A STAR WALKER AT SKYWALKER

 

On the 3rd of September (U.S. time), Shane Morrissey, Barren Reid, Justin Smith and myself had a life long dream fulfilled. A visit to Skywalker Ranch, the headquarters of Lucasfilm Ltd.Initially I had declined to venture on the trip to the USA due to financial restraints, however, it was not long before I realised that this once in a lifetime opportunity could not be passed up.

 

Our good friend and tour guide, Don Bies, led us through the front gates of the Ranch on that fateful September morning and it wasn't long before we were overcome by the extensive beauty of the place.

 

To give you a brief overview of the Ranch. It is big, really big. It is surrounded all around by rolling hills (all Lucasfilm property) making it a very private retreat. It is spacious in its layout as all the main buildings are set well apart from each other: Archives (Don's place), the Recreation Room, Main House/THX Building, Skywalker Sound, Licensing and Marketing and the security and fire station headquarters (situated near the Ranch entrance). Inside this ring of buildings are the horse yard, softball field and Lake Ewok. Behind the Licensing and Marketing House is a beautiful forest which climbs over the hill, complete with its own natural wildlife. Seeing a deer at the tree rim, added an extra sense of tranquility to the atmosphere. The grassland is much like Australia. It doesn't rain much, so with the exception of the trees and lawns, including the vineyard next to Skywalker Sound, everything is yellow. The lazy feel of the Ranch was a far cry from the madness of San Francisco, which we were happy to leave behind.

 

So what did we do? Don took us to the archives and just let us loose. It was like Christmas, props everywhere and although the best stuff was in Japan for the George Lucas exhibition, there was still lots to look at. Like: heaps of Vader helmets, racks of costumes, creature masks, various R2-D2's, Stormtrooper guns, Death Star bits and pieces, a full size speeder bike, a complete taun taun head, an Ark of the Covenant, matte paintings galore, lots of small props and stacks of Indy jackets and whips. We spent hours here, looking around and taking photos, trying on various costume pieces. We video taped the Archives for the people at home who could not be with us. It was amazing, you have never experienced anything until you hold up a prop and say "They actually used this!" It these moments that can really jolt your senses. I put on a complete Imperial Officer's uniform and took lots of photos of different things. It left us in awe. Actual props guys! The real things! Far out.

 

Downstairs was where the boxed stuff was kept. Comic strips, sheet music, edited scenes from films and the newly acquired Paramount Pictures library. A huge amount of stuff altogether.

 

At midday we walked in the pleasant sunshine to the Rec. Room for a the first part of our tour. This building also included the outdoor swimming pool, cafeteria, gymnasim and the shop. Whoa! Shop did you say? Yes, Skywalker Ranch has its own little shop including a quaint window display. It wasn't very big, but it sold all the things we longed to find. So after lunch we went shopping. Shirts, windcheaters, tracksuits, patches, caps, mugs and various other novelties all emblazoned with the Skywalker Ranch or Lucasfilm Ltd motifs, including ILM and THX items as well. The prices were very cheap (even in Australian dollars) and we all spent up big.

 

One thing worth noting is how clean we found everything to be. This particularly noticeable in the change room, which were so immaculate you could perform an operation there. This was evident through every house we visited. The place was so well looked after, it was inspirational and I was very impressed. The Ranch was living up to all expectations.

 

We wandered down to the Main House, taking pictures of the countryside along the way. Since the walk between departments can be a long one, staff use bicycles to commute around. Each bike is complimented with its own Skywalker Ranch plaque under the seat, which is a nice touch.

 

The Main house itself was magnificent, its interior was paneled in oak and was very spacious and inviting. It was tastefully decorated with no Star Wars stuff anywhere except in a glass cabinet within a connecting corridor. The second floor, which we were unable to see, housed George Lucas's own office amongst many others. We did see the elevator though, it too was in oak and looked nothing like an elevator, merely a small room with no windows (it was the nicest one I'd ever seen). This was the kind of house worth modeling your own home after.

 

Connected with the House is the library. Magnificent, it was a large round room with a huge stained glass roof. It had an upper level accessible by a spiral staircase. Included were huge comfy armchairs surrounding an open fireplace.The whole thing was made of wood and was truly worth dying in. Even the book range was varied, ranging from many different topics of interest. Here we were introduced to Debra Fine, the head librarian, and we expressed our envy of her working environment. Absolutely magical.

 

By now a feeling of achievement started to overcome us. This was the home of Lucasfilm Ltd! We were venturing where few fans have ever trod. If only my old school chums could have seen me now, what would they have thought? I think we each had to pinch ourselves on more than one occasion to remind ourselves it was indeed real and not a fantasy.

 

Next to the Main House is the THX building. It was here that we saw a demonstration of the THX Home Sound System. A THX sound engineer named Grant, explained to us a bit about how it worked before being led into an average style lounge room with a large screen in front of us. He showed a seven minute laser disk promo called Wow! which had bits of the Lucasfilm movies all put into a clip to show the sound variances and reproduction capabilities when played through the THX system. And Wow it was! We even had the privilege to see some raw Star Wars footage as it was actually filmed, with no music or overdubbing of any kind. Amazing.

 

On our way back to the Archives, we had a brief look at the cinema in the Skywalker Sound House, which also includes the foley stages (foley is incidental sound effects), which was very plush. Then it was back to the Archives and more photos.

 

The chance arose to visit the Ranch the next day, which we eagerly accepted. We spent more time at the Archives (believe me there was a lot to look at) before having lunch and buying more things from the shop (in fact whilst we were eating, Ben Burttcame into the cafeteria for a feed). A lady from the THX who we had been introduced to, Brenda, mentioned that she needed help collating some documents, Shane and I offered to assist, so we went over to THX House to do our bit for Lucasfilm. It was long but very enjoyable, we were folding forms to got to potential THX Home System dealers world wide. Brenda was wonderful to talk with as we had a chat about Lucasfilmand their future projects. Once we had finished collating, she rewarded our hard work with some gifts. Some THX T-shirts and caps a couple of which Star Walking shall be auctioning off for the Peter Mac Hospital.

 

We actually worked for Lucasfilm, how about that one guys?

 

Later that day, we saw our first live softball game between the Ranch personnel and the ILM team. It was great fun to watch and Don was the pitcher for the Ranchers (they won by the way, before bad light stopped play). Not long after that, sadly, it was time to leave.

 

It's difficult to put into words what it felt like to be there. One thing it does do though, is strengthen your love for Star Wars. There are so many fans all over the world, yet only a snippet ever get the opportunity to visit a place where people just do not get to go. We were a couple of the lucky ones.

 

Skywalker Ranch is a magnificent world to behold, one which George Lucas himself had a big hand in designing. Proving what impeccable style and taste he has for architecture and interior design. Here in this kingdom you can enjoy the wonders of nature, the pleasures of art, the joys of music, the satisfaction of reading and the thrills of film.

 

Unfortunately we could only take photos of a select few things, the rest is locked away in memories which I hope to refill whenever/If ever I get the chance to visit again. My express thank you's go to Don and to Shane for turning a dream into a reality. Long live Lucasfilm Ltd.

 

P.S. Did we meet George? Well we saw him in the Main House cafeteria talking with Lyn Hale of publicity. Unfortunately he was facing away from us, but at least we were in the same room with him, yes the great man himself.

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