The Missing Link
Ralph MacQuarrie is right up there with John Williams when it comes to establishing the feel of the Star Wars universe. He also designed the Cylons and most other space craft and costume style of the original Battlestar Galactica television series. The black and white armor of the villainous footsoldiers from both universes always felt closely related. The Captain Phasma character in The Force Awakens, a chrome Stormtrooper with a cape, seems to be the halfway point… the missing link!
Too bad Ralph MacQuarrie is no longer with us and was not able to be involved in the film directly. However, his imagination and his style continue as his legacy in the Star Wars Rebels series and now The Force Awakens film as well.
I think that’s pretty cool.
Thank you, Ralph!
Actually I think Andrew Probert had a hand in the Cylon design, at least with the helmet.
yes, and Liz Moore brought Ralph MacQuarrie’s concept stormtroopers to life in their final form. But MacQuarrie served in the same way as a concept designer for BSG and provided the original inspirational designs that were given to the costume / prop department to realize and tweak.
Next you will tell me that R2-D2 isn’t the only one in SciFi that resembles a garbage can….oh…
https://youtu.be/AYZwij0qau0
Bonus:
https://youtu.be/gau-gER1L_M
Haha! Thanks, mate!
Nice! 🙂
I guess I’m one of the few who are not happy with the heavy McQuarrie influence already seen on TFA. I’ve honestly never been a fan of the designs, though I do respect them as concept art. I just wished they had stayed concept art. :/
Wow! Well, fair enough. So you don’t like Stormtrooper, X-Wings, or TIE Fighters? You don’t like the Falcon either?
The new trooper look is fine, as we have an evolution from Clone trooper phase I to Clone trooper phase II to Imperial Stormtrooper to First Order Stormtrooper (to Phasma) to Cylon.
I just wish they were flying something other than X-Wings and TIE fighters in Force Awakens. There was most variation between ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘New Hope’ over a shorter (20 year) period, than in the 30 year period from ‘Return of the Jedi’ to ‘Force Awakens’.
Unless of course, the Galaxy Far, Far Away descended into a state of chaos and anarchy following the Battle of Endor.