twin-pod cloud car

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Bespin

• Size:
  7 meters long

• Affiliation:
  Cloud City

• Type:
  Storm IV cloud car

• Manufacturer:
  Bespin Motors

• 

From the Movies

Maintaining order in the skies of Cloud City is a small fleet of atmospheric vehicles known as cloud cars. The streamlined brick-colored craft consists of twin cockpits or pods connected by a repulsorlift and engine block. The lightly armed vehicle has a pair of laser cannons recessed into the snouts of the twin-pods.

From the Expanded Universe

The Bespin Motors Storm IV twin-pod cloud car is an atmospheric vehicle that employs both ion and repulsorlift engines. The native Cloud City company imports a miniature version of the Quadex Kyromaster ion engine for the cloud car, the same model also used in the Alliance B-wing starfighter. To reduce engine heat, the Kyromaster lacks a cover, allowing maximum air-cooling.

Like skyhoppers, cloud cars employ the dual engine system to achieve incredible speeds and low orbital flight ceilings. Their twin cabins are pressurized; the pilot sits in the port pod, while the gunner sits in the starboard one.

Behind the Scenes

The cloud cars seen in The Empire Strikes Back were miniatures photographed using motion control. The limitations of bluescreen optical compositing of the era required ILM to take extra care in filming and inserting the cloud cars into the Bespin skies. The method used to composite starships against space wouldn't suffice, since the cloud cars would have appeared too crisp and heavily outlined against the hazy nimbuses. Instead, the models were filmed in multiple passes to allow a certain atmospheric distortion appropriate for the scene. The cloud cars added to the Special Editions of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were computer-generated.