London Trip Part 2

Any Star Wars fan worth anything knows that part of the original trilogy was filmed at Elstree Studios in London. Since Ruf is a member of the 501st Legion, he contacted the UK Garrison to ask about good Star Wars-related things to do in London. One of the guys in the UK Garrison kindly set us up with someone at Elstree Studios to give us a personal tour! Not only were we given a tour, but our tour guide for the day was a man named Norman who actually worked on the props from the original Star Wars trilogy! He even picked us up at the train station!

The George Lucas Stage:



There was a scene cut from Return of the Jedi in which Luke builds a new lightsaber. This is the actual lightsaber used for that scene:



Landspeeder (not the real one):



The door to the infamous Studio 8 where Star Wars was filmed:



Han Solo in carbonite (not the original):



Chewbacca (not the original):



Jawa and Wicket the Ewok (not original):



R2-D2 in pieces (not original):



C-3PO with Yoda in the background (not original):



For the Harry Potter fans, a case of HP wands and the Tri-Wizard Cup (not original):



A drawer full of the actual prop knives used in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, which was shot at Elstree Studios:



And finally, a picture of Ruf with our gracious tour guide Norman the Prop Man:



This visit to Elstree Studios was #1 on Ruf's list of things-to-do in London. A great big thanks to Norman and the UK Garrison of the 501st Legion for setting this up for us! Being in the 501st is like being in a fraternity with brothers and sisters around the world!