Death Mark on Ord Mantell – Part 3
I’d been meaning to work this gag in for a while. Not long after we started BMS, back in February 2009 (gosh our 2 year anniversary is right around the corner!) I learned for the first time that Greedo was in fact a Greeda… and Greeda wore high heels. That’s right, Greedo was played by a Maria De Aragon in the cantina scenes, and elsewhere by two different dudes (Paul Blake and Larry Ward)… According to IMDB that is. For the sake of BMS continuity the sombrero wearing dead guy was Kreedo, and today’s star is his often seen tag along, brother Breedo.
I checked the end credits of the film and Greedo doesn’t even warrant a mention. And of course, even the omnipotent Wookieepedia and its convoluted mess of an article fails to recognize the actors/actress involved. Clearly from the photos on the left and below, we are looking at an actress in the Greedo costume. The high heels permitted, I imagine, in order to give the short actress more height and little concern to the cinematography which kept the camera above the ankles.
Anyway, by the time I’d I realized this, BMS Greedo was already lying dead at Han’s booth. The parody was moving on and I felt the opportunity to have fun with Greedo’s penchant for lady’s heels had been missed. But this tale doesn’t end here. I always loved Greedo as a kid. Not because I was a cross dresser (it was just one time!), but because Greedo kind of looked cool. I mean, he’s got a face you will always remember. Yes, I know the green mask was a bit fake looking. And yes, I know a bug-eyed, green-skinned alien is about as stereotypical as there can possibly be. But I just liked the quirkiness. So, decades later I find out he was wearing heels through the whole scene. Flippin’ classic!
Interestingly, shortly after Greedo gets shot down, there’s another Rodian (or two) in the background during Jabba’s confrontation with Han in Docking Bay 94. I’m sure we see another (or one of these Rodians) wandering around in crowd scenes in Mos Eisley as well. They are wearing outfits almost exactly identical. These Greedo lookalikes are what spawned the Blue Milk Special storyarc “Greedo’s Cousins”, starring brothers Kreedo and Breedo. It was my way to still play with such an iconic looking character despite him now being dead. And with today’s strip I’m finally able to combine the eccentricities of both dead relatives into Breedo… a Rodian saved from death only by his inconvenient bladder.
BMS will be back on Friday with a final teaser which will wrap things up at Little Alderaan and move the story to the ice planet Hoth. Then, starting next Monday we finally begin to parody The Empire Strikes Back, one scene at a time (and, as ever, the bits in between). So, until Friday rolls around, keep an eye on our FaceBook page where we have a few funnies to post, and also check out T. Gatto’s latest entry into the Milk Carton Theater below. There’s also a brand new page for Milk Carton Theater where each strip will be archived. As for the Milk Cartons themselves, you can view them all at the Downloads page.
Oh – fantastic strip today Rod! At least 3 gags! And where the hell do you find those photos? See the second one with the description? No mention WHATSOEVER of the shoes! And they’re both looking down at them!
When I finally read Marvel’s Special Souvenir magazine of 1977/78 I was amazed at the lack of attention to detail. Spaceship models mislabelled as lightsabres, reversed photos etc.
If the description said: “Looking back – Star Wars was a big break for all of us cross-dressers” I could understand.
Yeah. Isn’t that weird? You’d think the caption would have mentioned the conspicuous heels. I guess back in the day the merchandising was solely concerned with money and slapped everything together as quickly as possible. This still happens today of course, but there is a greater acknowledgment of the “geek” market than back then.
Who you calling Geeks? 😉
My only complaint is that the heels do not match his vest, and definately clash with the sombrero. No self respecting cross dresser would permit such a fashon mistake. Shouldn’t he at least get a nice pink vest? Forget the bounty hunters, call the fashon police! ;(
BTW did Greedo shop at the same store as the Tuskin raiders, in your previous strip? ;=
Macy’s? Yeah… I think he must have. 🙂
I might make a few small tweaks to Breedo’s appearance. Possibly fruiting him up even more with every appearance. So, talk to me about the colors before you finalized the milk carton. 🙂
I already finished it, and sent it to you.
I can do a fix anytime, just give me the specs, or I’ll get them from the strip.
With the heels? That’s what I was talking about. I checked out the Sombrero this morning and it rocks!
What you want the fillings out of my teeth too? OK, I’ll figure out how to make the heels, but only because you asked so nicely 😉
BTW in my world the sky is in fact Blue (ok it’s Grey today), and the heels will be pink, unless you prefer ruby ones that transport him to Kansas when he clicke them together and says “There’s no place like home”.
Dont tell me you haven’t posted my comment because you already thought of it, that scares me!
I need to get a life!
I WILL have your fillings, T. I will have them.
Pink heels with all that green? You’ve gotta love an alien species who takes a fashion risk and can pull it off!
The heels should have been white. Even though I had the photos as reference I relied on memory (which failed me, obviously… and not the first time… but that’s a whole other story) and went with pink. I will probably switch them to white in his next appearance.
When is labor day in a galaxy far, far away?
Well, there is the common rule that if you find a pair of shoes you love, buy them in every color. I’m sure that rule applies in a galaxy far, far away….
Well, I wouldn’t know too much about the law of shoes, but I will trust your wisdom. 🙂
I have no doubt that Greedo’s fam understands that rule. We’ve already seen fashionista evidence in the Tusken Raiders. Why not in this species as well? X D
Awesome! Greedo is, in fact, my favorite character from the OT, I even built a little shrine to him at home with over 30 different ‘Greedos’ in it (figures, busts, etc etc.)
Wait. Does this make me scary?
An action figure shrine to Greedo? No, that’s cute.
I would have thought Crumb was your favorite.
Will you be adding my Rodian Cartons to your shrine?
Either way, send BMS a photo Rod can post, I for one would like to see it.
Sadly, T., unlike Neil’s Greedo memorabilia, your paper milk cartons are susceptible to mold. Luckily the PDFs aren’t. 🙂
Geez,
Rod wants my fillings, you say my cartons have mold. I’m beginning to think I’m not appreciated anymore. Even my mother changed her number to an unlisted one ;).
Pft, Greedo. Han shot first! ….sorry, I couldn’t help myself. :p
And that’s exactly why his cousins want revenge! 🙂
Cracked.com literally just mentioned this in an article today. I was amazed to see it here around the same time. What’re the odds?
Weird! And they didn’t even mention Tarkin’s slippers! Someone should post a link to our strip in their comment thread. 😉 I hit gold when I finally found pics of his slippers after years of wondering.
I saw that too and was just coming here to comment. What are the odds? (Well, 100% since it happened…) Very strange, though.
So, who had the shoe fetish first? Rod or GL?
Is that Duros wearing flip-flops?
Looks like wooden shoes to me. not those pointy dutch one, the “flip-flop” ones. or “trä-tofflor” as we say in Sweden…
trä = wood, tofflor =flip-flops.
Also, why does everyone wear them in southern sweed and denmark???
Flip flops hurt my toes. :-/
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but Wookieepedia is mostly a fantastically managed site when it comes to everything in- universe. For the most part, they really don’t care that much about the actors. The whole BMS “controversy” on the site was, of course, a load of bantha fodder. At least they don’t make those mistakes too often.
Well, another problem with ALL these fan wikis is they combine canon from various media and often do not give citations where one source ends and another begins. That’s a pain and lazy.
The name of the actress is Maria de Aragon. And she only played Greedo while standing up.
http://www.parsec-santa.com/greedo/GreedoFrame.htm
Oh sorry nevermind, only read part of your text silly me. But I hope the website helps still.
Greedo with pink heels?!?!
That just totally made my day 🙂
Paul Blake is Greedo in the scenes filmed in the UK with Harrison Ford. That includes the scenes standing up and all the scenes with Greedo and Han Solo in the same shot.
Maria de Aragon is Greedo in the sitting down scenes where the camera faces Greedo and we don’t see Harrison Ford. Maria’s scenes were filmed in the USA, post-production (after all the principal actors are gone).
The reason they re-shot those scenes is that the original Greedo mask worn by Paul Blake was stiff, it had no movement. They made a new mask with moving snout and antennaes for Maria and since she was only seen from the waist up, her shoes were not important.
That says a lot about Paul Blake…