Rogue One [Official Info] Pao in Rogue One

nothing wrong with it just because you don't like it. sw isn't always super, serious, cynical, drama for adults.

MOD EDIT: inappropriate

 

I wasn't talking about super seriousness vs silliness. I was just talking about bad designs/ concepts, as I see it. After all, I enjoyed the rathtar sequence precisely because it was good fun. And in TCW/ Rebels I love characters like Hondo because they're also fun, and lighten the otherwise po-faced mood.

But there was nothing fun about shark dude or the helisabers, IMO. The former just seemed lazy (let's put a shark head on a villain), and the latter was just...stupid-looking and inconsistent with previous depictions of the inquisitors.

IMO, of course. But there does seem to be a pretty general consensus among fans that these were not Filoni's strongest products...

As for the sarlacc, that's exactly why it works! And why it's such a frightening thing. This horrible, fleshy hole in the ground that devours people and digests them over years and years. Not comparable to sharky and sabercopters, which just seemed like the good conceptual designers had taken the week off, and let their teenaged children step in. "You know what'd be kewl? A villain they looks just like a shark! And if the inquisitors could spin their sabers so fast that they can fly!" The sort of thing you would normally expect to get shot down right away.

 

Ok hold on. You don't like it because "its just a guy with a shark head?"

Mon Cal - fish head
Ithorian - slug head
Trandoshan - lizard head
Ishi Tib - crab head
Gamorrean - pig head
Yarkora - yak head
Devaronian - devil head
Shistavanen - wolf head
Pacithhip - elephant head
Ortolan - another elephant head
Snivvian - boar head
Givin - skull head
Bothan - dog/goat head
Aqualish - walrus head
Quarren - Squid head
Nautolan - another squid head
Brizzit - housefly head
Chadra Fan - bat head
Gabdoran - turtle head
Abednedo - catfish head
Culisetto - mosquito head

but shark head is where you draw the line?

Star Wars aliens have always had that "what if THIS earth species became the dominant evolution" feel to them. I personally enjoyed seeing a shark-like species. You don't have to like them but you can't call them lazy. Heck some of the original Cantina Aliens were borrowed costumes from other movies. Now that's lazy haha

ps - you are so right about the twirling copter-sabers. I actually cringed when that happened.

 

I was waiting for someone to respond with this!

I think your examples are all not comparable, however, for a few reasons.

1. The above share a resemblance to animals from Earth, but do not look exactly like those animals. The shark head alien was essentially a straight up shark head plopped on a humanoid body. That's nothing like an Ithorian, which barely looks like a slug. It was a very lazy concept, and I suspect Filoni would probably own up to that.

2. The aliens you mentioned were mostly background characters with a line or two at most. This shark guy was given a lot of air time, and had lots of dialogue. It was a marriage of bad design and bad storytelling.

3. The shark head alien was a central villain of that arc. And the sheer cheesy obviousness of making a guy that has a shark head the villain was too much. Felt more like something out of the Ninja Turtles catroons than Star Wars.

 

Not at all comparable? I dunno man, your argument doesn't seem to hold water for me. You don't have to like the design, that's your right. There are plenty of designs I don't like so I'm not here to tell you to bow down. But to me it just sounds like you aren't a fan and you're trying to convince me I'm wrong for being a fan.

Anyway we really took this thread off topic. To steer it back to Pao I'll say regardless of what species he/she is he/she certainly does look like a basking shark if you ask me. At first the gaping jaw made him/her look comical but the more I examine the character the more I'm starting to love the design.

 

I wonder if we will be introduced to this species in another unrelated story before hand. The advantages of an eu.

 

exactly... yakface as well.

 

thejeditraitor

Yeah, but none of those aliens have heads that looks exactly like the animals they compare to (apart from the elephant and the bat heads in the cantina, which flash by in a second, but still weren't Lucas' finest hour).

In the case of sharkdude, his head is...a shark's head, he swims around like a shark and generally acts like a shark, and he's a central villain in that story arc. It's just clear that there was some laziness involved. Villain needed in Mon Cala arc. Oh, how about a shark with arms and legs? There's just too much built around a dumb-looking character, and it's too on the nose. Imagine, for example, that squidface was the main villain of A New Hope, and spent his time swimming around like a squid and squirting black ink at his enemies...

Also, I don't remember pruneface and yakface acting like prunes and yaks, respectively.

 

It'd be great to see one of the species pop up in Rebels season 3

 

So umm back to the topic of this thread.

 

Poor Pao, always getting caught up in politics. The things he has to endure.

 

The Disney execs wanted more Pao, and ordered four weeks of reshooting to work him in. True story.

 

Really? How interesting, where did you hear about that?

 

No, not really.

 

haha totally fell for that! Well played....

 

Sounds like it might have been Pad after all
http://www.rebelscum.com/story/front/LEGO_Rogue_One_Minifig_Speculation_169327.asp

 

unless they have it wrong.

 

Well we were taking it off of a page you can barely read, they're apparently taking it off the Lego material.

 

Ya, I think they have the spelling wrong. Probably lost in translation

 

Kinda bummed Pao wasn't in the EW piece

 

Wonder if they're saving them for another update.

Hope they show up in the actual issue.

 

I hope he exists. He's not a removed early idea. The suit didn't work out or some such.

 

I wondered that as well. The fact they have legos of him though lead me to believe they're still in there. We've already seen inconsistencies across the board, so of course that could all change.

 

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/06/six-new-images-from-rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/

Ahh well. It was starting to look like that.