ROTJ Lost Footage?

[Nicklab]

Lost 'Return of the Jedi' footage discovered on $699 LaserDisc.

Check out the text from the article:



Buyers of a rare LaserDisc used to demonstrate an 80s-vintage film editing system have found it full of raw footage from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, graciously posting clips to a Facebook account over the course of the past several days. Most of the clips are from Luke Skywalker's last visit to Yoda on Dagobah, but another gem features a full minute (without audio, unfortunately) of R2-D2 repairing Skywalker's damaged X-wing.
 
For the lucky buyer, $699 well spent

The origin of the LaserDisc isn't entirely clear, but it was purchased for $699 off eBay, apparently once used to demonstrate Lucasfilm's EditDroid station — one of the first digital film editing systems sold nearly 30 years ago. Ironically, George Lucas himself never used EditDroid to make a movie; the Star Wars clips were loaded simply to show off its capabilities to prospective buyers.

Lucasfilm, of course, is no stranger to fiercely protecting Star Wars copyrights, and it's reasonable to assume the disc buyer's clips may not stay online for long — particularly considering that they'd make a great addition to a future Blu-ray bundle.


The article includes some of the footage of R2-D2 making repairs on Luke's X-Wing.

[Jesse James]

Be neat to see more of the stuff than a minute of R2 doing the same thing to the landing gear of the X-Wing...  Assume that was just a continuous shot so they could use it as they needed.

[Jesse James]

http://www.thewrap.com/yoda-dies-slow-death-lost-return-jedi-footage-video/

This link has a longer Yoda sequence.  Far more interesting.

[Phrubruh]

That was neat footage to see. It's amazing how many takes they do to get it just right and how the lines keep changing. It was a little jaring to see Yoda talking and then Oz stop to take a break and see Yoda go completely lifeless. It was like Yoda was alive and then completely dead. I guess that is why Muppet performers always keep the puppet going like they are a real actor even during bloopers or retakes.