I am proud to announce that you can now look forward to a new feature in the Tribune: namely, my new monthly column on the various monsters, creatures and non-human entities that play second fiddle to the main characters of our favorite movies. That’s right, in this space I will be exploring those slimy and scary (sometimes not so scary) creatures that haunt and help our heroes. From the technological wizardry behind Jar Jar to the simplicity of the Ewoks, this column will explore the making of such creatures from artist’s sketches to models to the final images as we see in them in movies.

Feature Creature: Rancor

This month’s highlight creature is known to many as Jabba’s pet: the creature that almost ended Luke Skywalker’s life: with the summons of "Boska!" this month I call forth the creature known as Rancor.

Originally conceived as a cross between a gorilla and a potato, Creature Designer Phil Tippett’s aim was to create a creature similar in anatomy to Jabba himself, but that was easily viewed by the audience as a menacing and vicious pet. Almost rottweiller-like in his role, Tippet found that the rancor’s original concept sketch as a potato/gorilla creature fell short of the voracious creature he originally intended. In keeping with his original idea of keeping the simplicity of a Jabba-like body, Tippett decided that the creature needed to be more menacing that a Hutt, with sharp razor-like fangs. Tippet needed the rancor to be a hulk of muscle and reptilian flesh that would send Jabba’s enemies tumbling fearfully to their death in the pit beneath Jabba’s throne chamber.

As many Star Wars fans might know, this infamous creature was rumored to have skin so tough that blaster bolts were seen as little more than annoyances to the rancor. When Tippet viewed the first screen tests of his costume-based rancor, and saw that is simply looked like a man in a potato-monster costume, he went back to the drawing board.

The result was the creature we have come to recognize in the movie. The rancor was redesigned as an 18-inch tall puppet made from scraps of foam latex. In order to capture the ponderous movements of the rancor on screen, the puppet was filmed in slow motion while being operated by three puppeteers. When projected at normal speed, the rancor appeared to be a slow creature of great mass.

Film Fundamentals:

Homeworld: possibly Dathomir (planetary restrictions prevent further study of the rancor)
Height: 5-10 meters
Diet: carnivore
Claim to Fame: Typically used by Jabba as a means of disposing of unwanted company, this Rancor’s downfall was standing under a restraining gate. He was crushed under the gate after attempting to dispose of Luke Skywalker. Luke defeated the creature by hitting the gate’s mechanism with a perfectly placed fast-pitched skull.

Whether or not rancors are naturally occurring creatures of the Star Wars realm is still under debate. While they do exist roaming in packs in the wild forests of the planet Dathomir, rancors have also been reported in small numbers on other planets in the Ottethan system. These creatures, who can only be tamed by Force-sensitive witches on Dothomir, have also been rumored to be unnatural creatures.

While some might remember that Emperor Palpatine kept an army of vicious rancors at his Citadel on Byss, many do not know that rancors may be among the menagerie of monsters deliberately created in experiments with the Dark Side carried out by Palpatine and his adepts.

Snap Shot:


More Info: to find out more about Rancors please visit:

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/zoology/rancor.html
http://www.starwars.com/databank/creature/rancor/