Lorne Peterson

Porsche Origins for Slave I

"If I had to pick a model I enjoyed doing the most it would have to be Boba Fett's ship. Slave I was designed for Empire by Nilo Rodis-Jamero. What inspired his design of the ship were the light pods that hang in the street * ... When I was building it we found a Porsche model kit, a monstrous 16-inch model, which just happened to be a model of a car I have, and had a lot of parts we could use on the prototype. The rear end of Slave I has the big fender parts and the Porsche's hatches and doors all incorporated into it. It tickled me to do that ship." – Lorne Peterson

* Slave I designer Nilo Rodis-Jamero says otherwise.

Ugnaught Support

"[Model Maker] Ease Owyeung built the ship, including the inner cockpit detailing. His early iterations had a second bank of seats for Fett's underlings -- early sketches by McQuarrie had the pig-like Ugnaught guards actually working for Fett instead of being Cloud City laborers as in the finished film. As the story developed, Fett was defined as a loner and these support-crew seats disappeared." – Lorne Peterson

Slave I's Stop-Motion Wings

"Slave I also changed orientation during flight. The base of the ship on landing became its trailing edge when in flight. Accompanying this ninety-degree shift was a rotation of the ship's support wings, which weren't motorized but could be stop-motion animated into position." – Lorne Peterson