GeekTyrant has a special sneak preview of an upcoming episode of Pop Culture Quest featuring Mark Hamill, who of course played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. Prop Store’s Brandon Alinger appears with Mr. Hamill and shows him the original hero lightsaber that he used in Return of the Jedi, which was also used by Alec Guinness in A New Hope. You can check out a preview of the scene on YouTube. [Read more…]
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2015. Prop Store has an excellent exhibition this year, featuring a preview of material from their second annual live auction coming to London later this year. Heavy on action and sci-fi, it drew a constant crowd of Comic Con attendees, many of which are fans of these genre films. As with Star Wars Celebration earlier this year, Prop Store continue to find new and exciting Star Wars material, such as the stormtrooper helmet – the first time being offered to the public. [Read more…]
From Luke’s yellow ladder A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back to his hero lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, the “Star Wars Original Props and Costumes” discussion panel at Star Wars Celebration 2015 in Anaheim ran the gamut of obscure background props to the best of the best. Participants included Stephen Lane and Brandon Alinger from Prop Store, Tom Spina from Tom Spina Designs, and legendary collector Gus Lopez, creator of the Star Wars Collectors Archive. Each panelist took us through one of their own “prop story” tales, showcasing the background of one of the prized pieces in their own collection. Of note was that this was the first public announcement by Brandon Alinger that he owns what is essentially the hero Luke Skywalker lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, which was also used by Sir Alec Guiness in A New Hope as a fighting lightsaber (and not to be left out, it was also a practice dueling saber employed in The Empire Strikes Back). It was an incredible display of both knowledge and images, and overall it underscored the importance of collectors in tracking down, identifying, restoring and preserving these important pop culture artifacts. [Read more…]
The “Secrets of the Cantina” panel at Star Wars Celebration was one of the events that I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Featuring co-presenters Pablo Hidalgo from the Lucasfilm Story Group and Tom Spina of Tom Spina Designs, they delved deep into the mythos of one of the most popular scenes from Star Wars: A New Hope, talking exclusively about those creatures (and ugly humans) that inhabited that infamous bar. At times playing out like a spoken word CSI: Tatooine, they talked about some of the crazy methods they’ve developed to identify some of the actors behind the monsters, as well as the actors who played parts with make-up but without the masks. [Read more…]
Prop Store’s exhibitor booth (#1140) for Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015 is both familiar and different. While the size and scale is comparable to what I’ve seen at San Diego Comic Con over the past five years, obviously with Celebration it is going to be 100% Star Wars-related content. With this show, they brought out some of the important pieces from the Prop Store Collection (i.e. owned by the principals of the company and not for sale), including a Darth Vader helmet, Han Solo jacket, and a Princess Leia gown. [Read more…]
My friends at Prop Store have a very big presence with Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015… in addition to their impressive exhibitor booth (#1140, replete with hero-class original production props, costumes, and artwork), Brandon Alinger (Chief Operating Officer) and Stephen Lane (Chief Executive Officer) are participating in several high profile discussion panels to the packed crowds at the Anaheim Convention Center. I took time today attend the Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy panel, which consisted of Lucasfilm executive editor J.W. Rinzler, Brandon Alinger, and Delia Greve, senior editor at Becker Mayer. [Read more…]
Troika Brodsky, special guest. This is the eighteenth ‘Prop Talk’ podcast by the Original Prop Blog. Troika Brodsky is a hobbyist who has, over the past ten years or so, amassed the largest personal collection of Lord of the Rings props, costumes, and other material from the film trilogy. The collection will be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions (see official site) on December 5th as their “Trilogy Collection: Props & Costumes from Middle-Earth” auction event. The collection will also be part of a public exhibition at Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons (MOSI) in Kildare, Ireland from October 23rd to November 17th.
Jeff Pirtle, special guest. This is the seventeenth ‘Prop Talk’ podcast by the Original Prop Blog. Mr. Jeff Pirtle is Director, Archives and Collections, NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal is celebrating their Centennial, and involved in a number of projects that give people glimpses of never-before-seen props, images and more from the NCBUniversal collection. Jeff Pirtle has been working on pulling key items to share on Universal’s Centennial Tumblr as well as for the Centennial celebration overall.