Chewie
The Mighty Wookiee
Hey guys!
Tonight my dad and I went and attended a lecture presentation given by Grant Imahara at Iowa State University. Mr. Imahara is known in Star Wars for being one of the people to operate and build R2-D2 in the prequels. He talked a lot about his experiences with MythBusters the Star Wars prequels and his work with the Energizer Bunny. It was a very entertaining show and I learned quite a bit about his behind the scenes animatronics work.
Some interesting bits I learned:
-He has been inside the C-3PO costume as well at red carpet premieres and on Oprah.
-He worked on 3 different Energizer Bunnies. To get one operating for 15 minutes he went through 44 Energizer batteries.
-R2-D2 units with two legs were meant for Kenny Baker, while ones with the 3rd leg retracted were for remote control.
-Kenny's feet were actually inside R2-D2's hollowed out feet. He was able to rotate the head, wiggle back and forth (like at the medal ceremony in ANH) and stand on his toes (peering into Yoda's Hut in ESB)
All in all, it was a very interesting and enjoyable night! Mr. Imahara is a very funny and enjoyable speaker! Had a lot of interesting and hilarious stories to tell.
Was unable to obtain an autograph, but I took a couple pictures at the show. Attached is a picture of him speaking - sorry for the poor quality!
Tonight my dad and I went and attended a lecture presentation given by Grant Imahara at Iowa State University. Mr. Imahara is known in Star Wars for being one of the people to operate and build R2-D2 in the prequels. He talked a lot about his experiences with MythBusters the Star Wars prequels and his work with the Energizer Bunny. It was a very entertaining show and I learned quite a bit about his behind the scenes animatronics work.
Some interesting bits I learned:
-He has been inside the C-3PO costume as well at red carpet premieres and on Oprah.
-He worked on 3 different Energizer Bunnies. To get one operating for 15 minutes he went through 44 Energizer batteries.
-R2-D2 units with two legs were meant for Kenny Baker, while ones with the 3rd leg retracted were for remote control.
-Kenny's feet were actually inside R2-D2's hollowed out feet. He was able to rotate the head, wiggle back and forth (like at the medal ceremony in ANH) and stand on his toes (peering into Yoda's Hut in ESB)
All in all, it was a very interesting and enjoyable night! Mr. Imahara is a very funny and enjoyable speaker! Had a lot of interesting and hilarious stories to tell.
Was unable to obtain an autograph, but I took a couple pictures at the show. Attached is a picture of him speaking - sorry for the poor quality!
Have you got his autograph in your collection yet? I bet you could send him one of those photo you took and mail it to his address!! 
LOL!