Death Valley was a taste of what was to come with its bleak, arid canyons and multicolored hills, not forgetting the extinct volcano and sand dunes. After spending the night at the Death Valley Motel and seeing the early pioneer wagons outside (heaven knows how they managed to move them at all) we pressed on to an area north of Las Vegas and further yet to Utah, being completely fooled by the hour's time change, as the good people of Kanab will confirm! Moving on to Moab, where we spent three days or so, I was really over-awed by the rugged beauty of the landscape we saw. Regrettably, it was to prove unsuitable for our needs.

After Utah and countless helicopter flights, came Arizona with its breathtaking Grand Canyon and the fascinating Monument Valley, the setting for so many wonderful westerns. Our guide was quick to point out the now famous John Ford Point, which I was assured is the camera angle in the Valley.

We moved on to Santa Fe at what must have been the coldest time of the year. In our search for deserts we looked at the vast White Sands glaring at us in the bright cold sunshine of New Mexico. Still pushing on, we arrived in Phoenix, to be whisked around the state in record time by [representatives of ] the film commission. By this time I was beginning to despair of finding our desert location in the U.S.—until we arrived at Yuma. After a bumpy scout in a sand buggy (my skull will never be quite the same shape as it once was) we finally returned to San Francisco for further discussions with our executive producer. As a result of that scout, the decision was taken at a later date to use the Yuma Desert as our prime location and the giant redwood trees of northern California as the second.

Unlike the previous two pictures, Star Wars and Empire, we had a considerable set to build in the U.S. which for me was to be a new experience, and I have to say a pleasant one, apart from the occasional 60 mph winds that would gust in Yuma and the torrential rains of Crescent City which it seemed had been poised, just waiting for a film crew to start building a set there.

One of the most depressing days for me on Jedi was a trip that was arranged for Lucas and our director, Richard Marquand, to view the site of the bunker, "Secret Control room of the Dark Side," located in the redwoods. That particular day it snowed, in addition to the 200 inches of rain that had fallen during the previous two months; consequently the site was what I can only describe as a quagmire. We all slid about, literally up to our knees in the wretched stuff. Thankfully, shortly afterwards the weather took a turn for the better and we were able to resurface the area with redwood bark and various other materials, including a final layer of grass turfs which saved the day.

As the earlier Star Wars pictures, the interior sets were built at Elstree in England, consequently the logistical problems were considerable. In order for our director to familiarize himself with the skiffs required for the Yuma locations, it was decided to build them at Elstree, since we were based there. As a result, this meant traveling to the U.S. to confer with my American art director both about the skiffs and the Yuma location in general, including the largest exterior location build I have ever been involved with. This took the form of a floating barge, or at least it appeared to float, we hoped.

On these trips the plan was to visit Yuma first, then return to Los Angeles and go to northern California to visit the bunker site in the redwoods. At this stage I was usually falling asleep whenever I sat down, be it in car or airplane.

On reflection, after Raiders of The Lost Ark and Return of The Jedi, one quality a production designer has to have is the ability to sleep almost anywhere at any time, and preferably in any position.

This being the final picture of the trilogy, we had to reflect the earlier ones to some degree and create "new" environments not previously seen. Consequently, the design aspect was as demanding as any that I have yet attempted, apart from the sheer volume of sets etc., which these pictures require.

The struggle to make the sets as authentic as possible is a constant one and can so easily be destroyed by a cameraman. In the case of Jedi quite the opposite is true; our cameraman, Alan Hume probably rates as one of the most experienced in the business, being as capable of dealing with difficult exteriors as atmospheric interiors, and consequently he added that sense of reality all designers hope for.