1
00:00:01,639 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: I Heart three D Audio. This special three D episode

2
00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,639
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Audible, Conjuring, The Devil Made Me Do It, Ratedar,

3
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: and World of Warcraft. This episode is brought to you

4
00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: in I Heart three D Audio for maximum effect. Headphones

5
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:30,280
Speaker 1: are recommended. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class,

6
00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:39,560
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to

7
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

8
00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,440
Speaker 1: So this is part two of a two parter, and

9
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,720
Speaker 1: in the first part of it we talked about Ralph

10
00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,199
Speaker 1: mcquarie's life as a boy, how he decided that he

11
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: wanted to become a professional artist, and ultimately how he

12
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: connected with George Lucas to start developing the look of

13
00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,600
Speaker 1: the Star Wars franchise. And today we're going to talk

14
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,840
Speaker 1: about how Star Wars became Ralph's most well known area

15
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 1: of work, but also how it led to a lot

16
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,080
Speaker 1: of other iconic visual moments in other films. We left

17
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,920
Speaker 1: off part one with McQuary having had just tremendous output

18
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 1: working on the first Star Wars film in concept illustration,

19
00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 1: matt paintings, and even logo and poster design. And today

20
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 1: we'll pick up just as the film was coming out

21
00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,760
Speaker 1: in May of ninety seven. Once Ralph had wrapped up

22
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,480
Speaker 1: his work on Star Wars, he went to England to

23
00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: work on concepts for a still very much an early

24
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,880
Speaker 1: development Star Trek movie. Mcgory worked for about a month

25
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,320
Speaker 1: and a half with production designer Ken Adam, and according

26
00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,560
Speaker 1: to the artist's account, quote they asked me to go

27
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,280
Speaker 1: over there and come up with anything that comes into

28
00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,760
Speaker 1: my head and maybe we can work it into the script.

29
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,320
Speaker 1: Paramount shelved the plans for the movie and sent Ralph home,

30
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,120
Speaker 1: and then later Paramount restarted the Star Trek film project,

31
00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,280
Speaker 1: but Ralph did not return to that production, and while

32
00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 1: McQuary had been able to see production shots as Star

33
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,279
Speaker 1: Wars was being made to review how they were looking,

34
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: he didn't get to see the finished film in a

35
00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,360
Speaker 1: theater right away. He was still in England when it

36
00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:12,680
Speaker 1: came out, and he was busy, he was working, and

37
00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,760
Speaker 1: he didn't get a chance to see it until he

38
00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,680
Speaker 1: returned to the States. He later described that experience quote,

39
00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,160
Speaker 1: I was in New York when I returned. I came

40
00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,639
Speaker 1: up out of the subway. There was a theater across

41
00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,840
Speaker 1: the street playing Star Wars. I arrived in the middle

42
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,400
Speaker 1: of the movie. This is on a Wednesday or Thursday,

43
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,799
Speaker 1: but the whole theater was full of people, right down

44
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,160
Speaker 1: to the front row, all having a hell of a

45
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,920
Speaker 1: good time, shouting and reacting to the movie like I've

46
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,520
Speaker 1: never seen an audience react before, and I was amazed.

47
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,960
Speaker 1: He also mentioned in several interviews that he didn't really

48
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,040
Speaker 1: enjoy the film in the first few times that he

49
00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,200
Speaker 1: saw it because he was looking at the art and

50
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,160
Speaker 1: trying to see if there were any flaws in his

51
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,840
Speaker 1: Matt paintings. There were some scenes that were almost exact

52
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,560
Speaker 1: replicas of the initial illustrations macquarie had turned in. One

53
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 1: in particular is when Han and Luke are disguised as

54
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,280
Speaker 1: stormtroopers aboard the Death Star and they're taking Chebacca in

55
00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,239
Speaker 1: the ruse of a detainee onto an elevator, and this

56
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,040
Speaker 1: scene looks almost exactly like the painting, including the unique

57
00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,120
Speaker 1: overhead camera angle. And when McQuary got home to Los Angeles,

58
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 1: he saw day after day lines around the block at

59
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,360
Speaker 1: the Grumman's Theater, so he knew the movie, which he

60
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,359
Speaker 1: said that he had actually forgotten about while he was

61
00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,680
Speaker 1: working in England, was a huge hit. He also told

62
00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 1: a story on several different occasions of finding a gum

63
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,680
Speaker 1: wrapper on the sidewalk with a picture of Darth Vader

64
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,680
Speaker 1: on it and that being the moment where he realized

65
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,000
Speaker 1: that Star Wars was a phenomenon. The story is so

66
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,040
Speaker 1: funny to me because you and I have talked about

67
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,520
Speaker 1: just having no recollection of stuff that we've done on

68
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,280
Speaker 1: the show before, So it makes sense that he would

69
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:52,160
Speaker 1: just like it would just not be in his mind

70
00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:53,960
Speaker 1: that he had worked on this thing because he had

71
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,240
Speaker 1: other stuff going on. But for it to be something

72
00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 1: as massive as Star Wars makes it seems so funny.

73
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,120
Speaker 1: And I mean, he did hundreds and hundreds of pieces

74
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,000
Speaker 1: of art. That's kind of why it seems so strange

75
00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 1: to me. It's like, yeah, that was an investment of

76
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,880
Speaker 1: time and mental energy. So he had a reputation at

77
00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 1: this point as just a wonderful collaborator. So soon Ralph

78
00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,560
Speaker 1: found himself with more work in the film industry. Just

79
00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,679
Speaker 1: as George Lucas had seen his work for his friend

80
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,320
Speaker 1: how Barwood, Lucas's friends saw Ralph's work on Star Wars,

81
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,839
Speaker 1: and that led him to design other iconic film moments,

82
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,000
Speaker 1: including the spacecraft in the other big sci fi film

83
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy seven, which was Close Encounters of the

84
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 1: Third kind. The story there, in mcquarie's words, was quote

85
00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,080
Speaker 1: Stephen left instructions for me to work on designs for

86
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,680
Speaker 1: the top half of the spacecraft. He said, let's make

87
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,719
Speaker 1: it look like something like an oil refinery. So I

88
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,200
Speaker 1: made a sketch. I came up with this idea of

89
00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:57,599
Speaker 1: putting a dish shape on top of the hemispherical bottom

90
00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,240
Speaker 1: that I put a small oil refinery on top that

91
00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,800
Speaker 1: with all these lights and tank like shapes. From there,

92
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,600
Speaker 1: I went to a color illustration. Steven saw it and

93
00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,640
Speaker 1: liked it. Apparently they had a model made that looked

94
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,919
Speaker 1: just about exactly like my painting with the arms coming out,

95
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,760
Speaker 1: and they added a lot of red lights which looked good,

96
00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:20,200
Speaker 1: and they filmed it. It's so simple. If you're wondering

97
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,160
Speaker 1: why he only got asked to design the top, they

98
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,039
Speaker 1: had already filmed, uh, sort of that that block like

99
00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,240
Speaker 1: shape that drops down from the bottom. Uh. So they

100
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,160
Speaker 1: really just needed the top to be added to the

101
00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,200
Speaker 1: design of it. And at the same time that this

102
00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:37,479
Speaker 1: was going on, the success of Star Wars had of

103
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,360
Speaker 1: course led to a sequel, and Ralph was just as

104
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,800
Speaker 1: instrumental in developing the look and feel of the new

105
00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,840
Speaker 1: elements that were featured in The Empire Strikes Back, which

106
00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:48,440
Speaker 1: he started on in nineteen seventy seven, not long after

107
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 1: Star Wars came out. Even before pre production on that film,

108
00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,440
Speaker 1: Lucas still had him working on things like greeting card art.

109
00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,520
Speaker 1: He made one for the announcement that lucasfilm was moving

110
00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,000
Speaker 1: office is and it's very famous and quite charming. It

111
00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:04,919
Speaker 1: featured the Droids and several Jawas in a land speeder

112
00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,080
Speaker 1: too Banthas with Tuscan raiders riding them, a Stormtrooper riding

113
00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,279
Speaker 1: a motorcycle with Darth Vader in the sidecar, and Luke

114
00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,599
Speaker 1: and Ben on foot in a massive Jawa sandcrawler, all

115
00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,839
Speaker 1: making their way down the l A Freeway in a

116
00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:21,480
Speaker 1: sort of parade. Ralph's Christmas card art that he produced

117
00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,760
Speaker 1: for years for the official lucasfilm cards, each of which

118
00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,960
Speaker 1: featured Star Wars characters in holiday scenes, is incredibly charming

119
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 1: and it's been reproduced over and over in the last

120
00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 1: four decades. He also worked on the frequently groaned over

121
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,320
Speaker 1: Star Wars Holiday Special, which came out in November night

122
00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,480
Speaker 1: and established the Star Wars Holiday of Life Day. McQuary

123
00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,960
Speaker 1: painted an illustration of a Lookie treehouse and designed some

124
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,359
Speaker 1: of the sets. He never saw the finished production, but

125
00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,359
Speaker 1: the painting of Chewbacca and Milla's house is one that

126
00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,799
Speaker 1: he said was his most finished and that he loved

127
00:06:55,839 --> 00:07:00,279
Speaker 1: working on it. There's a cute notation in one of

128
00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:02,040
Speaker 1: his things where he's I don't remember if it was

129
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,520
Speaker 1: working on that, or the the Ewok village where he's like,

130
00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,360
Speaker 1: do they need roofs? Surely the canopy is the roof

131
00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,640
Speaker 1: like the forest canopy. It's really cute to see his

132
00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: his mental workthrough of the logistics of all of it.

133
00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,480
Speaker 1: The first detailed illustration that Ralph created for the Empire

134
00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,679
Speaker 1: Strikes Back was an ice castle on the planet Hath.

135
00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,720
Speaker 1: This was intended to be similar to the way the

136
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,480
Speaker 1: Massacy Outpost temple on Yavin For that was seen in

137
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:30,600
Speaker 1: A New Hope worked. That is the rebel base in

138
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,520
Speaker 1: the jungle that you see an exterior shot of in

139
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,360
Speaker 1: a New Hope, which was Star Wars initially. That is

140
00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,480
Speaker 1: the rebel base in the jungle that was installed into

141
00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,840
Speaker 1: what looked like ancient ruins, and this ice castle was

142
00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:43,720
Speaker 1: meant to be a similar thing, but for their base

143
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,680
Speaker 1: on hawth And. In this painting, the ice castle is

144
00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,480
Speaker 1: seen almost like an iceberg. You only see a small

145
00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,640
Speaker 1: amount of it visible in the snowy landscape, but there

146
00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,120
Speaker 1: would be much more of it below the surface. In

147
00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,640
Speaker 1: mcquarie's illustration, those castle pieces protruding from the snow dominate

148
00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 1: the image. Two figures which look like Han and Chewy

149
00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,200
Speaker 1: are shown walking through the snow. They're kind of dwarfed

150
00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 1: by the architecture. They look very small. Small gusts of

151
00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:12,760
Speaker 1: snow appeared to drift in the air here and there.

152
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,760
Speaker 1: The whole image is striking and bleak, and it's quite beautiful.

153
00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,880
Speaker 1: But by the time the painting was finished, Lucas has

154
00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,480
Speaker 1: decided against the ice castle, and so that concept was

155
00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,120
Speaker 1: filed away. Some design ideas that mcquarie had started on

156
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,760
Speaker 1: back on the first film were revisited for Empire. One

157
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,880
Speaker 1: of them, and Holly's favorite, was cloud City. Initially, according

158
00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,880
Speaker 1: to mcquarie's recollection, he had worked on a floating city

159
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,000
Speaker 1: for Star Wars that was going to be the location

160
00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,600
Speaker 1: where Princess Leo was imprisoned, but in subsequent drafts of

161
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,080
Speaker 1: the script, that plot point shifted its location to the

162
00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,840
Speaker 1: Death Star, but that abandoned design for a floating city

163
00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,720
Speaker 1: made the perfect spot for hans reunion with his old

164
00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,520
Speaker 1: pal Lando, and according to McQuary quote, George thought the

165
00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,440
Speaker 1: floating city idea should be Art deco, sort of a

166
00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,720
Speaker 1: Flashgore type thing. It was to have a long stem

167
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,440
Speaker 1: down into the clouds holding it up. I didn't know

168
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,040
Speaker 1: if it was connected to anything. It didn't matter, kind

169
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,840
Speaker 1: of anti gravity, just floating there. I started with Flash

170
00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,240
Speaker 1: Gordon type cities on a platter, but it just didn't

171
00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,280
Speaker 1: look convincing to me. It should be more complete or

172
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,079
Speaker 1: more mechanical. So I came up with this idea that

173
00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,840
Speaker 1: looked more like an aircraft carrier in a way. I

174
00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,640
Speaker 1: put some older buildings up on the roof, like temples

175
00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,839
Speaker 1: representative of the spiritual life of these people, and made

176
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,480
Speaker 1: a painting with gray clouds and a couple of Thai

177
00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,839
Speaker 1: fighters flying in the foreground. I like that painting as

178
00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,200
Speaker 1: well as anything I did for Star Wars. It is

179
00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 1: really romantic and atmospheric. Coming up, we'll talk about some

180
00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,800
Speaker 1: of Ralph mcquarie's other contributions to the imagery of the

181
00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:54,360
Speaker 1: Empire strikes back, but first people have a little sponsored break.

182
00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,199
Speaker 1: McQuary also storyboarded segments of Empire, including the scene where

183
00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,080
Speaker 1: Luke is in the his cave on Howth and once

184
00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,560
Speaker 1: again he worked on Matt paintings. Still recall from our

185
00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,199
Speaker 1: first episode he said he just kind of got by

186
00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,400
Speaker 1: as a Matt painter. But looking at these Matt paintings

187
00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,559
Speaker 1: is really mind boggling because some of them look, for

188
00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,560
Speaker 1: all the world like photographs. So for Hawse he created vast,

189
00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:23,840
Speaker 1: desolate snowscapes for exterior shots, and also detailed images that look,

190
00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,480
Speaker 1: even in print today, like they are photos of a

191
00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,800
Speaker 1: rebel hanger set rather than paintings. When the Millennium Falcon

192
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,680
Speaker 1: lands on a cloud city landing pad and the heroes

193
00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,800
Speaker 1: exit the craft in the movie, the background vista of

194
00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,920
Speaker 1: the city in the beautiful glowing light of dusk is

195
00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:44,120
Speaker 1: all hand painted by Ralph McQuary. As we've mentioned, often

196
00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,880
Speaker 1: a design started out for one thing but then got

197
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,400
Speaker 1: used for something else. One example from Empire is his

198
00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,840
Speaker 1: early sketches for the Imperial officers in command of the

199
00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,520
Speaker 1: snow Troopers. There was originally a very different helmet design

200
00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:00,480
Speaker 1: from the ones that we see in the film on

201
00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,400
Speaker 1: the Snowtroopers. But while that helmet design didn't quite fit

202
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,559
Speaker 1: for the Empire's use, it was worked into another place

203
00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,480
Speaker 1: in the film's visuals. It's the beginning of Bubba Fat's helmet,

204
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,920
Speaker 1: which of course is now the helmet of all the Mandalorians.

205
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,720
Speaker 1: The visual effects designer Joe Johnston took that helmet image

206
00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,000
Speaker 1: and worked it into his design for the Bounty Hunter,

207
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,880
Speaker 1: and then that in turn informed some of the Warrior's

208
00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,320
Speaker 1: other art. Yeah, it's one of those many things where

209
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,360
Speaker 1: you're like, everybody knows what a Mandalorian looks like. It's

210
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:35,160
Speaker 1: been particularly prominent in recent years because of of the show,

211
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,200
Speaker 1: and that all started in this little sketchy did for

212
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:42,000
Speaker 1: an Empire. Ralph also worked on a castle design for

213
00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,960
Speaker 1: Darth Vader, something that was not used in the film.

214
00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,840
Speaker 1: Vader's lava plan at Home of Mustafar was something that

215
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,440
Speaker 1: fans had heard about. It had been mentioned in various

216
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:52,840
Speaker 1: places and wanted to see for years, but it actually

217
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,080
Speaker 1: didn't make it to the big screen until two thousand

218
00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,480
Speaker 1: five in Revenge of the Siths. And if you, like

219
00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,840
Speaker 1: many kids, at least when I was in the theater

220
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,959
Speaker 1: were completely freaked out initially by seeing that glimpse of

221
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,280
Speaker 1: Vader's head with no helmet before a machine slips it on.

222
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,600
Speaker 1: You can thank Ralph mcquarie for designing the mechanism that

223
00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 1: put that glossy head covering back in place. Reaching back

224
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,080
Speaker 1: to his technical illustration days, he created multiple sketches of

225
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,400
Speaker 1: how that armature would work during his work on Empire,

226
00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,360
Speaker 1: knowing that he was working on something that was at

227
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,240
Speaker 1: that point and in his word, a phenomenon that did

228
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,360
Speaker 1: shift mcquarie's thinking a little initially, but then it wore off.

229
00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,520
Speaker 1: He said of his mindset quote going into Star Wars,

230
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,760
Speaker 1: I had no idea that my paintings were going to

231
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,520
Speaker 1: be reproduced. With the Empire strikes back. That all changed.

232
00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,000
Speaker 1: At first I got a little carried away with putting

233
00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,319
Speaker 1: more of a finish on the paintings. I soon forgot

234
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,319
Speaker 1: all about that aspect of it and carried on as

235
00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,000
Speaker 1: I normally did. We have talked a lot already about

236
00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:52,560
Speaker 1: how Ralph kind of hit it out of the park

237
00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,160
Speaker 1: right away with most of his sketches, but one of

238
00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,719
Speaker 1: the creatures in Empire was a little trickier for him,

239
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,920
Speaker 1: and that was the Tonton. According to McQuary quote, I

240
00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,880
Speaker 1: did a lot of sketches of the tonton first. George

241
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:05,920
Speaker 1: said it was sort of lizard like, and I didn't

242
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,880
Speaker 1: get lizard together with the snow because I'm kind of literal.

243
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,760
Speaker 1: I know that lizards don't function well in cold weather.

244
00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,839
Speaker 1: They just get lethargic and don't do a thing. So

245
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,280
Speaker 1: his first sketches, though, look very much like giant versions

246
00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,480
Speaker 1: of lizards that you might find in your garden, which

247
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:22,480
Speaker 1: of course is not what a tanton looks like. But

248
00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:25,359
Speaker 1: he kept working at it and refining it, and eventually

249
00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,440
Speaker 1: the right creature emerged. One of the paintings Ralph created

250
00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,480
Speaker 1: related to Bubba Fett is a painting he did for

251
00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:36,840
Speaker 1: a decal offered for Star Wars fan club members. This

252
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: is a gorgeous piece. It's much loved by fans and

253
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,520
Speaker 1: features all of the bounty hunters seen on the bridge

254
00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:48,040
Speaker 1: of Vader's Star Destroyer in the Empire Strikes Back. Those

255
00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,400
Speaker 1: are Zuckas, I, G eight, eight, Bubba fet, Bost and Forelorm.

256
00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:56,120
Speaker 1: They're all standing on a cloud City landing platform with

257
00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:00,120
Speaker 1: a twin pod cloud car flying low behind them, and

258
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,920
Speaker 1: the colors of the background are shades of pariwinkle blue

259
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,880
Speaker 1: and lavender, with brighter tones of gold and orange for

260
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,680
Speaker 1: the buildings. It's so detailed and so beautiful, it's not

261
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,160
Speaker 1: really surprising that has been used on multiple pieces of

262
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:17,400
Speaker 1: merchandise and reprinted many times since that original creation. Yeah,

263
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,600
Speaker 1: a lot of Star Wars fans I know that are

264
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,240
Speaker 1: into mcquarie's work. When you asked them with their favorite pieces,

265
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,720
Speaker 1: many of them will just spit this out without even

266
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:26,760
Speaker 1: thinking twice. They'll go, like, oh, the Bounty Hunters on

267
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,760
Speaker 1: Cloud Titty. Even before work on Empire was complete, there

268
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,400
Speaker 1: was already discussion, of course, to the third film, and

269
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,680
Speaker 1: mcquarie also worked on that project, but at that point

270
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,640
Speaker 1: he was one of multiple artists just churning out concept

271
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,480
Speaker 1: art for it. Some of the notable elements he worked

272
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,400
Speaker 1: on for Return of the Jedi were designs for various

273
00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,560
Speaker 1: characters in Java's palace, including Jaba himself and the adorable

274
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,800
Speaker 1: little murder bears that e walks. The walks went through

275
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,800
Speaker 1: a lot of iterations, with some versions looking more like

276
00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 1: slots and others borrowing characteristics from hedgehogs, and some even

277
00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,720
Speaker 1: being vaguely gnome like, none of McQuary's e Walks made

278
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,720
Speaker 1: the cut, which was pretty frustrating for him. He thought

279
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,280
Speaker 1: one of his scarier versions should have gotten the green light. Yeah,

280
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,480
Speaker 1: he preferred a slightly more frightening you walk to the

281
00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:17,320
Speaker 1: cuteness that they eventually emerged as. Uh. There is though

282
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,440
Speaker 1: a really fun production illustration by McQuary for Return of

283
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,640
Speaker 1: the Jedi that depicts C three p O being carried

284
00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,160
Speaker 1: through the forest by the e walks in their very

285
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,840
Speaker 1: much cute bear form. Uh. There are more than a

286
00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,120
Speaker 1: dozen of the fuzzy creatures marching along a log that

287
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,120
Speaker 1: seems to rise at an angle into the foreground, and

288
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,000
Speaker 1: they're kind of marching towards the viewer. All of the

289
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,640
Speaker 1: creatures look really small compared to the massive trees in

290
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,240
Speaker 1: the image, which were modeled on California redwoods, And as

291
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,560
Speaker 1: your eye travels down the log to the midground, it's

292
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 1: initially very cute and you're like, oh, it's sweet. They're

293
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,000
Speaker 1: carrying C three people aloft, and then you see that

294
00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,680
Speaker 1: this little bear like species is carrying what appears to

295
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 1: be Han Solo, lashed to a pole and ready for

296
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:02,120
Speaker 1: the roasting spit. McQuary also painted several images of jabas

297
00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,720
Speaker 1: sale barge and the smaller skiff out in the tattooing desert,

298
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,480
Speaker 1: and some with two huge sale barges. One of the

299
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,840
Speaker 1: most dynamic of these paintings shows the heroes Luke, Lando

300
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,560
Speaker 1: Han and Chewy in the foreground aboard the skiff as

301
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,240
Speaker 1: the massive sale barge burst into flames behind it. The

302
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,400
Speaker 1: thick smoke hanging in the air, the barge tilting slightly

303
00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,480
Speaker 1: as it falls, and the massive plume of flame elicit

304
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,720
Speaker 1: a very real sense of heat and danger. There is

305
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,440
Speaker 1: also a really interesting instance in the production illustrations for

306
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,000
Speaker 1: this film where you see mcquarie playing a little bit

307
00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:39,560
Speaker 1: and kind of going off script. I love this painting.

308
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,960
Speaker 1: In his original depiction of the Emperor shooting his force

309
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,600
Speaker 1: lightning at Luke in the throne room aboard the Death Star,

310
00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,960
Speaker 1: the Emperor does not quite look like himself. He looks

311
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,800
Speaker 1: instead very much like a bluish version of Count Orlock

312
00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,120
Speaker 1: from the German expressionist horror film nos Ferat. He's got

313
00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,240
Speaker 1: the point of years and he has a hood, but

314
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: it looks kind of like the way Overlock's little cap looks. Uh.

315
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,840
Speaker 1: Ralph didn't get to keep that as the official production image, though,

316
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,160
Speaker 1: although it does still exist, he was asked to change

317
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,600
Speaker 1: it to look more like Palpatine, so he just made

318
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,920
Speaker 1: a totally new painting, although his work is all over

319
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,439
Speaker 1: the finished film. Ralph concluded his time as an I

320
00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,000
Speaker 1: l M employee before Return of the Jedi had its

321
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,560
Speaker 1: theatrical release. He felt like all the other in house

322
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,440
Speaker 1: designers had the Star Wars us that it covered. There

323
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,040
Speaker 1: just wasn't a lot more he could dream up that

324
00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,080
Speaker 1: would really add to things, and he felt as though

325
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,399
Speaker 1: he was being outpaced by younger artists, saying quote, it

326
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,800
Speaker 1: had been frustrating to me in a way to make

327
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,840
Speaker 1: a lot of sketches that didn't quite come up to

328
00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,240
Speaker 1: what they were doing. I felt sort of burned out

329
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,520
Speaker 1: and physically tired. I just didn't feel I was contributing

330
00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:48,439
Speaker 1: as much as I would like to have on the

331
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,080
Speaker 1: concept area. After taking some time off to work on

332
00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,240
Speaker 1: whatever personal art he wanted for himself, George Lucas asked

333
00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,600
Speaker 1: Ralph if he would work once more on one more project,

334
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,480
Speaker 1: and that was the Balantine Books art portfolio for Return

335
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,919
Speaker 1: of the Jedi. McQuary had already done portfolios to the

336
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,719
Speaker 1: first two films, so he agreed because he liked the

337
00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,960
Speaker 1: idea of a complete set, plus he really liked the

338
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,240
Speaker 1: idea of making more production paintings, but without the pressure

339
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,720
Speaker 1: of an actual production involved. It was also around this

340
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 1: time in three that mcquarie married his girlfriend, Joan Benjamin.

341
00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:26,600
Speaker 1: They were married for the rest of Ralph's life. In

342
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,399
Speaker 1: just a moment, we're going to talk about just a

343
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,880
Speaker 1: few of the many other film projects that McQuary worked

344
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,119
Speaker 1: on over the years. At the same time, often he

345
00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 1: was churning out art for the Star Wars films. But

346
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: first we will take a quick break to hear from

347
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:48,560
Speaker 1: our sponsors. Even as the Star Wars films were in production,

348
00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,760
Speaker 1: Ralph was doing double duty, sometimes triple duty, working on

349
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,720
Speaker 1: films for Steven Spielberg as well as other directors. After

350
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,160
Speaker 1: Close Encounters, which we mentioned earlier, Spielberg once again turned

351
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,720
Speaker 1: to McQuary when he started on E T. Ralph designed

352
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,119
Speaker 1: the titular character Spaceship based on the prompt that it

353
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,480
Speaker 1: should look something like Dr SEUs would design. If you've

354
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,320
Speaker 1: watched the film Writers of the Lost Arc, I think

355
00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:17,200
Speaker 1: most folks have. You've seen macquarie's work on screen in

356
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,600
Speaker 1: a somewhat surprising way. He was asked to make a

357
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,080
Speaker 1: special prop for that film, the illustration of the Ark

358
00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,280
Speaker 1: of the Covenant that is shown in a Bible, which

359
00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,640
Speaker 1: shows the arc destroying people with what looks like lightning

360
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,920
Speaker 1: emanating from it. That was created first as an ink

361
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,520
Speaker 1: drawing by the artist. Then he had a reverse printing

362
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,920
Speaker 1: plate created so the art could be printed as an

363
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:44,400
Speaker 1: etching to match what looked like old Bible illustrations. It's

364
00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,680
Speaker 1: a cool little detail. He also worked on Cocoon, which

365
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,800
Speaker 1: came out in five as a conceptual artist, and he

366
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:52,719
Speaker 1: was actually part of a four man team that won

367
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 1: a Visual Effects Oscar for their contributions to that film.

368
00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,680
Speaker 1: The list of projects mcquarie worked on in various capacities

369
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,399
Speaker 1: be on what we've already named is long, so long.

370
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,560
Speaker 1: He made storyboards for sections of Star Trek for The

371
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,200
Speaker 1: Voyage Home, which also came out in He designed alien

372
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,320
Speaker 1: concepts for Total Recall. He also did concepting work for

373
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,480
Speaker 1: the Back to the Future ride at the Universal Studios

374
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,840
Speaker 1: theme park. In the early nineteen nineties, he collaborated on

375
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,000
Speaker 1: a book called The Illustrated Star Wars Universe with writer

376
00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: Kevin J. Anderson. This is wonderful. It's basically kind of

377
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: a fake history book about the world's of Star Wars.

378
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,359
Speaker 1: It's presented as a guide book to the planet, to

379
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 1: the galaxy in that fictional universe. The illustrations of mcquarie

380
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:40,840
Speaker 1: provided for the book are based on ideas that he

381
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 1: had worked on during the film's production, and because he

382
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,000
Speaker 1: had a different level of lead time and a different

383
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,960
Speaker 1: level of involvement since it was all just his illustrations,

384
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:54,040
Speaker 1: they are incredibly rich in detail. He worked with Anderson

385
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 1: again after that on two Star Wars pop up books

386
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: that are absolute gems. One is all about the most

387
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: Icily Cantina and has some of Holly's favorite Star Wars

388
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,240
Speaker 1: imagery of all time, and the other is job As

389
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,760
Speaker 1: Palace and it's also both beautiful and fun. Both are

390
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:13,639
Speaker 1: very heavy on the alien species and incredibly imaginative and

391
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 1: their pop up recreations of the locations from the films.

392
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 1: I love those books so much. I love I love them. Um.

393
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,919
Speaker 1: They're like right at that perfect intersection of like beautiful,

394
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 1: like technically just really really well done and kitchy and

395
00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 1: it's like magic. Uh. When George Lucas started work on

396
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 1: the prequel trilogy, McQuary was actually brought in to potentially

397
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,439
Speaker 1: work on The Phantom Menace, but after he made a

398
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 1: visit to the ile M offices to see what had

399
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,080
Speaker 1: already been done, he told George Lucas that he really

400
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 1: didn't have anything to add that the in house team

401
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,679
Speaker 1: wasn't already doing. He said quote, they were really hitting

402
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: it right where it should be. I told him I

403
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 1: would have to skip it this time. Let them do it.

404
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 1: Mcguary retired in the late nineteen nineties do in part

405
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 1: to physical issues that were impeding his work. He told

406
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,880
Speaker 1: an interviewer, quote, I've got tremor which make it very

407
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: difficult to draw or write, so I can't do any artwork.

408
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,399
Speaker 1: I'm pretty happy not having to get up in the

409
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 1: morning and solve somebody else's problems. It's worked for me, though.

410
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,359
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it very much, especially Star Wars. I would

411
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 1: do it again if I could, but if I don't

412
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,679
Speaker 1: have to do it, I'm not all broken up about it.

413
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: Over the years, Ralph McQuary was honored in a number

414
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,200
Speaker 1: of ways, but one that's kind of unique and marvelous

415
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 1: is having an action figure made of the cameo role

416
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,919
Speaker 1: character he played in the Empire Strikes Back. That was

417
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,720
Speaker 1: rebellion General Farrel McQuary. H If you blink, you will

418
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: miss him. In the film, he's carrying a clipboard through

419
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,399
Speaker 1: the rebel basse at hawf And while some of the

420
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: other artists on the film who are also in that

421
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: scene got to have lines in the movie, Ralph laughed

422
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 1: as he told an interviewer years later, quote, they didn't

423
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,640
Speaker 1: trust me with lines. They knew I would flow up.

424
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,159
Speaker 1: The General Farrel McQuary action figure was released in two

425
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: thousand seven. McQuary died on March three at his Berkeley,

426
00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 1: California home, from complications of Parkinson's disease. After his passing,

427
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,840
Speaker 1: many of the people who worked with him shared stories

428
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: of their experiences with Ralph, and many of the artists

429
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: who work on Star Wars today cited him as an

430
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 1: inspiration to pursue art as a career. George Lucas released

431
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,439
Speaker 1: a statement that said, quote, Ralph mcquarie was the first

432
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 1: person I hired to help me envision Star Wars. When

433
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: words could not convey my ideas, I could always point

434
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,159
Speaker 1: to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, do it

435
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 1: like this. One of the really really thrilling aspects of

436
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: McQuary's work for Star Wars fans is that a lot

437
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 1: of those designs he did way back in the mid

438
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,680
Speaker 1: seventies are still being mined for design content today. For example,

439
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,160
Speaker 1: he painted a cantina scene for the first Star Wars

440
00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:45,919
Speaker 1: film that doesn't entirely look like the cantina as it

441
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,680
Speaker 1: appears on film, but if you look at it today.

442
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 1: And this was something that struck me while I was

443
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: doing research, because I hadn't looked at this picture in

444
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: a while. Anyone who has visited Galaxy's Edge, which is

445
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,800
Speaker 1: the Star Wars themed land in Disneyland or Disney's Hollywood

446
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: Studios my find it very familiar. It feels a lot

447
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: like the counter service restaurant at the end of the

448
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 1: marketplace Toronto Roasters, particularly the furniture. If you watched the

449
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: second season of The Mandalorian, those ice spiders were very

450
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: similar to sketches that mcquarie did for Empire back in

451
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: ninety nine. Those were labeled a quote bog planet tree creature,

452
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 1: and then that was refined for a publication in The

453
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: Illustrated Star Wars Universe, which was published in the nineteen nineties. Yeah, sure,

454
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: do you love those creatures. There's also a version that

455
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,159
Speaker 1: looks kind of like them has shown up in the

456
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,399
Speaker 1: animated series um. There is also a very pastoral landscape

457
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,199
Speaker 1: that McQuary painted for Return of the Jedi is what

458
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: was going to be a grass planet called uh Sisamon.

459
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if that's the right pronunciation since it

460
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: never came to existence on screen. That was intended to

461
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 1: be the home planet for the Rebels, and it has,

462
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,439
Speaker 1: you know, this sort of bee hive shape out growth

463
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: in the middle of the landscape that is both distinctive

464
00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: sort of oddly soothing because it has this rounded coon

465
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: lake shape to it. And this imagery was recycled later

466
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: it appeared once again in the illustrated Star Wars Universe.

467
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: This time it was notated as representing the planes of

468
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 1: Princess Leah's home planet of Alderon. But it wasn't until

469
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: the animated series Star Wars Rebels, which debuted in that

470
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: this imagery was seen on screen, and at that point

471
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: it had once again been labeled as something else, this

472
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: time the planet Less All and while that pointy eared

473
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 1: hailer version of Chewbacca that mcquarie designed in the seventies,

474
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: wasn't how the character ended up looking. The design was

475
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: used once again on the animated series Star Wars. Rebels

476
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: was one of the main characters named zeb Aurelios. It's

477
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: no longer a wookie. Zeb is a species called a Lassat.

478
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 1: There are so many similar cases of modern storytelling using

479
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,320
Speaker 1: designs that Ralph made. He really is the father of

480
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: the look of Star Wars. Yeah, it is really fabulous.

481
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,920
Speaker 1: If you watch any of of the you know, more

482
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,920
Speaker 1: recent Star Wars is and you haven't gone back to

483
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 1: look at any of Ralph's production work, it's worth just

484
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: paging through a book because you'll be a little blown

485
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 1: away by how some of those designs are four years old.

486
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 1: I came across a quote in a biography for McQuary.

487
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: It was on the Turner Classic Movies website, and it

488
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: seemed so perfect in summing up his incredible life's work.

489
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: It opened with generic titles such as production illustrator or

490
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: conceptual artist were frustratingly inadequate when discussing the invaluable contributions

491
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 1: to film made by Ralph McQuary. But he really didn't

492
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: see himself as needing any kind of grandiose description. When

493
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 1: asked about his role as an artist, he said, quote,

494
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: my paintings are sort of art. A real artist wakes

495
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: up and does what he wants, instead of what the

496
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: client wants, the agent wants, the gallery wants. I consider

497
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: myself a craftsman, a draftsman. And finally, I wanted to

498
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,360
Speaker 1: end all of this on a quote from Ralph McQuary

499
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,080
Speaker 1: that is incredibly delightful. It's really good advice for a

500
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,879
Speaker 1: lot of people about not forcing creativity, but it also

501
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: offers some fun insight into kind of his relaxed personality

502
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 1: and how he thought about the creative process. He said quote,

503
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: I used to try squeezing workout, but it's like toothpaste

504
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: and a tube that will only come out so fast.

505
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: There's no point pounding my brain. The best thing I

506
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 1: can do is collect my thoughts as soon as I'm

507
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,320
Speaker 1: told what's needed. Then I lie down and let it

508
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: gill unconsciously. I sort of semi sleep, and somewhere along

509
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 1: the way of going to sleep or coming out of it,

510
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 1: I get exactly what I need. It's just there, rising

511
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 1: like the bubbles in champagne from somewhere inside, so poetic

512
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 1: and sweet, yeah, that makes me think maybe I should

513
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: have a lie down as I figure out what I'm

514
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: gonna work on next for the show. Well, and I

515
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,879
Speaker 1: think probably a lot of us have had that experience

516
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: where when you stop focusing on the thing you're trying

517
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 1: to do, the solution comes to you. Mine are often

518
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: in the shower or as I'm dozing off, So I've

519
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,720
Speaker 1: gotten in the habit of always having pad of paper

520
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: by the side of the bed because sometimes I can't

521
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 1: type on my phone. I'm not quite there, but I

522
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: can scribble, which sometimes is hilarious. I once woke up

523
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: to the words higgy diggy written on a piece of paper.

524
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,120
Speaker 1: I still don't know what that was, but I thought

525
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: it was brilliant one time. Um. But yeah, I find

526
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 1: McQuary's works so incredibly inspirational and and mind boggling and

527
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,919
Speaker 1: how beautiful and detailed it all is. Even his you know,

528
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: allegedly sloppy sketches and his his claims that he got

529
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: by as a Matt artists cracked me up because his

530
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 1: work is so beautiful. Um. For listener mail, I'm doing

531
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: a little shorty. Um. I won't read her whole email,

532
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: but I wanted to give a shout out to our

533
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 1: listener Andrea. I don't know if she pronounces it Andrea

534
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: or Andrea, but she earned her pH d and stuff

535
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: you missed in history class. Uh. She is a school

536
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,760
Speaker 1: janitor and got to listen to it while she was

537
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: scrubbing the gym floor. Thank you for doing a very

538
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 1: very needed job uh and taking care of the educational

539
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,480
Speaker 1: process in ways that people don't always take time to appreciate.

540
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: So need to give her a shout out for completing

541
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: all of that, and also just thank her for for

542
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: what she's doing. As with any she writes at the end,

543
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: as with anyone else who's gone the distance, I feel

544
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: like I know you girls and absolutely love what you've

545
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: accomplished and everything you've shoved in my brain over the

546
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: last year. It's going to be an adjustment having just

547
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: two or four episodes a week. Thanks ladies. Um. Uh.

548
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: We would make more if we had the bandwidth to do,

549
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 1: but we are humans, uh, and thank you. We can't

550
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: tell you how much we appreciate it when people devote

551
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 1: that kind of time to spending time with us. If

552
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, you can do

553
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: so at History Podcast at I heeart radio dot com.

554
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: You can find us everywhere on social media. Is Missed

555
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: in History and you can subscribe to the show on

556
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever it

557
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: is you listen. Stuff you Missed in History Class is

558
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

559
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

560
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: or We're at are you listen to your favorite shows.

561
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 1: Thank you to our sponsors Audible, The Conjuring, The Devil

562
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: Made Me Do It, Rated R, and World of Warcraft.

563
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: This episode was brought to you in I Heart three

564
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: D Audio. To experience more podcasts like this, search for

565
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: I Heart three D Audio in the I Heart Radio

566
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: app i Heart three D Audio