THIS is How they Hid Wheels on Luke Skywalker’s Speeder!

[KjamLXX]

And it still looks better than anything they ever made since then in the story.

[officialsquadrilogystudio]

I hate it when people say, " it loses its magic, once you see how its done." Because it's not true.
Seeing how it's made makes one appreciate it even more.

[Bmd-gc]

It’s crazy how difficult special effects were not even 50 years ago. I’ll always appreciate the simple yet creative ways certain things were done back then.

[MrCruiserdude]

I do remember reading a book from ILM many years ago that said they also went frame by frame and touched up the area under the speeder with Vaseline to hide the wheels and mirrors. In the original cut, this actually creates a faint bluish-purple tint under the speeder, which conveniently looks like some sort of field effect from the repulsors as an in-universe explanation. Too bad that was removed from the Special Edition cut.

[sunseeker]

We would be able to see it better if there wasn't the big, huge text in the way!

[giyuutomioka]

That is legitimately cool. I have a fond appreciation for practical effects.

[Clonetrooper]

It's canon Luke is driving a toyYODA 💀

[brianvincentdoucet]

I remember learning about that "lever" in a Star Wars documentary. But I don't recall ever learning about those mirrors. So clever.

[HappyBirthdayRoboto]

I knew about the lever but not about the mirrors, very clever, the practical effects guys seemed to have borrowed a thing or two from stage magicians.

[Milesco]

It's a shame that they had to place the gigantic captions in the middle of the screen *_right where the mirrors are located!_* 😡

[chefcc]

They also used a little bit of smudging on the camera lens to blur out the bottom a little bit more so it was out of focus. Giving the appearance of something there

[oriontigley]

Subtitles literally covering the focus of the video

[cgrscott]

Always thought that they just digitally added the negative space under the vehicle. Maybe they did that later to improve the footage, when they visually cleaned up “Star Wars: A New Hope, ” for a new Special Addition theater release in the mid 1990s.

[outsider]

Unfortunately the unnecessary pop up text blocks seeing the mirrors break in that outtake scene.

[hellraisin]

All I thought of when I saw the bond bug was Hey it's the Wigeon

[Hellodarknessmyolefriend]

They were innovative about special effects back then. Didn't have computer graphics to use.

[cardinalhamneggs]

The “Bond Bug” looks like the offspring of a CitiCar and a Reliant Robin.

[maestro-zqgu]

I don't think anyone really thought they invented antigravity just for this movie.

[rustyshackleford]

In the very first special edition George said that they also would put Vaseline near the bottom of the lens and that too created a effect that they would align with the bottom of the speeder.

[aaronyarb]

They should have just used large white letters to hide the special effects... Your large white letters worked really well hiding the special effects that YOU wanted to be seen!