ST Maz Kanata's Castle Characters

Ok just got back from my first viewing of Episode VII, I'm a die hard fan but sacrificed seeing it opening night to see it with my best friend I grew up with reading comics and collecting figures!

Loved it! I've had a look through the threads and couldn't find one dedicated to this subject..

As a kid my favourite scene from all films was the Mos Eisley Cantina scene and I loved how every character had their own back story and other appearances so hoped we could compile information on Maz Kanata's Castle Characters....

 

I love Maz, loved the Star Warsy ambiance of her castle, and found myself so interested in all the odd characters populating the background.

For me the Maz castle scenes fit perfectly alongside the Cantina and Jabba's palace.

 

The cantina and jabba's palace were always favorite scenes of mine as well. I have all of the released figures from both of those scenes because I have always enjoyed them so much. This one was right up there as well. JJ really nailed this scene.

 

Some people have complained about a lack of familiar Star Wars aliens, but it does show just how big and varied the galaxy is to have completely different people in another corner of it.

 

Are any of these characters named yet or had previous appearances anyone's aware of?

 

Loved how this place was handled - it was a classier, grown up version of Jabbas Palace. While I liked Jabbas place, I wasn't a fan of some of the muppets, especially that laughing rat that was chewing 3POs eye.

Maz herself is a great character design - definitely a female Yoda vibe.

 

I don't think this scene holds a candle to the Cantina, but there's really no way it could have. That's the sort of thing that once done it can't be repeated on the same level. I'm glad there was a similar scene here though with a wide variety of aliens. It was in line with the Cantina and Jabba's Palace, but also felt very The Clone Wars to me for some reason. I really did like Maz.

 

There was not the same feel of either the Cantina(original) or Jabba's Palace(original) even though it looked like they tried to replicate it along those creatures. Was not really anything to make of the scene as it focused mainly on Han and friends and then a tiny bit of Maz. It was made to try and recapture the Mos Eisely Cantina , Jabba's palace and somehow Yoda's hut all together at once but did not really captivate me at all. None of it did, not any of the creatures or characters there. Looked like too much imitation. The Crimson Corsair they had a lil bit of because Finn was gonna board his ship to fly out to safely away from the First Order, the Corsair just became scenery like the rest. The girl with the obese Bossk clone was an imperial agent, she was meant to be a Garindan. It was not a memorable scene and none of the creatures were inspiring, and like this movie as a whole its like a see it once and forget it .

 

The Red Khaleesh, and the wide guy that Finn almost took off with are the Crimson Corsair and his first mate. They had an awesome short story that came out in e-book format couple weeks back, and will be released in a collection in April.

The chick who rats them out to the first order has another short story called "The perfect Weapon."

 

Crimson Corsair is by far favorite from her castle. I hope we get more stories with him.

 

Thanks for that information, I have to say that the Red Khaleesh looked the most interesting new character in the whole film to me! My first thought was that he was a Khaleesh but then started to think perhaps a Quarren.. I'm going to read that short story now!

 

Wheres the little dude that called the Resistance (was he a robot?) that was dressed in Mandalorian armor?

-C

 

That def wasn't Mando armor. He was obviously a droid.

 

It's titled "The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku."

 

I dont know, man. He looked a lot like mini robot Boba. I need a screen grab.

-C

 

Which one did Warwick Davis play?

 

The only thing I wasn't crazy about in this scene (even after seeing it twice) was the jester type woman sitting on the chair with the big massive guy. Everything else, I LOVE!

 

Awesome idea for a thread!!!! Can anyone provide a list from left to right of the characters in that pic? That's from the Visual Companion right?

 

I believe some appeared in the Landry Q. Wilson short stories that will be released together in April in Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. The woman that called the FO was in The Perfect Weapon, another short story.

 

Wait Warwick Davis was in that scene? He must have been the alien in the corner with the red eyes, that's the only character I can think of being real small. It was a great scene in my opinion and gave lots of depth to the Star Wars Universe.

 

Yeah I'd like to see that, too. Would it be too early to start a thread purely for screengrabs? I need that shot of Han and Kylo on the walkway!

 

In the book The Art of The Force Awakens, there is some beautiful early concept art for "Crime City" and "Exotic City" that ended up being Maz's Castle. I wish the final design had a lot of the detail from those early concept drawings. I suspect that they went with the simpler, less visually interesting design of the final film due to the fact that the early designs were very reminiscent of some of the PT vistas, and would have required extensive digital backdrops to make them work.

 

I really didn't like that there wasn't a single established alien race in there. Even one would have been cool.

Also I really didn't like Maz, the design, the character or the voice actor. Worse than Jar Jar to me.

 

I would have loved to seen Cad Bane or Hondo sitting in the background with a few groupies around them...

-C

 

I agree with you about the Cantina. It was so different at the time. We had never seen anything like it ever. Now, we may not have had anything as good as the cantina scene up until the castle scene in TFA, but, we have had numerous attempts to duplicate the success of the cantina scene which makes the TFA castle one a bit less.

Still a great scene. A few of them birds reminded me of quasi-Skekses from The Dark Crystal. In fact, that whole scene gave me a great Henson vibe.