George Lucas created Star Wars over 40 years ago, but he wasn’t the only visionary who helped bring it to life. Concept artist Ralph McQuarrie played a very important role in translating Lucas’ interstellar space opera into a visual feast for the imagination. And while McQuarrie’s designs underwent significant changes before they were brought to the big screen, his influence is all over the films. Now, a group of graduating students at Orlando’s Digital Animation and Visual Effects school have put together a concept trailer for The Star Wars, which re-imagines the events of the original film with McQuarrie’s concepts and Lucas’ wildly different script.
Lucas’ early drafts for The Star Wars were quite different from the final version that debuted in 1977. In some versions, Luke and Leia were essentially the same character: Luka Starkiller. That was before Luke Skywalker became an older Jedi general and a Knight of the Sith. Although there was an incarnation of Han that was a green skinned alien with gills, the version seen in this video is fairly close to his cinematic counterpart. Except for the beard, of course. It’s also weird that Han and seemingly every random stormtrooper have lightsabers in this incarnation.
The influence of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis can be seen when C-3PO appears in this trailer, and fans of Star Wars Rebels should immediately recognize the early version of Chewbacca. That design was recycled for Zeb on the animated series. Even Rebels‘ resident droid, Chopper, seems to have drawn upon McQuarrie’s depiction of R2-D2. It’s also somewhat strange to see these unfamiliar faces recreate a few classic moments from the first film.
What do you think about the fan made trailer for The Star Wars? Feel the Force in the comment section below!
Images: The DAVE School
Bask in more Star Wars stories!
- One of McQuarrie’s designs for R2-D2 looks like BB-8.
- Hug the cutest Star Wars toys/pillows.
- Learn about vergences in the Force.
