R2-D2's Original Droid Blueprint! 

What Happened to C-3PO's Original Costume? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u4VSknKLZd0.html Propstore's Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction: Los Angeles 2024 propstoreauction.com/auctions/info/id/386

Puts on hands: "what is this?" "An original blueprint": removes hands

Correction to your explanation, Likely given the time the plans were reproduced. The draftsman would have drafted the image directly on clear acetate sheets or more likely, due to fogging around the image, a velum sheet. The process was not printed but drawn. The copy would probably been made but lining up a yellow photo sensitive paper behind the drawing sheet, exposing the unlinked areas to light, the passed by a vapor bath of strong 33% ammonia to set the blue. Blue prints are primarily blue with white lines. These are blueline images.

It’s amazing to me that there are seemingly upwards of 80 of these blue prints showing different angles and references but seemingly only 4 exist that are known to the public.

i love that Adam Savage just knows R2's Dimensions off the top of his head

Since Mythbusters was canceled on TV. I always wondered what happened to the crew. I was not expecting for Adam to have a channel. It's amazing. One phrase stayed in my with me. And it was the episode with the police car trying to rip the rear end out. From a movie scene. And I quote "I reject your reality. And substitute my own." I have bin using it since.

the printing process around that time used an ultra violet light to remove the 'yellow' background from the printing paper which left the lines from the original film or tracing paper image, this was then developed by exposure to ammonia. I used to be a draughtsman around the 1980's and this was the process we used for printing.

Adam is slightly mistaken about the blueprinting process. The “blue” from blueprinting isn’t blue ink. Blueprints are closer to a photographic process than an actual printing process, in that the images are projected into a photosensitive paper with a blue background. Draftsman or Draftswomen would draft the drawing on a translucent paper that allows light to pass through when developing a blueprinted copy. The blueprinted copy is developed from the original draft. The draft is placed against the blueprint paper with a strong exposing light behind, and where light passed through the image or drafted drawing the blue is exposed and changes to a light whitish blue or even a light tan/ brown. The darker under exposed blue color remains where the image doesn’t allow light through. Then the blueprinted images is “washed” in ammonia to lock in the process. We used the process in high school drafting class and I can remember our teacher only allowed printing on Friday, so the strong ammonia smell had time to dissipate over the weekend before class started again on Monday. It’s an old copying process for creation of multiple blueprints from a single drafted image.

"80 more drawings to get" - Adam "Perhaps the archives are incomplete" - Obi

Blueprints were drawn on tracing paper, then placed over another paper which had photo sensitive chemicals and left in the sun. The chemicals turned the paper blue everywhere except where the drawing blocked the sun. That's why they're called blueprints.

Oh man, this brings back memories. Saw "Star Wars" in the theater in 1977, and the blueprint takes me back to freshman year of high school in '72 and basic mechanical drawing class where I did blueprints as class assignments.

0:24 Adam heard "original 1976 blueprint" and immediately remembered he shouldn't be resting his hands on it. lol

Blueprint process is paper treated with an iron based solution then dried. A drawing is made on semi transparent velum paper which acts as the original. The rest of the process is like photography with ammonia gas as the developing agent. No ink involved.

Loving all these Star Wars props, but am I the only one who wants to hear about Tom Servo in that case in the background?

Quick PSA: There are now 25 separate threads on blueprint etymology stemming from Adam’s momentary flub of the colloquial term’s origin. Not to discount their validity or discourage continued discussion in those threads, but I expect Adam’s gotten the gist.

I love that second you heard that it was an original You lifted your hand off and put them in your pocket. Lol.

i like how he says its an original 1976 original blue print and Adam's hands immediately lifted off the paper lol

Another set of examples showing us what a quantum leap of movie making occurred with the Star Wars franchise.

My dad was a architectural draftsman in the 60’s & 70’s and did everything by hand including all the written descriptions that looked like it had come out of a computer (long before that was available!)

That is RAD. I would love to be able to afford to have something like this!

0:24 "this is an original.." **Adam puts hands in pockets **

Yep!!! Those are terrific plans. The art of mechanical drawing.

My dad had an ammonia blueprint printer when I was a kid. This is how I remember it: The printer's special paper was exposed to light (UV maybe?) with the draftsman's drawing lying on top. The paper (without the drawing attached) was then passed through the ammonia fumes, which turned it blue, except for where the lines of the drawing had blocked the light. In this way, the entire page was blue - a negative image of the original drawing. I only got to see it run once as a small child, so I'm not sure of any details, or of how they made the negative image into a positive one.

I like that second piece a lot, but I don't love that it has the photo in there with it. Without the photo it looks like a really cool piece of art. Most people wouldn't know what it was until you told them... which would be the fun part of owning that piece, in my opinion. "What you're looking at is an original design drawing of the Millennium Falcon cockpit done by Harry Lang." Either way I'd love to have it on my wall. I wonder what those two pieces will go for.

I have to join in with those responding to Adam on "blueprints". We use the word "blueprint" for any sort of diagram plan now even though the actual "blueprint" process isn't widely used anymore. - Blueprint, as others pointed out, is a photographic process where light is shined through a paper with a drawing on it so that the dark part (where someone drew) stays white while the light part is darkened on the target surface into a blue color. That's where "blueprint" comes from, not ink. These are what the cartoon ones we grew up with, as well as the artificial ones used for Mythbusters intros, were based on. With the advent of Whiteprint, this also began to be called "whiteline" to distinguish it as white lines on blue photographic print. - Whiteprint, what Adam is partially referring to, replaced that starting in the 1940s. And that's what I wanted to add that I didn't see others comment. To use all the words, it's "diazo blueline whiteprint", and it's a contact printing method where a diazonium salt solution is exposed to UV light through the original to effectively make the chemical easy to wash away. A chemical bath later, you're left with dark blue (or other dark colors, depending on the chemical) wherever was protected from the UV light by the original drawing. Over time, UV light still damages them, though, and they can fade out in months in sunlight. - Large format printing, what Adam also called it, is a broad term that gets applied every time a technology is used to print something larger than what people are used to, but I think the context here refers to Xerographic large format printing. This is the same as "photocopying" where an electronic photosensor is passed over the source drawing, the result is scaled up to the appropriate format, and a powder is electrostatically bonded to large format paper. This was what was common during the period when Star Wars was made (as well as when Adam was working in the film industry), and I see the tell-tale artifacts of xerography in the R2D2 blueprint here. These are technically "black" ink, not blue, but "black" ink is often just a concentration of a dark blue and starts looking blue in lower concentration. I'm 99% sure Adam just misspoke here, he's shown familiarity with everything I just mentioned so I think it was just an accident while he was excited. But I felt it was worth having all the info out there to help fewer people latch onto this false etymology. When you give an origin story to something, it makes the story appealing and it's easy to accidentally create new myths that people spread around credulously.

I love that the outline of the leg movement makes me think of the Vitruvian Man.

There is a line that separates great movies from the rest. Great movies make a "promise" and never stop delivering; only building onto it. You leave the theatre mesmerized and satisfied. Then a STAR WARS Xmas special spontaneously shows up and like a T800, breaches your chest cavity and yanks your heart out. Those were the days!!!

In about 1953, I made a space ship control panel on a large piece of posterboard. I spent a long time flying around in the resultant ship. Wish I still had it. It would be interesting to see what I thought would be involved in controlling a long-haul spacecraft.

I love blueprints :) always have, especially when it comes to things like this

That Harry Lang piece is just incredible. I had no idea he had even worked on Star Wars!

Wait what...a Professional Paper Conserviter? Adam, you need to look more into that. Would be very interesting to see how they work, and the prosess they do!

this is the droid you're looking for

It's funny, but I'm 57 years old (I was 10 years old when A New Hope came out) and I still get a huge smile on my face when I see actual R2 or C-3PO stuff being displayed. In the novelization for Star Wars it is said that R2 moves on CLAWS but I'm sure for simplicity's sake they changed it to wheels. However, in reality, tiny wheels would be the absolute worst way to get around in a desert! R2 can walk as is evidenced in a handful of scenes, but overall, large wheels or claws/feet would be a much better way to get around in non-solid environments. But truthfully, for this kind of movie I generally leave my objective thinking at the door and just accept what's being presented to me. Makes the movie more enjoyable!

Colm Meaney was concerned when he got the script. He asked who the O'Brian guy is running the transporter. Response was like don't worry, we gave your character a name.

The giant, Ace comb from Spaceballs, please!

I can’t unhear Tom Servo screaming to be let out in the background.

That's RIGHT folks! HAND DRAWN. Actually, the blue is from a chemical impregnated into the sheet, similar to the chemicals used today for carbonless copy, or NCR sheets. Drawings made on semi-translucent vellum would be fed into a device which bathes the original and copy paper in UV light. The light, passing through the vellum would turn the blue chemical white wherever the was no drawn lines to block the light. Years before, blueprints were actually totally blue, with WHITE lines and print, because they used a different chemical process.

In some early pre-production sketches Artoo is leaning forward, not backwards. So the dotted leg position may be indicative of that. From a dual drive point of view, it's a better way to make the robot lean. But from a filming point of view, He's always looking down. Artoo couldn't t interact with the other actors if he wasn't looking at them. Why is it 10% larger? Is the Kenny suit bigger? It's amazing to me that the little boys who saw a summer move a lifetime ago still hold exactly the same childlike wonder and excitement for it all these years later.

As the saying goes “I would give my eye teeth” to have Artoos blueprint framed and hanging on my office wall

There was no missing Marty's Erlewine in the back there. (ooooo. AND Tom Servo!)

Not to be that guy but The word blueprint originated when drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. It’s become like a Band-Aid in terminology. I used to make original ones for background decoration on films back in the day and it was only one guy in LA that I knew of that made them.

Remember that the original plan for R2-D2 is that he would walk like a person on crutches. I suspect the forward-sweep on the leg is a legacy from that.

That should most definitely be kept under archival lighting conditions, UV light will eventually bleach the print, I hope whoever purchases it is made aware!

3 things that pop into my head watching this: 1. It’s mad to think the guy (or girl) that did the blueprints, to them R2 was some random robot that they had never seen themselves before, maybe just shown some concept sketches. I mean today if you asked a graphic design engineer to produce some technical drawings of R2-D2 they would know exactly what you were taking about and already have a preconceived idea about what to draw. This blueprint was likely drawn by someone completely ignorant about what they were creating. 2. I’m always amazed with OT Star Wars stuff that so much is hand drawn or painted. Yet it looks so so real on screen. Probably still looks better than most detailed, precise CGI that they use today. A distant blurry hand drawn/painted image can easily deceive the human eye and brain. 3. Going back to the R2 blueprint, the original R2 was created just down the road from me near a town called Witney (UK). A small place called Crawley and I believe the business was called something like ‘Crawley Creatures’.

I too will never get to build the Millennium Falcon interior, but I'm building a mini interactive starship cockpit for my grandson - progress is all on my channel.

I would very much like to have a high quality copy of these!

That’s completely wrong. “Blueprints” were not printed with blue ink, it was a diazo process with coated paper being exposed to ammonia vapors. Later on xerography replaced the diazo process. Originals had to be on vellum originally to allow light to pass through the drawing.

The word blueprint originated in the mid-nineteenth century when engineering drawings were printed on blue paper with white lines. These documents obtained their trademark blue in 1842 when John Herschel discovered the blueprint process.

As a guy with a CAD degree and a R2 builder, this is so cool!

whoa love marty's guitar in the background do a video on that

Is that Marty McFly's guitar?

There's some parallax errors on the panel indents... but I don't blame them it's not easy to trace a circular object flat with dents in it.

God bless you Adam , we love you!❤🙌🏼

I just look at all that was done to make Star Wars (a new hope); in set designs, costumes, sets & locations, music, and special effects, etc., and still just get blown away all the time for the time when it came out. As a kid of 10, back in '77, and getting to see this movie when released for the first time, I can't imagine today a better movie experience I've had since. No other movie, let alone another SW movie since the original Trilogy has given me more imagination and inspiration since. Sadly, I cannot say the same for I, II, or III, and anything after VI... nothing in the scale that went into IV has me so impressed. My only other fav movie since Star Wars, just after that time was Blade Runner. But in my mind and my feelings, Star Wars IV is truly unrivaled for design and story, as movies go for a Gen-X kid. The only thing I could compare Star Wars to in 'modern' time; say, the 90's, and for another 10-year-old kid to see, would be Jurassic Park for the first time, when it first came out... that was perhaps the 90's best movie for special effects. But for my experience, I'm still in awe of Star Wars IV.

I'm really surprised that ILM hasn't sent a C&D demanding the return of these materials.

Is the drawing 10% oversized fore-and-aft as well, or only vertically? Even if it's only one dimension the most likely explanation is a change from blueprint to final product, a thing that happens all the time in all kinds of manufacturing, but it still makes me wonder if it's something else. The "Kenny" droid costumes - the ones that Kenny Baker was inside of - had telescoping legs. The R2 Builder's Club has had a couple of people overly concerned with "screen accuracy" get all twitchy about different reported heights that ultimately come back to "did you measure it with or without a person inside compressing the legs?" and so I wonder if the drawing is showing the legs at full extension?

Great job guys. Thank you 😊

“It really is a holy grail” Come on Adam, you should know that is the wrong Harrison Ford movie.

0:23 Hands off, you detty boy!

10:33 this is an amazing point. Things manufactured to be “collectables” just are boring because well, theres nothing unique about them when they are mass produced. Like funko for ex. Its the genuinely unique objects nit meant to be treasured have value. That is a foundation of archaeology

Ooh for a copy of those!

And in between 2001 and Star Wars was Space 1999 - all had the same pin-line panel aesthetic.

As an old old ME 70+ yrs. I can tell you what you referred to as a blue print would be a blue line print a blue print would be white lines on blue background. This was due to a chemical reaction with an ammonia solution and the paper!

Love that outro even more than main video 😁

I just felt a great disturbance in the force, as though a million R2 and Falcon scratch builders all screamed and dived to get screengrabs at once! :p

R2D2's legs move forward, which was necessary in Empire Strikes Back. R2 is on Dagobah looking in Yoda's hovel during rain. He was on tippy-toes and leaning forward to look through a window.

It is actually sad having all these amazing historical items getting spread all over the world. They deserve a place in a museum imho!

Would love an HD scan of the blueprints

That is beautiful drafting.

Harry Lange also did MOONRAKER!!!

Tell us more about the star trek stuff like Picard’s chair

Jeez wish I had some small fortunes on hand lol awesome

Oh, Wow! Not the subject of this video, but you can see at 6:40 they have a Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000! That's what I want!!

The 'blueprint' wasn't ink, it was a (eye-watering) chemical process of exposoing trace paper to diazo paper and ammonia gas under UV light. It was the student architect's job until the late 90s

Don't forget about Tom Servo!

That is a blue line, not a blue print. Blue prints are all blue with white lines. Blue lines are not printed. The drawing is copied onto a special paper that has a yellow pigment on it. You place the original this paper and place it between the roller of the copier. As it comes back around it has been exposed to a UV light that turns the yellow white except for the lines that have been masked by the original drawing. You now catch the special paper and separate the two and placing the paper back between another set of rollers that then expose the paper to ammonia which turns the lines blue. I have made hundreds of blue lines in my early career when they were really common. The ammonia is stronger than any cleaner you have smelled. It would always chance a one in the room out when I turned the machine on to warm up.

Lol those outtakes are wonderful. Lol

I had a R2-D2 model as kit, never got it completed it was to complicated for me then :(

a - ma - zing!!! where can I get a copy!?!?!

Was that the back to the future guitar that used to be at universal studios in california ???😮😮😮 in the background...the little yellow guitar.

Really cool 👍

Wow!

Thank you Adam for having the same passions as the rest of us 50 something ten year olds

Great video sir

WOW!

Like this so much ‼️

Okay, then - this would look pretty spiffy on my wall, but my last name isn’t Rockefeller. Where do I go for a faithful 1:1 print, please?

more out takes on the ends please

Having made technical drawings in my very early career, and had to work from them in my later career, drawings don't necessarily have to be one to one. That's why all critical measurements and detailing are specifically called out on the drawing.

Adam gets too close to the stuff. He touches these precious treasures throughout each video.

It was the dash Adam it's not your fault.😂😂😂 also R2freakingD2!!!!!🙀💓 👌

What is that yellow little guitar in the case behind you? Is that a Van Halen guitar?

Those are awesome!!! o.o

It would make sense if it was a blueprint of a kenny R2 as those did lean forward when he walked.

I need that on an A2 or A3 size poster!!!!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Hay look there's Marty McFlys mini yellow guitar from the first movie

Are reproductions of these available?

I would pay for a print

I don't know, a bit of tea stain on an original might have been a cool thing.

So....we gonna talk about Captain Picard's Enterprise D command chair?