CT When did Jabba REALLY become a slug?

Slicer87 · Mar 5, 2017

Lt. Hija said: ↑

Of course we can all believe whatever we want and take the blue pill or instead go for the red one, i.e. familiarize ourselves with the actual evolution of the Jabba character in the original screenplays to get to the bottom of the issue:

"Jabba the Hutt" was already featured in the second ANH draft from January 28, 1975 (!), That's about one year and a half before Lucas could actually shoot these scenes. Here is the screenplay transcript - http://starwarz.com/starkiller/adventures-of-the-starkiller-second-draft/ - and here are some exerpts:

47. INT. PIRATE STARSHIP – ENTRY BAY
The entry bay of the large starship is also the main lounge area of the ship. Two gruff and grisly pirates are playing a kind of dice game with thin little sticks. The larger and mangiest of the two slavering hulks, JABBA THE HUTT by name, throws his dice at Chewbacca.
JABBA
I told you not to bring that thing on board again… Where have you been anyway… Captain wants the conveyor system extended… and I notice you haven’t turned around those punch chips yet. What are we keeping you on board for anyway?
Chewbacca slinks back outside the starship as Han helps the still slightly crazed Montross aboard the craft. Han generally ignores Jabba’s tirade.
HAN
Where is everybody, anyway?
JABBA
They took the shipment of “Covina” to Gordon.

...

53. INT. PIRATE STARSHIP – ENTRY BAY
Han and the lumbering pirate captain charge into the entry bay, almost knocking down Jabba the Hutt.
JABBA
What’s going on?
HAN
Sabotage! The reactor’s have gone wild. Get out. Get out… Wait, I forgot about Montross…
Jabba the Hutt and the other pirate stumble over each other, racing for the exit. Little Artoo scoots out of the way just as the two pirates rush past the group and into the spacestation main building. They are quickly followed by the wobbly captain. Luke watches the trio with puzzled amazement as the blast door slides closed behind them. Chewbacca gets a message on his belt com-link, and gestures to Luke that they should enter the deserted starship. Luke and the two robots reluctantly follow the giant Wookiee into the entry bay. Chewbacca pushes a button, and the main hatch slams shut. The alarms continue to ring.

Add to this there is a John Mollo costume sketch for Cantina "space pirates" (first featured in the Art of SW, 1979 and at the recent Star Wars Identities exhibit) which annotates one of the (human!) space pirates as "Jabba the Hutt":

So if I ever hear again George Lucas claiming that he wanted Jabba the Hutt to be an alien from the beginning, I'd immediately call this ban-****. All the evidence and early screenplays clearly reveal that he was a human character, but some time after the film had been finished he just changed his mind.
Click to expand...

Is it me, or does it seem like the final Jabba design retained a similar nose to his early humanoid designs? Also looks like they kept the left eye bag too.

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CT When did Jabba REALLY become a slug?

Slicer87 Jedi Master