Info Wanted: Which aliens/droids would you replace with Humans (or vice versa)?

For me one of the problems I have relating to the characters in the PT is so many of them are exotic aliens or robots realised by CGI, physical puppetry or thick mask and makeup elements.

Star Wars (1977) only really had aliens in the Tatooine sequences and the bulk of those were background creatures.

Chewie and the droids felt like real characters because even though they looked otherworldly they were given the narrative space for their broad sweep characters to develop.

Vader while hidden behind a mask acted in a believably human way.

In ESB the only addition to this is Yoda who has a considerable amount of time to build a convincing character despite his alien appearance.

The Rebels and Imperial forces were almost entirely human and that made their conflict feel realistic even though they were using laser guns and space ships.

By ROTJ the number of exotic aliens had exploded.

You had Jabba and his court (mostly alien), many aliens in the Rebel fleet and the Ewoks.

Even the Emperor (while human we have since learned) was played in the same manner as most aliens. An actor under a lot of make-up with mask elements.

It becomes more difficult to relate to the characters in the conflict if they look more and more alien (personal observation).

In the PT aliens, droids and humans wearing masks are all over the place.

Senators, Jedi, battledroids, Gungans etc, etc it’s more a game of spot the human than admiring the seasoning of exotic looking creations.

In theory this creates a fictional universe filled with realistic diversity but my view it also makes it more difficult to relate to the situations the characters find themselves going through.

So would you replace some of these exotic characters (in any of the films) with human actors and if so which ones or is the mix just right by you?

Similarly would you replace any of the humans with aliens, droids etc?

I had this thought as well. It seems that whenever there should be people, they're missing.

For example, the closest analogue for the Jedi Temple "briefing room" (as far as placement of objects, the hologram, etc.) set in ROTS is the ROTJ scene where the rebels plan the attack on the Death Star 2. 

Even though you're focused on just a few people and there are aliens present, it feels like the room is full of people because of all the extras. There's also minor characters like Mon Mothma and General Madine, who would almost definitely have their roles filled by aliens if they were in the prequels.

In a scene that only focuses on two people, Anakin and Obi Wan, it's completely empty other than them. Even though there was supposedly a war briefing that Anakin missed, Obi Wan is the only person there left to turn off the hologram projector. There are Jedi seen in your peripheral vision, but it doesn't feel like the two characters are a part of a larger movement. Between the dialogue taking place on couches and the intrigue taking place in empty rooms, it sucks the warmth out of the movie.

I wouldn't necessarily remove aliens, because it makes sense that the Empire would be xenophobic and try to get rid of them, leading to a more human universe. It's definitely a good idea to add people, though.

Palpatine's advisor in AOTC and ROTS (that ISN'T Mas Ammeda) should be either Tarkin or an Imperial Looking Officer IMO.

Agreed with all of the above.  Now that you mention it, the diversity does create a gap in relating and also in the feel between the two trilogies.  As I created the thread trying to tie the two closer together, simply replacing many of the aliens with humans would go a long way.

That said, I also agree that the difference between the trilogies makes sense, considering the xenophobic Empire (at least according to EU sources, but it makes sense).  There would be a lot of aliens in the Republic when contrasted with the Empire.  I always found the end of ROTS to be a little startling because we were supposed to see a transition from Republic to Empire, but it feels rather sudden when Vader and Palpatine are in their star destroyer staring at the Death Star under construction.  The ship design is all of the sudden familiar, but I never realized till reading this that the fact that there are only humans on board the ship also creates that same sense.  It really was too drastic.  Perhaps some hint at Palpatine's purging of aliens from the ranks would better serve the transition and better get the feel you are aiming for.

And with that, I agree with the last comment that his advisor should not be an alien given his apparent xenophobia.

It would be cool to have a scene where Palpatine offs Mas Amedda, either by himself or with the clones.
"No room for blue skins."

For me there seems to be an opportunity to replace some of the slightly silly looking non-speaking  Jedi council members with actors which could build a bit more character by actually saying something.

So we get a sense of losing something when they killed or in peril.

Also the Separatists seem to be all aliens and hardly any of them actually say much or show signs of contributing anything to the cause other than agreeing with Dooku or Grievous.

It would be interesting to have a bit of disagreement in there especially when Grievous is planing to move everyone to the 'mysteriously safe because of the volcanoes world'.

The deleted scene where Shaak Ti is killed by Grievous might be adjusted so that one of the Separatists questions the wisdom of sending them all to the same place only to get killed for stepping out of line (shades of Vader there).

To get around the often dodgy looking CGI that character could be a human actor.

But would you have aliens at the Hoth or Yavin bases?

When you look at those rebel troops in their trenches on Hoth it feels like a real battle, WWII with lasers.

Would it feel the same if some of those guys had tentacular faces?

timdiggerm said:

Alexrd said:

In my opinion, the aliens are what helps me to believe in the huge scope of the galaxy in Star Wars. It's one of the things I like in the PT over the OT. We see in the cantina (and later in Jabba's Palace) that there are many other species on this universe, and I find it very strange (from a narrative POV) that only humans formed the Rebel forces. Specially when the aliens are the ones being reprimanded. In RotJ we see a new species on the Alliance (Mon Calamari), but it's still lacking.

This is why I'm all in favor of more prunefaces in ROTJ. Also the alien pilots.

ROTJ definitely needs more aliens in the Alliance. Not just Mon Calamari and Sullustans, but maybe Wookies etc.

A bit off-topic but I am really in favour of the idea of replacing Jar Jar in TPM with C3PO :P

But more on-topic, I think that the lack of physical interaction made it harder to relate to the droids and aliens in the PT... instead of acting against something physical, the aliens and droids were more often added in later and you can really tell when the actors are just staring in the general but not wuite direction of the characters that are going to be placed in later.

3P0 enstead of jar jar would be brilliant, as well as a feat of magnificent dedication!

You could even save time removing See Throughpio from every shot by having his body plates sold to raise funds to finish the racing pod (just an idea).

haha. that could be quite funny.

slightly off topic, but more of a "what spaceships would you replace with other space ships" idea - the millenium falcon features heavily in the OT, and i always felt that as it is so symbolic as a location as much as a vehicle that i should somehow feature in the PT at some point in similar circumstances.

i'd love to see it replace the royal starship in TPM, as a trade federation junker/transport ship. its manned by a bunch of droids. it sort of looks a bit like their battleships, and perhaps it could be a little less 'modified' at this point. of course it wouldn't have a name, but obi-wan's quite smile in ANH when he actually see's it for the first time could actually be given some subtext.

Actually it might be a bold move but perhaps Threepio could be female in the PT and become male when her memory is wiped.

It would be a good reason why Owen doesn't recognise 'her' in ANH.

i guess any faneditor worth his salt would just remove 3p0 from the homestead completely?

After a memory scrub wouldn't Threepio be a totally new personality anyway?

That's why I hate Artoo's laugh at the end of ROTS.

Threepio is more of a slave than cushy little Anakin ever was.

The good guys give him a lobotomy.

unless his memory isn't wiped? considering how pedantic and self obsessed he is, it wouldn't be out of character for him to not make the links between the events leading to anakin's fall, the clone wars, padme etc - and luke's adventures.

Ask yourself this.

What are you if you have none of your prior memories (everything in your head from birth until now gone)?

Are you you or are you something new?

We have already seen that droids identical to Threepio can have female voices and we have speaking devices where you can manually shift from a voice type in the real world.

Getting rid of Anthony Daniels in the PT provides a blank slate for an editor to build a more functional droid personality which could be lost in the mind wipe.

Which would be rather tragic for a droid the audience has come to care about.

We are meant to care about the droids more than their owners do, that much is obvious in the writing of the OT.