Most of Joe Johnston’s work on “Star Wars” was performed behind the scenes, however in the identical method that he cobbled the AT-ST collectively from mannequin equipment scraps, the films themselves have been typically a makeshift affair the place numerous pioneering was performed. Whereas the AT-ST got here collectively late within the sport and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas determined to reserve it for the sequel (then referred to as “Revenge of the Jedi,” although it could be softened to “Return of the Jedi”), stop-motion animator Phil Tippet had an concept for a way they may get a few of Johnston’s work into the precise film. Explaining how that stray shot of the AT-ST in “The Empire Strikes Again” originated, Johnston mentioned:

“Phil Tippett got here in and mentioned, ‘What if I took the mannequin?’ The three-dimensional prototype, which was only a static mannequin. All it did was simply kind of stand there. He mentioned, ‘What if I took the mannequin, took it aside, and hooked up the items to a cease movement armature? We are able to construct an armature super-fast as a result of it was simply mainly these aluminum arms.’ He mentioned, ‘I feel we’ll have time to get it into just a few photographs.’ So he did that. He mainly destroyed the mannequin however then reattached all of the items to this armature. He was in a position to get it into one shot within the background, the place it is simply kind of cruising by way of.”

Johnston additionally helped design Yoda, Boba Fett, and the AT-ATs (per Yahoo), so he nonetheless noticed loads of his work onscreen in “The Empire Strikes Again.” And in the identical method that the AT-ST mannequin cameoed in that movie, the AT-AT would later make a brief look in “Return of the Jedi” when Luke Skywalker turns himself into Darth Vader on the forest moon of Endor.