A Tale of Two Landspeeders

One Little, One Big, Both Amazing

Star Wars is the first film I remember seeing. I was three, almost four years old the summer it was released. My parents took me to the theater to see it and I’ve been a fan of the films ever since.

Over the past 45 years I’ve spent thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands, on Star Wars toys and collectibles. I’ve seen every theatrically-released Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back on opening day. A few of them, twice. Along the way I’ve also had the opportunity to see lots and lots of original props, models, and even matte paintings from the films on display at different museums and expos.

Several years ago, as a part of the traveling Star Wars Museum exhibit, I got to see not one but two different Landspeeders.

In the original Star Wars, Luke Skywalker zipped around his home planet of Tatooine in his landspeeder (an X-34, to be exact). The landspeeder was one of the first ships released by Kenner, along with the X-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, and Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter. The toy version of the landspeeder had three small wheels that protruded from the bottom allowing it to roll like a car, but as to how they made the landspeeder in the movie “fly”… my friends and I were stumped.

In some shots, a miniature was used. Miniatures and mdels are always awesome to see up close. On one hand, the amount of detail is always impressive. On the other hand, the lack of detail that shows up on screen is also impressive. It’s amazing that a small model can appear to look so real when projected in a theater.

But, how did they get the shots of the landspeeder when human beings were seen inside it?

As you can see in the above photo, one version of the landspeeder had a real engine with sheels underneath and mirrors mounted on the side. The mirrors were mounted at a slight angle which, when filmed far enough away, reflected the sand below making it appear as if the landspeeder was floating. David Copperfield has used the same design to make things float and/or disappear.

In the picture above, you can clearly see the rear wheel.

There was one other technique that was used that didn’t involve antigravity or multiple jet engines. In the scene where Luke pulls up to his former home after Stormtrooper had burned it (RIP Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru), the landspeeder (the one above, I believe) was kind of “dollied” into view. When connected to that dolly system, the landspeeder would only roll around in a circle.

Standing just a few feet away from Luke’s landspeeder was a huge thrill. Had there not been a couple of stormtroopers standing by watching over the place, I might have hopped the fence in hopes that someone had left the keys in the ignition.