Via Starwars.com:
GIANT SLUG-LIKE BEINGS. WALRUS MEN. AND MANY, MANY MORE. TWO STARWARS.COM WRITERS DEBATE WHICH OTHER-WORLDLY ALIEN SPECIES OF A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY IS THE GREATEST!
One of the great things about Star Wars is that it inspires endless debates and opinions on a wide array of topics. Best bounty hunter? Most powerful Jedi? Does Salacious Crumb have the best haircut in the saga? In that spirit, StarWars.com presents From a Certain Point of View: a series of point-counterpoints on some of the biggest — and most fun — Star Wars issues. In this installment, two StarWars.com writers discuss which non-human species reigns supreme in terms of design and overall coolness.
The best alien species design in the entire Star Wars saga is Ithorian, says Dana.
When people ask me what it is about Star Wars that makes me excited to come to work every day, I almost always blurt out, “CREATURES!” without missing a beat. Character development, plot, theme. Sure, they’re all pretty great too. But I’ve always held a special place in my heart for all things creepy, crawly, and just a little bit weird, and that is why I give myself the authority to make such a sweeping statement: Ithorians are cooler than any other creature in the Star Wars universe.
Hammerhead. Leatherneck. Whatever possibly offensive in-universe term you choose to call them, Ithorians scream Star Wars. When Momaw Nadon showed his comically impractical face in Star Wars: A New Hope, we were quickly introduced to these eerie (but dare I say kinda cute?) beasts from Ithor…and they haven’t left Star Wars lore since. Seriously. They’ve been in half of the films, both animated series, the Star Wars Holiday Special and countless comics and books. “Hammerhead” was one of the first wildly popular Kenner action figures in 1978 even though he got no more than three seconds of screen time. I think it’s about time we give these hunchbacked heroes their due.
First, we should probably break down the basic creature design. A flat, curved head leading to two, linearly protruding eyeballs, all stacked on a humped frame with gloriously overblown calves and stumpy toes. Truly a vision. But the part that I love the most is the double-slotted mouth holes, conjuring up the thought of two zippered pockets on an old, worn out leather jacket.
Ron Cobb came up with the original concept art for A New Hope, and later went on to design for the Alien saga, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and other sci-fi classics. This guy knows creepy. One of the first sketches to be shown to George Lucas, happily approved and taken to the creature shop, was a slouchy Ithorian, sitting in a booth grasping a cup with a straw. I’m still scratching my head as to which mouth hole the straw goes into, but that only adds to their air of mystery! Cobb designed several other cantina aliens also used in the final scene, but the charm of the “Aquatic Air Breather” also came with a well-fleshed-out backstory determined by the artist, something most of the other creatures were lacking. In addition to a basic functional description of the Ithorian’s limbs and eating habits, it was predetermined that the beasts were a gentle species and had a religion based on “tying and untying knots.” All the more oddly fascinating.
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