THE COMPLETE IVOR BEDDOES STORYBOARDS
Once George Lucas settled in London, England, in early 1976, he hired Ivor Beddoes to storyboard certain sequences from his fourth draft. During this intense period of preproduction, Lucas finished The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the “Journal of the Whills” (Saga I) Star Wars on January 1, 1976. In it, the fate of Ben Kenobi is different from the final film, and Lucas had Beddoes draw up intricate blocking to illustrate Kenobi’s battle with Darth Vader. Excerpts from the fourth draft accompany the storyboards.
Fourth Draft Storyboards
The two powerful warriors stand motionless for a few moments with laser swords locked
in mid-air, creating a low buzzing sound. Threepio looks up and sees Ben emerging
from the hallway. THREEPIO: “Where are the others? Oh, oh!”
Threepio ducks out of sight as the seven stormtroopers who were guarding the starship
rush past them heading toward Ben and the Sith Knight. When the robot ventures another
peek, he spots Han, Luke, Chewbacca, and the princess running out of a tunnel on the
other side of the starship and heading toward them.
Vader takes advantage of Ben’s momentary distraction and brings his mighty laser sword down on the old man. But Ben manages to deflect the blow, swiftly turning around and cutting a safety lock on the blast door. Vader is standing in the access tunnel, while Ben is in the huge hangar, and the heavy blast door slams down between them, trapping Vader in the tunnel.
Ben instantly turns toward the troops. They stop in their tracks and start to raise their weapons. Before they can fire a shot, a laser bolt explodes in the middle of them, creating havoc. The troops turn around to see Luke and Han firing on them from the ramp of the starship. Threepio and Artoo run up the ramp and disappear inside the ship.
Luke turns toward Han.
LUKE: “Get the ship started!”
As Han starts up the ramp, Leia grabs the laser pistol out of his hand. Ben charges
into the troops, cutting them down as he goes. Luke is forced to stop firing. Several
of the troops flee in panic, but the two that remain fire their laser pistols point
blank at the old man. Ben deflects the bolt, but it explodes near him, knocking him
to the floor. Luke cuts down the remaining troops and rushes to the old Jedi’s side.
LEIA: “Luke, quickly! There are more coming!”
Luke struggles to help the old man to the ship under the constant fire of the Imperial
troops. Luke fires back whenever possible and manages to keep the troops at bay. The
princess takes careful aim and hits the safety lock on the blast door, causing it
to slam shut, leaving only three troops left in the hangar.
LUKE: “Close the main hatch and get this thing moving!”
