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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

BTS Recycled Ideas

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by SlashMan, May 21, 2013.

  1. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2012
    As we all know, George Lucas and the makers of the Star Wars saga have had many ideas in the outline of the Saga. Many went unused, but few managed to turn up later in other works. Here's a few I noticed:
    • A battle between Wookiees and Imperials was planned in the early stages for A New Hope. The idea was later modified for Return of the Jedi by changing the planet Kashyyyk to Endor and Wookiees to Ewoks. The idea was finally realized in Revenge of the Sith, putting the Wookiees against the Separatists.
    • The mention of midichlorians dates back to the early drafts of the original Star Wars, but was not applicable to the original trilogy. An explanation was finally given in The Phantom Menace.
    • Bail Organa/Antilles was intended to be Princess Leia's father in A New Hope. He was intended to appear in the Phantom Menace, but was once again removed. Also in The Phantom Menace, there is mention of his original name, Bail Antilles as a representative of Alderaan. The character of Bail Organa was finally given a proper introduction as the senator of Alderaan in Attack of the Clones.
    • One of the earliest concepts of Star Wars names the character of Mace Windy as a famed Jedi. The character is introduced as one of the most powerful Jedi in the order in The Phantom Menace.
    • It's been said that Ralph McQuarrie's original concept of the Millennium Falcon inspired the design of the Republic Cruiser in The Phantom Menace.
    • Lucas imagined C-3PO being built by a young farm boy. This was modified to be young slave boy, Anakin Skywalker, in The Phantom Menace.
    • Lucas said early on that Vader got his injuries through falling into a pit of lava on a volcanic planet. In Revenge of the Sith, we see the Vader catches fire from the heat of the lava on Mustafar.
    • Boba Fett was invisioned as a specialized brand of Imperial troops in pre-production for The Empire Strikes Back. In Attack of the Clones, we see Boba's father as the template for the clone army of the Republic, which would later become the Imperial troops.
    • The Empire's stronghold was originally to be on Alderaan in the plans of A New Hope. The idea was revived, but unused for Return of the Jedi under the name Had Abbadon as the capital of the Empire. At this point, the planet consisted of an entire city, and housed the Emperor's secret lair. Coruscant was finally seen onscreen the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi (while the planet was revealed in greater detail in the Prequel trilogy).
    • The Emperor had a lightsaber hidden up his sleeve in an early draft of Return of the Jedi. In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine revealed his hidden saber in the same fashion.
    • The Neimoidians seen in the Phantom Menace were originally invisioned as organic versions of the battle droids. This idea was later attributed to Geonosians in Attack of the Clones.
    • Watto's character from the Phantom Menace originally sported a sun hat in his original design. This was later shown in Attack of the Clones.
    In other media, I found these:
    • The design on Captain Rex's helmet in The Clone Wars seems based off the original design on the Boba Fett costume during the pre-production of The Empire Strikes Back.
    • Young Boba Fett's helmet in The Clone Wars is based off the Boba Fett designs by Ralph McQuarrie.
     
  2. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Oh SWEET!

    Another one is that there was a half cyborg in the Empire called "General Skywalker" (I think, I saw it in somewhere with people that worked on the movies talking about it).
     
  3. jc1138

    jc1138 Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2004
    Going into a little more detail about the Imperial stronghold (prison) mentioned above on Alderaan in early drafts. It was imagined like Cloud City, which of course shows up in ESB.
     
  4. Darth Palpadious

    Darth Palpadious Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    May 31, 2013
    Two more:

    - The planet Utapau, complete with sinkhole landscape, was devised for A New Hope and didn't appear until Revenge of the Sith.
    - During the auditions for ANH, the cast had to perform a scene from the first or second draft which mentions getting into trouble "near Aquilae and Sullust". Sullust ends up getting a mention in Return of the Jedi as a possible rebel base.
     
  5. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2012
    I was just thinking about this again, and Attack of the Clones goes even more in-depth with its connection to Empire Strikes Back. Cloud City was originally Orbital City, which was inhabited by Na'vi-like aliens (Cloud People) who travel via flying manta-rays. It is there that the template of the clone army, Lando, lives.

    The designs for Cloud People were obviously used for the Kaminoans, whom ran the cloning facility. Instead of Lando being the template, it was Boba's father Jango (see the above Boba Fett). Instead of the city being suspended in the sky, Kamino is suspended above water. Furthermore, Kamino and Cloud City have a very similar glowing white aesthetic. If that's not enough, the flying manta-rays make an appearance as well.

    Lando evolved from earlier characterizations of Han (after the alien phase, of course), Lucas also wanted Han to be black earlier on. This also goes with the rumors that Lando was going to take over Han's role if Harrison Ford didn't return and the character was declared dead. I mean, we do see Lando wearing Han's clothes.

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/05...dnt-know-about-the-empire-strikes-back?page=1

    Not really from an early treatment, but a lot of Boba's gadgets didn't really get explored; it was only with Attack of the Clones that we saw the flamethrower and rocket launcher (among others) in action.
     
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  6. darkspine10

    darkspine10 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2014
    Rako Hardeen's helmet is also a prototype Boba design.

    Seen here, with original sketch:

    [​IMG]
     
  7. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    In the first draft, the Sith Knights are honor-bound to serve the Empire. Sith Knight Prince Valorum defects and frees the heroes when he realizes that the Empire doesn't care about honor. We see some of Prince Valorum's story in Lando in ESB and Vader in ROTJ.
     
  8. SateleNovelist11

    SateleNovelist11 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2015

    Great job. I knew most of these, but a couple were new to me. I didn't know about the Emperor having a lightsaber hidden in his sleeve in ROTJ. I also didn't know about 3PO being built by a young farm boy in any early draft. Very interesting.
     
  9. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Feb 5, 2012
    Forgot about that. Even the names 'Sith' and 'Valorum' evolved to their final forms within the universe.
     
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  10. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

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    Sep 30, 2012
    The Sith would remain rivals of the Jedi Knights, but who was doing the manipulating and who was being manipulated between the Sith and the Empire would be swapped by TPM. I'm not aware of any connection between the character for whom the name "Valorum" was created and the character who ended up with that name.
     
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  11. SlashMan

    SlashMan Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Feb 5, 2012
    'Valorum' is just an example of how older ideas come up during Lucas' creative process. Lucas will take inspiration from a name from anywhere and write it down for use at a later point. This is usually is process behind creating strange alien-sounding names (i.e. Artoo). While the original version of Valorum may be very different, it's clear that Lucas liked the name enough to dig it up for the Phantom Menace.
     
  12. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    In the first draft, Aquilae is an "Independent System". In AOTC, we're introduced to the "Confederacy of Independent Systems".
     
  13. Dandelo

    Dandelo SW and Film Music Interview Host star 10 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2014
    oops, wrong thread

    sorry.
     
  14. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 26, 2009

    The name 'Utapau' was also the name given to the desert planet we now know as Tatooine in the first draft of SW.

    As I understand it, the GL quote refers to C-3PO having been built by a young boy in a junkyard, but unfortunately, that's from the extended version of Rinzler's Making of SW, which includes the 'early' mention of midichlorians - a quote Rinzler had to come out and admit a couple of years back was not from 1977 at all, but rather from when the book (published in 2007) was being prepared. He'd combined this much later quote with some of GL's 1977 musings on the brains and biology of Force users:

    http://www.starwars.com/news/so-what-the-heck-are-midi-chlorians

    Sadly, I've since been very skeptical about the 'little boy in a junkyard' quote and others as a result. Correction (six years later) aside, it was very poor form on both Rinzler's and LFL's part - the mention of the term 'midichlorians' was deliberately presented in the 2007 publication as having been a quote from 1977. It wasn't until GL was writing the PT in the 1990s that the term appeared anywhere.
     
  15. Jangounchained1990

    Jangounchained1990 Jedi Knight star 2

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    May 31, 2015
    Wonder if the force awakens will use any none used ideas from Lucas film?
     
  16. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    that's a joke right?
     
  17. Alienware

    Alienware Jedi Master star 3

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    Apr 19, 2013
    There will be a "Starkiller base" in TFA. Luke's last name was originally planned to be Starkiller.

    There may be more and I think Lucas even said that they could make an entire trilogy just from unused ideas. :)
     
  18. ColdLazarou

    ColdLazarou Jedi Grand Master star 2

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    Sep 8, 2001
    I wouldn't be surprised if there are also echoes of this in Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren in the ST.
     
  19. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

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    Sep 30, 2012
    Another reuse of Prince Valorum: Han Solo saving Luke at the end of ANH. Prince Valorum, previously a villain, saves the heroes when they need it most. Han Solo, previously selfish, saves Luke when he needs it most.
     
  20. DARTH_BELO

    DARTH_BELO Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2003
    Great thread.


    I've always loved seeing how old ideas from the original drafts make their way into the saga eventually. And I LOVE that they're STILL doing it-using old abandoned concept art for new designs and all that...If I remember correctly, wasn't the Ghost (from Rebels) based on an unused ship design? Stuff like that...
     
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  21. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

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    Sep 30, 2012
    In the first draft of TPM, Maul has dialogue and can generate illusions. In TCW, Maul has dialogue and is related to the illusion-generating Nightsisters.
     
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  22. Jedi with a TARDIS

    Jedi with a TARDIS Jedi Knight star 2

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    Mar 4, 2013
    It's funny how Lucas talks about certain beings being born with a sense of the Force and that anyone can learn it.
     
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  23. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jan 25, 2013
    BB-8's design is based on original concept for R2-D2, where he was on a big ball rather than legs/treads. The new X-wings are based on the original McQuarrie art for the X-wings we see in the OT
     
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  24. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

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    Sep 30, 2012
    The spherical portion of the Lucrehulks (the donut-looking ships used by the Trade Federation) look like Mcquarrie's Death Star:
    [​IMG]
     
  25. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013
    As does whatever the new superweapon shown on the TFA poster is
     
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