when attacked by the Sandpeople. Ben cuts off a creature's hand in the Cantina. See also _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_. - The following characters ``have a bad feeling about this'': Luke and Han. See also _The Empire Strikes Back_, and _Return of the Jedi_. - A small pair of metal dice can be seen hanging in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon as Chewbacca makes preparations to depart from Mos Eisley. They don't appear in subsequent scenes. - Han and Luke ``transfer'' Chewbacca from cell block 1138: George Lucas made a film called _THX 1138_. "THX-1138" was going to be the serial number of the guard with the faulty transmitter on the Death Star, but this was changed. - Harrison Ford deliberately didn't learn his lines for the intercom conversation in the cell block, so it would sound spontaneous. - When the stormtroopers enter the room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding, one of them ``accidentally'' bumps his head on the door, complete with sound effects. - Scenes featuring Luke and his Tatooine friend ``Biggs'' were cut from the film. Biggs was a young pilot who left the Imperial Academy to join the Rebellion. Luke mentions him to his ``aunt'' and ``uncle'' during the breakfast scene, and the character later shows up as a Rebel pilot who accompanies Luke down the final run on the Death Star trench (and is killed by Darth Vader). - James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, but specifically requested that he not be credited, as he felt he had not done enough work to get the billing. David Prowse was supposedly extremely annoyed at not being told that his voice would be dubbed. - Cardboard cutouts are used for some of the background starfighters in the Rebel hanger bay. - Mark Hamill held his breath for so long during the trash compactor scene that he broke a blood vessel in his face. Subsequent shots are from one side only. - Luke's other wingman on the trench run is named Wedge Antilles, and is played by Dennis (two 'n's) Lawson. See also _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_. [rumor] - When Luke returns to the Rebel base after destroying the Death Star, he gets out of his X-Wing and greets Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) who is running towards him. He says ``Carrie!''. - Most of the crowd watching the heroes receive their medallions are cardboard cutouts. - George Lucas' owns property in California called ``Skywalker Ranch''. - FTP site wpi.wpi.edu is the official rec.arts.sf.starwars archive. # THX 1138 - ``THX'' stands for ``Tomlinson Holman's eXperiment''. Tomlinson Holman was a friend of director George Lucas, and inventor of the THX sound system used extensively by Lucas. -- Murray Chapman Zheenl Punczna -- -- muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au zhmmyr@pf.hd.bm.nh -- -- University of Queensland Havirefvgl bs Dhrrafynaq -- -- Brisbane, Australia Oevfonar, Nhfgenyvn --