X-34 landspeeder

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Size:
  3.4 meters long

• Type:
  Civilian landspeeder

• Manufacturer:
  SoroSuub Corporation

• 

From the Movies

When Luke Skywalker's beloved T-16 skyhopper wasn't functioning, his only escape from moisture farm drudgery came from his beat-up brown landspeeder. Hovering aloft on a cushion of antigravity, the speeder had three thrusters for maneuverability and a curved windscreen for protection from Tatooine's blowing grit.

To raise the credits needed to purchase passage off Tatooine, Luke was forced to sell his speeder. The popularity of the newer XP-38 models cut into the speeder's resale value, though Luke and Obi-Wan were able to finagle 2,000 credits out of the deal.

From the Expanded Universe

The purchase of a second landspeeder was the cause of many heated arguments at the Lars homestead. The curmudgeonly Owen Lars was against wasting credits on frivolous expenditures, but his nephew reasoned that with his increased workload, he would need a speedy way to reach the moisture vaporators in the outlying ranges.

As usual, the calming influence of Beru Lars straightened out the disagreement, and Luke was able to purchase a worn and dented brown X-34 for 2,400 credits. Though Luke did use the speeder for joyriding, Owen at least respected that his nephew's constant tinkering on its power plant and thrusters was teaching the lad valuable mechanical skills.

Behind the Scenes

The full-size landspeeder prop was a functioning car with wheels tucked beneath its frame. Hiding those wheels and making it look as if this speeder could really soar was quite the challenge for A New Hope's production crew.

The easiest methods involved creatively photographing the speeder from angles that obscured the wheels, or hiding the wheels behind foreground rocks and scenery. In a few instances, the speeder was mounted to a lateral crane that suspended the vessel and gave it an appropriate "bounce" when Luke jumped in or out of it.

For long shots, the speeder was fitted with a mirrored skirt that reflected the sand beneath it. The judicious use of gelatin globs smeared on the camera lens to create a blur helped this effect, as did the post-production addition of a dense shadow beneath the speeder.

George Lucas was never satisfied with the end result, feeling that the addition of blurs and shadows only drew attention to a lackluster effect. For the Special Edition of A New Hope, the use of digital compositing and image manipulation simply erased the mirrors and wheels beneath the craft and seamlessly painted in the underlying desert.