ST The alien species of the force awakens

I have a question, why make a group of human Asian pirates that don't speak basic? I wasn't sure what they were speaking, didn't sound like Huttesse. Or Pirates with identical red helmets and identical Red uniforms, lead by a Scottish guy? That didn't make any sense either, in what was supposed to be a Star Wars film. Of course, the credits did say, "based on characters by George Lucas," so perhaps this universe is only based on his too?

 

There is a big difference. One was in great movie, TFA, while one was in a good one, TPM. Oh, and the TPM one features aliens we've seen before in ROTJ so, retread.

This film also takes place in the wild regions and on the opposite side of the galaxy from Tatooine and the Hutt regions. Not going to see the same alien races at all.

I loved that they opened it up. It's about time. Got tired of looking at friggin Greedos and Ithorians all the time. Make a new alien George!

 

Salo Gardener is the human on the left in the TFA photo, and he also played an alien in the cantina in ANH. I've read that even though he uses the above photo of Trinto Duaba for autographs at conventions, it's not Salo in the costume. I believe this is Salo in the cantina, though:
http://mst3k.wikia.com/wiki/Salo_Gardner
http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=21739

 

So wait, now one of the criticisms is that there isn't enough nostalgia?

 

I have no problem with mostly new aliens but I feel like a lot of the new TFA designs are lacking. Most of the aliens are brown colors with puffy, rubbery heads.

 

I didn't have a problem with the lack of traditional alien species. It just kind of made sense to me. The remnants of the Empire that fled and became the First Order went beyond the borders of the former Empire (which had already expanded past the borders of the Republic) and into unknown regions, right?

To me it's no different than going beyond the Outer Rim and meeting the Kaminoans in AOTC, despite them not having been seen before. The area in which TFA takes place seems to be well outside of the boundaries in which previous films had taken place, so I thought it made sense to have new species. Nien Nunb and Ackbar were the exceptions because they were personnel from the New Republic that were supporting the Resistance.

 

I think it's great that they created largely new aliens. However, they were all very ugly. Which most SW aliens are, and that was the intention. But I would have liked to have seen an another alien species a bit more pleasing to the eye like a togruta.

 

Damn, that's interesting (and quite confusing as to Gardener's actual role). But from what I've read, he's still taking up acting roles at 92, and J.J. made a good call bringing him back.

thebothamspy may have found his actual role. Being credited as a "Local Ugly Man", he was likely one of the human extras with distinct features that didn't have any makeup on:


More reading reveals that he was a Stormtrooper, and was in TPM as well, but doesn't remember his role.

 

I agree with this. I like that the creative team behind TFA came up with some original designs. They hit a home run.

 

I did like the new aliens. Some of the stuff in Jakku was great. I loved the cheap-looking vulture thing. Yes, it did look quite cheap, but the ridiculousness of it made it all the better, IMO. I also loved that big thing hauling that massive equipment, as well as Simon Pegg’s character. However, I am truly gutted we did not see Zuvio. I was genuinely looking forward to seeing him. That did disappoint me.

I thought Maz’s castle was a worthy successor to the Cantina and Jabba’s Palace, and was one of my favourite sequences. I just loved the whole look of the place, as well as the way it was lit. I really got a Labyrinth and Dark Crystal vibe from the scene. Great stuff.

However, and I have to say this, for Rogue One and onwards (actually, especially the “Episode” films) I want to see more “traditional” SW aliens. New ones are great, but with SW there are just certain species that are needed, IMO. A few Rodians, Twi’leks, Ithorians, Weequay, Niktos and Bith wouldn’t go amiss. Throw in the odd Dug and some other cool PT aliens (not as good with the names of those, I’m afraid) for good measure. But yes, I truly think more traditional SW aliens were missed and would have made it that much more special.

But yes, in all, I did like the new alien life we were given and I look forward to seeing more. However, I think they should broaden their colour pallet for the next film(s).

 

I think some of the band members in Maz's castle were Weequay.

 

Warwick Davis is supposed to be in the movie also. I am guessing the alien that looks like an Echidna.
The Teebo scavenger on Jakku was played by Keiran Sha and the green-faced alien with blue beard looks so much like him that I think that must be him as well.

Yeah, I have been disappointed with the lack of recognizable alien species even since the picture in Vanity Fair.
I think that there should have been more aliens also at the Resistance base on D'qar - not just a very old Ackbar and an aging Nien Nunb. (who were played by Tim Rose and Mike Quinn btw).

Ackbar looked so old already in ROTJ that I think that he should have retired long ago. I had always got the impression that he was an old-timer with experience going as far back as the Clone Wars ...

 

There wasn't a lot like the OT considering the ones we saw were from the past, like fan favorites Ackbar and Nien Nunb. Maz's castle was the best example without a doubt though. Jakku wasn't bad either.

 

I wish there were a few traditional aliens sprinkled throughout TFA, but my biggest problem with what I saw is that the aliens looked more like creatures from a Guillermo Del Toro movie or the The Lord of the Rings. I also found the color pallet way too muted, making most of the designs all too visually similar to one another.

 

First too much and now not enough? It's weird.
I do like that the GFFA has some new aliens.

 

I liked those bird things in Maz's castle. They looked ridiculous, but I got a real Jim Henson vibe from them.

 

It looks like the Abednedo species (we see two of them on Jakku, and one is a Resistance pilot - Ello Asty) are going to be quite ubiquitous in the new GFFA, and I'm happy about that.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Abednedo_(species)



I also love the new Tarsunt species. We see a blue one at the Resistance Base, and a whitish one on Hosnian Prime before it's destroyed.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tarsunt

 

Did anyone catch what species that was at the beginning in the village on Jakku? It was held at gunpoint and looked utterly terrified. Was it another Abednedo or something different? I really felt for it, the eyes were very well done. It truly looked scared for its life.

 

This article gives a list of the names of the species in Maz's castle:



From left to right:

[Unknown] - Skull-headed alien with the high collar
Ottegan - really tall guy with the T-shaped head and dark-gray beard
Blarina - little mole-man in the front with the old-fashioned brown leather biplane pilot cap
Dowutin - big guy with the short tusks and the New Order spy under his arm
Onodone - guy with the looooooong wrap-around trunk with the pet bartghest
Narquois - green-faced guy with the blue beard
Gabdorin - one legged pirate sitting toward the front with the giant turtle face
Artiodac - brown-headed guy with suspenders in the back talking to the red-headed woman
Delphidian - all red uniform with the Kaleesh helmet striking a pose