Luke Skywalker Force-Jump Puppet from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Conservation and display of a Luke Skywalker Force-Jump Puppet from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
It’s no secret that the TSD team is full of massive Star Wars fans! While we love the movies, we’re equally obsessed with the behind-the-scenes magic and how they were made. We love digging in and learning the stories about how George Lucas and his team created the special effects to bring the Star Wars universe to life. One fantastic example of this creative thinking is the Luke Skywalker Force-Jump Puppet from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
In the iconic lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in the carbonite chamber on Bespin, Luke falls into the freezing chamber but saves himself at the last moment using the Force. Instead of a live-action stunt which risked the safety of actor Mark Hamill, the artists at Industrial Light and Magic came up a brilliantly low-tech solution. To modify a Kenner 12″ Luke Skywalker action figure originally released after Star Wars: A New Hope.
After reposing the figure in “Force Jump” pose, they gave “Luke’s” hands and head more realistic paint to better resemble Mark Hamill, and make the puppet feel less doll like. Since the original action figure was wearing Luke’s ANH costume, they needed to recreate his Bespin fatigues costume, and they came up with another cleverly simple solution…masking tape! They wrapped the figure in layers of tape and painted it like the costume and then modified the toy’s existing belt to match his belt in the film. The jumping scene effect was filmed with this prop puppet on a blue screen and then inserted into the final movie.
When our client brought this piece to us for conservation and a custom display, we had long discussions with them about the different ways to approach conservation or restoration. Our highest priority was to stabilize all of the original material. This entailed sealing down all of the original paint to help prevent further flaking and loss in the future. We also re-adhered the areas where the tape had come loose or was starting to peel. Much like the paint, this would help prevent additional loss in the future.
While our main focus was conservation of the piece, since this its first destination would be on display in a museum, we and the client were worried that the missing sleeve might be distracting for some viewers. So we decided to replicate the missing sleeve in an archival method which would allow it to be safely removed without damaging the screen used puppet.
To complete the custom display we created a themed base using the carbonite chamber as inspiration, pulling in elements like the iconic orange glow and dot-dash pattern of the circular chamber floor.
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