Star Wars: The Nerdly Menace

That's right sportsfans, (such as Star Wars is a sport) Meridth and I spent last Saturday in a galaxy far far away. Brandon, my fantastic brother in law (who could be Chewbacca for Halloween, if that were his thing) tipped us off for this fantastic exhibit at the County Hall in London. Thousands (well...probably closer to dozens) of delightful rarities were on display. This particular piece is clearly from 1980's Empire. You can see Luke hanging below the Cloud City of the gas city of Bespin. Interestingly, you can see that Luke has both hands! The painting is by Ralph Mcquarrie, who did lots of the conceptual work for the classic Holy Trilogy. He also once drew Chewie with a row of breasts, because Lucas wasn't clear on his gender yet. There were a lot of really cool classic drawings. Another example is Darth Vader's castle. Yeah! He used to have a castle! This lovely piece is clearly from the latter trilogy. It's an early sketch of Queen Amidala with her elaborate costuming. The artist is Iain McCaig, one of Meridth's favorites.He uses pen and ink and a special set of shading markers. Meridth's got her hands on a set of them last year. She does a lot of fantastic sketches with them, at church and in numerous other places. (Go see her blog!)

This is an early sketch for the speeder bikes from 1983's ROTJ. Check out the detail, like the skull mounted on the bike in the upper right hand corner. Cool.


This is a really cool piece from the new trilogy which wasn't really featured in the movie. It's a Wookie funeral bier. Does my indomitable enthusiasm for this obscure bit of minutia make me really nerdly?

Yes. Yes it does.


Here's some more. I know you want to see it. This, for example, is a storyboard. How cool is that! Stick it to the Emperor, DV!




What of miniatures, you say? Well, I'm glad you asked!
This one absolutely blew. My. Mind.

Vader:"Several transmissions were beamed to this ship. I want to know what you did with the plans they sent you!"
Meridth: "This is a councilor's ship. We are on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!"
Vader: "If this is a councilor's ship where is the ambassador?!?"
Meridth: "How should I know? You're the Sith Lord, you tool!"



A-Wing!!

I love the detail. Check out the airlock hatch in the side of the tower and the rungs of the tiny ladder. Who ever saw that as Luke was streaking across the surface of the Death Star?


Best. Exhibit. Ever.