Lost Vader Concept Designs (Likely Un-approvable for 501st)

So through my time researching the Ralph McQuarrie (RMQ) Vader I have come across all sorts of other concepts that were drawn up for Darth Vader in A New Hope. Regardless of whether it was RMQ or some else they are still interesting to look at and think "What if?" It is very likely these will never become Legion Approved due to the significant lack of references and details for some but I wanted to post my research regardless.




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To start with I have some images that I found accompanied by information from "The Secret History of Star Wars"

The Visual Development of Darth Vader
In The Secret History of Star Wars, a crucial focus is the development and transformation that the character of Darth Vader undergoes. This process was described mostly in relation to the story itself, focusing mainly on his characterisation, however at times it was necessary to dwell upon his visual design as a way of drawing parallels to the story function; for instance how his armored space suit was eventually "retconned" to be made into a life-support device. Here, however, I wish to talk in more explicit detail about the visual aspect, and actually show this developmental process where possible. Here we'll examine the early concept art, the creation of the costume and the subtle but significant visual changes that slowly were wrought as the character and story changed.

In the first draft, Darth Vader is fairly inconsequential, and is merely an Imperial General; most of his later traits are exhibited instead by Prince Valorum, a Sith Lord who dresses in black robes and who speaks in terse, no-nonesense phrases. Both of these characters are human and generally unremarkable in the visual sense; no artwork was ever done. In draft two, however, the two characters were combined, and this is where the Darth Vader that we are familiar with first becomes recognizable in prototype form. Ralph McQuarrie had been hired to do sketches and paintings by this point, and one of the very first characters he tackled was Darth Vader, who is a highly memorable part of the opening sequence of the second draft script. In that version, Imperial forces capture and board a ship, much like the opening of the final film, with Vader and the stormtroopers decending onto the craft and engaging in battle. The notable deviation is that Deak Starkiller takes the role of Leia, and he faces Darth Vader in a lightsaber battle before being defeated and taken prisoner.

McQuarrie's earliest sketches depict a man similar to Valorum or General Vader from the first draft, being tall and with a flowing cape, however a distinguishinig feature is that the character wears what looks like a sort of futuristic gas mask over his face. McQuarrie explains that it is a personal respirator, because the character had to cross through space from the Imperial Stardestroyer to the rebel cruiser. "Early in the script there was a description of Vader crossing between two ships in space so I created this mask so he could breathe in space," McQuarrie explains. "George loved it." (i)

Hence we have the earliest depiction of Vader, now with a personal respirator courtesy of McQuarrie.​

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It appears that McQuarrie began such sketches while Lucas was in the midst of writing the second draft, because the character is described in that script as wearing the respirator mask that McQuarrie first sketched here. Following this, McQuarrie made a number of alterations at Lucas' request. The robes became more exaggerated, and the character was requested to have a wide-brimmed samurai helmet, which McQuarrie combined with his respirator to create a fearsome face-mask which completely obscured the character's face.

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McQuarrie thought that Vader would look more menacing if he was robed and armored, and so his next sketches reflected this more futuristic design. Lucas also provided McQuarrie with comic books and 1930s pulp fiction material to help steer the visual design. One of his earliest designs in this new version had Vader linked more directly to the stormtroopers, wearing a prototype stormtrooper helmet.

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With the more angular and science-fiction-based military look of the new armored version of Vader, McQuarrie also made reforms to the mask, extending the face-grill into a longer "snout" and exagerating the eyes.

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And the final quote that is relevant from "The Secret History of Star Wars." This time regarding what Vader looked like beneath the dome

Finally, the world was given a brief glimpse of the man underneath the helmet. "I shot this scene very carefully," director Irvin Kershner says. "When the captain comes in and Vader is sitting in his capsule with his back towards us, all you see are scars on the back of his neck for a second. I didn't want the audience to see anything else. I imagined that beneath the mask Vader was hideous; his mouth was cut away and he had one eye hanging low." (iv) Production art would be produced for Vader's hideous face during the making of Return of the Jedi that reflects this depiction, but as Kershner describes above, it was decided that "less is more" and the character is seen only from behind.

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Ok so that concludes the section in which I have found some what reliable info and pictures for. Now this is where it gets a bit hazy as we head into other less referenced concepts on which I will try and provide some background.



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This is a concept of Vader board Tontine IV





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A set of storyboard panels that I know nothing about.











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To me this is one of the strangest sets of drawings that I found. At that this moment in time someone was lobbying to add some sort of horns to the side of Vaders helmet and this is what they came up with.
This is the only info I could find anywhere and it was on a forum posted a few years ago with no official refences

Additionally, one of the things John Mollo proposed as a modification to Ralph McQuarrie's Vader design was the addition of small horns to the sides of his helmet. This was presumably inspired by the kabuto of Japanese samurai, which frequently had horns attached.

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Noe these next couple I find very interesting and I will explain why in a minute:


The first is this one. It bears a very close resemblance to the fully rendered iconic wide landscape shot of Vader VS Starkiller that my Vader Build is based on and is drawn by RMQ. However this a portrait shot rendered differently in less detailed way and, from what I can see is a variation on the designs seen in the rendered done picture. I have no idea as to when it was drawn, whether before or after the rendered iconic art but in my own personal opinion this looks to be closer to the ANH Vader that we know today. I say that mainly due to a couple of reasons.
- The design of the chest box since it looks like RMQ is toying with the possibility of adding grebbles/lights
- The snout of the face mask isn't so dramatic
- The helmet does have as much of large slope/flange going out toward the bottom back
- The buckle seems to have become narrower

Now onto the second one that really grabs my attention, simply because it is a physical entity. I have found very limited information regarding these pictures and they conflict one another.


So first of all here's the pictures, so far I have only found two images.





The only certainty I can determine is that it was around during the filming/production of ANH since if you look in the background you can actually see some of the tiles that were used for the surface of the Death Star.



I just found an un-cropped and clear version of the picture above:

















So here is all the information I was able to find:


SOURCE 1:
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...d-the-scenes-pics-and-footage.50017733/page-3

Yep, that's John Dykstra with the McQuarrie concept suit.
He made it for an ILM Halloween party.

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SOURCE 2:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=68319

There is a little info about the helmet over at Jez's site (I borrowed the pic, which is a scan from the ILM book, from there thanks Jez!). The helmet/costume apparently were a one-off and rumor is that it met its end at a rather rambunctious party (there appears to be some possible damage in the pic above--notice the left side of the dome).
I had always assumed that Joe Johnston made the helmet but that assumption is based merely on the fact that he's the one wearing it in this pic (well, that and his involvement in making the Fett helmet).

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SOURCE 3:
(Google Translated, ignore bad grammar )

The point is this outfit was made following the designs of ralph mc quarrie and was built by johnston exclusively for this event , was never taken into account by Lucas , the creator of vader suit we all know is the work of John Mollo . After the party costume was kept in a box and never was used , then shortly before the move to marin county johnston put a heavy box which was the case of the suit and it was destroyed , so q was to stop away , could only recover the hull (as shown above on your desktop) but after a while and since it was not the iconic image of Vader q knew all also decided that the town would go to a trash can . That is the true story of Vader armor that never was.

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SOURCE 4:
(Google Translated, ignore bad grammar )
http://www.galaxie-starwars.com/t3482p210-darth-vader-sous-toutes-ses-coutures

If you 're one of the fans the chance to own a copy of the book : The Complete Vader appeared last fall, you may have been intrigued by a Darth Vader costume shown on page 17 to 1 costume that seems to have based on the first drawings of Ralph McQuarrie.


Often confused with a prototype of the helmet and part of the torso armor of the Dark Lord , this particular costume was never released Studios Star Wars in England , it was a Halloween costume made by a Joe Johnston Star Wars designers for the Halloween party of Industrial Light & Magic in October 1976 !
The artist and employee of the ILM "boutique creatures ," John Brosio , who also participated in the creation of this costume . He recently met with Johnston to discuss the famous Vader costume " McQuarrie way ," and what it has become.

Brosio : Did you build the complete costume ?
Johnston: Yes, I did it in the studio models outside of working hours. I spent some sleepless nights because it was Halloween soon .


Was he styrene (polystyrene derivative) or Fiberglass?
It was cast on a styrene body mold fiberglass that was sent with a costume sends and finally downgraded. The "body mold" that was clear very rough and brown, was completely covered with styrene. The helmet was based on a plastic helmet of the German army of a toy shop, filled with pieces of styrene and kit parts that were joined with the model.
Is it true that you used glam boots?
No, the boots are made from a pair of old shoes on which I glued to a block of foam four inches thick, and I have covered with styrene sheet.
When he was made?
It was made in the last two weeks of October 1976. It is based on one of the first illustrations of Ralph McQuarrie: Combat Luke and Vader lightsaber in hand, which is why it does not look like the final version Vader. At the time, I had not seen the version of the suit that John Mollo had built. The color is a gray blue, corresponding to the illustration.

When he was destroyed? Is it for Halloween?
It was not destroyed on Halloween. It was stored in a box of Star Wars object and it was partially crushed when a heavy box fell over when I was preparing to go to Marin County (at Skywalker Ranch) in April 1978. It was too trouble for repair then it was completely thrown in the trash, unless the headphones.
Will we could see while wearing the helmet?
Yes, very clearly. I used a pair of tinted safety glasses that I had embedded in the front of the helmet.


"Somewhere there is a little bit of me in costume Vader during the Halloween party. The fluorescent light saber was manufactured by one of the technicians just for the party. There was a huge ballast hidden in the sleeve and a large electric wire. I think I could walk about 3 or 4 meters before running thread ... very useful in dueling lightsaber .
Source: http://www.starwars.com/vault/books/news20100112.html
Translation: Coyote for http://www.galaxie-starwars.com

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So even if it was never an official costume and only a fun Halloween costume, I still find it very fascinating an I wanted to share it!

just for accuracy, this painting is fan-art. note the "apologies to RM" signature in the bottom corner.

Nice summary



... on the right that's John Dijkstra, sfx cameraman, and Joe Johnston, storyboard artist, is suit up in that early concept costume as Lord Vader ... note the 'real working' lightsaber, back in 1976 :wacko

Chaim

That was an incredibly entertaining read, really loved the photograph of the '76 light-up lightsaber and Vader's early costume. Also

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/1f/9f/63/1f9f63a02386d886f4322a5e160e0569.jpg

^^ Looks like Phasma

mvanwalks421 said:

That was an incredibly entertaining read, really loved the photograph of the '76 light-up lightsaber and Vader's early costume. Also

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/1f/9f/63/1f9f63a02386d886f4322a5e160e0569.jpg

^^ Looks like Phasma

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Yes I also noticed this and a week or so I over on the SLD Forum (where I originally posted this) I wrote a dedicated post about that. I will go get and post here for all to see (re epically since there is a second photo/concept I found that supports my Theory on the Phasma inspiration even more!)

Studio 49 said:

Yes I also noticed this and a week or so I over on the SLD Forum (where I originally posted this) I wrote a dedicated post about that. I will go get and post here for all to see (re epically since there is a second photo/concept I found that supports my Theory on the Phasma inspiration even more!)

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Please do, I love learning about this sort of trivia

Ok so here is my little theory, now this may be completely wrong but here we go anyway...
As we know, The Force Awakens have been pulling inspiration from the Ralph McQurrie Art. Well this morning I happen across a new drawing of a Vader concept...
That drawing has got me thinking that it may have served as some inspiration for Captain Phasma!!!

So first of all here are the 2 images that I found.






And here is best info I could find regarding these drawings:
http://boards.theforce.net/xentemp/...oduction-art-mcquarrie-mollo-tavoularis.1117/

A circa-1975 drawing by Ralph McQuarrie of a "dark knight," presumably a Sith Lord. This concept design later wound up influencing the armor of Boba Fett in ESB.
Although Lucas's earliest notes for Draft 2 of ANH describe the Sith knights as "look[ing] like Linda Blair in The Exorcist," similar to how the Emperor ultimately looked in ROTJ, the subsequent ANH Draft 3 mentions that the Sith Lords (besides Vader) wear helmets. "The first Sith Lord puts his hand to his ear as a message comes through on his helmet intercom."

A John Mollo drawing showing at left, a TIE fighter pilot, and on the right, a Sith Lord. It appears the other Sith were envisioned as being very similar to Vader in the design of their armor. (McQuarrie's version is a little less similar and more like a stormtrooper.)

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​So for reference here are the TFA Troopers:





And now some side by side photos comparing the RMQ drawings for Vader to the TFA Stormtrooper Armour












So with all that in mind there are a couple of things that stand out to me and make me think of the possibility that the might have influenced the design of Phasma:
- Obviously there is the cape and I have a couple of reasons why:- I can't quite put my finger on it but the shape of the RMQ Stormtrooper helmets just remind me of the TFA Helmets
- Also just the idea that higher ranking soldiers/officers receive a slight variation on uniform instead of a completely different costume (this was also the case in the early RMQ drawings of Boba Fett who was originally going to be e high ranking Stormtrooper.

So clearly I don't have any solid evidence to suggest my theory of early Vader designs influencing Captain Phasma, but hey its fun to speculate!
And well it is just a theory!
I would also love to know your thoughts if you have any on this little theory I put together and I hope that you found at least interesting to read!




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Yes yes yes I know you may also be thinking this... but I'm sure you would be too if you have been crazy enough to bury your head in RMQ drawings so much you begin to see the RMQ helmet that you are working as normal and sometimes forget it is so different to the final helmet! :wacko:

I do like a good look back at the origins, which reminds me.... Probably a nothing but
could be a something. While looking for SW/Who/UFO/1999 props in old UK movies a few
years ago I spotted this Samurai costume lerking in the background of a scene from 'The
House That Dripped Blood' (approx 1:21:00 into the fim).

Released in 1971 and produced by Amicus, with studio scenes shot at Shepperton, it got
me thinking. A couple of other Amicus films (shot between Shepperton, Iver Heath and
Pinewood) have actual Star Wars props in them, so could this costume be part of the
inspiration for this sketch?

Wavey said:

I do like a good look back at the origins, which reminds me.... Probably a nothing but
could be a something. While looking for SW/Who/UFO/1999 props in old UK movies a few
years ago I spotted this Samurai costume lerking in the background of a scene from 'The
House That Dripped Blood' (approx 1:21:00 into the fim).

Released in 1971 and produced by Amicus, with studio scenes shot at Shepperton, it got
me thinking. A couple of other Amicus films (shot between Shepperton, Iver Heath and
Pinewood) have actual Star Wars props in them, so could this costume be part of the
inspiration for this sketch?

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums.../house that dripped blood pic6b2.png~original

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums.../house that dripped blood pic8b2.png~original

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Very cool theory, McQuarrie and George ceratInly pulled inspiration from Samarai type amour so it could be possible!