Star Wars Bits: JJ Abrams And R2-D2 On Set, Pinewood, Water Tanks, Spaced, Daniel Radcliffe

By Germain LussierNov. 10, 2014 3:30 pm EST

Lots of non-spoiler talk about The Force Awakens and the rest of the Star Wars universe in this edition of Star Wars Bits. Below, read about the following:

J.J. Abrams and R2-D2 get hit with flying fish on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have shot in a giant water tank.

Pinewood Studios will be home to Episode VIII and the Gareth Edwards spin-off.

Mark Hamill may have filmed The Force Awakens scenes without his beard.

Simon Pegg creates a link between Spaced and The Force Awakens.

Daniel Radcliffe talks about hanging out on the Millennium Falcon.

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue is finally coming to Disneyland paris.

Make your own Force Awakens meme and learn more about the font choice.

A possible description of a scene in the desert.

During the first season finale of HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, J.J. Abrams and R2-D2 appeared on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They played part of a joke along with a ton of other major celebrities. It's a funny segment but, if you just want to see the Star Wars set, its at 3:30.

A reader of TheForce.net noticed that, on the official website of Pinewood Studios, it lists all the stages Star Wars: The Force Awakens filmed on. It's a long list but the one stand out is the "Paddock Tank," which is a 860,000 gallon water tank. It's not only used for water scenes though so it's not necessarily a spoiler. Read more at those links, and here's an image

Pinewood Water tank

Speaking of Pinewood, several sites are reporting that both Rian Johnson's Star Wars Episode VIII and the Gareth Edwards 2016 spin-off film will also be shooting there. Both have been reported in the past so, I'm not actually sure it's news. Wasn't there some kind of announcement at some point that Lucasfilm had locked Star Wars into filming there for a decade? Did I make that up? I'm not quite sure why it continues to be reported as news. Either way, I'm pretty sure unless otherwise noted, all upcoming Star Wars films will shoot at Pinewood.

A story on Star Wars 7 News reports that despite all the photos and announcements about the end of filming, Star Wars The Force Awakens actually had a few extra days of filming. They hear, on those days, Mark Hamill shot without his beard, hence the shaved photos from a few weeks back. Read more at the link and see the final fireworks celebration on this Instagram image from John Boyega.

This is just the best. Simon Pegg gives Spaced fans a modern update on his character:

Daniel Radcliffe visited the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, on Conan, he told the story which is pretty awesome.

He also talked to Screencrush about finally seeing the original films.

Disneyland Paris sometimes gets the short end of the stick but they're finally catching up when it comes to Star Wars. After a few years of being open in the United States, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, an update to the original Star Tours, is finally coming to the park.

Like the way the official logo for Star Wars: The Force Awakens looks? Well The Verge offers a service to make your own meme for it. I went ahead and made this one.

But, if we're being honest, the font isn't exactly right. So The Verge went ahead and wrote about how the font links to Star Trek and some other things.

Finally, we'll end this edition of Star Wars Bits with a potential spoiler. Making Star Wars has a detailed description of a possible scene from The Force Awakens that takes place on a desert planet. Very interesting stuff.