This very special episode of the gear head reality show "Junkyard Mega-Wars: At the Movies" pays tribute to the awe-inspiring, mind-blowing world of movie special effects and the people who make them. Not only were the experts at ILM called to duty; Jim Henson's Creature Shop (The Muppets) and K.N.B. EFX Group (Kill Bill, Spawn, Friday the 13th) joined in the fun. Each of these prestigious FX teams were asked to build a fire-breathing, projectile-shooting, car-crushing beast that would be visually representative of each team's most-famous work.

Choosing a character that would encompass the essence of a special effects company that has worked on some of the most memorable films in cinematic history including the Star Wars saga, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Sleepy Hollow, The Mummy, Harry Potter and The Hulk, wouldn't be easy.

However, thanks to the talented vision of ILM art directors Alex Jaeger and Jules Mann, the obvious choice of which iconic character to represent the company in a battle to save the planet became quite clear -- R2-D2.

Not only does R2-D2 embody the character and spirit of ILM, the droid also seemed a better choice to realistically duplicate unlike the complicated design of C-3PO, or the unlikely materials found in a junkyard to recreate the look of something like an Ewok.

"The R2-D2 shape was the easiest to duplicate with what we might find in a junkyard," explains ILM animatronics engineer and team member Grant Imahara. "While we discussed the idea, making C-3PO was abandoned because it would have required us to 'sculpt' metal (i.e. pound sheets into place), which would have been very time consuming. As far as the Ewok goes, well, flame and fur don't mix too well."

Check out Monster R2 on The Learning Channel February 22! Click here for further details and programming schedule!