EFX ANH VADER HELMET. GOT MINE!!!!!!!!!! Have Questions

Tom1971

Sr Member
Okay I am finally getting my EFX ANH Vader helmet. Should be here Monday.

I read a lot when they came out and went over some of it again. Just need some clarification.

The lenses were "orange" or whatever that color is throughout the films??? Kinda can see it in ANH sometimes but really can't see it in ESB or ROTJ?????? I always thought the tinting in ANH was just to light and made his face /eyes look reddish here and there depending on lighting. Otherwise in the rest of ANH, and all of ESB and ROTJ it sure looks like dark smoke lenses to me??????????

Anywho that's just a side note.



My main question was to see if I have the lineage correct.

Brian Muir sculpted the ANH Vader.

From this a mold was made

From this three helmets were made but only one was used throughout filming.

The mold from Mr. Muir's original sculpt is long gone.

Rick Baker is believed to have made a mold of one of the ANH helmets

That was found by EFX and a new master helmet was made from that mold.

Then EFX made a mold of that master helmet.

Then our helmets came from that mold.



Do I have that right??????


Do we know the status of any of the original ANH helmets (Filming one as well as the other two) from Mr. Muir's original mold/sculpt?????


Do we know which of the three original helmets Rick Baker used to make the found mold??????


I'm so excited to have my ANH Vader.

Now I will have all three, plus my EFX RMQ.

Just need two Vader Reveals and I'll be done with Vader helmets.

Thanks so much in advance. There is just so much on this helmet it makes it hard to find a certain thing.
 
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Re: EFX ANH VADER HELMET. Finally Getting mine. Have Questions

There was only one helmet cast and painted for ANH, and that helmet was molded and cast by Rick Baker.

IIRC all casts in our ranks came from that mold although many believe the helmet was molded in the UK also before Baker molded it in the US.

I think all ESB and ROTJ helmets originated from that mold but I really don't know. I believe the tour suit helmets were from that mold.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, the lenses were an amber color in ANH but appear reddish in some shots due to lighting and reflections off David's face.

The lenses were smoke gray in ESB and ROTJ.
 
Re: EFX ANH VADER HELMET. Finally Getting mine. Have Questions

That's what I thought about the lenses as well but I was told they were the Amber throughout???

I thought they had two finished ANH helmets???

Very cool info. Thanks
 
Got it today. I love it. Even though I like more idealized props I love it. I really was not sure, but because of it's history I decided it was the best ANH Vader to have. I kicked around the idea of cleaning it up, sharpening stuff and re-painting it but once I looked at it I thought hell no!!!!

It's awesome just as it is.
 
Re: EFX ANH VADER HELMET. Finally Getting mine. Have Questions

There was only one helmet cast and painted for ANH, and that helmet was molded and cast by Rick Baker.

IIRC all casts in our ranks came from that mold although many believe the helmet was molded in the UK also before Baker molded it in the US.

I think all ESB and ROTJ helmets originated from that mold but I really don't know. I believe the tour suit helmets were from that mold.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, the lenses were an amber color in ANH but appear reddish in some shots due to lighting and reflections off David's face.

The lenses were smoke gray in ESB and ROTJ.



What's IIRC??
 
Re: EFX ANH VADER HELMET. Finally Getting mine. Have Questions

There was only one helmet cast and painted for ANH, and that helmet was molded and cast by Rick Baker.

IIRC all casts in our ranks came from that mold although many believe the helmet was molded in the UK also before Baker molded it in the US.

I think all ESB and ROTJ helmets originated from that mold but I really don't know. I believe the tour suit helmets were from that mold.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, the lenses were an amber color in ANH but appear reddish in some shots due to lighting and reflections off David's face.

The lenses were smoke gray in ESB and ROTJ.

So why is Brian Muir attached to creating the Vader helmet and armour... is there dirt/dispute around who actually created the Vader helmet?

I was actually contemplating getting a Vader helmet off of Brian Muir's website... would this mean that the efx helmets are more "accurate"?
 
Brian sculpted the original helmet out of clay and is the only original sculpter of Darth Vader.

His sculpt was molded, and it is not known how many fiberglass casts were made from that mold.

One fiberglass helmet was cast from that mold, painted, and that one and only helmet was the only helmet seen on-screen in ANH.

After filming was finished in England, the original complete Vader costume was sent to LFL in California. I don't think any pick-up shots of Vader were filmed, but at some point the costume was photographed with Kermit Eller wearing it and the photos are many of the ones you see in the SW Chronicles book. Kermit also wore the original Vader suit (complete) at the Oscars, the Donny and Marie show, the footprint ceremony outside the Chineese Theater, and a few other productions.

At some point while the helmet was in California, Rick Baker made a mold of that original, one and only ANH helmet.

I think the SL and TM Vader helmets came from that mold, and other casts have come from those casts.

The eFx was made by making molds of those molds, and casting are as close to the original ANH helmet unless you had the actual first gen SL or TM, not a cast of it.

In short, it's splitting hairs but the eFx Vader is either equal or greater to just about any other cast available as close to screen accurate.
 
I think the SL and TM Vader helmets came from that mold, and other casts have come from those casts.


The SL as well as the DJ are directly from the Rick Baker mold..however those casts were done muche earlier than the EFX

The TM is from what is refered to as the "UK Mold" as there are different levels of details anmd the Tabs are molded in on UK mold derived casts...
 
I'll just chime in with a few corrections/notes.

Three helmets being made from the original sculpt's mold is a myth with no tangible proof to back it up.

The ESB and ROTJ helmets each had different shades of amber lenses, not smoke grey. No screen used vader helmets used smoke grey lenses.

The Rick Baker mold was taken directly off the screen-used ANH after filming.
The EFX masters were taken out of this mold.

The EFX masters are the same generation as the SL, but do not have the dome and neck flaring that the SL suffers from.

The EFX and SL (faceplate as well as dome) originate from the mold taken off the original helmet while it was in the US.
The TM (faceplate only) originates from a mold taken off the original while it was in the UK post-ANH but pre-ESB.
The TM represents the base castings used for ESB with converted dome into ESB styling. (ANH faceplate and ESB style dome).



.
 
Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help.

I think for fun I will take pics of my four Vaders together as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks again.
 
Cool info, I never knew the ESB and ROTJ lenses were a dark amber. That's really neat, it's amazing the myths still going around about that costume. Good to know the real facts.
 
Just to clarify

Without a shadow of a doubt there were 2 finished Vader helmets that were made for filming on A New Hope. It stands to reason that a third was made for use by the special effects department.
The 2 finished Vader helmets were both kept in a locked box that was wheeled onto the stage each day for filming.
John Mollo has also confirmed these facts.


Brian
 
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Just to clarify

Without a shadow of a doubt there were 2 finished Vader helmets that were made for filming on A New Hope. It stands to reason that a third was made for use by the special effects department.
The 2 finished Vader helmets were both kept in a locked box that was wheeled onto the stage each day for filming.
John Mollo has also confirmed these facts.


Brian

Going by my memory here so I may be typing total twaddle but I remember an interview in 1980/81 between (I think) Melvyn Bragg and Gary Kurtz that mentioned the two complete Vader helmets living in a locked box. The interview was for ESB and there was a short anecdote about the wrong Vader (the ANH helmet) almost being used for the converted ESB stunt and the young stage-hand who got the helmet out almost getting fired from the set for the very near mistake.

Just thinking aloud there as I recorded the interview on my very first VHS tape, lol, may still have it somewhere. But the two Vader heads living in a box being dragged everywhere does conjure up some amusing Statler & Waldorf type imagery.
 
Just to clarify

Without a shadow of a doubt there were 2 finished Vader helmets that were made for filming on A New Hope. It stands to reason that a third was made for use by the special effects department.
The 2 finished Vader helmets were both kept in a locked box that was wheeled onto the stage each day for filming.
John Mollo has also confirmed these facts.


Brian


Thank you so much for the information and being a member here. It is wonderful to get information straight from the source.

Thanks again
 
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