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Inside R2D2

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It looks like a Kenny Baker dome. I can't imagine LFL letting one of those get out of their hands.
 
That's a thing of beauty, for sure. I don't know the story behind this, how did it come to be in someone's possession and how did LFL manage of get if pulled from auction? If it's someones property then who are they to stop it's sale?
 
Darth Mawr said:
That's a thing of beauty, for sure. I don't know the story behind this, how did it come to be in someone's possession and how did LFL manage of get if pulled from auction? If it's someones property then who are they to stop it's sale?
Click to expand...

the item may have been stolen from the set which means the studio still owns it...the person may not had permission to keep it.....

warner brother does this all the time with screen used props.....it happened recently in the screenused auction with harry potter items
 
It was the show peace from the PIH auction some years back and made the front cover of the Auction catalogue, needless to say this brought it to LFL's attention, a C&D was placed on it being Auctioned as it was believed to have been the Dome that went missing from a Naboo fighter During TPM production.

This is where it all went squiffy for LFL as they lost the action to have it returned due to it not being a modern dome, it really is a Kenny Dome and with some scrutiny does appear to have been used in each of the OT films. Where it is now I have no Idea but it was an amazing thing to spend the day with.
 
I remember the auction description. The claim was that it was an OT Kenny dome and the age of the bearings made it too difficult for Kenny to rotate the head, so it was skipped and a replacement made. So the claim was that it was recovered from the trash. LFL obviously disagreed. I agree it's hard to figure what the deal was...I guess it could have been used on a Naboo fighter if the head was to be turned.
 
The naboo fighter dome was not metal, and was a separate incident completely as far as I know, this dome was def used as you say durig TPM and was replaced with modern lightweight one. This one then somehow never quite found its way back home me thinks?

The dome was verified by Kenny as an OT dome, and I have a lot of tells from it to match to the OT. From memory Id say it had had 3 repaints over the years, still some OT blue on it and the darker one you see here. So much history in all the nooks and cranny's.
 
It was a Kenny dome...And in fact one of the favorites for use...There was nothing wrong with it, and it wasn't recovered from the trash. It was very much stolen.

This came up missing after production wrapped on episode 1...When the droids were all shipped back from England, this one never made the trip. Several months later, someone posted pics on the R2 Builders group trying to sell it. Once they found out that Don Bies was a member there, they disappeared.

Years later it appeared on the Elstree Props website...Not sure how they got it, but I know it was in their hands for a while, and I even have some screen grabs from their website...Again, it was later removed when it attracted so much attention. Eventually they tried to sell it via the auction but LFL had it pulled.

This is an OT dome...It was also featured in an old Smithsoniam magazine that featured the LFL Archives. There's a shot of R2 on a table, with the dome off...It's that dome.

I would love to get my hands on it someday and get it returned to LFL...

Jason
 
The dome was offered to me privately and without knowing the history jumped on it with a syndicate of people as a cool thing to own and then pass on thing!!!! When I got in deeper it became apparent that it was not quite that straight forward as to haw and why. I new I couldn't take any risks especially with the figures we were talking $$$$$$$$$$$'s

I had to back away from it, I new Kenny's son at the time so got Kenny to take a look at it, thats how he got involved with the validation for the auction. The rest is history and a bit vague as to where it ended up. Sadly LFL dropped the ball with the assumption it was the Naboo dome, which is still at large. I do have more photos and some video of this dome which I'll post up some time.... it still had sand in it from its last shoot.
 
what a piece of history and with such a story too

kenny was the R2 in the newer movies, why did they need a remote controlled version?
 
Treadwell said:
I remember the auction description. The claim was that it was an OT Kenny dome and the age of the bearings made it too difficult for Kenny to rotate the head, so it was skipped and a replacement made. So the claim was that it was recovered from the trash. LFL obviously disagreed. I agree it's hard to figure what the deal was...I guess it could have been used on a Naboo fighter if the head was to be turned.
Click to expand...

One man's trash is another man's gold....:D
 
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