Stories Behind the Pictures: Part 4

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Ok, this blog post will likely not make sense if you don't know much about or haven't seen the Star Wars original trilogy, or the sequel trilogy. You have been warned. So if you haven't seen the Star Wars movies, stop now and go watch one. 

Now if you have seen the Star Wars movies, you'll likely have recognized something familiar in the picture above. It's a TIE Fighter. We saw this in Heber City, Utah, driving down the road one day, and boy did it give us a shock. For reference, this is an approximately 15 feet high life sized model of the Star Wars ship. So it's not really something you see everyday. Here's a picture of it in one of the movies:

Of course, we had to know more. My mom did a little research, and came up with this article: 

Artist Randy Christ put together a replica of the TIE fighter crash from "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens," using plywood, styrofoam and some old pipe. He even used a shotgun to give the piece lifelike battle scars that would’ve caused the crash.
"The 'TIE' acronym stands for twin ion engine — which power the craft," Christ said. "The two wings or side plates are actually solar panels to collect sunlight to power the ion engines. All of which is made up, of course."
The TIE fighter is located one mile north of Heber, on the west side of U.S. Highway 40. Sponsored by Christ's business, Sock City in Park City, the installation will be available for photos until early June.
The team behind the piece considered a number of other locations for the crash, and ultimately landed on one close to home. With five people constructing the installation, they got the scale model up in time to celebrate May the Fourth, also known as Star Wars Day, earlier this month.
"Since the Tie Fighter was assembled out in the north fields there's been a lot of interest by passersby, stopping and taking photographs from Highway 40," Christ said. "We can't let people get too close, because it's fragile. But they're enjoying it nonetheless."

Wow. What a dedicated fan. One day I'd like to meet this guy, but for now, I can enjoy theorizing what the new Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker will be about.  Maybe one day in a galaxy far far away....