Philpott played Norman Nesbitt, a geeky man who believes he has been contacted by UFOs. He was placed in a room full of maps, cardboard spaceships and notebooks filled with his own scribblings. Other characters included his girlfriend, who believed his correspondence with aliens was an excuse for breaking up with her, and the "Men in White Coats," who constantly tried to take Norman Nesbitt away but were never successful. Philpott was not paid for the one-day performance, which was completely improvised. In December 1997, after more than 30 years of self-employment, Toby Philpott took a job at Cardiff Central Library as a library technician, where he provides information technology and other computer support; Philpott described the job as a logical move at that stage in his life and said he realized would be necessary to stay employed in the next century. He said that "Finding Jabba the Hutt working in a library is no more unusual than the rest of my life." Philpott is a member of the board of the NoFit State Circus (although he no longer travels with them) and is a long-term student at the Maybe Logic Academy, an online study group founded by writer Robert Anton Wilson. Philpott remains well known for his animatronics work, particularly on "Return of the Jedi", and attends occasional science fiction conventions to meet fans and sign autographs, including Celebration Europe in 2007. Philpott said he had no idea how large the "Star Wars" fanbase was until he started using the Internet in 1999. Reflecting upon his career in the movies years later, Toby Philpott would describe himself as "a street juggler that got lucky." Philpott has said he has considered writing a book about his life and opinions. In November 2007, Philpott wrote a 50,000-word novel in one month, as part of the National Novel Writing Month creative writing project. The book, "Foolproof", is about a group of nomadic young people living in modern Spain. Following the 1997 Star Wars Special Edition theatrical re-release of "A New Hope", Philpott said he did not like the new animated Jabba the Hutt featured in a previously-cut scene and, although he was interested in the future possibilities brought about by computer-generated imagery, he lamented the increased use of computer animations rather than animatronics and real performers. Philpott did not dismiss CGI altogether, especially when it appears seamless and convincing as he believed it did in Steven Spielberg's 1994 film, "Jurassic Park".