During 1976 American artist and science-fiction / fantasy illustrator
Ron Cobb (1937-2020) was called on by George Lucas to design various characters for the
Mos Eisley Cantina scene in the original episode of
Star Wars, later called
A New Hope (1977). He had been working in this field since the late fifties, though during the 1960s he also achieved fame for his political cartoons which featured in many of the underground and countercultural magazines of the day. One of the designs Cobb came up with for Lucas was a thin, blue skinned alien with orange-red slit elliptical eyes and long, hairless head. Two of these aliens subsequently appeared in the movie. They were not named at the time, and on set only known as Goggly Eyes. According to
The Star Wars characters you'd find in the Cantina
scene web page, their appearance is described as follows:
A married couple of red-eyed stereotypical looking green aliens in space suits named Owhun and Chachi De Maal are in the next quick shot seen having a lively discussion. The aliens were actually a teal colour - a blue-green mix, and closer to blue in reality. This description is based on post-1995 Star War
Legends publications and games which provided a backstory based around their newly described home planet
Duros. This was outlined in detail on the
Wookieepedia website. The de Maals operated the loading bay on Tatooine where the Millenium Falcon was stored around the time Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi first encountered Han Solo. Cobb's original drawing, and a scene from the film featuring the two blue aliens, appeared in the 1993
Star Wars Galaxy Topps collector card series, number 17.
The original drawing by Cobb is annotated 'NOTHING KNOWN', which points to the fact that, at the time he came up with the concept (1976), Cobb had not been given any back story to the creature by Lucas, who may or may not have had one.
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Ron Cobb original concept art, 1976 (1993 copy extract).
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Cad Bane
According to the Cad Bane (62 BBY - 9 ABY?) Wikipedia entry, George Lucas, Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy created that specific Durosan character for the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated movie. Bane was obviously of the same race as Owhun and Chachi De Maal from A New Hope. In the 2008 version this Durosan was a bounty hunter, modeled on Lee van Cleef's portrayal of Angel Eyes in the Clint Eastwood spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). A variant of the Durosan appeared in the concept art for The Last Starfighter (1984), with the majority of alien characters therein designed by Cobb. Most did not make the final cut, due to budgetary constraints.
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Ron Cobb, The Last Starfighter concept artwork, 1983.
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Cad Bane went on to appear a number of times in The Clone Wars series (2008-2020), and later in The Bad Batch (2021). In those instances he was a digitally animated character, with cheek breathing appendages to ward off Jedi suffocation techniques.
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Cad Bane, The Bad Batch, 2021.
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During 2021 Bane appeared for the first time as a live action character in The Book of Boba Fett (2021-22). Therein he had an encounter with Boba Fett, which apparently resulted in his death.
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Cad Bane, The Book of Boba Fett, 2022.
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Hammerhead
Cobb designed another alien lifeform which featured in
A New Hope - the distinctive 'Hammerhead' Momaw Nadon. Another of these aquatic air breathers appeared in
The Book of Boba Fett as the Mayor,
Mok Shiaz, therein identified as an amphibian Ithorian with two throats.
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Ron Cobb original concept art, 1976.
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In 2000 Cobb autographed a photograph which contained images of four aliens he designed for the Cantina sketch back in 1976.
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Ron Cobb, Cantina sketches, 1976 (copy), autographed 2000.
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An earlier drawing of Cobb's from the mid' 1970s was apparently the
inspiration for the dewback ridden in the Tatooine desert by various
Stormtroopers during the original trilogy.
Upon Cobb's death in Sydney, Australia, during 2020, Mark Hamill stated the following on Twitter:
Ron Cobb was a giant in his field. His impact on sci-fi &
fantasy films is immeasurable. Thank you for a lifetime of brilliant
contributions & your incomparable imagination. #RIPRonCobb
At the same time the official Star Wars website noted his creation of Momaw Nadon and subsequent work on
E.T.,
Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Alien and
Back to the Future, to name a few. Some of his film work is listed in the blog
Ron Cobb and Australia, where he subsequently retired with his wife.
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Last updated: 30 May 2022
Michael Organ
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