Our buddy in Dubrovnik has sent us a few more updates from the filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII in Dubrovnik. There’s some cool pics of a sequence that was filmed out there and some aline stuff which is always cool to see.

Here’s a breakdown of the yesternight’s speeder explosion sequence shot on the Stradun location, according to a person on the crew:

The take involved 10-odd actors, being concentrated on a central dignitary, i.e., a fair-haired, mid-aged jeweled female and her entourage (caucasian handmaidens and male guards, an African-American guy, an Asian-American guy, and more.)

They proceeded to a “levitating” twin-engine cobalt-and-argent speeder.

Apparently, the lady’s bodyguards are a mixture of humanoid, Muppet-like aliens (e.g., a mugged simian with a freaky white tonsure and a calamari-like guy, both described before) and humans.

As the Asian-American and caucasian escort approached the vehicle, the prop was remotely disintegrated (with an audible explosion and a spectacular pyrotechnical show).

Enclosed please also find a better display of the “whisked alien” from a previous boat socialization post, accompanied by a bunch of other guys… Cool, isn’t he?

Our real post this time begins with a today’s post meridiem outlook of Dubrovnik’s Pustrijerna Street, the one that was later festively illuminated. Visible are the “electrical installations” and “light fixtures” on the original stony walls, all of which are actually plastic (but functional) motion picture props. The amalgamation with the medieval architecture is again performed in such an unobtrusive way that even we, the (expatriated) locals, occasionally find it quite difficult to distinguish a prop from a real ornament… Please pay attention to a conico-spherical construction strategically positioned in one of the lateral arcades: is it a kind of a cased navigational device, possibly a space compass in the Star Wars esthetics?

Moreover, we bring you a handful of brand new photographs from the last night’s speeder explosion scene, with an explanation that they were understandably taken behind the Venetian blinds…

You may clearly chronologically see what we have already described, as well as an aftermath: Allegedly, a sort of a “Wilhelm scream” was sounded (alerting a mixed crowd in what appears to be an extramural portion of a galactic restaurant), the bodyguards and a senatorial entourage ran away, and a complete speeder prop explosion followed, with some truly magnificent pyrotechnical effects. A parallel to a bit similar sequence representing the dignitaries observing a Starkiller Base activity in The Force Awakens could be also easily drawn:

For all those missing Finn’s equestrian (Space Horse) activity, here is a photograph circumstantiating the end of his Stradun ride: obviously, the saddled pair arrived to the same cantina as the aforementioned crowd, as the décor is pretty much unchanged.

Thanks to our friend in Dubrovnik for all the excellent news from Dubrovnik’s filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII.