Star Wars Conceptual Artist Ralph McQuarrie Dies at 82 65
First time accepted submitter puddingebola writes "Ralph McQuarrie, the conceptual designer that created the look of characters such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca and R2-D2, and helped design sets and scenes for George Lucas has passed away at 82. From the article: 'The success of his Star Wars paintings launched a late feature film career for McQuarrie that included helping design such classics as Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial, Back to the Future, Cocoon, Total Recall, and the original TV series Battlestar Galactica.'"
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Woosh! But hey at least you got some anti-Apple digging in, thats worth some Slashdot geek points isn't it. If you wish hard enough, one day you may even be able to talk to girls!
AC what you did there.
Here's to you! (Score:4, Insightful)
I dedicate this bowl of weed to the great designs you drew and kept me entertained for so many years!
Here's to you!
puff puff (Score:2)
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And my axe!
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Enjoy your lung cancer,
Huh? Quite the contrary?
memory loss
Huh? Not really.
incessant ennui.
Huh? From weed? You see, you don't KNOW anything about "drugs". BTW do you drink alcohol ("hard" drug)?
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So what should he have said?
This beers for you? Props for my homies while spilling out malt liquor? Dedicated his next toxic cigarette?
You can be physically addicted to both alcohol and cigarettes. No so with marijauna.
Of course... there is also the fact that alcohol and cigarettes kill vastly more people each year and are a tremendous burden on the economy with health care costs.... but you keep right at it with the baseless denigration of the poster simply because of his preference on how he relaxes an
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And a stoner who models their life after "Cheech & Chong" is mature? I'm sorry, but if you need mind altering substances to bring value to your life, then you must have a pretty horrid life.
I don't believe it is proper to model one's life after any stereotype or Hollywood image. I'd rather be an individual and so would anyone else who truly understands what this means. That this model in particular bothers you is irrelevant to me. To me, they are all equally abhorrent and phony when viewed as anything more than entertainment.
The hinge of your statement is "need". Mind altering substances can also be appreciated. I would say that if you need to use a Web site to bring value to your life
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blame others for not living as you do is a character flaw and an area in which you are emotionally immature
Yet here you are doing the same thing.
If you wish to see it that way, then you shall. There are none so blind as those who will not see...
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Look, I love you for all the things you say. But I smell troll. So it's better if you just leave it alone, too.
It's extremely difficult to convince people who are so sure of themselves, even if that what they're so sure about doesn't hold water.
I appreciate what you're saying. If that AC were the only one who could have seen what I wrote, I wouldn't have bothered. It would unfortunately be little more than pearls before swine, though I hold out the hope that when he decides he's better than swine he'll remember that someone spoke to him as an equal and appreciate the grace he was shown.
Troll or no, my hope is that an explanation coming from a spiritual place of what is and isn't a wholesome way to relate to anyone or anything would have had v
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The physical addiction of nicotine is actually not the reason why smokers have such a difficult time quitting, it's the mental addiction.
BULLSHIT.
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You stupid fuck. Despite being a "drug," weed is FARRRR less immediately damaging to him and those around him than alcohol will ever be.
If he smokes a bit much, he'll be happy and possibly very hungry. If he were to drink a bit much, he could get into a fight and/or drive home drunk and potentially kill someone.
Guess which is worse? Oh, I forgot, you drink so it's okay for everyone else to do so.
Goddamn. I don't do either, yet I STILL see the fallacy in this whole anti-weed b.s.
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Angry AC is angry and probably a stoner and is overlooking the obvious. If you get stoned, you can drive home and potentially kill someone. Dunno about the US, but in New Zealand you can now be arrested for driving while under the influence of most drugs.
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Why God why!? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, **everyone** get's a +1 Insightful (Score:3)
From the article linked to above:
"Why would I make any more," Lucas stated about continuing with his popular sci-fi universe, "when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?"
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Dwayne Johnson = Han Solo? (Score:1)
I'd bet anything is working on recasting and re-filming the Original trilogy all together. Staring The Rock!
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And he'll chemically process the masters so he can film it again over any remaining frames of the original.
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destroying my childhood
"Destroying your childhood?" WFT? Look, I was ten years old when "Star Wars" came out. I saw it every Saturday matinee in the theatre for 13 weeks. I bought all the comics and had the toys. As far I was concerned it was the greatest thing ever. Then, later on, Lucas mucked with it. Did it 'destroy my childhood?' Not even close. My childhood is attached to watching all those showings with my buddies, maybe with a bucket of popcorn - Lucas can't ever destroy that.
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Hell no! He's still gotta make the originally-promised episodes 7 thru 9.
And he needs to hurry it up, he's getting old.
I've wanted to see Episodes 7-9 far more than I ever wanted to see eps 1-3. What happens NEXT, not what happened before. (Tho I did want to see the story of the Clone Wars, but he severely botched that compared to my mental vision. Never thought it would be as lame as just hundreds of clones of Jango Fett. I imagined it more as where every warrior had a few clones, and they did the actual f
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I am OK with this as long as Lucas doesn't write ANY of it. If they could somehow merge the Zahn Trilogy [wikia.com] and Dark Horse's first Expanded Universe comic Dark Empire [wikia.com] into a credible 9-hour long 3 feature film set, I would be a very happy man.
But it's not going to happen.
Go easy 'bro... (Score:4)
Ralph conceived first! (Score:3)
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Children are tasty, with the right seasoning...
But in all seriousness, McQuarrie was a great conceptual artist and worked on such a myriad of great things, it's a big hole to fill. But I suspect in the age of CGI and Michael Bay "Writing the script as he goes along".... we won't see McQuarrie's like again. The golden age of Hollywood didn't die with the Studio System. It died when Michael Bay was allowed behind the camera. Talk all you want about Lucas' asinine dialogue and plot holes, but Michael Bay mak
Link to concept art images (Score:5, Interesting)
Article on Tor.com [tor.com] with some images from some of his other concept art. I always get a kick out of seeing hand-painted 70s-80s concept art. Cognitive dissonance-- "old fashioned" sci-fi imagery.
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You seem confused as to what "cognitive dissonance" is.
RIP (Score:2)
I used to think the day Lucas decided he would direct the prequels as the worst day ever in the Star Wars universe.
I was wrong.
RIP, good sir. Thanks for everything.
A kind man to a young fan (Score:5, Interesting)
When I was in the midst of my elementary school Star Wars fever I was also a collector of autographs. I made a point of tracking down more obscure people tied to the films, including Mr. McQuarrie. I sent him a letter and a drawing or two and was amazed to get a wonderful handwritten response, with his own little sketches in the margins and offering tips on my artwork. I then wrote back, with more drawings, and got a second response with a similar, personal tone. He seemed genuinely surprised that there was interest in his work. I've never forgotten those kind responses and still have the letters.
I never met him or knew much more about his life (I believe he was a WWII vet), but those responses make me believe he was a kind and thoughtful guy. Thanks, Mr. McQuarrie, for taking the time to inspire a young kid in the midwest.
Shoulda encased hin in carbonite ... (Score:2)
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A hand I would love to have shaken... (Score:5, Insightful)
I do visual work for a living. We have a whole library of art we look at for inspiration and Mr. McQuarrie's right at the top of the list. His work not only affected my visual development as a youngin, I mean who at my age didn't see Star Wars, but for the rest of my life his paintings will be studied and, even if indirectly, they'll continue to serve to entertain the world.
I'm exhausted right now. I really wish I had the ability to speak more eloquently about this man. I'm just at a loss for words. I hear this man's name at least once a week and it seems like I'd just have a lot more to say. But I'm tired. I'm just going to leave it at this: I really wish I could have shaken his hand, both for personal and for professional reasons.
Farewell, Mr. McQuarrie. You were fantastic.
A childhood icon (Score:2)
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Agreed. I had his "Art of Empire Strikes Back" portfolio pics up on my wall when I was a kid :)