Jodo Baas Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 When Episode I first came out, I remember reading a TIME interview with Geroge Lucas and he discussed the origins of Darth Maul. He said that he told the concept artists to "...draw the scariest thing he could imagine...," which ended up being scrapped because it was TOO frightening. So, they had to go with design #2. Does anyone know of any books with this original Darth Maul design? I've looked, but can't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deft Aklin Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 I've never heard of this before, which is surprising since I am an avid Dark Side fiend. Inside tid-bit of useless information: Notice that Darth Sidious bears the same intials as Dark Side. Also notice, that my PA, Dark Sovereignty, also bears those same initials. Just some humorous inside info. Let me know if you find anything. I will begin searching myself, being the avid researcher that I am. Okay, so maybe I just have too much time to kill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith 8 Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 well i didnt hear that also.. but i did hear that when the actor was on set in full malup everyone was scared of him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Gaarni Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Well, I have not heard this either, but if you get The Art of Star Wars: Episode I: Phantom Menace book, I'm sure you will find it in there, aswell as a drawing of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodo Baas Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 Wow, I'm surprised that nobody's heard of this before. In the interview, Lucas said that the concept artist (forgot his name...) drew something that represented his worst fear as a child, clowns. Apperantly the original concept art for Darth Maul was so terrifying that Lucas told the artist to draw "...the second scariest thing..." he could think of. But because of that original concept, Darth Maul developed the tattoos on his face we all know so well. They were originally derrived from this clown concept, or so I've heard. I just want to see what he originally was supposed to look like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Hehe, that's funny. I think I remember hearing this somewhere too. I'd like to see those drawings, but they were probably scrapped. Scary things usually are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupes. Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Here are the drawings: #1 is Ian McCaig's worst nightmare called : "the first Sith Witch" #2 is McCaig's second worst nightmare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Woa, that's cool. It's not that scary on paper, but with the right make-up and lighting, I can see how that would be terrifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Funny thing, I never really thought of Darth Maul as a scary person. I mean, compared to Darth Vader, he was pretty lame. He never spoke in a cool voice, he wasn't that imposing, and he never had that 'absolute power aura' that Vader had. Hey, we wasn't evil, just... impatient and black-clad. A person who runs around and wants to whack people isn't evil. A person who blows up a freaking planet just because he can, now that's evil. Point is: Maul was a wuss. What's the big deal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 I love The Empire Strikes Back. Almost every scene Vader has a new commanding officer. EVIL!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodo Baas Posted April 14, 2003 Author Share Posted April 14, 2003 Damn, those are some awsome pics. Thank you for solving this for me, CoupeS. And for the record... in MY book, anway ... Darth Maul may not have been more intimidating than Vader, but he looked cooler. AND he could kick Vader's ass in a straight duel. Yes, you heard me right. Explaination: Darth Maul was trained in the height of the Jedi era, when Jedi weren't "all but extinct" and the technuiqe of using a lightsaber was still a big deal. Vader, on the other hand, came a little later, and was only a Jedi Knight briefly before turning to the Dark Side. Besides, if two Jedi (Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan) could barely defeat Maul, how the hell is a guy who's only half human, half respirator machine going to stop him?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coupes. Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 no prob for the pics... but personnaly i think vader would defeat maul in a duel because maul isn't really stong with the force, is a very good acrobat/saber weilder/martial artist but you can't compete against the force. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackrabbit Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Yeah, Maul is cool, but Vader would probably just Force Choke him. A straight duel though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 I don't care if he could "kick his ass in a straight duel". Being able to jump high and fight fast doesn't make a good cinema antagonist. And I'm comparing them as cinema antagonists, not as "what the fluff says". That is irrelevant. Point is: when I watch the classic movies, I am feeling something for the character that is Darth Vader. He is menacing, competent, imposing, and most of all: a little more complicated a concept than "dark jedi consumed with hatred who can fight a lot". Darth Maul is neither, he is a two dimensional fictional character compared to a three dimensional one. Who ever cared about who Darth Maul was? He was just standing there, staring at people, and then he fought. Sure, a much better coordinated fight than any in the classic movies. But at the same time, it was so much less, since few cared about the outcome as much as say, the Bespin duel. I mean, Darth Maul's character is something any able scripwriter can come up with in ten minutes, his being in the movie has only one motive: to kill Qui-Gon Jin. AND THAT'S IT! No further agenda, no subplots, no emotional exploration. I'm not claiming that Vader as a character would make Stanislavskij sob in selfloathing, but it's way, way better than Darth Maul. At least he was a person, not a cliché. And only persons can be really, really evil. On another note, what effect does Maul have in the movies? We see him standing around in Ep1. Then he follows the gang. He catches on, but fail miserably to knock anyone down. Then he stands around. Then he provides the end fighting scene (or rather, 1/3 of it, just as in RotJ). That's his sole purpose, his character is never evolved, we never learn anything about him, and he's just there to move the plot along. Compare that to Vader and the classic series, and Vader's the reason why there is a plot at all! Well, sort of. He is a very, very important part of all three movies, and he is a motor for the whole plot evolving. He starts the circle, and he ends it. He is one of the fist character we see, and one of the last. And while he is the same character in some ways at the end, he is in other ways completely different from when we first see him, and at the same time, the change is believable. You know how hard it is to make cinama characters evolve in a believable way? He claims loads of kills, both characters (Obi-wan) and extras (all those admirals). How many kicks the bucket with Maul Deliveries? One?! Point is, the Darth Maul character is just an excuse to make the plot work, while the Vader character is a character that creates plots. Sure, you can claim that "Maul is an epitome of the consuming hatred of the Dark Side, only a shell remaining where his humanity once resided. Now, he has only one passion: destruction of the jedi that pursued his religion". But frankly, that doesn't make him less lame. 'This rant was brought to you by Setsuko Rants Inc.; providing quality rants since 1981.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodo Baas Posted April 15, 2003 Author Share Posted April 15, 2003 *blinks, then applauds* That was quite possibly the most intellectual response I've ever heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setsuko Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I go from strenght to strenght today! Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.