The Road to Episode Infinity: Aliens of Jabba's Palace

The aliens of Jabba's Palace are my favorite. During production of "Return of the Jedi" the costume department got a second shot of the Cantina scene but with a much higher budget. We no longer see second-hand Halloween costumes repainted. Instead, we get giant complex puppets which had to be controlled by multiple puppeteers. The most notable is Jabba the Hutt who was puppeteered by seven different people at once and is the most expensive puppet ever to be produced. Let's take a look at some alien species, shall we?

Hutt

Jabba the Hutt is so famous that even non-fans could tell you what a Hutt looks like- however, the species was never supposed to be a species at all. During the original filming of "Star Wars", Jabba was a human and a Hutt was just a title. It wasn’t until the script for “Return of the Jedi” was being written that it was established that a Hutt was a giant green slug.

Hutts are almost exclusively gangsters. At face value, Hutts might seem vulnerable to attacks from their enemies, but Hutts are actually quite durable. Their thick skin provides plenty of armor and they are capable of regrowing their limbs. Hutts also live long lives (Jabba was over 600 years old when he was killed). Most Hutts are capable of slithering around, but some Hutts chose to wear cybernetic legs to increase their speed and agility (Grakkus the Hutt is one notable example).

The reproduction cycle of Hutts has been a perplexing part of the Expanded Universe. Hutts are sometimes said to produce asexually. Other times they are said to be hermaphroditic having both male and female parts which they can use to either father or mother a child with another Hutt. Pablo Hidalgo recently cleared up this mess by proclaiming that under the new "Disney Canon" Hutts are simply male or female like every other species.

Twi’lek

Apart from Humans, Twi’leks might be the most widespread species of the Star Wars universe. Since their introduction in “Return of the Jedi” they have made their way into every corner of Star Wars media. Twil’leks are easily identified by their head tails (called lekku). Their lekku not only house part of the Twi’leks brain but also help store fats and other nutrients. Twi’leks also use their lekku to communicate with each other in a type of sign language.

Twi’leks are also known for their often vibrant skin colors. Though, Individuals such as Bib Fortuna or Beezer Fortuna are known to have a light tan skin color, many other Twi’leks have green, blue, purple, orange, yellow, or red skin. Female Twil’leks are often seen serving as slaves or dancers.

During the series finale of “Rebels” it was revealed that Twi’leks could breed with humans. The Twi’lek Hera Syndulla was in a romantic relationship with the Human Jedi, Kanan Jarrus. After Kanan’s tragic death Jacen Syndulla (a Human-Twi’lek hybrid) was born. Though Jacen lacked a vibrant tail color or head tails, he did sport naturally green colored hair.

Weequay

Weequay can be identified by their leathery skin, well suited for desert climates. Many males also sport long braids. Most Weequay are often quiet beings, as they primarily communicate through pheromones, however the pirate Hondo Ohnaka is known to be quite chatty.

The Weequay species was named by George Lucas himself, who paid homage to the "Moby Dick" character Queequeg. Though several Weequay appeared in “Return of the Jedi” as skiff guards, none were ever named. The first onscreen Weequay with a name is possibly Sora Bulq, a Jedi Master from “Attack of the Clones”.

Nikto

The Nikto are a species with many subspecies, which makes them hard to identify. The most common Nikto are probably the “Red Nikto” (Kajain'sa'Nikto) and the “Green Nitko” (Kadas'sa'Nikto). Nikto tend to have spikes and horns on their faces.

The Nikto were named after a famous line from “The Day The Earth Stood Still”: ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’. Star Wars action figures traditionally identify three different skiff guards as Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto, although current canon states that “Klaatu” is a character name and that Klaatu is a Green Nikto where “Nikto” is not a character name but often is used to identify one of the Red Nikto from Jabba’s Palace.

Another famous Nikto is the Jedi warrior Ima-Gun Di whose name was designed to sound like the phrase “I'm gonna die”. It is no surprise that the Jedi Master perished in the same “Clone Wars” episode in which he was introduced.

Klatooinian

The “Klaatu Barada Nikto” naming system is really a fiasco. It turns out that the character Barada is a Klatooinian even though the character Klaatu is a Nikto and that the character commonly called Nikto is a Red Nikto named Vizam.

The dog-faced Klatooinian species often worked as henchmen and bounty hunters. They were close associates to the Hutts for much of galactic history and the Klatooinians worshipped the Hutts as god-like beings (partly due to the fact that the Hutts had an extensive lifespan).

Gamorrean

Gamorreans are not known for their intelligence. In fact their feeble-minds make them particularly loyal to whomever they serve. Gamoreans prefer melee weapons to blasters, as they consider it honorable to defeat their enemies in close combat. The male boars, in particular, were known have poor hygiene habits.

A notable exception among the Gamorrean species is Voort saBinring a Wraith Squadron pilot for the New Republic- though saBinring was genetically altered to be more intelligent.

Early sketches of Gamorreans by Ralph McQuarrie showed the guards to be more Gorellia-like, but artist Joe Johnson later developed them into the now-recognizable pig-like species.

Gran

The Gran species can be identified by their three stalk-eyes and their goat-like mouths. Gran are from the planet Malastare where they live along side of the Dug species. The sport of Podracing was invented on Malastare about 60 years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker. A Gran named Mawhonic was a notable podracer in the Boonta Eve classic against Skywalker. Mawhonic is also the only podracer other than Anakin who is not a CGI creation. Although Mawhonic is shorter than the average Gran he is still taller than most of the Podracers.

Another famous Gran was Ree-Yees, who was the Gran seen in Jabba’s palace in the film “Return of the Jedi”. Originally Ree-Yees was meant to be the Admiral of the rebel fleet, although Lucas chose the Akbar puppet to fulfill this role instead. It is notable that Ree-Yees got his name by being an almost-anagram for “Three Eyes”

The Azumel species (featured in “Solo: A Star Wars Story”) is similar to the Gran but sport six eyes instead of three.

Whiphid

Whiphids are tall, furry, tusked creatures from a frozen planet called Toola. J’Quille is the specific Whiphid that appeared in Jabba’s palace, though during the production of “Return of the Jedi” the J’Quille was nicknamed “Tooth Face”.

Several Whiphid served as Jedi during the last days of the Republic. The youngling Jempa appeared in the film “Attack of the Clones”. Jedi Master K’Kruhk appeared in the “Clone Wars” cartoon where he was killed by General Greivous, but it was later revealed that he survived the ordeal when he appeared in the “Dark Times” comic storyline. K’Kruhk even survived Order 66 and was known to be alive 130 years after the Battle of Yavin during the “Legacy” comic series.

Chevin

Chevins resemble very short elephants that stand upright and it is no surprise that the Chevin in Jabba’s Palace was called “Elephant Man” during the filming of “Return of the Jedi”. Eventually “Elephant Man” became “Ephant Mon” and that is how fans know him today.

The Chevin may look odd and Star Wars lore provides a good reason for this. The Chevin are said to have evolved from giant mammals (probably elephant-like creatures) who were wiped out when an asteroid collided with the planet Vinsoth millions of years before the time of the Galactic Republic. Even though Chevin look feeble, they an actually run as fast as any humanoid and their snouts offer a keen sense of smell which make them quite adept at hunting. Chevin were so successful that they were the dominant life form on planet Vinsoth and enslaved the Chev, (the other sentient species that lived there).

Yarkora

Yakora are a hungry species, having evolved from grazers. Many Yokora spend spend much of the day eating. Because they have two stomachs, four kidneys, and three livers, it is rare that Yokora die from natural causes.

During production of “Return of the Jedi” the crew called the Yarkora “Yak-Face”. Though the character only appeared on screen for a moment, he received an action figure in 1985. The action figure was never released in the US, however, and it is one of the rarest of the original line. It currently is listed on Ebay for $700 or more.

A 1997 sourcebook eventually gave a name to the Yarkora who appeared in Jabba’s Palace. The character is now known as Saelt-Marae and has been revealed to be a confidence trickster. The character also recently appeared in the 2015 comic “Darth Vader #1”.

More To Come

"Return of the Jedi" offers a wide-range of lovable aliens. Too many for one blog post. I will return in future weeks with more galactic species.

Star Wars Aliens

The Aliens of the Cantina

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-aliens-of-cantina_1.html

The Aliens of “The Empire Strikes Back"

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-aliens-of-empire-strikes-back-what.html

The Aliens of Jabba’s Palace

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2018/07/aliens-of-jabbas-palace.html

The Aliens of Max Rebo’s Band

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-aliens-of-max-rebos-band.html

The Aliens of the Battle of Endor