shaak ti being used to cover a character in post and then getting killed three times in revenge of the sith might make her the funniest fill-in jedi in these movies
This thig doesnt even look like it would survive a hour on its homeworld. They might be literally crafed by some bio engineer species because otherwise their exsistence doesnt make sense.
I love that Chewie's initial concept came back again in Garazeb Orrelios. And then that bounty hunter armour led to a whole historically important society.
And to a group of people in the roleplay community who only know said society as a extremisy cult of underworld dwelling warriors... which are infact, outcasts of said important society
I think a large part of the forgiveness for the "human but with X" trend in the prequels, is that it has an extensive tradition in live-action sci-fi media, to the point tvtropes calls these types of creatures "rubber forehead aliens", and the reason they are so ubiqutous, is precisely what you describe: the actor can still give a performance, and the audience can easily read it. There's also the fact, that to make two "humans with horns" designs that are clearly distinct species, rather than just different individuals of the same species, demands it's own kind of creativity.
And specifically in relation to the Jedi, most would be required to be either highly active due to lightsaber fights, meaning they’d either need to be CGI or human enough to allow the actors or stunt doubles to properly fight. In other cases, like the druggy in the bar, they just wanted some expressiveness without spending tons of money on a one off CGI alien
And that’s actually where most of the human like designs come from, the Jedi, with only a small handful being no Jedi actors that require a bit more expressiveness, which also occurs in the OT with the cantina barkeep
@@117CRAZYGAMER Nemoidians too. In fact Nemodians, Rodians, and Duros are all genetically related. Although don’t tell the Rodians or Duros that because they hate being compared to the greedy Nemoidians.
Great video. Cool to see how the design philosophy for the movies changed over time and how the thought process of "make a star wars alien" screwed the sequels. It's kinda the opposite of how I feel about the aliens in the last Men in Black movie where they made all the new aliens look like they weren't even from the same franchise
I think thats a general problem with some (but not all) of Disney Star Wars, trying to make more Star Wars instead of adding something new to Star Wars.
@@creed8712 This is both correct and incorrect. People hear those statements and think that people want a retread of everything before. Or people think that Star Wars fans will never be happy because they complained that TFA was too much like ANH while TLJ was too different. The problem is that it's not a black-and-white issue. TFA had the story and feel of an already existing Star Wars film. TLJ had neither the story nor the feel of anything that came before it. Both are bad. You have to have the feeling, the tone of Star Wars while it being its own thing. Every Star Wars movie was its own kind of movie but it all felt the same. TPM's story was a children's fantasy, AotC was a noir-ish political mystery, RotS was an apocalyptic opera, ANH was a serial adventure, ESB was a dream-like tragedy, and RotJ was a classical morality play. Every single one of them had a vastly different kind of story, but they all felt unified. That's what people wanted from the sequels. They wanted the stories to all be vastly different kinds while all feeling congruent.
@@alexkay6676 "TPM's story was a children's fantasy, AotC was a noir-ish political mystery, RotS was an apocalyptic opera, ANH was a serial adventure, ESB was a dream-like tragedy, and RotJ was a classical morality play." ...You got that from So Uncivilized, didn't you?
@@occam7382 Absolutely. He managed to put something I knew into words far better than I could. That video is also a fantastic video. Good eye, by the way.
I think why the aliens in the ST stand out so much is because they stand completely alone. I feel like in every film after A New Hope, you'll still see Rodians, Bith, Ithorians, and all the rest running around the galaxy. When the original two trilogies introduced an alien, it instantly became part of the universe existed in perpituity. The ST however, for some reason, decided to feature basically no OT or PT aliens. Like, what happened to all the Twi Leks and Rodians in the galaxy? they're two species you see all over the place in the OT, PT and EU, but like, they seem to all vanish in the ST. I think it makes the ST aliens feel like they're trying to replace the classic designs, and it draws a probably unfair amount of scrutiny to them. For less work they coulda just had half the aliens be old designs and it probably woulda looked better.
@@Legomyegoorj, yeah. But when it's established that there are certain species that are basically EVERYWHERE, having them conspicuously not show up anywhere in the Sequel Trilogy feels very off. Especially when most of the "new" aliens created for the Sequels are either blatant rip-offs, or just not very interesting.
How did a concept that I though sounded kinda boring make me sit in my chair for the whole time desperately needing to go take a piss but still staying seated throughout the whole runtime. Now that I've commented I need to go take that piss.
Your narration is so elegant and natural. As someone who once attempted to narrate with plenty of unearned confidence and no practice, I can appreciate the clear talent. I’m sure others will share my sentiment.
There were a lot of really good alien designs in the sequel trilogy, especially in The Force awakens like the a little fuzzy twinkies that have murderous intent. I think the problem is less the designs of the creatures and more what the filmmakers chose to work on. Can really see that when you look at the behind the scenes pre-production art books that they had so much interesting creative ideas and then it seems that the studio chose the most blandest things to feature.
Not the studio, JJ. JJ wanted to be George Lucas making Star Wars, but he was never going to be, the films and creatures would’ve been better had he fully done his own thing
Who's to say humans that old aren't that shrunk down? And there are various compounds that are able to colour one's skin. Now the ears...perhaps he was just into body modification?
Very entertaining and informative. I have been a Star Wars fan for 16 years and I can still hear new things and examine the films from new perspectives. Thanks for this video, I hope it will do well.
Excellent research and presentation! I would note, related to the discussion on Lucas' intentions with Jabba, that the 1976 novelization describes him as a blob-y alien and the 1977 Marvel Comics adaptation of the film reuses the film's Nimbanel design for him, so that indicates that Lucas probably did already want Jabba to be an alien during the production of the first film. Also, love the CRC dating reference in the news screen at the very end! What a nice obscure reference, and dated accurately too!
One species the Sequels did good on? The Anzellans. Babu Frik was so good he was brought back in "The Mandalorian". Meanwhile, The Mandalorian claimed the "New Yoda" with Grogu, but Grogu wasn't reinventing the small wise figure, but is being absolutely Yoda's Species.
Yoda’s species is an enigma in Star Wars lore. It’s unclear what exactly they are, although there are theories that they come from a shrouded and obscure world that is extremely isolationist and only sends out one of their kind when the fate of the galaxy is at stake. That’s why you only see Yoda, Yaggle, Grogu, and that one Yoda looking Jedi master in KOTOR.
@@therealspeedwagon1451 There are other members of Yoda's species in expanded EU material, sure it is not cannon, but nonetheless adds to more of the mystique that his species has.
The prequel cgi aliens are some of my favorite designs for aliens in any franchise and it’s a HUGE shame that they only appear like once or twice each outside of the prequels
I never thought I would need this video in my life. And now that I have it, I don't wanna go on without it. Super impressive research work you did there! Great job!
I dont usually comment on videos but as a star wars creature lover i must say this video is truly phenomenal! Inmense effort and meticulous research poured into it. It is evident how much passion and dedication went into such an informative and engaging piece. Keep up the incredible work!
Incredible video. Your channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the platform. Great analysis, funny, and most importantly: not blinded by irrational hate and giving credit where credit is due to things like the Sequel trilogy and even Bay's Transformers. We need more people like you on TH-cam!
"People who critique the worst multi billion dollar dystopian corporation and their corporatist, soulless products designed purely to make money on children and manchildren are unhinged and insane" lol
I will also say, that in the designs made when searching for Maul, I love that one of them was brought back and made into Mother Talzin, a member of Maul's birth people. The same thing also drew in a Legends race, the Dathomiri, and made Maul a part of them.
@@TheMimiSard If they ever bring in the Kw’i that would be amazing. It would imply that the Kw’a and the Rakatan Infinite Empire are all canon, since the Kw’I are a forcefully devolved and more dinosaur-like version of the Kw’a who once ruled the galaxy before they encountered the Rakata who basically killed them and took their Force based technology.
I might love this stuff more than actually watching the films at this point. The history of props, character, sound design, and other details behind the scenes are just so fascinating and it's amazing how all these elements (especially in the making of ep IV) came together so perfectly. Also good work keeping the jizz wailer jokes to a minimum lol
I really appreciate how the music matched the scenes being played, like how the podracing music was played while the podracing aliens were being discussed. It's subtle, but really helps set the scene. This whole video was very well made and reminded me how much I love the wacky worldbuilding of Star Wars.
While I find the writing and direction of the Sequels absolutely abysmal. I'm happy there were a small ,but welcome few alien designs those films gave us. I'd welcome seeing klaud's species and more Ovissians in Star Wars media. Prequel oriented or in the OT Era stuff. Which seems to be the case because they gave us another of Klaud's species and an Ovissian or two in the Jedi Survivor game. This video was pleasant to watch. It was nice to see valid criticism given towards the recent films Species art direction. It was also just fun to see all the familiar concept art from the OT or Prequels that was instantly recognizable as being later characters in The Clone Wars series or Rebels.
Fun fact Duros and Nemoidians actually are the same Species. There are only minute differences between them like different skin and eye color as well as a different facial structure. Duros just don't like to be thrown together with Nemoidians because of their cultural differences.
@@Spooglecraft They're two different races of the same species. As someone pointed out, it's like Asians and Caucasians. Are they both human? Yes. Are they similar overall because of this? Yes. Do they look identical to each other? No. And even then, there are different sub-races within the races, each looking different from each other.
Something worth noting, the idea that the Wampa scene was there to explain Luke's new face is a myth. Lucas himself has said that it was just a lucky coincidence.
I always felt there was something a little off about the creatures on Canto Bight. So many of them, simply in their design, seem implausible. Too silly. Too cartoony. Almost like they were a joke, just not a funny one.
This channel deserves to blow up (in a good way), looking forward to you hitting over 100k subscribers! Someone talking this passionately about Star Wars takes me back to high school, and makes me reconsider certain aspects of the sequels in a less entirely negative light. Keep it up!
5:50 "And since these aliens were intended to be musicians early sculpts for the masks even gave them second mouths on their necks to help them WAIL THEIR JIZZ."
This video sums up why I still love Star Wars even when I don't like a lot (or possibly most) Star Wars movies/shows. Even when the story sucks, there's still all this huge gallery work by hundreds of artists that went into creating the background, fleshing out the universe we escaped into as kids. I had a similar conversation a while back about why adults go to Disney parks. I admitted I couldn't speak for everyone, but while I wasn't interested in the animated films or princess aesthetic or even many of the "thrill" rides (bc I have a herniated disc, so I have to avoid most of those), I love looking at all the ways they create the magic: the mechanisms inside the animatronics, the sets/backdrops, lighting and projection mapping, how to hide things in plain sight, and how to blend different techniques. I don't go to Disney parks for the same reason as most people, but I still get a lot out of it. Same with Star Wars: There's more there if you care to look more deeply. p.s. Looking forward to a sequel video about droid design.
One of my favorite sequel alien designs is Derla Pidys, the wine seller from the casino. She has the same brown-yellow-white palette, but her four eyes, glossy skin, and head shape make her look pretty cool IMO. She evokes an octopus or other cephalopod without looking like a “Dollar Store Cthulhu.”
Great channel, and awesome video. Straight to the point and great research without any unnecessary flashy editing or narrator cutaways to take away from the content. Definitely subbed now.
Can I just say how much I love that limitations borne from circumstances and sudden creative whims apropos of nothing ended up inspiring so many people to create? Look at "T-Head" at 4:25 for example: despite being a creature who shows up only for a second or two, its species would later be given a proper name (Arcona), culture, and unique biology. At the time of release, when extended lore didn't exist, it was just a creature, but now, if you go back knowing more about Arconans, you'd know that this Arconan is actually tripping balls on salt.
Really interesting and well delivered. No mention of the Thala-siren on TLJ, though? Their design is quite unique, but what's fascinating about them is the time and effort it took to actually film them on that island, in a scene that many Star Wars fans (myself excluded) would have preferred never existed in the first place.
@@thenewdoc4599 Mark Hamill shaking his head in delight as blue milk drips from his beard will never stop being funny to me, but some people thought it was taking the comedy a bit too far. In The Director and The Jedi, the behind the scenes documentary about The Last Jedi, they show the painstaking process of filming that scene: those space cows are all practical, including a complicated mechanism that allows them to squirt that sweet blue stuff; they're also huge, so after finishing their construction, they had to helicopter them to the island and carefully placed on the cliff. You gotta admire the lengths they went to just to make this really short and hilarious but overall not very essential moment.
This was an amazing video. Would love to see more videos from you about creature design. The way you include the names and creators of the creatures and go into details about each one is great. Unfortunately a lot of creators would just go “this one is ugly and this one looks cool” instead of actually doing the work, as you have.
The thing about the running themes in the creature designs of the OT and PT is that they both have a positive quality to them besides practical consideration: The OT designs being masked and obscured in various ways makes them mysterious, while the prequels' colorful humanoids are just that- colorful. Plus, making your alien a colorful human forces you to think of non-visual ways they'd differ from humans. While these two alien races aren't from the prequels, the Chiss and the Zeltron are the first examples of what I'm talking about regarding the prequel alien template: The Zeltron have two livers and pheromones, making them uniquely suited for characters who are endearing towards others in-universe- and not just in sensual ways, though that obviously is *a* use for the Zeltron. And the Chiss lend themselves well to all sorts of stoic characters, especially villains and anti-heroes. And the color of said humanoid also creates a very different impression, uniquely suited to the particular character of that species.
I appreciate the informative take on exploring and examining the designs across the different eras. I see so many trash and belittle and trash various creature designs, worthy of it or not, that often doesn’t make for good examination.
Sequel creatures are really safe. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing. I think them being too outlandish and not “Star Wars-y” enough would’ve gotten a worse reception. Honestly, Jedi: Survivor does the best job of making Star Wars-y creatures while also being really creative.
@@hectormontes7056 One of them also implies that Manaan is canon, since he tells tales of fishing on the oceans of Manaan. We also see a couple of Selkath as background characters in the Clone Wars series and they are apparently in the Acolyte as well, but I have no interest in watching it even if there are live action Selkath.
I'm sure you've gotten this before but the videos you've been making have been some of the best Star Wars videos on youtube. Nerdonymous still may be my favorite but you're doing awesome work.
38:07 fun fact: Kieran was also the size double for Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Throughout the movie when you see Frodo next to a human sized character but can’t see his face very well, it’s Kieran.
seriously man, out of new channles jumping out of the ether, yours is one of the best ones. I've rewatched your last two Star Wars videos super often. Your videos are super well produced and structured, with in depth research and always coming at it from the perspective of how it was made, instead of the boring-ass "lore" nonsense SW-TH-cam is infested with.
Its funny how the video goes "Here is Bossk, nobody cares about him" to "Here is EVERONES BELOVED AND FAVOURITE MAZ KANATA" while in reality the silent bounty hunters are more memorable and popular than any sequels character
Thanks for being extra in-depth as always. Going into the origins of the designs helps explain a lot. In particular, I think the mindsets and preferences of people behind designing these plus the overall direction decided everything. As you said, Lucas-era things mostly pulled from a vast variety of sources deliberate and accidental, and so ended up with more sheer variety and striking designs, to the point where designs for extras made for important character material. They wanted to be cool and fun a lot more, even when it came to humans with rubber bits. With sequels, the designers had too much of an overriding preference (wide-set eyes, elongated face, nostril eyeholes, almost equine mouth) and tried to force a "new standard nonhuman" with it (made more egregious because of not having been common in past entries), on top of the overall direction trying to ape the OT while lacking its design philosophy. There are far fewer standout cool designs, those few are mostly deliberately designed to be standouts, and none of the extras would make for cool main characters.
Masterfully written video! The amount of research to get this all right must have been quite something, huh. The humor was point as well. Another great video, man, can't wait where it takes you next !!
I'm genuinely surprised the sequel trilogy even has a single practical effect. I'll be the first to admit that the design team did good work and it's good to see them using physical props.
This one is a really good essey about an interesting topic. And as far as i know the first video i see about this topic. i always felt something was weird about the sequel aliens i just never knew what it was exactly, anyways really good video you definitiv gained a follow, keep that quality up and many more will sure follow!
When you pulled up that collage at the start I was really worried this video was going to turn into another Sequel Trilogy hater session. I guess I’m just too used to people unnecessarily bashing on those movies. I was pleasantly surprised when you dished out valid criticism in good faith to all three trilogies. This is an excellent video! Loved hearing about all the different aliens that make up the Star Wars galaxy.
Man your videos are amazing! Happened to see why aotc looks like a video game and now I'm just going through em Wonderful content, very astute and informative. Not an animator myself but was always an artist and I love this content
This might be the best video talking about Star Wars outside of a strict plot discussion I have ever seen.
agreed, fantastic history lesson of the movies w tons of info i hadn’t heard yet
true
666th like, lets gooo!!!💀👺👹
I think ending on Klaud being actually good alien design is a wonderful stroke of genius.
Too bad he's a homophobe. 🤣
Too bad he's a homophobe
LIVE SLUG REACTION LETS GOOOOO
👎
I think that one also sucks
shaak ti being used to cover a character in post and then getting killed three times in revenge of the sith might make her the funniest fill-in jedi in these movies
Repairs the Millenium Falcon whilst having no arms
*Refuses to elaborate*
This thig doesnt even look like it would survive a hour on its homeworld. They might be literally crafed by some bio engineer species because otherwise their exsistence doesnt make sense.
Klaude has telekinesis confirmed.
*LIVE SLUG MAINTENANCE*
@@juliancaraveo5700his superior brain power is what makes him a homophobe
@@juliancaraveo5700Dude’s probably a secret Sith Lord ngl
Or how to design your own 'Glup Shitto'
The evolution of the Glup Shitto
Then give them some gloriously insane Lore
@@llewelynshingler2173 we dont need to anymore. Disney will soon run this IP to ground. It is IP to be milked, not grown. As they literally stated.
@@janvrabec3401 I don't care how much you love despair and its spreading.
@@TokiWardguitar Just use an actually good alien design like Selkath lol. There’s already Selkath Glup Shittos like my boy Mantu.
I love that Chewie's initial concept came back again in Garazeb Orrelios.
And then that bounty hunter armour led to a whole historically important society.
And to a group of people in the roleplay community who only know said society as a extremisy cult of underworld dwelling warriors... which are infact, outcasts of said important society
@@acidp0p Death Watch or the Children of the Watch?
@@acidp0p, I almost thought you were talking about the 501st Legion for a second. Then I realized, "Nope. That can't be right."
I thought the design was used for Jaro Tarpal, Cal Kestis' Jedi Master in Fallen Order..?
@@DarthWall275, Zeb and Tapal are both Lasats, which are inspired by the original design for the Wookies. But Zeb was created first.
Fantastic video. Nice to see someone in good faith criticize something without needless complaining. Also loved the history lessons in here.
I think a large part of the forgiveness for the "human but with X" trend in the prequels, is that it has an extensive tradition in live-action sci-fi media, to the point tvtropes calls these types of creatures "rubber forehead aliens", and the reason they are so ubiqutous, is precisely what you describe: the actor can still give a performance, and the audience can easily read it.
There's also the fact, that to make two "humans with horns" designs that are clearly distinct species, rather than just different individuals of the same species, demands it's own kind of creativity.
And specifically in relation to the Jedi, most would be required to be either highly active due to lightsaber fights, meaning they’d either need to be CGI or human enough to allow the actors or stunt doubles to properly fight. In other cases, like the druggy in the bar, they just wanted some expressiveness without spending tons of money on a one off CGI alien
And that’s actually where most of the human like designs come from, the Jedi, with only a small handful being no Jedi actors that require a bit more expressiveness, which also occurs in the OT with the cantina barkeep
Facts right there
Gotta say, the Duros, Rodians, the Kel Dor, and the Skakoans have always stood out to me design wise; I love them so much.
@@117CRAZYGAMER Nemoidians too. In fact Nemodians, Rodians, and Duros are all genetically related. Although don’t tell the Rodians or Duros that because they hate being compared to the greedy Nemoidians.
The Kaminoans too, pretty cool but they haven’t explored their cities outside of the clones at all
6:29 "Emperor, a second Y-Wing has hit the Senate building!"
😭😭
wow. too soon. smh
😂
@@jap7384It's been 23 years.
@@optillian4182That was the joke
23:08 "...they're amphibious...which likely comes from 2 places..."
That made me chuckle.
Not the live slug reaction 😂
Great video. Cool to see how the design philosophy for the movies changed over time and how the thought process of "make a star wars alien" screwed the sequels. It's kinda the opposite of how I feel about the aliens in the last Men in Black movie where they made all the new aliens look like they weren't even from the same franchise
I think thats a general problem with some (but not all) of Disney Star Wars, trying to make more Star Wars instead of adding something new to Star Wars.
@@Marvin-sj9lrthe problem is that’s what people have shouted at them they want. They don’t want any variation to man with laser sword does backflip.
@@creed8712 This is both correct and incorrect. People hear those statements and think that people want a retread of everything before. Or people think that Star Wars fans will never be happy because they complained that TFA was too much like ANH while TLJ was too different. The problem is that it's not a black-and-white issue. TFA had the story and feel of an already existing Star Wars film. TLJ had neither the story nor the feel of anything that came before it. Both are bad. You have to have the feeling, the tone of Star Wars while it being its own thing. Every Star Wars movie was its own kind of movie but it all felt the same. TPM's story was a children's fantasy, AotC was a noir-ish political mystery, RotS was an apocalyptic opera, ANH was a serial adventure, ESB was a dream-like tragedy, and RotJ was a classical morality play. Every single one of them had a vastly different kind of story, but they all felt unified. That's what people wanted from the sequels. They wanted the stories to all be vastly different kinds while all feeling congruent.
@@alexkay6676 "TPM's story was a children's fantasy, AotC was a noir-ish political mystery, RotS was an apocalyptic opera, ANH was a serial adventure, ESB was a dream-like tragedy, and RotJ was a classical morality play."
...You got that from So Uncivilized, didn't you?
@@occam7382 Absolutely. He managed to put something I knew into words far better than I could. That video is also a fantastic video. Good eye, by the way.
I think why the aliens in the ST stand out so much is because they stand completely alone. I feel like in every film after A New Hope, you'll still see Rodians, Bith, Ithorians, and all the rest running around the galaxy. When the original two trilogies introduced an alien, it instantly became part of the universe existed in perpituity. The ST however, for some reason, decided to feature basically no OT or PT aliens.
Like, what happened to all the Twi Leks and Rodians in the galaxy? they're two species you see all over the place in the OT, PT and EU, but like, they seem to all vanish in the ST. I think it makes the ST aliens feel like they're trying to replace the classic designs, and it draws a probably unfair amount of scrutiny to them.
For less work they coulda just had half the aliens be old designs and it probably woulda looked better.
On the other hand, it makes the Galaxy feel less expansive if there’s only like 10 or maybe 20 species we ever see.
@@Legomyegoorj, yeah. But when it's established that there are certain species that are basically EVERYWHERE, having them conspicuously not show up anywhere in the Sequel Trilogy feels very off. Especially when most of the "new" aliens created for the Sequels are either blatant rip-offs, or just not very interesting.
That's exactly what I think.
@@Legomyegoorj ❌
@@Legomyegoorj while i get where youre coming from you see humans everywhere in star wars so, i dont see why you wouldnt see some of the other ones
How did a concept that I though sounded kinda boring make me sit in my chair for the whole time desperately needing to go take a piss but still staying seated throughout the whole runtime.
Now that I've commented I need to go take that piss.
Was it a good piss?
@@noahkelly7742 7/10
this short story was better than the entire seqel trilogy@@DrDodo117
Literally me rn
@@manisahota6437seems like he piss was rated higher than those movies
5:52 I just know this piece of information is gonna live in my head rent free for the rest of my life
I watch an embarrassing amount of TH-cam videos. This is the best one I’ve seen in a hot minute. Thank you good sir!
Your narration is so elegant and natural. As someone who once attempted to narrate with plenty of unearned confidence and no practice, I can appreciate the clear talent. I’m sure others will share my sentiment.
"Everyone's favourite grave-robbing union-buster" made me almost fall out of my chair laughing
There were a lot of really good alien designs in the sequel trilogy, especially in The Force awakens like the a little fuzzy twinkies that have murderous intent. I think the problem is less the designs of the creatures and more what the filmmakers chose to work on. Can really see that when you look at the behind the scenes pre-production art books that they had so much interesting creative ideas and then it seems that the studio chose the most blandest things to feature.
Not the studio, JJ. JJ wanted to be George Lucas making Star Wars, but he was never going to be, the films and creatures would’ve been better had he fully done his own thing
Millions of children didn't think of Yoda as alien. They just thought he is a really old man.
Nah, I always knew he was an old space goblin man.
"900 years old you reach, look as good you will not." Pure gold.
Looked pretty small and green to me
Who's to say humans that old aren't that shrunk down? And there are various compounds that are able to colour one's skin. Now the ears...perhaps he was just into body modification?
Millions of children are dumb as bricks
Very entertaining and informative. I have been a Star Wars fan for 16 years and I can still hear new things and examine the films from new perspectives. Thanks for this video, I hope it will do well.
Nice profile picture 😂
Great content, would love to see a similar episode for droids
It’s insane that we’re getting this level of quality in a video for free
Aliens in any sci fi universe are always fun to think and this was a great run down on the ones in Star Wars
Great video. It's really fascinating to see the origins of these different designs, especially when born out of cost cutting measures.
Excellent research and presentation! I would note, related to the discussion on Lucas' intentions with Jabba, that the 1976 novelization describes him as a blob-y alien and the 1977 Marvel Comics adaptation of the film reuses the film's Nimbanel design for him, so that indicates that Lucas probably did already want Jabba to be an alien during the production of the first film. Also, love the CRC dating reference in the news screen at the very end! What a nice obscure reference, and dated accurately too!
Lol, imagine how different Star Wars would be if Jabba ended up being a yellow Walrus?
One species the Sequels did good on? The Anzellans. Babu Frik was so good he was brought back in "The Mandalorian".
Meanwhile, The Mandalorian claimed the "New Yoda" with Grogu, but Grogu wasn't reinventing the small wise figure, but is being absolutely Yoda's Species.
🤮
Yoda’s species is an enigma in Star Wars lore. It’s unclear what exactly they are, although there are theories that they come from a shrouded and obscure world that is extremely isolationist and only sends out one of their kind when the fate of the galaxy is at stake. That’s why you only see Yoda, Yaggle, Grogu, and that one Yoda looking Jedi master in KOTOR.
@@therealspeedwagon1451 There are other members of Yoda's species in expanded EU material, sure it is not cannon, but nonetheless adds to more of the mystique that his species has.
One of the best Star Wars essays out there. So refreshing for a video about the series to not be toxic.
The prequel cgi aliens are some of my favorite designs for aliens in any franchise and it’s a HUGE shame that they only appear like once or twice each outside of the prequels
I thought I’d seen everything - but I had never seen that clip of Akbar singing before. Amazing.
Love the movie specific score transitions .. Bravo
I never thought I would need this video in my life. And now that I have it, I don't wanna go on without it. Super impressive research work you did there! Great job!
I dont usually comment on videos but as a star wars creature lover i must say this video is truly phenomenal! Inmense effort and meticulous research poured into it. It is evident how much passion and dedication went into such an informative and engaging piece. Keep up the incredible work!
Incredible video. Your channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites on the platform. Great analysis, funny, and most importantly: not blinded by irrational hate and giving credit where credit is due to things like the Sequel trilogy and even Bay's Transformers. We need more people like you on TH-cam!
This is an amazing thing- a critique of the Sequels that isn’t unhinged and insane. I appreciate this video so much.
You'll find that the majority of anti-Disney videos are not "unhinged and insane"
"People who critique the worst multi billion dollar dystopian corporation and their corporatist, soulless products designed purely to make money on children and manchildren are unhinged and insane" lol
@@Tonatheos, the majority aren't. But there are some that unfortunately live up to that stereotype.
@@Tonatheos 👌
this is so much detailed research!! can’t imagine how much work went into it but keep it up dude! loved the vid
The superb script speaks greatly to the creator’s intelligence and observational skills. Great job :)
This is one of the most fascinating Star Wars vids I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. Wonderful research and visuals!
Been watching a lot of Star Wars content lately, but this is definitely my favorite essay so far 🥰
I will also say, that in the designs made when searching for Maul, I love that one of them was brought back and made into Mother Talzin, a member of Maul's birth people. The same thing also drew in a Legends race, the Dathomiri, and made Maul a part of them.
@@TheMimiSard If they ever bring in the Kw’i that would be amazing. It would imply that the Kw’a and the Rakatan Infinite Empire are all canon, since the Kw’I are a forcefully devolved and more dinosaur-like version of the Kw’a who once ruled the galaxy before they encountered the Rakata who basically killed them and took their Force based technology.
I might love this stuff more than actually watching the films at this point. The history of props, character, sound design, and other details behind the scenes are just so fascinating and it's amazing how all these elements (especially in the making of ep IV) came together so perfectly. Also good work keeping the jizz wailer jokes to a minimum lol
I really appreciate how the music matched the scenes being played, like how the podracing music was played while the podracing aliens were being discussed. It's subtle, but really helps set the scene. This whole video was very well made and reminded me how much I love the wacky worldbuilding of Star Wars.
While I find the writing and direction of the Sequels absolutely abysmal. I'm happy there were a small ,but welcome few alien designs those films gave us. I'd welcome seeing klaud's species and more Ovissians in Star Wars media. Prequel oriented or in the OT Era stuff. Which seems to be the case because they gave us another of Klaud's species and an Ovissian or two in the Jedi Survivor game.
This video was pleasant to watch. It was nice to see valid criticism given towards the recent films Species art direction. It was also just fun to see all the familiar concept art from the OT or Prequels that was instantly recognizable as being later characters in The Clone Wars series or Rebels.
Nothing beats having an hour essay from one of my favorite youtubers on a topic that interests me really much!
Another thing is that I love how many times you can see them recycle unused designs or whatnot.
the news segment at the end was gold.
Dude Klaud is the best design out of TROS. Also those horse thingies they ride on Exegol aren't to bad either.
Nah. Babu Frik is the MVP of that film.
Holy shit TIL George RR Martin directly inspired the Wookiees
Yeah, small world!
Another Empire Wreckerds certified banger
Fun fact Duros and Nemoidians actually are the same Species. There are only minute differences between them like different skin and eye color as well as a different facial structure. Duros just don't like to be thrown together with Nemoidians because of their cultural differences.
It’s the same facial differences between a Japanese guy and an American guy
@@M4gicMark exactly :)
huh? i thought Neimoidians were an offshoot of the Duros species, so they're not the same species anymore.
@@Spooglecraft They're two different races of the same species. As someone pointed out, it's like Asians and Caucasians. Are they both human? Yes. Are they similar overall because of this? Yes. Do they look identical to each other? No. And even then, there are different sub-races within the races, each looking different from each other.
@@alienmoralityYeah, they are related but not the same species, probably same genus though?
Something worth noting, the idea that the Wampa scene was there to explain Luke's new face is a myth. Lucas himself has said that it was just a lucky coincidence.
I always felt there was something a little off about the creatures on Canto Bight. So many of them, simply in their design, seem implausible. Too silly. Too cartoony. Almost like they were a joke, just not a funny one.
Hell yes, it brings me so much joy to see you continue to post content. One of the few channels for which I have notifications enabled!
excellent editing and presentation cant believe how underrated your channel is!!!!
This channel deserves to blow up (in a good way), looking forward to you hitting over 100k subscribers!
Someone talking this passionately about Star Wars takes me back to high school, and makes me reconsider certain aspects of the sequels in a less entirely negative light. Keep it up!
This is my favorite Star Wars content. Thank you and good work.
A whole ass hour without any filler, nice video.
5:50 "And since these aliens were intended to be musicians early sculpts for the masks even gave them second mouths on their necks to help them WAIL THEIR JIZZ."
Great video and nice editing, it really shows how good of a research you have made!
I know he's from a game but I absolutely adore Turgle
This is one of the coolest videos I've ever seen on star wars design- thanks for putting this together!!
This video sums up why I still love Star Wars even when I don't like a lot (or possibly most) Star Wars movies/shows. Even when the story sucks, there's still all this huge gallery work by hundreds of artists that went into creating the background, fleshing out the universe we escaped into as kids. I had a similar conversation a while back about why adults go to Disney parks. I admitted I couldn't speak for everyone, but while I wasn't interested in the animated films or princess aesthetic or even many of the "thrill" rides (bc I have a herniated disc, so I have to avoid most of those), I love looking at all the ways they create the magic: the mechanisms inside the animatronics, the sets/backdrops, lighting and projection mapping, how to hide things in plain sight, and how to blend different techniques. I don't go to Disney parks for the same reason as most people, but I still get a lot out of it. Same with Star Wars: There's more there if you care to look more deeply.
p.s. Looking forward to a sequel video about droid design.
One of my favorite sequel alien designs is Derla Pidys, the wine seller from the casino. She has the same brown-yellow-white palette, but her four eyes, glossy skin, and head shape make her look pretty cool IMO. She evokes an octopus or other cephalopod without looking like a “Dollar Store Cthulhu.”
Great channel, and awesome video. Straight to the point and great research without any unnecessary flashy editing or narrator cutaways to take away from the content. Definitely subbed now.
Incredibly well done. At first I thought this would be a rather boring topic to cover, but hell was I wrong. Great job, and keep it going!
I love this kind of nitty gritty look at all of the inner workongs of a series. 10/10
Can I just say how much I love that limitations borne from circumstances and sudden creative whims apropos of nothing ended up inspiring so many people to create? Look at "T-Head" at 4:25 for example: despite being a creature who shows up only for a second or two, its species would later be given a proper name (Arcona), culture, and unique biology. At the time of release, when extended lore didn't exist, it was just a creature, but now, if you go back knowing more about Arconans, you'd know that this Arconan is actually tripping balls on salt.
By far, one of the best Star Wars videos I've watched in a long time
Really interesting and well delivered. No mention of the Thala-siren on TLJ, though? Their design is quite unique, but what's fascinating about them is the time and effort it took to actually film them on that island, in a scene that many Star Wars fans (myself excluded) would have preferred never existed in the first place.
Drink your blue-green milk like a true Jedi.
@@syafiqjabar straight from the teet!
I thought the scene was funny
@@thenewdoc4599 Mark Hamill shaking his head in delight as blue milk drips from his beard will never stop being funny to me, but some people thought it was taking the comedy a bit too far.
In The Director and The Jedi, the behind the scenes documentary about The Last Jedi, they show the painstaking process of filming that scene: those space cows are all practical, including a complicated mechanism that allows them to squirt that sweet blue stuff; they're also huge, so after finishing their construction, they had to helicopter them to the island and carefully placed on the cliff. You gotta admire the lengths they went to just to make this really short and hilarious but overall not very essential moment.
This was an amazing video. Would love to see more videos from you about creature design. The way you include the names and creators of the creatures and go into details about each one is great. Unfortunately a lot of creators would just go “this one is ugly and this one looks cool” instead of actually doing the work, as you have.
The thing about the running themes in the creature designs of the OT and PT is that they both have a positive quality to them besides practical consideration:
The OT designs being masked and obscured in various ways makes them mysterious, while the prequels' colorful humanoids are just that- colorful. Plus, making your alien a colorful human forces you to think of non-visual ways they'd differ from humans.
While these two alien races aren't from the prequels, the Chiss and the Zeltron are the first examples of what I'm talking about regarding the prequel alien template: The Zeltron have two livers and pheromones, making them uniquely suited for characters who are endearing towards others in-universe- and not just in sensual ways, though that obviously is *a* use for the Zeltron. And the Chiss lend themselves well to all sorts of stoic characters, especially villains and anti-heroes.
And the color of said humanoid also creates a very different impression, uniquely suited to the particular character of that species.
I will in fact be using this as a guide to create my own star wars aliens, thank you very much
fantastic research! would love to see one about droids in the future
I appreciate the informative take on exploring and examining the designs across the different eras.
I see so many trash and belittle and trash various creature designs, worthy of it or not, that often doesn’t make for good examination.
Crazy good video! Love to see someone who put in the time, and addresses this stuff in good faith!
Excellent video, incredibly well made!
18:30: Just make a bunch of creatures so George can pick.
"Hey George, which of these aliens do you want?"
"yes"
halfway through the video i realized this channel only has 30k+ subs? this video is fucking amazing bro, keep going, you will be huge.
Sequel creatures are really safe. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing. I think them being too outlandish and not “Star Wars-y” enough would’ve gotten a worse reception. Honestly, Jedi: Survivor does the best job of making Star Wars-y creatures while also being really creative.
@@hectormontes7056 One of them also implies that Manaan is canon, since he tells tales of fishing on the oceans of Manaan. We also see a couple of Selkath as background characters in the Clone Wars series and they are apparently in the Acolyte as well, but I have no interest in watching it even if there are live action Selkath.
This video is absolutely incredible. Truly just jammed packed full of so much amazing stuff
I'm sure you've gotten this before but the videos you've been making have been some of the best Star Wars videos on youtube. Nerdonymous still may be my favorite but you're doing awesome work.
This was a super interesting video. Plus, your voce is very clear and easy to listen to. Great work!!
38:07 fun fact: Kieran was also the size double for Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Throughout the movie when you see Frodo next to a human sized character but can’t see his face very well, it’s Kieran.
seriously man, out of new channles jumping out of the ether, yours is one of the best ones. I've rewatched your last two Star Wars videos super often. Your videos are super well produced and structured, with in depth research and always coming at it from the perspective of how it was made, instead of the boring-ass "lore" nonsense SW-TH-cam is infested with.
Its funny how the video goes "Here is Bossk, nobody cares about him" to "Here is EVERONES BELOVED AND FAVOURITE MAZ KANATA" while in reality the silent bounty hunters are more memorable and popular than any sequels character
Thanks for being extra in-depth as always. Going into the origins of the designs helps explain a lot.
In particular, I think the mindsets and preferences of people behind designing these plus the overall direction decided everything. As you said, Lucas-era things mostly pulled from a vast variety of sources deliberate and accidental, and so ended up with more sheer variety and striking designs, to the point where designs for extras made for important character material. They wanted to be cool and fun a lot more, even when it came to humans with rubber bits.
With sequels, the designers had too much of an overriding preference (wide-set eyes, elongated face, nostril eyeholes, almost equine mouth) and tried to force a "new standard nonhuman" with it (made more egregious because of not having been common in past entries), on top of the overall direction trying to ape the OT while lacking its design philosophy. There are far fewer standout cool designs, those few are mostly deliberately designed to be standouts, and none of the extras would make for cool main characters.
34:25 as if this video couldn’t get any better, BAM b boys reference
I really didn’t need to see naked Jar Jar concept art today.
Masterfully written video!
The amount of research to get this all right must have been quite something, huh.
The humor was point as well.
Another great video, man, can't wait where it takes you next !!
Amazing video! Very cool very few characters missed and amazing! And the backstory on all the characters is really cool!
Wow! Just wow! Watched every second of this video without getting bored. Great work. Thanks!
This is wonderfully made & informative. I have one complaint though…..you forgot to include the various TV series!
That cheeky shot of the Luke's hucking the sabers was top tier
It's rare i finish long videos of any kind (unless it's a podcast/livestream), but this kept me. Great video.🤙
I'm genuinely surprised the sequel trilogy even has a single practical effect. I'll be the first to admit that the design team did good work and it's good to see them using physical props.
This one is a really good essey about an interesting topic.
And as far as i know the first video i see about this topic.
i always felt something was weird about the sequel aliens i just never knew what it was exactly, anyways really good video you definitiv gained a follow, keep that quality up and many more will sure follow!
When you pulled up that collage at the start I was really worried this video was going to turn into another Sequel Trilogy hater session. I guess I’m just too used to people unnecessarily bashing on those movies.
I was pleasantly surprised when you dished out valid criticism in good faith to all three trilogies. This is an excellent video! Loved hearing about all the different aliens that make up the Star Wars galaxy.
So glad someone made a video on this topic.
Man your videos are amazing! Happened to see why aotc looks like a video game and now I'm just going through em
Wonderful content, very astute and informative. Not an animator myself but was always an artist and I love this content
Love Greedo's white kitten heals