The Empire Strikes Back… on Jubilee Avenue

A few days ago, in a neighbourhood not far away…

A three-metre-tall, 3.5-metre-long All Terrain Armored Transport walker from Star Wars showed up outside a home on Jubilee Avenue in the Lord Roberts area last Sunday to spread some nerdy holiday cheer.

The science-fiction combat vehicle, dressed in multicolour Christmas lights, was built by Aaron Frost and his students in the University of Winnipeg theatre department’s advanced stagecraft class as a lesson in three-dimensional set pieces.

“We used to make little fireplaces as their final project, and I just thought, you know, let’s do something way more fun,” Frost said Wednesday.

The AT-AT vehicle was originally featured in The Empire Strikes Back and is instantly recognizable by its four gangly legs and grey plating.

Frost’s students were instantly on board, so Frost found approximate dimensions of the fictional vehicle from the internet and was able to scale down the structure to a workable size.

The project came to life last year using scrap materials over the course of three months on Friday afternoons, but the statue wasn’t doing anything for anyone, unseen in the stagecraft shop.

On film, the vehicle is featured roaming the Hoth planet — a world of snow and ice — in the Star Wars universe; Frost set up the U of W version in his front yard last Christmas, but he lives on a dead-end street in Charleswood and figured it deserved more attention.

So, this year, one of his friends — a big Star Wars fan — agreed to host it in his yard on the busy thoroughfare.

“He was completely on board,” Frost said. “And then with the holiday season, throw some bright- coloured lights on it and it looks super fun.”

In October, it got out to meet people attending Winnipeg Comic Con at the convention centre. The structure was a hit, Frost said.

He is thinking about adding to the fleet down the road.

“Giving him a little friend would be hilarious,” he said. “Heck, maybe 10 years from now, there might even be three or four.”

Star Wars fans and regular folk alike can visit the display in front of 724 Jubilee Ave. until mid-January.

Nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca