Awesome 'Return Of The Jedi' Set Photos And 'Empire Strikes Back' Deleted Scene

Enough of the Star Wars hate. Let's try and forget about all of this, this and this for now. Remember back to when the original Star Wars trilogy was pure. A time when there was no Internet and the mystery of the coming movies was solved only by going to the theater on opening day. That's how many fans experienced not only Star Wars but The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as well. Lack of detailed information about the films prior to opening gave them an intangible, surprising quality that's all but extinct today.

The availability of information has changed over the past thirty years, but our appetite for it is not new. In the wake of the success of Star Wars, people were clamoring for information on Empire and Jedi; they just didn't have any easy way to get it.

After the jump is a set of spy photos taken by fans who went above and beyond in search of answers. They traveled into the desert to watch the filming of a movie called Blue Harvest. That, of course, was the code name for Return of the Jedi. These people stumbled upon the set for Jabba's Barge on Tatooine, filled as it was with new characters, vehicles and more. After the jump, check out their photos as well as a just-revealed deleted scene from the Empire Strikes Back.

We'll go in chronological order here. First is an exclusive deleted scene from The Empire Strikes Back, thanks to Entertainment Weekly. This will appear on the Blu-ray set next week. There is no embed, so click on the photo below to head to the site.

Next up are these Jedi set photos. They come to us from The Prop Store (via the Twitter of Star Wars nerd Michael Giacchino). If you head over to that site, it tells the whole story of how these photos surfaced and it's great. Here's a small sampling. There are more photos there.

So you'll obviously recognize Jabba's Barge, Carrie Fisher hanging out, Luke Skywalker filming, the Skiff, Speeder Bikes randomly, Boba Fett and Kenny Baker, out of his R2 suit, with an awesome Blue Harvest hat.