Saturday, April 27, 2024

The original Darth Maul design gave George Lucas nightmares

darth maul original design

It can be single-bladed or double-bladed, it can rotate around ominously, and it even has handguards. Although The Inquisitor doesn’t duel in every episode, his incredibly original lightsaber is a sight to behold when he does wade into the fight. Arguably, this is one of the most innovative reimaginings of the lightsaber, and it served to make Ventress one of the most unpredictable dueling partners in the Star Wars universe. Darth Sidious must have known that shit was going to go down in Revenge of the Sith – he came prepared with two mini lightsabers. With handles almost as tiny as Yoda’s, both came in handy as the action escalated in the final film of the Prequel Trilogy. Unlike the Original Trilogy, the Prequels waste no time before whipping out their lightsabers.

darth maul original design

Star Wars: Darth Maul Movie Art Poster Print

Specifically, the curved-hilt lightsaber was introduced in Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon. Qui-Gon’s lightsaber is predominantly black, with silver touches here and there. It has the look of a lightsaber created industrially, as if it might’ve come from a factory. This sense of mystery was heightened with Return of the Jedi, when Luke showed up clad in black robes wielding an all-new lightsaber with a then-unique blade color – green.

Glow in the Dark Framed Canvas Art - Star Wars Darth Vader Luke Skywalker Yoda Darth Maul Lightsaber - Ready to Hang

It was prophetic, however, as Maul had arrived at the rebel base on Atollon. He came to recruit the Padawan for another ritual, one that would finally reveal the answers they seek. Begrudgingly, the boy and his friends went with Maul to Dathomir, where Nightsister magick gifted them the knowledge that Obi-Wan Kenobi was alive, and he was on Tatooine.

Darth Maul Original Star Wars mixed media painting

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Even before Lucas had started the script, his producing partner Rick McCallum was deep in preproduction. He brought in ILM’s art director Doug Chiang, who became the design director for the film. By the looks of it, it must have been made of similar component parts in real life as well as in the film. I’m no expert, but that looks like the balance pipe from a Derwent jet engine parading around as a lightsaber emitter to me. In the Expanded Universe (no longer canon, but still the best answer we have), it’s explained that Obi-Wan left behind a manual on how to build a lightsaber. That nicely fills a narrative hole and explains why Luke’s new lightsaber looks so much like the one Obi-Wan was carrying when he died.

A ‘stupid’ Han Solo idea

darth maul original design

Maul (he’s technically not “Darth” by this point, having been replaced as Sidious’ apprentice by Count Dooku and later Darth Vader) swears vengeance on both Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former master, Darth Sidious. He has a rematch with Obi-Wan during the Clone Wars era, and he even confronts Darth Sidious, though he is bested and loses both his lightsaber and the Mandalorian Darksaber that he’d acquired while consolidating power. Shockingly, The Clone Wars reveals that Darth Maul survived his duel with Obi-Wan, saved by Savage Opress — his brother. Savage even recovered Darth Maul’s lightsaber (half of it) and gives it back to him.

Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from A New Hope has a notably different design to the two Skywalker ones, despite being built by the same creative team. As you might imagine, there’s a bit more at play behind the scenes with this one than cupboard bits, a camera flash, and a calculator. Quickly, Maul deduced that Obi-Wan would not be hiding on this planet for no reason; no, he was protecting something -- or someone.

Iain McCaig talks designing Star Wars' Darth Maul - Gamesradar

Iain McCaig talks designing Star Wars' Darth Maul.

Posted: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Killing Darth Maul: George Lucas' Biggest Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Mistake?

Lucas says he originally would have explained more about them in the prequels, but decided not to after the poor reception over the midi-chlorians lore. Simply put, Whills are “a microscopic single-celled life-form” that have a symbiotic relationship with the midi-chlorians and who feed on the Force. They gave the command to the midi-chlorians to make Anakin, with Lucas stating he was touched by God, who in this case “happened to be one-celled animals”. When George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, any hopes of seeing how he might have finished the saga went out of the airlock.

We’ve since heard snippets of what he apparently would have done, but nothing substantial. Maul displays Grievous and Dooku to Sidious so that the Sith Lord can see their failure. For someone who opposed Sidious for years on The Clone Wars, Maul is very quick to show off to him – which makes for a bitter, twisted moment in Maul and Sidious’ long-standing Master-apprentice relationship. What do you think of Komari's look being inspired by Maul's original look? Knoles stated that he wanted Komari's look to reflect the pain that she has been through after she was rejected by Count Dooku who initially trained her.

Framed Star Wars Darth Vader Luke Skywalker Yoda Darth Maul Lightsaber Wall Canvas Art - Ready to Hang

Its reveal in the film is glorious, as is its usage in battle – it’s first seen as Maul flips over Qui-Gon in a brief duel in the Tatooine desert, and later used to finish him off on Naboo as Obi-Wan watches on powerless. John Williams’ majestic “Duel of the Fates” score helps add to Maul and his weapon’s cool-levels, too. All these ingenious ideas combined to create the original lightsaber, and the reused and recycled nature of the design has always felt incredibly appropriate for the depression-era galaxy of A New Hope. The lightsaber’s incredible sound design was developed by Ben Burtt, who has since gone on to work on Indiana Jones, E.T., and WALL-E (among many other great films).

His other Star Wars brainchildren include R2-D2’s “voice” and the “peow! The visual effects used for lightsaber blades were overseen by Korean animator Nelson Shin, who had previously worked on the 1970s Pink Panther movies. He came in after Lucas was unhappy with the original effect (they had intended to use a spinning dowel on the blade during shooting, which would reflect light). Instead, Nelson Shin used rotoscoping, a time-consuming animation technique that involves tracing over footage frame by frame.

Following the rite, Maul absconded to his ship, muttering "He lives!" in delirious excitement. But Maul was resilient, and he survived the war to build an empire of his own as the true leader of Crimson Dawn. After his death, Dryden’s first lieutenant Qi’ra assumed control over the territories, working closely with Maul to continue their rule. Yep, this is definitely closer to the final design that ended up in the film. McCaig also admitted that he had originally drawn feathers on Darth Maul but it was mistaken for horns.

Actor Ray Park put on a small, silver earring before sitting down to do the Darth Maul makeup, and only noticed it later. A canonical connection between the Dathomiri witches and the Sith would only be established later on in The Clone Wars, and now continues into the new canon, but the connection was always there in the art. This was confirmed by Bounty Hunter creative director Jon Knoles when he spoke to Screenrant.

Few things have excited Star Wars fans as much as the reveal of Darth Maul’s double-bladed lightsaber — the first of its kind on screen. The hype for Episode I – The Phantom Menace was off the charts, and the lightsaber Darth Maul used contributed immensely to that, as well as the striking image of his horned head and tattooed face. While the character had precious little screen time in the film, he left a lasting impression — and his story has only become more compelling across The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and other stories in Star Wars. For Darth Maul, lightsaber duels only served to satiate his bloodlust and sharpen the blade of hatred that grew within — hate so strong it needed two blades. When the late, great Christopher Lee became the new filmic villain instead, the curved lightsaber idea remained. His weapon was designed to resemble a rapier handle (including that pointy “guard” bit).

The idea of a “crossguard lightsaber” is another that has now jumped from the Expanded Universe into the world of the films. Hollywood legend has it that Samuel L. Jackson picked the color himself, offering to play the role quid pro quo if he could have a truly unique lightsaber to make his character stand out. Sadly, Windu’s arm was chopped off and his lightsaber was never seen again (in the films). It wasn’t just bad guys getting cool new lightsabers in Attack of the Clones. Diminutive Jedi master Yoda also debuted his patented “all the backflips” fighting style complete with a small-handled lightsaber to fit his tiny green mitts. Following in the footsteps of Darth Maul in more ways than one, Count Dooku became the immediate threat for Obi-Wan and Anakin in Attack of the Clones.

Needless to say, this is one tragic character whose look truly shows what she has endured. There’s also the spear-like Pike lightsaber (above left) and the crooked-handled Tonfa lightsaber (above right) from The Force Unleashed. We’ve not found space to mention the Protosaber, the Forcesaber, and The First Blade, formerly-canon precursors to the traditional lightsaber. Maybe the tables have turned, and it’s now the bad guys struggling through a depression that necessitates make-do-and-mend weaponry.

“You’re going to destroy the franchise; you’re going to destroy everything! ” Lucas explains that he told people at Lucasfilm he was “making a movie that nobody wants to see”, but would rather do that than telling the same story over and over. Star Wars features many stories of young people growing up and finding their true destinies. Luke Skywalker set the example, but Ezra Bridger and Rey followed suit. Maul, on the other hand, is a perpetual apprentice, never able to move past the manipulative relationship Darth Sidious trapped him in. The partnership between Maul and Ezra in Rebels is as much about Maul finding a direction as it is about him giving orders to Ezra.

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