One of the other things I'm responsible for is "R2-D2: Beneath the Dome". Hopefully, some of you may have seen it, and for those who haven't, it was a look into the life of R2-D2. Actually, it all started innocently enough...

Back on Episode One, I became really good friends with two of the effects guys from the film: Graham Riddell and Patrick Johnson. We had a great time driving our R2s around and talking shop. We lamented about the fact that we had access to a bunch of huge soundstages...if only we could get together a camera crew and a story, maybe George would let us make a parallel film...alas, it never happened-until Episode Two...

Three years later, I was having lunch with my ace R2 crew: Justin Dix, Trevor Tighe and Zeynep "Zed" Selcuk. I relayed my idea of simultaneous filmmaking from Ep 1 to them, and they embraced it. However, this time we did have a camera crew-the documentary team of Spencer Susser and Tony Kaplan...now we just needed a story. We brainstormed and thought that maybe we'd just do "A Day in the Life of R2-D2". We'd shoot R2 getting out of bed, getting to set, etc. Spencer decided that when he'd do interviews of the actors for the film, he'd ask them a few questions at the end about R2 and see what happened.

First up was Ewan McGregor-the R2 portion of his interview was only about 5 minutes long, but the crew and he couldn't keep a straight face. Soon after, other cast and crew were interviewed-then people started asking to be a part of it. They started coming to us with ideas.

Ben Burtt, R2's real soul, thought it would be fun to take R2 out shopping along the storefronts that are part of Fox Studios Australia. While we're at it, Ben mused, why doesn't R2 go for a bungy jump, since one happened to be right there on the grounds of the studio...? It took about two minutes to figure out a way to do it...we got George to sign off on it, then I asked the bungy jump owner. He loved the idea.

Justin built a new head special for the jump. In the polyester resin, he mixed in aluminum powder, just like they had been doing for Jango Fett's armor. Meanwhile, Trevor and I rigged a trashed body to weigh the appropriate amount, since too light of an R2 would not make for a good bounce. Justin cleaned him up, and made it look perfect for the camera.

Below the bungy jump, the owner had placed a ten-foot deep swimming pool. Looking at the pool, I had a great (I thought) idea-what if the bungy broke and R2 crashed into the water 90 meters below? It would certainly add to the drama...Our team discussed it, then I told the bungy owner. He wasn't too thrilled to let a crowd see his bungy snap-I guess he felt it would look bad for business. So we created a plan "B"-R2 would decide at the last minute to try jumping without the cables...

(A short digression is in order here: I know it didn't really make sense that R2 jump without the bungy attached, but see...well, we all wanted to watch R2 hit the water at terminal velocity.

We all thought it would look cool.

Now I know how you all feel about R2 and think this may be a little cruel or sadistic, but we were having to put up with the thing day after day...and besides, our first choice to throw overboard wouldn't do it, so R2 had to suffice.)

We rolled out on a gloomy, drizzling Saturday morning. Our bungy guy even provided a scuba diver to jump in and rescue R2. We decided to first do a version with the bungy attached-since we didn't have a script, we didn't know which version we might use. Mr. Bungy, R2 and I went up in the crane lift, soaring 90 meters over the Fox Studios grounds. Now at this point, I must say anyone who has ever bungy jumped is either incredibly brave or a complete lunatic. I decided then and there I am neither; never would you get me to jump off that thing. That 10 foot deep pool beneath us looked like a drinking cup. It was cold and rainy and windy. Mr. Bungy would've had to throw me off that thing...

We lined up, got set, and I pushed R2 off. He did a graceful swan dive (well, as graceful as a fiberglass bucket with 70 pounds of sandbags could be), and he just missed touching the water with his head. Mr. Bungy recalibrated and we did it a second time; this time, R2 dunked his head a few inches. Finally, we ready for the big moment...

After a crew briefing, we went up a third time. With everyone in place, the crowd that had gathered started counting down...just seconds before, Justin pretends to yell up to R2 about his harness-I push R2 off, and...

...He explodes when he hits the water.

Now, they put that pool there to make you think you've got something soft to land in should something go wrong...but it might've as well been concrete. Not only did R2's leg get ripped off upon impact, the fiberglass body split and tore. The head, which had a fair amount of aluminum powder embedded in it, dented. It was a mess...after pulling it out, we shot-much to my objection-the "rescue" where I am seen breaking down...it was, perhaps, the worst bit of acting I've ever done. Soon after we finished, images of the jump were circulating on the internet, along with all sorts of rumors as to why we did it...

About eight months later, Lucasfilm Marketing decided we should finish our little epic. Since there was no script, a small group of us-Nelson Hall, Mary Beth Bresolin, Paul Ens, Kim Bromley-tried to make a story from a bunch of footage that had no story. We all decided the bungy jump should stay and we built a story around it. We had the accident on camera; now we needed to film the aftermath.

Anna Bies, the film's production manager (and my wife!) called around several local hospitals to find one willing for us to film. Petaluma Valley Hospital welcomed us with open arms, suggesting we come in on Sunday morning, as that's when their Emergency Room is slowest. Since we needed extras for R2's "departure from the hospital scene", we asked them to have the staff bring in their families to meet R2.

We showed up with R2 at 10:00 am, and filming went smoothly...though the real ER patients were a bit startled as they watched an Emergency Medical technician ride the gurney with a robot as he attempted to resuscitate it while an idiot with a camera (me) chases after them. Anna, my wife and Kara, my son's preschool teacher, got to play the doctors with R2, while a real EMT, Mark Havens, played the guy trying to revive R2.

The other part of the rescue team was Wendi Thomas, RN who introduced us to her husband, Officer Matt Thomas of the Petaluma Police Department. He explained to me that he was involved in an anti drinking and driving program aimed at high school students called "Every 15 Minutes". He needed some help with it-would we be willing to help?

We said yes and offered our services.

Stay tuned to starwars.com for the continuation of this story...