T. M. Christopher – Film Editor

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T. M. Christopher
Film Editor

Tom has been with Lucas since 1982, when he came to work on Return of the Jedi as the mixing stage recordist.

Married with two children, Tom was born in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in film. He has also worked at Zoetrope Studios, The Saul Zaentz Film Center and Pixar.

For the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition he was responsible for editing new scenes into the films and coordinating the overall restoration of the films and soundtracks, not an easy task!

The job as film editor had Tom meeting with George Lucas weekly, usually in a screening room or working on a AVID digital editing workstation. When George comes to a cutting room, he is prepared to work, and this caused Tom’s job to take many interesting turns. Tom remembers one example, in which George was at hand to listen to the final mix tracks of the last reel of Star Wars. Also in attendance were Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Gary Summers, and Ted Gagliano (of Fox). After reviewing the reel (which included the climatic space battle and the explosion of the Death Star) George turned to Tom and asked “Tom, wasn’t there a scene here in the script? Did we ever look into adding it back?” The simple question created a flurry of activity. Tom had to pull the dailies (film footage) of a scene that was scripted and shot, but deleted from the movie 20 years ago. Amazingly, two hours later, a scene in which Luke Skywalker meets his boyhood friend Biggs in the Rebel Base hangar was added to the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, complete with Foley and sound effects. Tom is most proud of the look, color balance and sound clarity of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition.

Tom’s favorite Star Wars moment, the scene in which R2-D2 is captured by Jawas, has also been improved in the Special Edition. Tom loves the whimpering sound of R2-D2’s cries as he proceeds into the Jawas’ trap.

Tom was amazed by the number of people that it took to make Star Wars! Even though he first saw it in a small theater in New Hampshire, with a very noisy air conditioner, he was hooked, and still is.