Author Archive



Star Wars Mysteries: Let’s Give Luke a Hand

Pablo Hidalgo | April 1, 2013

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In the spring of 2009, Lucasfilm got the following email (without any sort of visual attachment) from a recent visitor to the Star Wars: Where Science Meets the Imagination museum tour.

One of the items on display which was of great interested to me was “Luke’s prosthetic Hand”. It was a prosthetic of Luke’s hand showing damage to the palm area. The display card with the item states:

“Luke’s Prosthetic Hand. Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.”

My question is: Was this prop actually used in any of the Star Wars films? I have no memory of seeing it in The Empire Strikes Back (or Return of the Jedi). In Empire, we see Luke’s hand showing damage in the wrist area. In Jedi, we see Luke’s hand with damage to the back of the hand. In none of the movies do we see damage to the palm (if my memory is correct).

So, was the prop on display ever actually seen onscreen in Empire (or Jedi)? Was the prop perhaps built and never used?

Geeky, inquiring minds, need to know! :-) Thanks for any help you can provide.

That question ping-ponged through several inboxes across Lucasfilm, looking for an answer. It landed in my lap, which triggered a few memories. Again, this inquiry came in with no visuals attached, but some very distinctive images popped into my mind.

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Star Wars Mysteries: The Rebel Commando That Wasn’t

Pablo Hidalgo | March 5, 2013

This installment’s hunt for answers wasn’t sparked by any long-burning question. It probably won’t turn your world upside-down like the Max and Wedge posts did. But if I were the kind of guy who really enjoyed photo-supported Star Wars esoterica (and I am), I’d be all over this (and I am).  I stumbled upon this latest discovery while researching the Max Rebo entry. For years now, there was a reference photo in our image archives that had been labeled a Rebel commando. Based on that keyword, this reference photo saw print in a couple of sources like, until a few weeks ago, StarWars.com. But as soon as I learned that this is not a Rebel commando, I had them pull it.

There's something not right about this guy....

There's something not right about this guy....

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Star Wars Mysteries: Getting to the Bottom of Max Rebo

Pablo Hidalgo | February 20, 2013
Star Wars Mysteries: Getting to the Bottom of Max Rebo
Not since Lapti Nek will Max Rebo fans have their worlds rocked this hard. A few months back, ace illustrator Brandon Bird reached out to me via the magic of the Internet to back up his contention concerning Max Rebo, about something most people don’t know about the elephantine keyboardist. Referencing an online article about the action figure incarnation of Max, Brandon insisted that Max was never ever supposed to have legs. And you know what, he’s absolutely right.
[action figure picture]
This diapered humanoid is how Kenner extrapolated the body of Max Rebo in 1983 for his first toy. It was created with the assumption that he’s sitting at the center of his keyboard. Since that time, the Expanded Universe has run with the idea that that Max has legs. The Ortolan species (which was established by Troy Denning in 1989’s Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Species) has two legs and two arms. But that was never the intent of Max’s original designers.
[Ortoloan artwork]
Below is the maquette that Phil Tippett created for Max to first define the alien. In this early incarnation, he was known as Red Ball Jett. Look at the shape of those limbs. Those are legs. They terminate not at shoulders, but rather to large muscles at Max’s base that look like a gluteus maximus. A butt, if I may be so bold.
Schematic artwork defining how Max could possibly work made it clear he doesn’t have shoulders. The limbs begin at the base. Note though, in the final film the number of performers inside Max changed to just one.
Max doesn’t have shoulders. Those limbs begin at his base.
Then, when we look at some of the schematic art for the creature, the idea
But the real clincher is this blueprint for the keyboard — called the Red Ball Jett organ. Yes, it was built as a donut-shaped instrument because the filmmaking reality necessitated that the performer sit inside. But looking at the callouts in the blueprint, the “ring” that surrounds Max’s non-existent trunk is described as a cushion. It was meant to be a pillow that Max is sitting on, not a
Of course, when the creature was created, it was hard not to see the limbs as arms, because that is what was needed to drive the performance. The peculiar hinging of the limbs – the upward slant of femurs to knee to shins instead became lateral slants of humerus to elbow to forearms. The skinflaps remained. And yes, I can understand why an artist would interpret them as arms.
But that wasn’t how Max was designed.

Not since “Lapti Nek” will Max Rebo fans have their worlds rocked this hard. A few months back, ace illustrator Brandon Bird reached out to me via the magic of the Internet to back up a certain contention regarding Max Rebo, concerning something most people don’t know about the elephantine keyboardist. Referencing an online article about the action figure incarnation of Max, Brandon insisted that Max was never ever supposed to have legs. And you know what, he’s absolutely right.

Max's legs -- the blue elephant in the room.

Max's legs -- the blue elephant in the room.

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Star Wars Mysteries: Hunting for the Fake Wedge

Pablo Hidalgo | February 6, 2013

Longtime readers of StarWars.com will already know this story. Parts of it were recounted in the official Homing Beacon email newsletter back in September 2004, and then a few months later on the ol’ user blogs that used to be hosted on this site. But since neither of those archives are readily available, and since I’m overdue for a blog post, I figured I’d retell the story of how I found the enigmatic briefing room Wedge Antilles from Episode IV. Also, this is an excuse to launch a semi-regular series of blog posts that have to do with little mysteries I’ve helped solve in my time here at Lucasfilm.

Who are you... and what have you done with Wedge?

Who are you... and what have you done with Wedge?

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It Was Clearly the Will of the Force

Pablo Hidalgo | January 21, 2013

Just pointing out something that you’ll now never be able to un-see.

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Pablo Hidalgo is paid to know the difference between Romba and Lumat and dies a little bit inside when you misspell Wookiee or Lucasfilm. He lives in San Francisco and also on Twitter as @infinata.

What’s Inside Star Wars Insider #138

Pablo Hidalgo | December 10, 2012

This issue was remarkable, because as it was coming together, the news about the Disney acquisition and the new Star Wars trilogy was just about to break. I wouldn’t call myself an editor of the magazine – I just advise when and where I can – but this time, I got to channel the ink-fingered editors of yore and put a call out to HOLD THAT FRONT COVER!

The subscriber exclusive cover for issue #138.

The subscriber exclusive cover for issue #138.

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On the Brink of the Future

Pablo Hidalgo | October 30, 2012

For Star Wars fans, today’s great news is seismic. The prospect of new movies invites a rush of questions as the mind races to grasp its implications. The one that sticks in my mind, though, isn’t about the movies. It’s: “Where were you when you heard?” While the temptation is to speculate wildly on what lies beyond the horizon and be mindful of the future, I also don’t want to lose track of the present, as Qui-Gon advises in Episode I.

To my fellow old school Star Wars fans, I ask you to reach into your collection and dust off Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine #10, the Winter 1990 issue of the official fan club magazine. I’ll wait while you admire the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade cover. Now flip it open, and there, on page 1, is the breathless headline that blares, “The FORCE To Return In The 90’s!!”

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What’s Inside Star Wars Insider #137

Pablo Hidalgo | October 24, 2012

It’s that time again – the latest issue of Star Wars Insider, the official Star Wars magazine, is making its way to subscribers and newsstands. Here’s a look at some of the top content inside this issue, as well as an important correction that fans of The Clone Wars won’t want to miss.

Insider 137 Newsstand and Comic Store covers

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The Essential Reader’s Companion : Making the Cut

Pablo Hidalgo | October 4, 2012

This week saw the release of my latest book, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion from Del Rey Books, a hefty guide to Star Wars prose fiction – all the novels, young reader novels and short stories that have come out in the over-35 years since the very first Star Wars novelization appeared in bookstores in late 1976 (yes, months before the movie came out). To do something like that requires a lot of pages, and a lot of words. The final book is 486-pages long, and covers over 145 full-length novels, over 100 juvenile novels, and over 170 short stories.

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But, of course, it doesn’t cover everything. Some things didn’t make the cut – and some made it very, very close.

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Meet Braconnor Bakiska

Pablo Hidalgo | September 26, 2012

When Tom Spina and I were brainstorming ideas to make our Celebration VI behind-the-scenes panel on the Mos Eisley cantina aliens truly memorable, we both gravitated to an unnamed alien lurking in the shadows of the infamous watering hole. Despite over three decades of scrutiny, this shifty looking barfly had managed to avoid the spotlight. So, Tom and I figured we’d give him his due, and also come up with a way to give him a name.

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