Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi Easter Egg - Footwear or Star Destroyer?

Could this be a reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which the Heart of Gold (spaceship with the Infinite Improbability drive) is shaped like a sneaker?

The book Industrial Light & Magic - The Art of Special Effects mentions this in it's profile of a certain camaraman. This said man was coordinating the models in the battle scene, and late one evening he was so frustrated that he took off his shoe and lined it up as one of the rebel fleet cruisers. It is a brief segment, and not easily seen.

Sorry, but I don't see any sneakers. Is it just as the star destroyer barrels into the death star?

No, the SNEAKER was hidden in the scene where the Rebels and Empire first engage in the space battle. This is where the rebels realize they were in a trap and all the ships come head on at each other. The SFX guys were having a hard time getting the scene set-up and one of the guys took his shoe off and put it in for one frame. There is also a mistake in this sequence. With all the pieces of film in this shot, a mistake creaped up. To place certain elements in the scene a "hold out" pattern must be used to block the background and then add a foreground object. The hold out pattern leaves "WHITE SPACE" to allow for another object to be added. In the head-on collision scene the hold out patterns for two TIE fighters were left in by accident. The TIE fighters were supposed to be masked by the Falcon. The TIE fighters were removed but the holdout patterns were left in! This appears as two white TIE fighters across the bottom of the FALCON as it zooms by. (Once you see it you will always see it!)

i didn't see any shoes or white tie fighters

When the ships are just about to pass each other in the chaos after the trap is realized. Hit PAUSE. Then frame advance one frame at a time until you see the Falcon fly by. Look on the bottom of the Falcon for two TIE fighters "ghosts." Note this might have been fixed in the Special Edition

This isn't very easy to see. Once you see it, it'll be obvious every time you watch the movie.

There is a cute little egg on this in the game Star Warped. When you're in "space" (from where you can get to the controle panel) there is an X-wing flying around. Wait for a while and a sneaker will pass by! There are also sneakers in the Death Star Destructo game.

Right after the scene of the ghost tie fighter, after the guy shouts, its too many of them! when the Millennium Falcon is flying by, it turns blue after an explosion!! Just thought it would be an interesting think to see. You need to go slow motion though to see it.

ROTJ is my favorite star wars movie and i've seen it many times now, but flying SHOES?!?! i never saw any shoes. i think you guys are making all this up just for some attention. =P

FAKE.why would you use a shoe for a star destroyer?I think this is made-up.

I think that what everyone is really seeing is a mix of Imperial ships and Rebellion cruisers. I think those "sneakers" you're referring to are Rebellion cruisers. And yes it does occur as the Executor explodes into the Death Star.