Just at 68, the father of Star wars droid R2-D2 is dead. Tony Dyson who was the special supervisor has worked on various projects like Superman 2, also, he built a miniature space battle for Moonraker and built another giant robotic dragon for the movie Dragon Slayer said later on that he was very pleased to have helped with the R2-D2 droid which was now a “one of the most exciting periods” of his life.
Dyson originally built eight R2-D2 units
Initially, George Lucas had the ambition of having such an innovation into the movie when Raph McQuarrie drew the concept but Dyson gave it the real physical shape it deserved. Being a powerful and noble robotic expert, he got the contract of producing about 8 cylindrical models to use in the film which were used with a space for R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker and some equipped with remote control capability.
Another two R2s were ordered to act as stunt droids, ready to be launched from the maw of Dagobah’s swamp beast during Luke’s Jedi training with Yoda.
Since the start of the popular movie, The R2-D2 had always been a prominent member of the Star wars family and had appeared in all the seven movies, hundreds of books, video games comics and in fact on red Carpets during this year’s Oscar 2016.
Dyson watched his droid’s success, and also lived to see the rise of R2’s protégé: the ball-shaped BB-8. Like R2, the robot star of The Force Awakens was built by British designers, and like Dyson’s droid, the spherical BB-8 has quickly rolled its way into fan’s hearts. Speaking ahead of The Force Awakens’ premiere last year, Dyson said he was particularly excited for the resurgence of Star Warswith Disney’s purchase of the franchise. “When you build something that becomes world famous,” he said in Helsinki, “it gives that warm feeling, doesn’t it?”
Source: TheVerge.com