Saturday, December 28, 2019

Aliens of the Mandalorian


Mandalorian Wrap-Up Day 2: Aliens of the Mandalorian

If I had one beef with the Disney Star Wars films it is this: Where are the classic trilogy aliens? Fortunately the Mandalorian delivers where the new films fail. There are a ton of classic aliens in the Mandalorian including Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Twi’leks, Rodians, Nikto, and Klatooinians. Let’s dive in, shall we?





Jawa
Episode Count: 4

Jawas appear in half of the Mandalorian episodes, most notably in Chapter 2, when the Mandalorian attempts to chase down a Sandcrawler.


Jawas are droid scavengers. They are an enigmatic species because no one really knows what they look like underneath their robes. Their glowing-eyes tell us that Jawas are not and many sources imply that they are a rodent-like species. In the Star Wars films, Jawas are only ever seen on Tatooine and are native to the planet. However in the Mandalorain Jawas are present on Arvala-7 and Nevarro. In the original film, many Jawas are played by children, though the diminutive the actor Jack Pervis did portray the chief Jawa.

Ugnaught
Episode Count: 3


The Ugnaught, Kuiil, is an important character in the Mandalorian. Though Kuiil does not sport tusks, some Ugnaughts do.

Ugnaughts originally hail from the swampy, volcano planet of Gentes. Due to the harsh nature of their homeworld Ugnaughts evolved to be strong and resilient. In “The Empire Strikes Back” Ugnaughts can be seen all over Cloud City, most notably in the Carbon Freezing Chamber. The diminutive the actor Jack Pervis portrayed the chief Ugnaught on Cloud City.


Devaronian
Episode Count: 1

Though a Devaronian appears only briefly in “A New Hope” the species is quite common in the Expanded Universe. It is no coincidence that Devaronians resemble the Devil. Short on time and budget, the costume department of Star Wars utilized a second-hand devil costume. It should be noted that only male Devaronians sport horns. Female Devaoronians are harder to identify but they do have two round bumps on their foreheads in place of horns.

Burg is the Devaronian who appears in Chapter 6 of the Mandalorian. In the episode it is implied that Devaronians are impervious to fire attacks.

Kubaz
Episode Count: 2

The Kubaz were a mammalian species from the outer rim that consumed insects exclusively. One might assume the often masked Kubaz have trouble breathing on foreign worlds, but the real story is that they are just trying to protect their eyes. Since their homeworld orbits a blue-star, the Kubaz have trouble seeing red or yellow wavelengths. Systems with bright yellow light could damage Kubaz eyes, and therefore eye protection was required.

Garindan is the Kubaz bounty hunter that appears in “A New Hope” who informs the Empire of the two missing droids. Bizarrely, Garindan is voiced by John Wayne. Wayne was not hired to be a part of “Star Wars” but sound designer Ben Burt did steal a bit of stock audio from Wayne and ran it through a synthesizer to create a sort of buzzing mosquito-like voice.

Twi’lek
Episode Count: 4

Twi’leks appear in half of the Mandalorian episodes, most notably in Chapter 6 in which purple-skinned Xi'an tries to rescue her brother Qin from a New Republic prison ship.

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 helps 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.

Nikto

Episode Count: 3
Nikto appear in the first episode of the Mandalorian, where they are seen guarding “The Child” from various bounty hunters who wish to capture it.

The Nikto are a species with many subspecies, which makes them hard to identify. The most common Nikto are the “Red Nikto” and the “Green Nitko”. Both of these types appear in the Mandalorian.

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.

Klatooinian
Episode Count: 1

Klatooinian appear as marauders on planet Sorgan in Chapter 4 of the Mandalorian.

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

Trandoshan
Episode Count: 1

Trandoshans appear on planet Arvala-7 in Chapter 2 of the Mandalorian. The Trandoshans in the Mandalorian appear to have much smaller snouts compared to Bossk and other Trandoshans that appear in various Star Wars media.

Trandoshans are known as the greatest hunters in the Galaxy. More often than not, the prey they hunt is Wookiees. Trandoshans have the rare ability to grow their lost limbs back (like Deadpool).

Few Star Wars fans realize that Trandoshans owe their existence to another reptilian species called the Saurin. Two Saurin appeared in the “New Hope” cantina scene. They look pretty much like Bossk, but shorter. This is because one of the Saurin costumes was altered and turned into the costume for Bossk.


Tusken Raider
Episode Count: 1

Tusken Raiders are a group of desert dwellers native to planet Tatooine. They lived in nomadic clans who believed that the sparse water in the desert has been promised to them alone. Moisture farmers, who stole the water from the ground, were a direct threat to Tusken culture and it was for this reason that clans would attack farmers.

Sand People often carried Gaderffii sticks (or Gaffi sticks) as their primary weapons. The pointed ends of these weapons were sometimes covered in sandbat venom, which could paralyze victims.

Though the term “Tusken Raiders” was not used in the first “Star Wars” film, it was included in some late drafts of the film script. Fans would have heard the term at least as far back as a 1984 source book and by the release of the prequels even casual fans would have heard the term.

The Tusken raiders who appear in “The Mandalorian” communicate using ASL (American Sign Language).

Yoda Species
Episode Count: 8

“The Child” is the most culturally iconic character from “The Mandalorian” eclipsing even the Mandalorian himself. Pop Culture refers to this character as a baby version of Jedi Master Yoda, though most people who hold this belief publicly are quickly corrected.

In the script for “The Empire Strikes Back”, Yoda is an old wizened stranger. He is almost a millennia old, and there has always been a shroud of mystery surrounding the character. The most mysterious aspect of him may be his species. In the Expanded Universe, Yoda has no home planet, he has no species name.

Before Yaddle’s appearance in “The Phantom Menace”, Lucas did not even want to admit that Yoda was a member of a species. When a 1993 trading card depicting other members of Yoda’s species was to be released, Lucas ordered all copies of it to be destroyed. Although some cards escaped the pulping and a few have been sold on Ebay for $400 or more. The biggest controversy around Yoda’s species (and perhaps the biggest mystery) is the number of toes on Yoda’s feet. In the Original Trilogy, Yoda has three front-facing toes and one back-facing toe. In “The Phantom Menace”, however, puppets of Yoda and Yaddle are missing the back-facing toe. Various toys and sources depict Yoda as having three, four, or five toes, though three fingers and three toes seem to be the most common depiction.


Mythrol
Episode Count: 1

Mythrols are a blue amphibious race. Young Mythrols could produce a sweet musk, and their glands were used as medicine and perfume on the black market. After molting, their face would change shape and become barbed.

A Mythrol played by Horatio Sanz appears in the first episode of the Mandolorian. Another Mythrol, Junn Gobint, works as a mechanic for the Resistance and appears in “The Rise of Skywalker”.




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