Ralph McQuarrie Made Battlestar Galactica Look Cool First

Ralph McQuarrie is one of the true legends of the conceptual art world and his work on Star Wars is inspiring. He also helped design the look of the original Battlestar Galactica television show.

"Following the opening of Star Wars I was contacted by Glen A. Larson. When I went in to talk to him he described his idea for a 'Wagon Train' in outer space. It sounded interesting so I agreed to do it. The Empire Strikes back had not started yet so I came to George and explained the job, he said go ahead. Over time as I was introduced to the characters and the similarities began to come out." This is ironic, because soon after the show went on the air, George Lucas unsuccessfully sued the show.

 
Original Battlestar Galactica design was far more detailed and not as sleek.

Early Colonial Viper design (Eventually used for buck Rogers).
Late Colonial Viper design.
[Image source: galactica.tv]

Comments

  1. Certainly should. What is annoying though is that other people cant make anything that could be said to look similar and when you think about a futuristic gas mask the stormtrooper helmet is a logical conclusion and when people own copyrights and control everything I think it gets in the way for others to be creative. However a direct copy is blatantly not his to sell and does open a pandoras box rendering the whole idea of a film useless to investors as everything can just be taken.

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