Star Wars Collectors Archive Podcast: 'Chive Cast

Commander Clint wrote:Thanks for the update Steve.   I'm downloading it asap.  Hopefully there isn't any Cognac & jalapeno poppers involved in this episode.

Thank goodness there was none of that. It was a rite of passage for me in New York, though...

the89thchris wrote:In the episode, Skye mentions that he cut out 15-45 minutes of Madine content.  I shared my outrage on the ‘Chive Cast’s Facebook post.

It was a fun listen as usual, Steve. I should have a chance to put up an extensive review this week.

Haha! If it were really 45 minutes, I'm not sure any of us that recorded would still be alive right now. It was really only a brief mention of the Trademark for the character from the SWCA: General Madine Trademark

That's a really fun section of the site that may be underappreciated: Star Wars Toy Designs and Patents

Thanks for the continued support, guys.

--Steve

Most of you guys that comment in here will have already heard this episode, but when one looks at the thread views all across the forum, we've got a lot of lurkers who read and don't post, and if any of you guys haven't been listening to the 'Chive Cast, there is no better time than the present. (Also make an account so you can see the great photos and supplemental links which are included in posts like this.   )

Skye & Steve tackle General Madine in episode 93, and you'll learn more than you ever thought there was to know about the Imperial defector with the green beard. I didn't know much about the figure, but I thought I was pretty well versed in the behind the scenes details of this character, man was I wrong. General Madine has ties to early versions of the script with alternate storylines, and alternate versions of scenes we all know.

The Imperial Dignitary himself, (sometimes known as God within the holy trinity of the SWCA) Gus Lopez, makes his return to the 'Chive Cast to talk about some early candy related items tied to the original film. I was somewhat aware of these, especially the candy wrappers, but I didn't realize there was such a range in the rarity of the wrappers between chocolate bar brands. If you are even remotely interested in food premiums, this segment is absolutely worth checking out.

A spotty connection with Gus causes the guys to veer into one of the most entertaining market watch segments in recent memory. Skye goes up against Brock Walker in a tense competition thats close right 'till the end. In my humble opinion, a more hilarious and competitive format for the market watch, (in which Skye will either win or lose some some nonsensical made up title which he values a lot   ) is the way to go. It's funny every time. Some items in the market watch shed light on the value of certain prototype pieces over time, this type of information is always interesting to me.


Brock, Steve, & Skye also walk through some of the many interesting pre-production items that have been discovered. I found the alternate head sculpt to be particularly interesting. That is something you don't see for too many other figures. Brock offers quite a bit of insight to this segment as he either owned or owns some of the pieces discussed. The wide range of items that have been discovered for this figure give you a particularly detailed look at the production process of a figure in the ROTJ era from initial design to execution.

Steve takes us behind the scenes in a new segment (which as an opening jingle which must be heard to be believed) and he covers the strange way in which Kenner may have had something to do with Madines notorious beard, and the guys also talk about the alternate scenes in which General Madine leads the attack on the Second Death Star. (You can see some of this footage at the 8:30 mark of the video below.)


While looking around for supplemental material for this review, I stumbled upon this short interview with Dermot Crowley where he speaks about some cut scenes which he shot under the direction of George Lucas. Interestingly, this must not be the alternate Akbar lines because (as was so hilariously highlighted in 'Chive Cast 93, those were directed by Richard Marquand, who you can hear calling out notes ("Flash! Stagger! Don't stagger until I tell you!") during the filming.


All in all, this was a fun return to form for the 'Chive cast, returning to the figure of the month format, and I enjoyed it immensely. Beyond the discussion of the figure and it's many prototypes, this episode is really interesting if you are fascinated by behind the scenes details of film production. Madine is a lens through which you can look at an alternate version of Jedi that never was, and an alternate version of the same movie that would have been less interesting, and less fishy. Great job as always, Steve. We really appreciate you stoping by here to share the new episodes directly.

If any of you guys haven't listened to it yet, do yourselves a favour and check it out on YouTube, below.

That was a great episode and great review.

I enjoyed the "Flash! Stagger! Don't stagger until I tell you!", part a s well.

Great review Chris! Been looking forward to this episode. Will give it a listen on my long haul flight next week.

The Bib episode just dropped! I’m about half way through. It’s obvious that this one was going to be good.

Still haven’t mentioned Xizor, we might have a travesty on our hands. (Just kidding, Steve.)

That was a great episode.  Who knew that the Canadians have such hard to find cards!

Only 1 sold on Star Wars Tracker in 4 years.

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One of my favourite Bib items not mentioned are the HC Ford pencil toppers.

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the89thchris wrote:The Bib episode just dropped! I’m about half way through. It’s obvious that this one was going to be good.

Still haven’t mentioned Xizor, we might have a travesty on our hands. (Just kidding, Steve.)

HA! I will admit, I had not thought about the name Xizor for a long time, long time. But you are absolutely right -- after a bit of digging and Waybacking on the Internet Archive:

"Xizor's most famous contemplative and plotting stance was inspired from an old concept illustration of Bib Fortuna, by Nilo Rodis-Jamero."

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Thanks for the continued great show reviews, Chris!

I had looked at those pencil toppers, Clint. Really fun item. And wow, who knew that the Canadian Bib was so tough to come by.

Here's the direct link to the Bib Fortuna episode on the SWCA Blog with images and show notes: 'Chive Cast 94: Bib Fortuna Filth Dance

And this seems just as good a place as any to announce, but tickets for the Archive Party at Celebration Chicago will be going on sale Saturday January 19th at 11:38am PST. We'll be recording a Blog Log Pod that will also go over all the details very soon, so I'll be sure to send a heads up here when that happens.

Hope to see some of you there!

--Steve

Thanks for the update Steve.

It was also interesting to hear about all the odd patent references that had to be made on the Kenner Bib Fortuna figure. Good for Phidias Barrios tracking down an example of all the odd patent references.

Cheers Steve, just started The Bib episode mate, great choice

Hi all,

We've just released the latest Blog Log Pod (Episode 10), in with which Ron Salvatore discusses an amazing piece of unused Endor ROTJ Kenner artwork that he recently highlighted on the SWCA Blog. Plus, this is the FIRST and ONLY place (for now) to learn about the underground rave...err, Archive Party IV ticket and exclusives info: 'Chive Cast Blog Log Pod Episode 10: Most Beautiful Kenner Artwork (and Archive Party IV Info)

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Thanks for listening, and more info to come soon!

--Steve

Thanks for the update Steve.  I just finished listening to the episode.  And yes, I must be a masochist.

I remember reading the blog article when it came out.  But it was great to hear Ron describe how it came into his possession.

The Archive party sounds like it will be good time again.

Will Skye be bringing back Jasper?

Cheers for the update Steve

That's a stunning piece of artwork mate

Loved the blog log pod! Interesting how Luke’s gun just perfectly frames Chewie’s head. That’s gotta be the strangest choice in the piece imo, but it certainly is beautiful! Also, hearing that it’s been on the archive for years just reminds me that I haven’t explored the archive enough.

Unlike Skye, I was really looking forward to this episode. Bib Fortuna has always stuck out in my mind because he's one of those aliens that seemed to have quite a bit of production value put into his appearance. Many of the denizens of Jabba's palace are simply inanimate masks, some recycled from the cantina scene. Since Bib had some lines and close-ups in the film, they really delivered on a compelling character design. Steve & Skye take a look at the intricate pre-production work that eventually led to his final appearance, and they also explore the figures. From carded production variants to the well documented coat variant pre-production figures, and one very interesting test head, they cover it all. I'm not going to re-iterate everything here, if you're a member of this forum and you're not at least listening to the figure focused episodes of the 'Chive Cast yet, you gotta get it together.  

Early in the episode, the guys outline the lengthy character design process. It started out with McQuarrie, got passed to Rodis-Jamero, then finally, during the practical design process, Phil Tippett added some of Bib's unique physical features, including his tentacles, (which were meant to be an extended brain) and his sharp, "saw-like" teeth.


No conversation about Bib Fortuna figures would be complete without mentioning the legendary Spanish Colgate Toothpaste box which featured a figure packed in. This rare production item (currently residing in Rancho Obi-Wan) is one of two known, the other features a Biker Scout figure. The guys speculate on the existence of other examples. The back of the box features a depiction of several figures including Skye's character focus figure: Chewbacca. Personally, I don't think he needs to be worried. If more of these existed intact, I'm sure that would have been discovered by now.


Eventually, Phidias Barrios joins the discussion as he is the custodian of the vast majority of the extant pre-production items related to the Bib Fortuna figure. He has examples of early wax pieces, hard copies and first shots, as well as cloth sample figures. Phidias has a truly mind-blowing collection in this regard, you really must listen to the episode to appreciate it. There is some discussion on the status of the wax pieces, some parts might be the original sculpt, other parts might be wax casts. Interestingly, if changes were made to a wax cast, that second generation piece might well be considered the sculpt at that point, as it represents the final design of the production figure.


My favourite piece out of all of Phidias' pre-production artifacts has got to be the rubber test head. It's not beautiful, and it has probably suffered and degraded over time at a much faster rate than the plastic pieces, but it's uniqueness makes it stand out. It seems that Kenner briefly considered making Bib's head out of rubber, this would have probably allowed kids to turn the head more freely, the harder tentacles do restrict movement on the production figure. I'm sure the main drawback would have been that the head came off rather easily. It's interesting to imagine: if they had gone with the rubber head, a loose Bib with a nice looking head might be an extremely sought after item.  

Phidias sticks around for an interesting market watch. I'm glad to hear Skye hype up the Canadian Bib (because I have 3 ) but I could use a nicer one. This market watch also made me realize that I should have got a loose burgundy Bib a while ago, as its only getting more expensive. Steve and Phidias have a fun competition, listen to the episode to find out who wins this month. I've embedded the youtube version of the episode below.




There is a bunch more in this episode but if you want a point by point breakdown of the show, they do that themselves on the Archive Blog.   Now for some nonsense that I wanted to include which was not featured in the episode. (I'll exclude the lovely connection to Prince Xizor as Steve has illustrated it above. )

Bib Fortuna was played by actor Michael Carter. He has a scene in another film that is one of my favorites, and I just had to share that scene here.



The second thing I wanted to point out is that, Bib might be the only character which appears exclusively in Episode I and episode 6. Here's a shot of the beautiful Episode I Bib. Astonishingly, that film turns 20 this year. Bib was played by Alan Ruscoe in Episode I, and you can get a cool look behind the scenes here: Episode I Bib BTS the story has an interesting tie to the original Bib in ROTJ.



Thanks again for a fine episode, Steve. We really appreciate that you deliver episode updates directly to us, here on the forum. Clint & I will see you at the Archive Party! Now, everyone who hasn't listened to the episode yet, go do that now!  

Thanks for the comprehensive update Chris!

Looks like another fun episode.

Nothing says fun like Bib Fortuna.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here's a little snippet of an interview with Gord Warren from Irwin Toy. He was the production manager at Irwin from 1976-2001 and as such he was in charge of manufacturing the Star Wars line in Canada. I helped shoot this for the Ontario Star Wars Collectors Alliance.

You can hear the rest of the interview on episode 95 of the Star Wars Collectors Archive Podcast, linked below.

Steve I'm a bit behind on the Chivecast but I just caught up with the most recent episode of Star Wars at the Movies. Loved your interview Dwayne. Genuinely one of the nicest blokes in the hobby.

For you guys who don't know, Dwayne was the dude in the Hammerhead outfit at Celebration Anaheim.

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Yup, I shall have to listen to that on the basis of that hammerhead costume alone.

The March episode of the 'Chive Cast is up:

Hi guys,

Sorry for the prolonged radio silence here at Tantive. Things leading up to Celebration were a madhouse, and still playing a lot of catch-up. It was great seeing some of you guys in Chicago! Thanks so much to Clint for the special droid, and to Chris for all of the hard work recording and making the panels available!

Glad that you enjoyed the SWaTM episode with Dwayne, Christian! He's one of the best guys in the community and I was glad to have him on the podcast.

We had a few episodes released over the past couple of months:

For our now traditional (oh no...) April Fool's Episode, Skye actually released a podcast focused on Polish (not Nail Polish) collectibles with author Jakub Burzyński: 'Chive Cast 97 - Polish Collectibles with Jakub

We also recorded a live podcast at the Collecting Track Lounge which was short but a lot of fun: 'Chive Cast 98 - 'Chive Cast vs. The Filthy Patch Traders

And most recently, we had a Blog Log Pod mini-episode with Ben Sheehan to discuss his in depth (and hotly contested) article on Protomolds: 'Chive Cast Blog Log Pod Episode 11 - Protomold Fudge

It's shaping up to be a momentous summer for both Skye and I, but the good thing is we'll be hanging out next month!

Hope everyone here is well, and thanks again for listening!

--Steve

Steve, It was a pleasure to finally meet you in person (as brief as it was). I totally understand about things being a madhouse. I'm in the same boat at the moment.

Great job on all the podcast episodes. I've listened to all of them, and enjoyed them. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the update, Steve. I’ve enjoyed all three of the most recent episodes. Also, just in case anyone following this thread has missed it, here’s the SWCA 25th Anniversary panel from Celebration Chicago:

There is a new Blog Log Pod out with Jonathan McElwain, about vintage cakes. It's worth a listen.

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I’ve noticed that there is a new “Blog Log Pod”  Merry Christmas, guys! Hope everyone has a great day!