He was not meant to be this in the original story, why did Lucas change it?
shareWell he had to be something so why not a big fat worm. Lucas could do whatever he wanted, he was the c-r-e-a-t-o-r after all.
shareHe was not meant to be this in the original story
There is a deleted scene of Jabba dressed like... well... like a short Scottish guy in a fur vest. You can find an image of what Jabba was originally supposed to look like on bing.com or google.com.
shareThe official story from Lucasfilm is that the actor was just a placeholder and they would edit something else in. However, this official story is in dispute.
Why would the actor be in costume if he was going to be replaced? Why would Han walk behind him during the scene if he was supposed to be a big slug?
I recall hearing somewhere (take a grain of salt - I don't remember where) that he was going to be more of a fuzzy thing, like Chewy, and the slug design wasn't until later.
As to why he'd be in costume and why Han would move behind him, I think it's just moviemaking. First, if you find yourself in a bind and out of budget, but you need the scene, better to have the scene looking complete - including costumes and blocking. That way you can always just put that version in, if nothing else. They probably blocked it with Ford walking behind him because they felt it "worked" for Han. He's kinda slinking around, prowling, being generally a sneaky, smarmy smuggler-type.
Yeah there was no alien design finalized for Jabba at the time of the first movie. The novelization was vague, describing him as "a great mobile tub of muscle and suet topped by a shaggy scarred skull."
There is a concept drawing that shows Jabba in the first Star Wars outside the Falcon potentially replaced by a design that looks kind of like the slug Jabba but with legs. But it's likely that this was done after the fact, between ESB and ROTJ, to show how it might be done. There's more about all this here from The Secret History of Star Wars: http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/jabba.html
Good information. Thanks.
shareOf COURSE the actor was a placeholder, Han wouldn't be intimidated by a GLASWEGIAN!!
Slugs, like the Hutts eventually turned out to be, are infamous for EATING their prey, and I'm sure that Han and others who dissed Jabba would be consumed by him. That little frog creature in ROTJ certainly was.
He was from Belfast, not Glasgow.
shareRight. That's why I asked. I knew that actor was just a stand-in so they could block the scene. The intention was to finish it later, though later ended up be many, many years later, rather than in time for the original release.
shareThis is exactly why that stupid scene with the Scotsman should've been EXCISED from the start!
After all, Jabba in this so-called scene is simply repeating what Greedo said moments before. What's the fucking POINT of it??
Precisely why it was cut, yeah. It's redundant. They figured it out in 1977, and then forgot why they made the decision by 1997.
Well, "They". George.
This is why I'm generally against the special editions (and other updates) these days. At first, I thought, "Ah, it's cool. Whatever. Extra scenes of robots in Mos Eisley," but the problem is that all these little tweaks and deleted scenes rob the film of its tight pacing and meticulous editing. It's no good. So I don't mind bigger Death Star explosions (doesn't change the running time or affect the storytelling or the world), but all these other edits are either stupid (like the Jabba scene) and/or bog the whole film down; death by a thousand cuts (or, in this case, reversing the cuts)
Irish
shareIrish
shareThanks. It had been a WHILE since I'd seen the original actor in the scene so I forgot the nationality.
shaređź‘Ť No worries. I've just never forgotten that particularly grating accent he had, so remembered he was definitely Northern Irish...
Actually, although I've never really believed the Lucas line that he "always" intended to replace him with special effects, I guess the fact that he was so bad was the reason he was cut and allowed him to make the retcon and give us the now classic Jabba.
Yeah, it's a weird assertion. "I always intended to replace this guy with SFX with tech that won't exist for literal decades. But that's what I was going to do."
Maybe he had in mind some super-imposed Ray Harryhausen-type stop motion creature? Maybe the scene was shot in such a way (Han switching sides, etc.) that it couldn't be done because Lucas didn't realize how he'd have to shoot it? Nobody told him?
It's not completely impossible, but I suspect that he's remembering it wrong or leaving out important details.
When they finally put Jabba on screen, I think they just took the opportunity to have a much more interesting alien than a guy in a furry vest.
Yeah there was no alien design finalized for Jabba at the time of the first movie. The novelization was vague, describing him as "a great mobile tub of muscle and suet topped by a shaggy scarred skull."
There is a concept drawing that shows Jabba in the first Star Wars outside the Falcon potentially replaced by a design that looks kind of like the slug Jabba but with legs. But it's likely that this was done after the fact, between ESB and ROTJ, to show how it might be done. There's more about all this here from The Secret History of Star Wars: http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/jabba.html
I think Lucas had a team of people just cooking up aliens and he saw a sketch of the big slug and said, "hey, it'd be neat if that was Jabba".
share$$$
shareI thought about this too... money sales from SW action figures were probably pretty good for Jabba the Hutt.
So sure, money might have played a role but still.... why a big giant worm? lol...
He was probably drinking tequila when he thought it up.
sharePersonally, I wouldn't drink or eat anything that has a worm in it. But that's me... your post made me laugh though.
You never know what kind of things people will come up with after drinking alcohol, especially alcohol that has a worm in it.
I seem to recall from the interviews and BTS footage that George originally had a human play that part (and I saw some of the deleted footage that was later remastered), but I think he wanted more aliens in his story. I think he was using the worm-shape as a symbol of just how vile and disgusting crime lords can be, particularly the powerful, decadent ones. They had an interesting time building the puppet and operating it. I remember George saying he wanted Jabba to be "like a sultan." I pity poor Carrie Fischer, having to sit on that gross thing wearing a metal bikini. I know it was just a puppet, but I've been around latex and it can stink after a while.
Incidentally, fans of the franchise had fun writing about Hutt biology and culture in the EU and the Wookiepedia, hehe.
A few years ago I was playing an online MMO called "Star Wars the Old Republic," and if you play a non-Sith character on the Imperial side, you get to deal with Hutts much more often than if you played "the good guys." Their planet is a disgusting craphole. It's so polluted and gross an environmentalist would have a seizure at the mere sight of it.
Amerigirl, that makes sense. Interesting post. Thanks for the the info.
And yeah, Carrie probably hated those scenes but when I was a young lad, I loved it. haha.. even today, it has so much nostalgia and sex appeal to it.
If you want to see another movie that features Carrie Fisher in her underwear, check out The Man with One Red Shoe. She tries having sex with Tom Hanks but he won't accept it. The other lesser known actors steal scene away too. Can't list them all but a lot of the CIA agents in that movie are pretty funny. It would take too long though to go into what it's about. But it is pretty funny. It's also got James Belushi in it for a bit.
shareWell, I mean, it's one thing to feel horror over what Princess Leia was having to deal with. She was probably humiliated at being caught and dressed like a slave girl, she probably got cold in that outfit, and she probably was not a fan of Hutts, and it's possible she had to take a dozen showers after leaving Tattooine. See, Hutts (according to what the Wookiepedia says about their biology) they secrete a slime that stinks, and the smell can last for a while.
It's another to think of what the actress had to deal with.
My brother read an awesome trilogy of books about Han Solo's background (which the movies completely ignored) and there was a scene that took place during Han's early dealings with Jabba. At one point, the two of them needed to talk business, but there was no furniture in the room for Han to sit down on, so the Hutt offered his tail. Afterwards, Han had to burn the pants he'd worn, because they stank so bad from the Hutt slime.
Yeah, it's interesting thinking of how uncomfortable Carrie was while filming those scenes, because she doesn't strike me as the type who likes to show it all off, and she probably got cold on the set in that outfit. But it sure boosted her appeal to the male fans ;)
Another good post, Amerigirl.
I didn't know there were Solo books. i might have to read one.
Oh yes! You should read them! They're superior to that lame "Solo" film.
shareFirst there were the Han Solo books written by Brian Daley and released in 1979 and 1980: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Han_Solo_Adventures
And then a different trilogy by A.C. Crispin published in the 90s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Han_Solo_Trilogy
George "borrowed" a lot of stuff from Dune. In the novel "God Emperor of Dune" Duke Leto Atredies II becomes a giant worm-like thing that is described, and drawn (in 1981) as basically Jabba the Hutt. So, initially Jabba was suppose to be a more human- like character. However, once "God Emperor" came out George changed the design. When asked about the similarity Frank Herbert (writer of the Dune novels) said that he did meet up with many other Sci-Fi writers of the time, and they discussed Lucas's Star Wars. They all ultimately decided not to sue George for his "borrowed" ideas because they felt that they had borrowed a lot from other people too. To be honest George "borrowed" so much from Dune that I am amazed that Frank Herbert didn't sue him. Even the prequels "borrowed" heavily from dune. There are enough original ideas in Star Wars that it isn't a blatant knock off, but there are a lot of parallels too.
Anyway,here's the Wikipedia link to God Emperor of Dune. You'll see the worm-like Duke Leto II in the picture as soon as you open either page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Emperor_of_Dune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leto_II_Atreides
Sounds plausible that some of it was borrowed from other sci-fi films/books. When I saw the film Dune (1984) I thought there were aspects of Dune that were quite similar to SW, I haven't seen the new Dune film yet and I haven't read the book(s). So, I'm not sure what else was "borrowed". But from what I've read and seen about the making of SW, Lucas, also borrowed the idea of 'Jedi' from feudal Japan and their samurai era, and the stormtroopers name and Empire uniforms are borrowed ideas from the WWII nazi era.
But I am not sure where he got the name "Jedi" from. Anyone have a clue?
The original Dune book came out in 1965. That's way before Star wars was even a thought. As for where the jedi name came from- I don't know.
Here's a list of things Star wars took from Dune. I use to know of a very in depth article that went into everything that was "borrowed" but I can't find it at the moment.
https://nerdist.com/article/everything-star-wars-borrowed-from-dune/
Here's Frank, and his son Brian's opinions
https://historyofyesterday.com/when-frank-herbert-saw-star-wars-85156b40b243
The explanation I've read is that the word "Jedi" could have come from the term "Jidai-geki" which means "period drama" in Japanese, and often refers to historical films dealing with Samurai times. George Lucas has talked about the jidaigeki films, but I don't think that he has specifically said that the term was the source of the word "Jedi." Fandom has made that assumption.
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Because Leia was more sexualized in the sequel, they needed a creature as equally hot as she to play against.
"Once you go worm, that's what you'll yearn" ~ Neeble
I hate to think that in this day and age women like Jennifer Lawrence are still attracted to Hutts. Or maybe it was just for a movie role... lol.
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