Howie Weed Harold " Howie " Weed ( born December 23 , 1962 ) is an Industrial Light & Magic artist and occasional actor in the " Star Wars " saga . He played some background characters ( Ketwol , Melas ) and the Wampa ice creature for the 1997 Special Editions . Weed began his career in the early 1980s as a production assistant for TV with " Smarkus and Company " ( 1982 ) . Not satisfied with production roles , he began working as a model maker for Steven Spielberg ' s production " Gremlins " ( 1984 ) , where he became a part of the creature crew . On that movie , he worked under special - effects artist Chris Walas ( the alligator maker for the 1984 film " Romancing the Stone " ) . Weed began working for Chris Walas Inc . for the next years as a special - effects technician , or " creature technician , " as he was sometimes called . Weed began his successful work as one of the creature technicians of Wolfgang Petersen ' s science - fiction movie " Enemy Mine " ( 1985 ) , and then with David Cronenberg ' s " The Fly " ( 1986 ) , this time with Jon Berg and Don Bies . Weed was not exclusively working for Walas , so he tried his luck with another special - effects company , Backwood Films , in Steve Miner ' s horror film " House " ( 1986 ) . Weed then started a successful collaboration with Industrial Light & Magic ( ILM ) with George Miller ' s " The Witches of Eastwick " ( 1987 ) . He then combined his work for both ILM and Watt . ( Backwood was never a successful firm and did not continue in the movie business . ) In 1989 , two different movies featuring Weed ' s work debuted . Weed had worked as one of the creature sculptors for Chris Walas ' debut as a director , " The Fly II " . He was also one of the character performers ILM used for another sequel , Ivan Reitman ' s " Ghostbusters II " . Sequels were easily Weed ' s fodder for the early 1990s . He began working again in Walas ' crew for Irvin Kershner ' s " Robocop 2 " ( 1990 ) and as animatronics engineer in Amy Heckerling ' s " Look Who ' s Talking Too " ( 1990 ) . He also worked in animatronics for David Cronenberg and William S . Burroughs ' s " Naked Lunch " ( 1991 ) . Not unfamiliar with science fiction , Weed worked as model maker for both " Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country " ( 1991 ) and " Star Trek : Generations " ( 1994 ) , working for Matte World and ILM , respectively . The year 1997 was one of the most prolific for Weed . He worked as digital artist for Steven Spielberg ' s " The Lost World : Jurassic Park " ( sequel of the 1993 success ) and for Barry Sonnenfeld ' s sci - fi comedy " Men In Black " as model maker ( more specifically , for the " saucer crash " miniature and the blue - screen unit ) . He also began working on the Special Editions of the " Star Wars " original trilogy . Weed was the chief creature maker for " " and " " , creating the new monsters for both these films . Weed , as Rick Baker before him , acted as some of his creations . Particularly , on " " , he can be seen in the cantina as Ketwol , the elephant - like creature , and also as Melas , a Saurian smoker who looks remarkably like the back of Ketwol ' s head . In fact , the same puppet was used for both characters . During " The Empire Strikes Back " , Weed was chosen to be inside his own Wampa Ice Creature costume , so new scenes could be added . Because this role no longer required a tall actor , Des Webb was not re - called . Thus , the " gory Wampa " in the Special Edition is mainly played by Weed . Weed continued working for the saga with , working as a construction artist and digital model development artist for ILM , as a part of a greater team . He did not act again , not being a professional actor . He did , however , continue his work as a visual - effects artist for ILM . He was one of the digital model developers for Steven Spielberg ' s " A . I . " ( 2001 ) , and again for Spielberg in " Minority Report " ( 2002 ) . That same year , he was also the main digital artist for Simon Wells ' version of H . G . Wells ' " The Time Machine " .