The original Jabba the Hutt - Star Wars (1977) Discussion

[–] CoriSCapnSkip (2756) 6 years ago

Human actor who must feel very badly, and speaking English! Watch his lips. I particularly like the "crispa Greedo" line in the replaced dialogue--also the line about speaking to Han himself takes on new meaning when you try to picture that slug squeezing into the cantina!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4nwyY-Q6I

I didn't see the 1997 version and didn't realize there was a 2004 revision. The one which played on TCM last night was definitely the 2004 with the much more realistic-looking slug.

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[–] Stratego (31081) 6 years ago

The 1977 version? Like you said, he was originally human, but ultimately cut from the 1977 theatrical release. Then they put him back in as a slug in the 1997 version.

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7986) 6 years ago

I know. I saw the footage on the VHS tape of the Special Edition trilogy. I think it's better he was a giant slug. It would've been less suspensful if he was a normal human being.

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[–] janelsenor (2048) 6 years ago

When they filmed the scene in 1977, the human actor was a placeholder for a special effect that they couldn't realize, so the scene was cut.

The final shooting script described Jabba as a slug-like creature.

The film is better without the scene.

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[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 6 years ago

If they only intended for him to be a place holder, then why was he in costume?

PS: I do prefer the slug look over the human or the creature they depicted in the comic books.

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[–] FootOfDavros (8704) 6 years ago

Agree with this ^ dude.

Always believed that to be a George Lucas retcon of the truth. The guy had a Han Solo-ish costume on from what I remember. Doesn't seem very likely that the original intention was he was a "placeholder" given that what he was wearing doesn't exactly look like a 1970s motion capture outfit 😂

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[–] janelsenor (2048) 6 years ago

That is odd. But the script does refer to him as a slug-like creature. So who really knows?

In any case, once they knew that scene wasn't going to be included, most of the relevant expository dialogue was moved to the Greedo scene. So adding the Jabba scene back into the movie is just stupid.

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[–] FootOfDavros (8704) 6 years ago

That is interesting. Definitely the shooting script?

It's also messed up cause Han has that "wonderful Human Being" line which looks daft when his finger is pressing into the cgi'd Jabba.

Maybe the original, original intention was a creature but changed to a costumed actor for the shoot and then dropped altogether when Lucas didn't like the look of it. In which case I'd be wrong really to call it a retconning of the truth.

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[–] janelsenor (2048) 6 years ago

My guess it it was a combo: Jabba was originally envisioned as an alien. Lucas considered compromising and making him human but dropped it altogether later.

That's my working theory.

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[–] HedleyLamarr (404) 6 years ago

Around the time ROTJ came out, there was a TV documentary about the making of the original trilogy.
It was narrated by Mark Hamil and included interviews of Lucas and also the actors on the set.
They showed the scene with the Human actor and mentioned that the idea was to have him replaced in post-production but they couldn't figure out how to get it done. They even showed a sketch of how they envisioned it. It didn't look like a slug.

They even mentioned back then that Lucas was never satisfied with how the Cantina scene looked, so it wasn't a surprise when we saw new creatures in 97.

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[–] FootOfDavros (8704) 6 years ago

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

is this the scene with jabba & Han under the falcon?
if so , not a placeholder as they had trouble converting that guy to slug.

Problem was Han walks around his back , where once sluggified , his tail would be

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

In the script he was a giant slug like creature although Lucas envisioned him hairier. The human actor was just being used as a stand-in and Lucas had intended to replace him with stop-motion animation. From Wikipedia's entry on Jabba the Hutt:

The original script to A New Hope describes Jabba as a "fat, slug-like creature with eyes on extended feelers and a huge ugly mouth",[12] but Lucas stated in an interview that the initial character he had in mind was much furrier and resembled a Wookiee. When filming the scene between Han Solo and Jabba in 1976, Lucas employed Northern Irish actor Declan Mulholland to stand-in for Jabba the Hutt, wearing a shaggy brown costume. Lucas planned to replace Mulholland in post-production with a stop-motion creature. The scene was meant to connect Star Wars to Return of the Jedi and explain why Han Solo was imprisoned at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.[35] Nevertheless, Lucas decided to leave the scene out of the final film on account of budget and time constraints and because he felt that it did not enhance the film's plot.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

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