Landspeeders are fictional antigravity craft used through the Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

movies and Star Wars Expanded Universe

Star Wars Expanded Universe

The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...

. They are depicted both in civilian and military capacities, and several versions have been merchandised as toys and models.

Origin and design

Landspeeders first appear in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

. Two of them—Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

's (Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill

Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...

) XP-34 and a V-35—were designed by Special Effects genius John Stears

John Stears

John Stears known as 'the Dean of Special Effects' and 'The Real Q' was an Academy Award winning special effects expert, who created James Bond's lethal Aston Martin DB5, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights' lightsabers, the endearing robots R2-D2 and C-3PO as well as a host of other...

 and were fitted around cars; Skywalker's landspeeder was built around a small sports car manufactured by Ogle Design

Ogle Design

Ogle Design is a British design consultancy company, founded in 1954 by David Ogle, based in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.-History:* 1954 Ogle Design was founded and produced many successful designs of industrial and household products....

. One of the major challenges the production crew faced was disguising the wheels to create the illusion that the craft was hovering. For certain shots, they shot from camera angles that masked the wheels; for long-distance shots, they used reflective material, gelatin on the camera lens, and shadow effects. A small blur could be seen under the speeder, which George Lucas called "The Force Spot" (stated in Special Edition Tape). Production designer

Production designer

In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...

 Roger Christian

Roger Christian (filmmaker)

-External links:*...

 used an angled mirror and a broom attached to the vehicle's underside to create, at certain angles, the illusion that the craft was hovering and kicking up dust. Star Wars creator George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

 used digital technology to enhance the landspeeder effects in the Special Edition of A New Hope. Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...

's (ILM) Doug Chiang

Doug Chiang

Doug Chiang is an American film designer and artist. He was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1962 and grew up in the United States.Chiang studied film at UCLA and industrial design at the College for Creative Studies. During the late 1980s he worked at various production studios including Rhythm and Hues...

 design the Naboo

Naboo

Naboo is a fictitious planet in the fictional Star Wars universe with a mostly green terrain and which is the homeworld of two societies: the Gungans who dwell in underwater cities and the humans who live in colonies on the surface...

 Flash speeder with a "race car look" while the Gian speeder's appearance is ILM's response to Lucas' request that the Naboo troops have "a pick-up truck with guns."

Depiction

Expanded Universe material describes speeders as using a "repulsorlift" that allows them to travel above a world's surface; a key differentiating point between landspeeders and airspeeders is the altitude the repulsorlift allows the craft to reach. In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...

 (Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill

Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...

) sells his landspeeder in order to pay Han Solo

Han Solo

Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...

 (Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...

) to take him, Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of several primary characters in the Star Wars series. Along with Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear in all six Star Wars films...

 (Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...

), C-3PO

C-3PO

C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...

 (Anthony Daniels

Anthony Daniels

Anthony Daniels is an English actor. He is best known for his role as the droid C-3PO in the Star Wars series of films made between 1977 and 2005.-Early life:...

), and R2-D2

R2-D2

R2-D2 , is a character in the Star Wars universe. An astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character throughout all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga...

 (Kenny Baker

Kenny Baker

Kenneth George "Kenny" Baker is a British actor and musician, best known as the man inside R2-D2 in the popular Star Wars film series.- Career :...

) to Alderaan. Naboo security forces use landspeeders in their attempt to retake the capital city of Theed in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...

, and various speeders appear in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...

and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....

. Speeders are playable-controllable craft in a variety of LucasArts

LucasArts

LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...

 titles.

Cultural impact

A Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

fan named Daniel Deutsch built a full-scale replica of the landspeeder that can be driven like an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

. It first surfaced at the Neatorama website where it was discovered by rapper Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

 who posted pictures of the landspeeder in his blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

. One of the photographs show former N'Sync member Joey Fatone

Joey Fatone

Joseph Anthony "Joey" Fatone, Jr. is an American singer, dancer, actor and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boyband, 'N Sync, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars...

 posing next to the landspeeder. Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

described the replica landspeeder as made of a "custom aluminum chassis, fiberglass body, and an electric drive system that hits lightspeed at 25 mph".

External links

• http://www.reallandspeeder.com