30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - part 4

The scenes in Jabba's palace are Return of the Jedi's cantina scene, filled with all manner of alien creatures, and unlike the cantina, droids are allowed. Here's a look at some of the creatures who hang out in Jabba's palace and environs. 

Tessek, a Quarren

Jabba's major domo, Bib Fortuna, a Twi'lek

Beedo, a Rodian with a Jawa

Aaaghaah, a Yuzzum 

A Rock Wart

Ephant Mon, a Chevin, along with a H'nemthe, and an Aqualish 

Cane Adiss

Saelt Marae, a Yarkora

Garon Nas Tal, a Saurin

Yarna d'al' Gargan, an Askajian 

Tanus Spijek, Shasa Teil, Wooof, Geezum, Klaatu, a Nysad

Amanaman, an Amanin

Arica, a human

J'Quille, a Whiphid

Harc Seff, an Ishi Tibb

Bane Malar

EV-9D9

Beedo, Saelt Marae, a Gamorrean Guard, Ree Yees, J'Quille, a Mosep, Melina Carniss, a Jawa, and Bubo

Hermi Odle, a Baraguin

Ree Yees, a Gran with C-3PO

Geezum, a Snivvian

Oola, a Twi'lek

Bubo 

A Gamorrean guard, Tanus Spijek, Tessek, another Gamorrean guard, and Bossk

Wortt (the label claims its "Rock Wart" which is another creature shown near the beginning of this post)

Loje Nella

Shasa Teil, an Ishi Tib

BG - J38

Attark, an Hoover

Leia disguised as Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter

Two Gamorrean guards, Yarna d'al' Gargan, Tessek, Beedo, Luke Skywalker, Tanus Spijek, Shasa Teil, and Wooof

Tomorrow will continue looking at the denizens of Jabba's Palace.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 3

I've written about Jabba the Hutt previously, but never really in the context of Return of the Jedi and since he is such a large component in this movie, I thought I should revisit him. 

As most everyone knows, Jabba's cinematic adventures began as a human actor in the first Star Wars movie who was meant to be replaced by a stop motion creature. this footage was never completed -- until it was revisited and altered for the Star Wars Special Edition in the 1990s so that Jabba became a CGI version of the slug-like creature we were familiar with from Return of the Jedi. Above is a storyboard frame depicting the actor portraying Jabba along with a superimposed creature version of him that would appear in the finished film. Despite being a bipedal creature, Jabba surprisingly doesn't look all that different from how he finally ended up looking in Return of the Jedi. Note also the lemur-like creature next to him, which corresponds with Jabba's pet/court jester, Salacious Crumb in Return of the Jedi. George Lucas was fond of lemurs and kept trying to work into the Star Wars movies an alien species that was based on them. This would finally happen in the Clone Wars television series. 

Given how close the image of Jabba in the above storyboard would represent his final, approved look for Return of the Jedi, it's surprising that that storyboard image was not the starting point for Jabba's design, work that would be tackled by artists Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Nilo Rodis-Jamero, and Phil Tippett who worked from George Lucas's instruction that Jabba have a sluglike body. 

Nilo Rodis-Jamero thought of Jabba as being like a queen bee who is physically helpless, but is waited on and cared for, while exerting tremendous power over those in her hive. Jabba began to achieve his final look when Joe Johnston took Ralph McQuarrie's saggy fleshed heads and gave them a more cunning and sinister expression as shown below. 

Stop motion animator took the drawings and sculpted a number of small maquettes including this one. 

The schematic above shows how the enormous full size puppet of Jabba would be operated by a crew of puppeteers stashed within, without, and beneath Jabba's massive body. 

Above are the operators (minus the little person who worked the tail) who provided Jabba with a wonderful, nuanced performance which must have required quite a bit of coordination on their part. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 2

Before becoming Return of the Jedi, the third Star Wars film was announced as being titled Revenge of the Jedi. This title, and logo was printed on licensee announcements and movie posters, including the Star Wars rerelease poster shown above.

More famously it appeared on the posters above, one without the release date and one with. As most people knows these posters rocketed in value. I sold two copies of the dateless poster, mistakenly thinking that I still had a third, and though the hundreds of dollars I received were a welcome sum in my college years, I'd still rather have one of the posters. I do still have the Star Wars rerelease with the "Revenge" stripe in the corner.

Why the name change? Someone pointed out that by their nature a Jedi would not seek revenge, and so the title was changed to the softer, if more appropriate Return of the Jedi. "Revenge" would finally become part of the title of the third prequel film, essentially Return of the Jedi's counterpart, Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Even before Revenge of the Jedi, the third Star Wars movie was being filmed under an entirely false alternate title: Blue Harvest. The reason for this was twofold. During the making of The Empire Strikes Back, services would raise their prices to benefit from what was assumed a large budget for a big movie. By filming under a pseudonymous title, the production was able to dodge these artificially inflated costs. 

The other reason was so that they could film Return of the Jedi without being overrun by vast crowds of Star Wars fans. The production of a movie no one ever heard of would generate little interest. A logo, and catch phrase for this supposed horror movie, starring the same actors as the Star Wars movies, was made and affixed to crew shirts and hats, equipment, stationery, and packages. 

Was the ruse a success? Visitors to the scenes of Jabba's sail barge being filmed in the Yuma desert quickly caught on to what was really being filmed, but the crowds were minimal and non-intrusive. Of course the hot, remote, desert location could have helped on its own. 

I have one of the Blue Harvest t-shirts packed away. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 1

On May 25th, 1983, Return of the Jedi, the last film in the original Star Wars trilogy arrived in movie theaters. I cut school that day with my friend, Craig in order to take in the first show at the nearest theater playing it which was a 45 minute drive away from us. We were already excited to see it, following every possible source of information leading up to Jedi's arrival for tidbits of information, which was a lot different in the pre internet days. My subscription to Bantha Tracks, the official Lucasfilm/Star Wars Fan Club newletter provided much of the information, but there were other magazines, too. I remember being blown away by the photo below of Luke Skywalker, blaster in hand, surrounded by Jabba's court of thugs when it appeared in Starlog magazine. 

Then there was the image below, and Craig and I were among the first people not associated with the movie to see it. It was shown during a Q and A with producer Howard Kazanjian at Boskone. At the time we all thought that maybe it was the original Death Star, not quite blown to atoms by Luke's torpedo. 

Craig and I reached the movie theater well ahead of time. We were first in line, interviewed by a local paper, and though we were both really excited coming out of the theater when it was over, eventually the realization sunk in (at least for me) that Return of the Jedi was a mixed bag, especially given how outstanding the first two movies were. 

Yes, the movie had a lot of great stuff. The space battles were exciting as was the speeder bike chase. In fact the special effects, overall, were pretty spectacular.  The scenes with Luke and Vader, and Luke, Vader, and the Emperor were so good that they elevated the whole movie from being something that could be skipped (such as Episode I and Episode II), and even though I found the bulk of the Jabba the Hutt scenes to be too muppety, rubber, and too comedic in tone, I liked those scenes because I'm a big fan of monsters and space aliens. Other things about Return of the Jedi really bothered me though. 

Han, the coolest of the characters was reduced to being something of a buffoon, and Chewie and Lando weren't that far behind. Boba Fett, the cool new bounty hunter character introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, returned to prove he was an inept, clumsy buffoon as well, disappointing fans around the world. His indignities were amplified when new footage was shot for the special edition released in 1997, and we got to see Boba Fett hitting on the backup singers and then having to rush back in place while his employer is being threatened by a stranger with a thermal detonator. 

Leia, the princess who didn't need boys to rescue her, had almost nothing to do in this movie beyond look fetching in a bikini. C-3PO was also wasted as a character. Only R2-D2 and Luke Skywalker were able to maintain their dignity throughout. 

While the first two movies introduced new amazing things with every scene, Jedi was really light on amazing new things. Sure there was Jabba, the Rancor, and the Sarlacc, as well as the Speeder Bikes, and the Rebels had some cool new alien species and some cool new ships that we didn't really get to see, but that's about it. Everything else was recycled from previous movies. 

Then there were these guys:

I'm not even talking about their appearance, which doesn't actually bother me all that much, but their behavior was also just too gentle and soft, and like the scenes with Jabba the Hutt felt like George Lucas wanted this movie to appeal much more to really young children than the age group who latched onto the previous films. 

Perhaps the biggest thing that changed for me with Return of the Jedi was that it was the first of the Star Wars movies to come out when I had my own income so that I was no longer entirely reliant on the whims of my parents to obtain the Star Wars merchandise I craved.  Because of this I have a lot more merchandise from Return of the Jedi than I do for the previous movies. It was my hope to showcase much of my collection during this month long celebration of the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. Unlike during my posts for the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, I am no longer 800 miles away from where my things are stored. I have fairly easy access to it. Unfortunately, I am in the middle of moving, where I'm putting things into boxes, and not digging through sealed boxes taking things out. I was able to access some of my collection, so there should be plenty to look at, starting with tomorrow. 

In the meantime, here are my posts for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

Coming May 1st...

On May 25, 1983, Return of the Jedi hit movie theaters. It was the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy. The Star Wars films had a big impact on me in my youth, and for the entire month of May I'll be sharing all things Return of the Jedi to mark its 30th Anniversary.

In the meantime feel free to take a look at my celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. 

My Next Gallery Show

I have two pieces in the "I Love You Man" show at Bottleneck Gallery which opens May 10th. I'll preview my work here a few days before the show opens.

Boston Comic Con - Cancelled

Due to ongoing events in Boston, which is still under lockdown, Boston Comic Con has been cancelled. There are plans to reschedule. If I will be in attendance at the rescheduled convention I will let everyone know.

Boston Comic Con This Saturday

I will be attending Boston Comic Con this Saturday and only Saturday. I'm not an official guest and do not have a table, but if you're attending and want to bring something for me to sign, feel free. Leave a comment, or email me before Saturday morning and I will try and arrange a meet. Otherwise I'll be wandering around and visiting my fellow comic book creators and will be wearing this shirt:

The best places to look for me will be with Mike Mignola, Steve Niles, or Sean Hartter.

Ask Me.. Nothing

Today is the first Monday of the month which means that it's usually time for "Ask Me Anything" which is a pretty self explanatory feature. For the months of April and May I will be putting "Ask Me Anything" on hiatus and will not be taking any questions.

This is no April Fools joke, but do to a number of coinciding factors (see previous post) such as deadlines, an impending move, and so on.

I do have some posts I've been working on which I hope to feature here during April and May, so keep checking back. "Ask Me Anything" will resume on the first Monday of June. In the meantime, feel free to peruse past editions in the archives.