New behind-the-scenes footage from the Star Wars Disney+ TV show Ahsoka reveals how Jedi Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 shuttle was reproduced in live-action. The T-6 shuttle was introduced on screen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as a starship that the Republic and the Jedi Order used throughout the Clone Wars era. In fact, Ahsoka wasn’t the first time Ahsoka herself was seen in a T-6; rather, she and Jedi Master Plo Koon used a T-6 shuttle just like it in season 2, episode 22 of The Clone Wars, “Lethal Trackdown.” Bringing this ship to live-action involved a complex, multistep process.

Adam Savage, perhaps known best as the former co-host of MythBusters, visited Lucasfilm’s motion control stage while Ahsoka was in production and got to see first-hand how the beautiful ship was brought to life in the show. In a video posted on YouTube by Adam Savage’s Tested, Savage describes how the Ahsoka team used both a CGI model of the T-6 and an augmented, motion-controlled model to bring the shuttle to live-action.

Impressively, the shuttle took four months to build and had a fully functioning mechanized rotating wing, reflecting the dedication and attention to detail Lucasfilm gives its shows.

Star Wars Starship Models Have Always Been Absolutely Incredible

In truth, the T-6 is one of many examples of brilliant starships throughout Star Wars movies and TV shows. In fact, a number of Star Wars ships represent some of the most beloved iconography in the entire franchise. Perhaps the biggest example is the Millennium Falcon, which has taken on a life of its own in Star Wars. Although it was made popular in the original trilogy and absent from the prequel trilogy, the appearance of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was one of the best and most significant moments of nostalgia in the sequel movies.

Newer additions to Star Wars have also become beloved, however. In Star Wars Rebels, the Ghost, the freighter flown by pilot Hera Syndulla, acted as a home for the Rebels crew and carried significant emotional weight. Star Wars: The Bad Batch then took a page from Rebels’ book, with their ship the Marauder acting as their home as well. In fact, the Bad Batch team even made a room for Omega on the ship. Audiences were absolutely devastated when the ship was then destroyed in The Bad Batch season 3, arguably rivaling the distress when a beloved character dies.

The love for and attention given to the T-6 is therefore very much in keeping with the trend of Star Wars ships seen throughout the franchise. These starships are so much more than merely vehicles the characters use to get around; instead, many of Star Wars’ most important ships have become characters themselves. As was made apparent by the behind-the-scenes video, the Ahsoka team clearly represented this significance through the months of labor that went into bringing the T-6 Jedi shuttle to live-action.

Source: Adam Savage’s Tested

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