The Road to Episode Infinity: The Aliens of The Battle of Endor

It has been long established that the Empire was prejudice against non-human species. Yet the rebel alliance is made up almost entirely of humans. So what gives? Why aren’t hordes of alien races coming to the aid of the Rebellion. The answer is of course, they are there, you just have to know where to look.

The film “Return of the Jedi” makes it evident that the Rebel alliance is made up of more than just humans. Although some species are more apparent than others. Most fans know about Mon Calamari, Sullustans, and Bothans, but what about Dressillians and Ishi Tib? These fascinating species are in “Return of the Jedi”, and when you start to see them in the film, it is hard to unsee them.

Dressillian

The “prune faced” Dressillian race had limited contact with the rest of the galaxy until their planet was taken over by the Empire. At this point most Dressillians decided to join the Rebel Alliance.

Dressillians are not well known among fans, yet the species is hiding in plain sight. Upon a rewatch of “Return of the Jedi” I found that these guys are everywhere. They are all over the Battle of Endor briefing scene and they can even be spotted on Endor during the Ewok celebration.

When a 1984 action figure released under the name “Prune Face”, many fans thought that these guys might be the fabled “Bothans” that Mon Mothma spoke of during the debriefing scene. The 1991 book “Heir to the Empire” squashed this theory however. The book’s author, Timothy Zahn, described Bothans as being covered in fur, so the mystery of the Prune Faces would remain a mystery. It wasn’t until a 1995 sourcebook where one Pablo Hidalgo finally gave the “Prune Faces” the name Dressilian. Since then Dressilians have appeared all over the Expanded Universe. The 2015 book “Moving Target” gives a pretty important role to a Dressillian named Lokmarcha.

Ishi Tib

The Ishi Tib are amphibious beings whose faces are said to resemble a five pointed star. Ishi Tib lived close to oceans on their home planet and used coral reefs to farm fish, seaweed, and crustaceans. Some say that Ishi Tib could not go more than 30 hours without a salt water bath or else their skin would break open resulting in internal and external bleeding until death.

Fans that really know their Star Wars aliens could probably tell you that there was an Ishi Tib in Jabba’s Palace. But fans that really, really know their stuff will also let you know that a group of the green creatures are present during the Battle of Endor briefing scene.

Early designs of the Ishi Tib were pink and nicknamed “Starfish”, however by the time “Return of the Jedi” was in production they were called “Bird Lizards” on set. The Ishi Tib in Jabba’s palace was identified in the Collectible Card Game as Sasha Tiel but the Ishi Tib Rebel released as a 1995 action figure has never been given a name.

Mon Calamari

The Mon Calamari species were native to the watery world of Mon Cala. The species lived in underwater cities as well as cities on land. They lived side-by-side with the Quarren species until the Clone Wars when the Quarren decided to join the Separatists.

The Mon Calamari were named after a calamari salad, which creature designer Phil Tippet was eating for lunch one day. Eight Mon Calamari masks were constructed for “Return of the Jedi” in tones of red and orange. The Mon Calamari from Rogue One (Including Admiral Raddus) have skin tones of white and grey and are said to be from the polar regions of Mon Cala.

Sullustan

Sullustans evolved underground on the planet of Sullust and were adept at low-light sight and had a heightened sense of hearing. Eventually Sullustans would become adept at mining. Their mining skills also lead them to the successful field of mineral processing and the mega cooperation of SoroSuub was created. At the height of its power SoroSuub employed half the population of planet Sullust. The planet Sullust is important in the film “Return of the Jedi” because that is where the Rebel fleet is located during the famous briefing scene. Darth Vader even refers to the planet in dialogue.

The Sullustans Nien Nunb and Ten Numb appeared in “Return of the Jedi” and got their names from the fact that they were “Number Nine” and “Number Ten” on the creature packaging list. The character of Nien Nunb is voiced by a Kenyan student who used two Kenyan languages when voicing the character. Mike Quinn performed Nien Nunb in “Return of the Jedi”, “The Force Awakens”, and “The Last Jedi”.

Bothan

Though Bothan were mentioned in the “Return of the Jedi” briefing scene, no Bothans were shown in the film. It wasn’t until 1991 that Bothans were featured in the novel “Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn. Though Zahn’s descriptions of the creatures were basically furry looking humans, the Expanded Universe eventually developed Bothans into creatures with dog-like snouts.

Much of Bothan culture focused on gaining power and influence. Bothans would do anything to get ahead to the point that Bothans were seen as untrustworthy by outsiders. Bothans were also paranoid and were constantly expecting to be betrayed by other members of their race. It was only during times of war that Bothans banded together and put the needs of the species over the needs of the individual.

Ewok

The Forest Moon of Endor was a place of many dangers for the Ewok race. They were habitually at war with the Duloks and had to defend their territory from treacherous Boar-Wolves and giant Gorax. Hungry Temptors hid inside of logs and trees and Condor Dragons hunted from the skies. In addition to native threats there seemed to be constant invasions from off-world including the Galactic Empire, Sanyassan Pirates, and even a Dathomir Nightsister. Still, the Ewoks got along with some of the moon’s inhabitants, including the Yuzzums and the Whisties.

To defend their village from many foe, Ewoks would often construct giant traps. These traps were specifically used to fend off giant Gorax creatures, but they also worked well against the AT-ST vehicles of the Galactic Empire.

George Lucas originally planned to use Wookiees in “Return of the Jedi” but later changed his mind and developed a much smaller creature. The word Ewok therefore uses about half the letters of the word Wookiee. It is also notable that the Ewoks received their own full-length live-action films in the late 1980s. These two made-for-tv (but released on the big screen internationally) films are the only Star Wars films to predominately feature a race of alien beings that are not human (though there are some humans in the film).

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

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-aliens-of-battle-of-endor.html

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