With all the whizbang special effects and sound design that is conjured these days with mouse clicks, stacks of computers and hard drives, utilizing the most blazing processor speeds out there, it’s easy to forget that once upon a time a bit more manual labor was involved. "Rewinding" a sound cue wasn’t just a swipe of a finger, and "erasing" something visual was likely as arduous as it was to get it in the frame in the first place. So as we all patiently await "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," here’s a reminder of some the work that went into creating the original trilogy.
Eyes On Cinema have unearthed this vintage 1980 video featuring Ben Burtt, who was then working on "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return Of The Jedi." As we all know, the hyperdrive basically never works on the ship, that’s sort of a cobbled together jalopy that manages to get Han Solo from place to place. And Burtt demonstrates the variety of sounds that were captured to create the sound of it breaking down, using everything from a biplane to the rattling pipes in a bathroom. The result? Well, just listen below.