The Bizarro Never Seen Han Solo Blaster from ROTJ

[Prop Runner]

Just saw this new addition on the Official Pix website:

It's got the ANH scope and bracket, only it's riding WAAAAAY high over the upper receiver (i.e., something funky is going on with the horizontal bar...), the scope is BACKWARDS, and the windage knob is BETWEEN the scope rings, just like it was in Sitting Target. Plus no front grill.

And what's up with that SUPER LONG bull barrel and sissy muzzle?

WTF? :confused

More than anything else, this needs explaining: we've all been under the impression that Lucas didn't have access to the original Bapty prop after shooting wrapped on Episode IV. Hence the Greedo Killer in the added US footage. ESB and ROTJ used entirely different Mausers & scope assemblies, MGCs, and resin castings, but you NEVER see the ANH scope or bracket ever again...

Help me Solo Blaster Experts... You're my only hope.

- Gabe

 

[Chingon]

Hard to tell with such a small picture, but is it possible that it's been doctored? Kind of like how they removed the Holiday Special saber and replaced it with a graflex from certain photos of Mark Hamill/Luke?

 

[lonepigeon]

This blaster has come up before. I was very excited to see this pic as well when I checked the e-mail notice that there were new photos available at Official Pix.
The picture used to be a Hyperspace exclusive, but this is our first chance to check it out up close. There are 2 or 3 pictures that show this blaster.

The ANH Hero was a blank firing prop so it stayed with Bapty after ANH wrapped and wasn't available for the additional Cantina footage in California (hence the reason they built the GK). LFL only took back dummy guns and resin stunts. Actual firing guns never left England, not even for location shooting in Tunisia.
We can only speculate how the ANH Hero turned back up in ROTJ. The interior of the bunker was shot in England so it seems Bapty was still hired to provide some guns. They must have found the remains of the original ANH gun and rented it back out again- although in an odd configuration. It only appears in interior bunker shots.

Everything you've stated about it is all we could determine from the pics before.
Hopefully someone will order the big 16x20 version and high res scan it.

 

[RedTwoX]

Do we have any information on the photo? When it was taken, where, and for what purpose? That information might help shed some light on the prop used.

 

[Chingon]

Originally posted by RedTwoX@Jan 23 2006, 01:05 PM
Do we have any information on the photo?  When it was taken, where, and for what purpose?  That information might help shed some light on the prop used.

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Just a guess, but it looks to be a production still.

 

[Prop Runner]

Thanks for your insight Chris.

I'm familiar with the interior bunker shot where this blaster was seen (but left out of the final cut), but I never saved a copy - do you have one you could post?

I wonder why Lucas didn't insist on using the same ANH prop if he went back to Bapty for ESB and ROTJ. The whole point of the new Han and Luke versions was to loosely emulate the ANH hero, although we know from all the various stunts and alternative blasters that they weren't too big on continuity...

- Gabe

 

[Prop Runner]

Originally posted by Chingon@Jan 23 2006, 12:58 PM
Hard to tell with such a small picture, but is it possible that it's been doctored? Kind of like how they removed the Holiday Special saber and replaced it with a graflex from certain photos of Mark Hamill/Luke?

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That would only make any kind of sense if they tried to reproduce a screen-seen blaster. Here it's as if they bent over backwards to go out of their way to make it look UNLIKE anything ever seen on screen.

It could have been test footage in order to compose a scene, so continuity would not have been an issue, but for the ANH blaster (strangely re-assembled as it may be) to appear out of nowhere like that in the middle of the production is truly bizarre. It's GOT to be the original and not a resin stunt, since the scope is turned around and the bracket rides too high. I'm guessing that sometime between ANH and ROTJ, the original prop was used in another film in the new configuration (God only knows why...)

God, how I HATE/LOVE new mysteries.

So yeah, I'll be ordering the 16x20...

- Gabe

 

[Chingon]

Originally posted by Prop Runner+Jan 23 2006, 01:19 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prop Runner @ Jan 23 2006, 01:19 PM)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-Chingon

@Jan 23 2006, 12:58 PM
Hard to tell with such a small picture, but is it possible that it's been doctored? Kind of like how they removed the Holiday Special saber and replaced it with a graflex from certain photos of Mark Hamill/Luke?

[snapback]1166124[/snapback]​

That would only make any kind of sense if they tried to reproduce a screen-seen blaster. Here it's as if they bent over backwards to go out of their way to make it look UNLIKE anything ever seen on screen.

It could have been test footage in order to compose a scene, so continuity would not have been an issue, but for the ANH blaster (strangely re-assembled as it may be) to appear out of nowhere like that in the middle of the production is truly bizarre. It's GOT to be the original and not a resin stunt, since the scope is turned around and the bracket rides too high. I'm guessing that sometime between ANH and ROTJ, the original prop was used in another film in the new configuration (God only knows why...)

God, how I HATE/LOVE new mysteries.

So yeah, I'll be ordering the 16x20...

- Gabe

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Good point. The "doctored photo theory" is just what popped in my head right off. Be sure and let us know what you find when you get the hi res copy.

 

[Prop Runner]

Ordered.

Scans in a week or so...

- Gabe

 

[lonepigeon]

To clarify the setting a bit more - This is the Imperial Bunker hallway where the Rebels had a firefight with a bunch of Stormtroopers. The sequence was cut from the final film so we only see them coming in the front door and then into the generator room.

Here's where to go for more info on the scene:
http://www.starwarz.com/tbone/cut_scenes/e..._the_bunker.htm
That is also the source of most of the pics too.

The Han ROTJ weirdo blaster seems to have again been used as a blank firing gun. There's lots of explosive squibs and FX for the firefight. Some shots have Han with one of the usual ROTJ MGC's.

Here is Han wincing heroically at the explosive squibs on the wall while carrying the odd gun.

Here's a line drawing I started last time this gun came up (no muzzle yet):

It's just a rearrangement of the ANH Hero parts with a bull barrel extension.

 

[Prop Runner]

Very nice, Chris - thanks.

One thing is very clear: there is NO horizontal bar. They mounted it on a dovetail block the exact same way they did in Sitting Target only they drilled and tapped holes for the block inside the groove, if I may borrow your artwork to clarify:

How it looked on the Sitting Target Mauser:

By the way - in the Official Pix shot it looks like whatever they used for a muzzle either fell off or is inside the holster... :lol

- Gabe

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

edited

 

[micdavis]

Isn't the ANH gun a top loading Mauser and not clip fed like the one Oliver is holding.

Not that knowledgable on Mausers, but aren't those two different kinds?

I know German K98's use those funky (and quite annoying) top loading strips.

 

[lonepigeon]

Dan - That's the Hyperspace pic I cropped the gun from. Soon we'll have a giant version to look at thanks to Gabe.

Gabe - the muzzle is there it just blends in with the wall behind it. Note the big white highlight on the cone part.

MicDavis - The Mauser used in Sitting Target is different. They transferred the scope and bracket from it to Han's gun (which was put together from the top and bottom halves of two different Mausers-The top half being from the one used in Naked Runner).

 

[Prop Runner]

Originally posted by micdavis@Jan 23 2006, 02:23 PM
Isn't the ANH gun a top loading Mauser and not clip fed like the one Oliver is holding.

Yes, the scope & bracket subassembly was transfered to a standard C96 lower receiver for the ANH hero blaster, which in turn was mated to the Naked Runner Chinese upper with the bull barrel. The Sitting Target Mauser was a Model 712 9 mm semi-auto with a 20 round clip and a 3-round auto fire burst setting:

- Gabe

[Edit: looks like Chris and I posted at the same time ]

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

I didn't get the pic from hyperspace, and it doesn't have the logo anywhere, but if this prooves to be a hyperspace pic, I will take it down.

Dan

 

[lonepigeon]

Originally posted by Anakin Starkiller@Jan 23 2006, 10:35 PM
I didn't get the pic from hyperspace, and it doesn't have the logo anywhere, but if this prooves to be a hyperspace pic, I will take it down.

Dan

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Someone cut the Hyperspace logo off the bottom of the picture. The full HS pic shows more of Han's boots and the trooper at the bottom.

Here's the link to the Hyperspace pic, but you have to be a member to view it:
http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/member/...r20030605e.html

 

[Megatron]

I like the Muzzle...small shiny metal but still has some nice detail.
I like the scope bracket but would want to turn the scope around.
ah just another version to make...

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

Originally posted by Megatron@Jan 23 2006, 06:21 PM
ah just another version to make...

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I was thinking the same thing

 

[Great_Bizarro]

Hey, I had nothing to do with this gun.