While driving around the Lord Roberts neighbourhood you may notice something seemingly out of a galaxy far, far away… An Advanced Stagecraft class at the University of Winnipeg has built a 10-foot-tall, 12-foot-long All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) from Star Wars and placed it in a yard on Jubilee Ave. The four-legged transport and combat vehicle was originally featured in The Empire Strikes Back and used by Imperial ground forces. Aaron Frost, an instructor at the University of Winnipeg’s department of theatre, said the idea to recreate the impressive structure came out of boredom. “I used to do little fireplace projects with my class, and I got tired of that and thought it might be fun to throw something a little bit larger and a little more pop culture at my students there. They got right on board, and we had a great time building it,” said Frost. The AT-AT was originally built last year and first displayed in Frost’s yard. “I’m in a little dead-end street in Charleswood. So, you know, all my neighbours, and the people who were going up and down the street loved it. It caught wind. I heard about some folks who were spotting it around. But my friends live on Jubilee, and I was like, “That yard would be perfect,’ and it would get lots and lots of good views here, lots of traffic.” The iconic walker was built over the course of three months on Friday afternoons out of basic construction materials. “It’s got some 2 x 4’s going up the legs and a bit of a 2 x 4 structure in its body, but otherwise it’s 1 × 2 and 1 x 3, with a very thin plywood on the outside. So it’s quite light and easy to set up. It took two of us an hour to put it together and just four of us to lift it up, but that was easy,” Frost explained. Displaying the AT-AT outside over the holiday season in Winnipeg’s frigid weather felt only natural to Frost. “We all know that Hoth is the snowy planet in The Empire Strikes Back, so when winter hits, he kind of belongs outside. And I thought it would be a lot of fun to just put a lot of fun, colourful lights on him,” said Frost. So far the reaction to the large-scale work has been positive. “Great. Even just when we were setting it up on the weekend, just the people honking their horns as they were going past and just the glances of people as they went by warmed my heart completely. So it’s been great. I’m sure Facebook is lighting up,” Frost noted. The AT-AT was even displayed at Winnipeg Comiccon this year. “That was a lot of fun to get it out. The Star Wars guys there caught wind of it and reached out to me, and I was happy to put it on display for them,” said Frost. The success of the project has also inspired one of his students to create their own unique work. “I’ve got a student right now this year who’s working on a Galileo, that’s a Star Trek vehicle. It’s like their little shuttle crafts, or making that.” Like so many Star Wars films before it, there could also be another “sequel” to the AT-AT in the works. “I feel like in a couple of years, I’ll probably want to make the same thing with my class, so we may make a second version of this, maybe a foot taller or something, just to switch it up a little bit,” said Frost.
