If H. R. Giger Worked On Star Wars

[Darth Mencken]

"Alien" came out a little after "Star Wars" (the 1st movie, LATER subtitled "A New Hope"), taking advantage of the interest in space fiction the latter generated, and introducing many folks to the distinctive aesthetic of H. R. Giger (the crashed alien spacecraft with its distinctive exterior and interior, the fossilized alien pilot who seemed to seemlessly merge with his seat, and of course the title creature in its various life stages).

Not long ago, while watching the opening scenes of the 1st "Star Wars" for the 1st time in awhile (the ISD slowly gliding past overhead, the Stormtroopers shooting their way aboard, and of course the introduction of THE most iconic bad guy ever), somehow it occurred to me how the two movies originally came out so close together. And I wondered - perversely, perhaps - what it would have been like if Lucas had somehow thought to similarly tap Giger for some of the design work. Mainly the Imperials (personnel, spacecraft, equipment and weapons, etc). Giger had already previously done work on an early, aborted attempt to bring Frank Herbert's "Dune" to the big screen (Some of Giger's models did make it into the 1984 version that was made, IIRC), so this doesn't seem entirely implausible that this COULD have happened, if someone had brought-up Giger's name and work in a conversation with Lucas.

How much better would it have conveyed the evil and perversity of the Empire, if the Star Destroyer in the opening shot, had that "ribbed," almost organic look that Giger's models and paintings are known for? Or if the Stormtroopers looked like slightly more humanoid (tailless probably, smaller heads, handling weapons) versions of the creature from alien (They're already - now - presumed to be vat-grown clones, so making them ENTIRELY INHUMAN biological constructs wouldn't be that much of a stretch, IMO)?

Or if the Sith Lord we're first introduced to . . . looked like what would probably result if General Grievous, and the creature from "Alien," got REALLY drunk together one night! Hmm, might mess with Anakin's mind more than ever if he woke-up looking like that after being rebuilt!

[Sidewinder]

It's an interesting idea, but largely pointless. HR Giger's aliens worked for the story of 'Alien', because they were supposed to look... well, alien. Note that he did NOT do the mechanical designs, such as the Nostromo; those were by other artists, such as Moebius.

George Lucas' original intention for the 'Star Wars' villains, on the other hand, were supposed to echo the Nazis- monsters that disturb us all the more, with the fact they are HUMANS like you and I. I doubt the biomechanical look would work for the Stormtroopers and Star Destroyers, though I'd love to see HR Giger's character designs for Darth Vader and his fellow Sith Lords- they're supposed to seem alien and inhuman to us, as Vader demonstrated when he used the Force to strangle the disrespectful officer.

[Darth Mencken]

It's an interesting idea, but largely pointless. HR Giger's aliens worked for the story of 'Alien', because they were supposed to look... well, alien. Note that he did NOT do the mechanical designs, such as the Nostromo; those were by other artists, such as Moebius.

George Lucas' original intention for the 'Star Wars' villains, on the other hand, were supposed to echo the Nazis- monsters that disturb us all the more, with the fact they are HUMANS like you and I. I doubt the biomechanical look would work for the Stormtroopers and Star Destroyers, though I'd love to see HR Giger's character designs for Darth Vader and his fellow Sith Lords- they're supposed to seem alien and inhuman to us, as Vader demonstrated when he used the Force to strangle the disrespectful officer.

True. If the Stormtroopers in particular had looked as inhuman as Giger's Alien (They were clearly Humans, tho they all wore identical face-concealing suits that obliterated any individuality), then it would've seemed more of a "typical" SF flick, with "bug-like" aliens oppressing Humans.

Vader and Palpatine were both Human, technically. It was their MORAL and spiritual inhumanity and alienness that made them so threatening.

Tho it would involve a heinous amount of retconning and/or rebooting (a natural consequence of the prequels coming out around 20 years after the original Trilogy), I'd like to see more "Grievous" ideas incorproated into Darth Vader's design. I heard SOMEWHERE that General Grievous actually served as a testbed for some of the cybernetics that were used in Darth Vader's reconstruction after Mustafar. Grievous was truly superhuman, moreso than Vader (Force powers aside). Tho granted: 1) Vader had more of his original body remaining than Grievous, and 2) Grievous was non-Human to begin with.

[Sidewinder]

"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural." I wouldn't be surprised if the Sith had access to HR Giger-style biomechanics- hell, I think they did in some of the EU works.

[Darth Mencken]

"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural." I wouldn't be surprised if the Sith had access to HR Giger-style biomechanics- hell, I think they did in some of the EU works.

Indeed! That's why I say it would certainly have been interesting if Lucas had tapped Giger for at least some work in the original Trilogy!

I think the EU works you're thinking about are the "Knights of the Old Republic" comics and graphic novels (the original Sith species using Dark Side "alchemy" to create the Massassi and other twisted monsters as cannon fodder), "Dark Empire" (Palpatine's "zoo"), and of course, the Yuuzhan Vong.

Not saying all of these works are well thought-out or of the highest quality. But at least some of the creatures (and even ships in KOTOR) showed what looked to me like a Giger influence!

Coulda been!