On the way to the world premiere of The Phantom Menace, my mother challenged me to create a figure from the movie we'd waited 16 years to see. Like any true origami artist, I never go anywhere without paper to fold. Within the hour, I came up with the Naboo starfighter. It's uncommon for me to design figures this quickly but sometimes I just get lucky. This time I was doubly lucky. Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker) was also at the after-party for the world premiere.

Once I saw Jake there, I just had to give him the starfighter. He had several (huge) bodyguards around him. I cautiously approached one and asked if I could give Mr. Lloyd the figure. To my astonishment, I was granted an audience. Jake seemed very impressed with my fighter, which pleased me to no end. Unfortunately, I gave him the only one I had made and by the time I got home that night I couldn't remember exactly how I'd done it. The re-creation is better than the original (as I remember it) because I used the back side of the paper to "color" the cockpit. So Jake, if you're reading this, and you'd like the new and improved starfighter, drop me a line.