New Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II behind the scenes references

[Millenniumf]

Someone just sent these to the DF21 Twitter account. They're apparently behind the scenes photos from the shoots for all the live action cutscenes, and give a pretty good look at the props and costumes used in it. These photos were apparently the basis for some of the artwork used in the Dark Forces book trilogy and the look pretty legit to me, so anyone who wants to cosplay Kyle Katarn or Jan Ors, or just wants a Bryar pistol, these could come in handy.

Link to the original Twitter post containing this pretty remarkable find:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1735141018725503201

 

[Loneken]

So cool to see! I remember spending hours and hours back in the days studying cutscenes screen grabs one by one to come up with an accurate model and thinking, damn if only I had one clean shot of this thing...

It also totally fits the description of them that Don Bie gave me of these, which is a bunch of PVC pipes and plastic parts covered in aluminum foil... Amazing find!

 

[Chris92]

I remember scouring this game for hours upon hours trying to get good shots of Yun's outfit for the 501st. It paid off, though! I only wish the remaining two practical saber hilts had made it into that shot (Yun and Boc)!

I suppose at some point I'll have to do a DFII Katarn, now!

It also totally fits the description of them that Don Bies gave me of these, which is a bunch of PVC pipes and plastic parts covered in aluminum foil... Amazing find!

I thought I had read that somewhere years ago! Glad to know I'm not crazy!

 

[Halliwax]

Oh what a blast!

 

[Dann]

Awesome! I knew there were pictures like this out there somewhere!

Great to see some, wish I could see more!

Thanks so much for sharing these!

 

[OddballFett]

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Didn't realise how poor their costumes were! I guess it helped that the lighting was always dark and the video quality was so low.


Looks like the labels are just running loose in that box, as the top one was Kyle Katarn's (formerly Rahn's) . The second one down looks like it belonged to Sariss. I assume Maw was the chunky one, number three. The bottom belongs to Yun. (Although it is possible there may have been some inconsistencies when filming with actors in some shots holding another's hilt, but I'm guessing)

Here's one of the youtube videos that show all the cutscenes. Always did like Christopher Neame.

 

[Loneken]

The blueprints I had created are still showing up in a Google search haha. That was like in 2003 or 2005 in good old MS Visio.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/lightsabre-schematics--342414377905336048/

Such a blast from the past!

 

[Dann]

Here’s some shots of my 3D printed Kyle and Yun hilts that I made several years back. Looks like there’s some changes I need to make to the Kyle model, especially at the pommel.

I wish there were some shots of the Yun hilt in those reference pics.

 

[Halliwax]

Here’s some shots of my 3D printed Kyle and Yun hilts that I made several years back. Looks like there’s some changes I need to make to the Kyle model, especially at the pommel.

I wish there were some shots of the Yun hilt in those reference pics.
View attachment 1770051View attachment 1770052View attachment 1770053View attachment 1770054View attachment 1770055View attachment 1770056View attachment 1770057View attachment 1770058

Where’s the stump!!

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Awesome!!! Several years back, in one of the Bryar pistol posts, there was a member who said they worked on this game and would post pictures. They never did post them. I think the Bryar pistol design is right up there with anything that was actually in the movies.

 

[sithmartyr]

Didn't realise how poor their costumes were! I guess it helped that the lighting was always dark and the video quality was so low.


Looks like the labels are just running loose in that box, as the top one was Kyle Katarn's (formerly Rahn's) . The second one down looks like it belonged to Sariss. I assume Maw was the chunky one, number three. The bottom belongs to Yun. (Although it is possible there may have been some inconsistencies when filming with actors in some shots holding another's hilt, but I'm guessing)

Here's one of the youtube videos that show all the cutscenes. Always did like Christopher Neame.

The bottom one is actually Jerec's.

 

[OddballFett]

The bottom one is actually Jerec's.

I see my confusion. Both of them have a long black strip flanked by two pieces of chrome, and you don't really get a good look at Yun's saber in the cutscenes. To be fair there's a label running loose in that box with Yun's name on it, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect one of those hilts to be his.

Another possibility is that there may have been some last minute changes and characters had their hilts swapped with others. But again that's total conjecture on my part.

 

[Dann]

Yeah it looks like it's possible that Kyle's hilt was originally meant for Yun.

 

[teecrooz]

Still love this version of his lightsaber. I wish a faithful representation would be made once again. The last few I saw offered were all fancified for FX and details added/made more complex than needed.

 

[Dann]

Still love this version of his lightsaber. I wish a faithful representation would be made once again. The last few I saw offered were all fancified for FX and details added/made more complex than needed.

I'm currently updating my model. Maybe somebody like Anakin Starkiller would be interested in doing a run?

 

[division 6]

Looks like I will have to revisit this one for an updated version as well.

 

[DylanRose]

So cool! I have gone looking for BTS reference for these a handful of times and always hit a dead end. Really curious who they came from. Those Bryar pics are fantastic

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I'm currently updating my model. Maybe somebody like Anakin Starkiller would be interested in doing a run?

I've been playing around with the new images. Maybe we should compare notes

 

[Dann]

View attachment 1770766
I've been playing around with the new images. Maybe we should compare notes

That’s looking great! And I’d be happy to share what I’ve got with you!

Here's where I'm currently at. I'll see if I can find your email...

 

[Loneken]

Here's a link to a GDrive where I saved all the "usable" screenshots from the game cutscenes. Even though the quality was pretty bad back then you can still make out a good amount of details

Katarn - Google Drive

drive.google.com