How Jabba the Hut Came About

If Jabba the Hutt were a man, you'd see him at the beginning of this video. Before the final design of the character was realized, George Lucas shot his first scene with an actor! The footage was later overlaid with a stop-motion Jabba. By the time Return of the Jedi came around, Jabba was ready for a meatier share of the plot. He was constructed as a puppet operated by multiple technicians, who explain what their duties were. One puppeteer's sole job was to smoke a cigar and blow the smoke out of Jabba's pipe! All this work, and the character ended up being replaced by CGI in the Special Editions. (via Laughing Squid)