30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 10

Here's part 2 of a look at Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings for Return of the Jedi. 

In addition to scenes and locations familiar from the finished movie, McQuarrie also created numerous paintings for locations that were either ultimately unused, or used in later movies. 

The above is a prairie-type environment that was a possible location for Jabba's palace.

At one point the Emperor's throne room was going to be housed on a lava planet, as shown above with Darth Vader bring Luke Skywalker before the Emperor. 

Above is a view of the Imperial Palace on the capital planet which was entirely covered by an enormous city. This planet would eventually become Coruscant via the expanded universe material and would debut in the retooled ending of Return of the Jedi for it's theatrical rerelease in 1997, before becoming a central location in the prequel trilogy. 

Above are three views of Monument Plaza on what would later become Coruscant. The Rock shown in the first and third views is apparently the top tip of a mountain, and the only natural feature to be seen on the planet in it's current state. This was to show just how tall the surrounding buildings had become.

  

This Friday at the Bottleneck Gallery

The "I Love You Man" show opens at the Bottleneck Gallery tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. The show runs May 10 - May 26, benefits the World Wildlife Fund, and will feature a lot of great artwork. 

I have two 3-D cut paper pieces in the show featuring "Calvin and Hobbes," which you can see below. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 9

Ralph McQuarrie, who died a little over a year ago, really defined what the Star Wars movies would look like through his preproduction art. Not only did he bring to life many of the characters, vehicles, and exotic locations for the Star Wars films, but his paintings also conveyed the mood, energy and excitement that would later be transferred to the screen. Not only was he a master conceptualizer and artist, but he was a master storyteller as well. 

Today and tomorrow you can look through many of the paintings that McQuarrie created for Return of the Jedi, firing the imaginations of the set designers, special effects artists, costumers, and production crew who would translate his concepts into the various elements that make up a film. 

Many of these paintings were gathered together and sold as reproductions in a portfolio released in conjunction with the movie. Below are various views, environments and scenes within and without Jabba's Palace, including the battle over the Great Pit of Carkoon. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 8

Return of the Jedi also allowed licensee, Don Post Studios to usher in a new bunch of full over the head latex masks to tie in with the movie. They advertised the masks in a variety of ads.

When you ordered one of their masks it came in a box like this one. I actually still have my Weequay mask, complete with the box. The boxes were pretty high quality, but the pricing was a bit high for most kids. 

Don Post Gamorrean Guard mask

Don Post Admiral Ackbar mask

Don Post Wicket mask

Don Post Klaatu mask

For kids without the budget for a Don Post mask, there were still plenty of affordable Return of the Jedi costumes to choose from at Halloween thanks to Ben Cooper.

Above are the elements of the Ben Cooper Gamorrean Guard costume, which when worn together enabled a child to somewhat convincingly masquerade as one of Jabba's trusty guards like the child below. 

There were other characters to choose from, such as Wicket the ewok...

Admiral Ackbar...

Darth Vader...

and the omnipresent Klaatu...

Kids could continue the role playing fun with this book of punch out masks from Random House, which surprisingly did not include Klaatu. 

Here's a couple of masks that you can print and cut out. More print and cut Star Wars masks can be found here. 

Ray Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 - May 7, 2013)

He was a special effects giant, and and inspiration to so many, myself included. His movies, and the creatures that starred in them, enriched my childhood, and continue to enrich my adult life.

A few years back I wrote a post about Ray Harryhausen and his work for my (now much neglected) companion blog for kids. In that post I discussed the two lessons that Ray's movies taught me.

"The first thing I learned is that if you are going to tell stories using non-existent creatures in them, it's incredibly important to make them seem real. You need to convince the reader that these are living, breathing creatures with their own personalities and behaviors, that live in their own habitats and behave in a manner that suggests that they are interacting with their world in a believable way. Ray learned this from another stop-motion animator named Willis O'Brien who was responsible for the special effects in the original (and best) "King Kong" (1933). In "King Kong" there is a famous scene in which Kong fights an allosaurus. O'Brien could have just had the two creatures grapple with each other and still impressed people, but he went an extra step. Not only does Kong use wrestling and boxing moves to fight the dinosaur, but my favorite detail is the way the allosaurus swishes its tail back and forth when it's getting ready to pounce. O'Brien made his stop-motion puppets characters and actors, something Ray Harryhausen did as well. My favorite detail of Ray Harryhausen's is in "20 Million Miles to Earth" (1957).  It's a scene where someone turns on a light and disturbs the baby alien Ymir, who blinks and starts rubbing his eyes at the brightness of the light. This detail makes the Ymir seem even more like a living creature reacting with its environment.

The second thing I learned from Ray Harryhausen is that your work and your play don't have to be two different things. As a writer, or any kind of artist, your workday never really ends. Even if you are not actively writing, or drawing, or playing music, you are thinking about it, generating ideas, and reading, watching and encountering things that might inspire your next big idea. I write about the things that I enjoy when I'm not working, and enjoy the sorts of things I write about when I am."

You can read the entire post here.