00:00
I’m Doug Chiang, I’m the Vice President
00:01
and Executive Creative Director for Lucasfilm.
00:04
I’m Amy Beth Christenson,
00:05
and I’m an art director at Lucasfilm.
00:06
And today we’re gonna talk about every kind of starfighter
00:08
in the live action Star Wars films.
00:10
And we do mean every starfighter.
00:12
[Star Wars Main Theme]
00:20
A bit hammy, I’m sorry. [laughing]
00:23
[laughing] No that’s good, I like it.
00:27
Always wanted to fly one of these things.
00:29
[Doug] There are many different classes of star ships
00:31
from capital ships like star destroyers,
00:33
to space stations, like the Death Star.
00:36
That’s no moon, it’s a space station.
00:39
But typically, we define a starfighter
00:42
as a small spacecraft designed specifically for combat.
00:45
Space ship designs in Star Wars is really really tricky
00:48
and that’s because we have to give
00:49
these space ships personality.
00:51
They have to have a distinct look.
00:53
They have to have a distinct iconic shape.
00:55
And that’s where I think George was brilliant
00:57
in terms of creating iconic shapes for Star Wars.
01:00
TIE Fighters, they’re one of the most iconic designs
01:02
in the Star Wars universe.
01:04
What I like about it is the simplicity of it.
01:05
It’s just a ball with wings.
01:07
The original design for the TIE Fighter
01:09
was presented by George to Ralph McQuarrie in 1974.
01:12
I think all of the ships in Star Wars
01:14
you can kinda do that shorthand,
01:15
almost a stick figure version of it.
01:16
And the TIE Fighter’s great
01:18
’cause it’s the H with the ball on it.
01:19
So as long as it’s coming towards you,
01:21
you recognize it as a TIE Fighter.
01:22
I remember when I first saw it when I was 15.
01:24
Part of the visual was so strong
01:26
but I loved the sound of it.
01:27
It was just an amazing, unexpected sound.
01:32
Comin’ in .35. I see them.
01:35
[Amy Beth] The first time we see Darth Vader’s
01:36
TIE Advanced is in the trench run
01:38
at the end of A New Hope. [screeching]
01:40
One of the fun facts about it in terms of design
01:41
is that George wanted it to look very distinguished,
01:44
very different in terms of giving it
01:45
a very distinct silhouette.
01:46
The wings are folded in to kind of evoke power and menace.
01:51
I have you now. [blasting]
01:55
The T-65 X-Wing is a really fascinating design.
01:57
I love the fact that it evokes World War II
02:00
aircraft design in terms of the form language.
02:03
And I also like the idea that it has a long snout.
02:05
George was a huge race car fan.
02:07
And he loved the idea that the dragsters
02:08
have a very long nose.
02:10
And so in some of the early prototypes from Colin Cantwell,
02:13
you can see the same painted nose.
02:15
Great thing about the X-Wing
02:16
is seeing Star Wars for the first time.
02:18
It was kinda the first time you saw a ship transform.
02:20
When you get the S-Foils being locked in attack position,
02:22
that’s when it makes its X the silhouette shape.
02:24
And it was really fun to see.
02:26
[Doug] One of the reasons why the X-Wing is so iconic
02:28
is that Joe Johnston when he drew it and designed it,
02:31
he made it very graphic.
02:32
It was very easy to understand.
02:34
It was very easy to draw very quickly.
02:35
And there’s a timeless quality to it that’s very hard to do.
02:41
The Y-Wing. The first time
02:43
we see a Y-Wing is when they arrive on Yavin Base.
02:45
One of the fun things about the Y-Wing
02:47
was that George wanted it to look like a race car
02:49
without all of its paneling.
02:51
So you can see that the cockpit has the sleekness
02:53
of a race car, but then the engines and the body
02:55
have all the panels removed.
02:56
The design actually evolved quite a bit
02:58
because of the blue screen technology,
03:00
the very thin struts were very hard to photograph.
03:03
And so Colin Cantwell actually beefed them up
03:05
and gave it a more stronger World War II robustness.
03:08
We were able to design the fully covered Y-Wing
03:10
where we get to see it in its complete form
03:12
before you see it in A New Hope.
03:16
The design for the TIE Bomber is really unique
03:18
because this is the first time we saw two pods
03:20
next to each other,
03:21
with kind of the TIE Advanced wing set up.
03:22
It still felt more menacing.
03:23
And then you got a hint at what it does
03:25
when they were trying to bomb the Falcon,
03:26
and that asteroid field. [laughing]
03:29
[bombing in distance]
03:35
The first time we see the A-Wing is in Return of the Jedi.
03:37
And it’s one of my favorite designs
03:39
because it’s so fast, and it’s very sleek.
03:40
And in many ways, it’s the bare essence of speed
03:43
’cause you just have a cockpit with engines and a wing.
03:45
And I love the triangular look of it,
03:46
’cause it just looks fast. The A-Wing for me
03:48
is really interesting ’cause it’s one of the first time
03:50
we saw a really rounded shape for the fighters at least.
03:53
I thought that that made it really unique looking.
03:55
Lock S-Foils in attack positions.
03:59
[Amy Beth] B-Wing, from Return of the Jedi.
04:00
One of the fun things about the B-Wing design
04:02
is that it’s a transforming design.
04:04
The fact that it’s almost a flying wing
04:05
but then it goes vertical.
04:07
And I love the idea that the cockpit actually rotates.
04:09
And it’s the first time we’ve seen that.
04:11
And the whole thinking about that is that when it’s flying,
04:14
it’s actually a very interesting configuration
04:16
than when it’s landed.
04:20
Fighters coming in! The TIE Interceptor.
04:23
What’s great about this design
04:24
is the next evolution of the TIE Fighter.
04:26
The TIE Interceptor’s one of my favorite ship designs.
04:28
And one of the interesting things is that
04:29
we took the wings and stretched it
04:30
so that it made it look more forward propelling.
04:33
And then by doing that though,
04:34
we had to actually give it a slot
04:35
so the pilot could actually look left and right.
04:40
The Naboo N-1 starfighter.
04:41
One of the challenges of designing that
04:43
was that we actually had to figure out
04:44
a design history for Star Wars.
04:47
And George wanted to mirror that design history
04:49
with our real world design.
04:50
And so for instance, the original trilogy designs
04:53
of the X-Wing and the Y-Wing
04:54
were more in the 1970s, the more manufactured look,
04:57
the more angular look.
04:58
And so Episodes I, II and III, actually went back
05:00
to the 1920s, a more romantic time,
05:02
a more handcrafted, artisan look
05:04
for design of the spaceships. And Astromech droid
05:07
does fit in there or– On this one it does.
05:09
That’s one of the fun things about designing for Star Wars
05:12
is that we can take a lot of liberties.
05:13
And part of the sleekness of the N-1
05:15
is that you really can’t get an Astromech
05:17
behind the cockpit.
05:18
And so if you notice, it’s just R2’s dome.
05:20
His legs are somewhere inside the body.
05:23
The other important thing about the Naboo starfighter
05:24
is that Doug designed it. [laughing]
05:28
The Trade Federation Vulture Droid,
05:29
and the first time we see this
05:30
is Episode I Phantom Menace.
05:32
The thing that’s really cool about this
05:33
is the first time we see a starfighter in Star Wars
05:35
that is a droid. And at first,
05:37
originally, it wasn’t supposed to be a droid.
05:39
I remember George actually wanted to start to connect
05:41
the idea of the designs from Episode I to Episode IV.
05:44
And so this was gonna be a precursor to the TIE Fighters.
05:47
And that’s why you see the distinct wing configuration
05:50
and the central ball body.
05:54
The Geonosian Starfighter.
05:56
We first see that in Attack of the Clones.
05:57
What’s interesting about this design
05:59
is that George is a huge race boat fan.
06:01
And so he wanted to mirror and design a vehicle
06:04
that looked kinda like the F1 speedboats.
06:06
And that’s where you get the twin pontoons.
06:08
What I did was turn ’em vertically.
06:10
The great part about the design
06:11
of the Geonosian starfighter is that you really see
06:13
that it’s designed by the Geonosians.
06:15
They’re bug-like creatures
06:17
so they have their own distinct look to their vehicles.
06:19
One of the fun things is that when I was designing it
06:21
I wanted to make sure that the spaceship
06:23
actually looked almost like part of the Geonosians.
06:25
So that’s why the cockpit is really small.
06:27
It’s almost like a helmet. [adventure music]
06:31
The Jedi starfighter.
06:32
At this time, George wanted to blend and blur the lines.
06:35
So you can see here, even though these are Jedi ships,
06:38
we actually kept them very triangular
06:40
to sort of evoke a little bit of the transition
06:43
towards the Empire Star Destroyers.
06:45
And one of the fun things is that,
06:46
I remember George saying, Let’s just take a Star Destroyer
06:48
and turn it into a fighter ship.
06:49
That was such a bold statement.
06:51
At first I didn’t think it would work
06:52
until I actually saw it on paper,
06:53
and it actually works beautifully.
06:55
This little nerdy part
06:56
where it doesn’t have hyperspace capabilities,
06:59
but needs a hyperspace ring to go into hyperspace.
07:02
We’re on your tail General Kenobi.
07:03
[Amy Beth] The ARC-170 starfighter,
07:04
and the first time we see this is in Revenge of the Sith.
07:07
My favorite part about this design are the multiple wings
07:10
of the different designs are really cool.
07:11
It’s actually a precursor to the X-Wing.
07:13
So the multiple wings sort of start to hint
07:15
at the X-Wing S-Foil folding out.
07:17
But then the interesting thing
07:18
is that you’ll notice that there are multiple cockpits
07:20
and pilots and gunners.
07:22
And that’s to call back to the original inspiration
07:24
for this which was the Douglas Dauntless Fighter Bomber.
07:32
[Amy Beth] This is the Droid Tri-Fighter
07:34
and the first time we see this is in Revenge of the Sith.
07:35
One of the interesting things about this
07:37
is it’s the next evolution of droid starfighter ships.
07:40
And it’s very aggressive.
07:41
And it’s distinctly designed to look mean and menacing.
07:51
General Grievous’ starfighter.
07:52
What’s interesting about this
07:53
is that this is the most automotive of all the starfighters.
07:56
And you’ll notice that the cockpit is set way back.
07:58
And you have this long hood
07:59
sort of connoting power and engine.
08:02
And the engines are oversized.
08:03
And so all about this design is about power and speed.
08:07
And General Grievous is the general
08:09
of the Separatist Army, he was an alien, like Darth Vader.
08:12
He had to replace a lot of his parts.
08:14
So he’s mostly droid when we see him.
08:15
And his two arms split into four arms,
08:17
and he’s got four light sabers.
08:18
A lot of things about the prequels
08:19
kind of hint at what’s coming.
08:21
General Grievous is kinda a precursor to Vader
08:23
in those respects. [adventure music]
08:27
Jedi Interceptor, the first time we see this ship
08:28
is in Revenge of the Sith.
08:29
One of the interesting things,
08:30
that in the design language,
08:32
we’re actually starting to tie in story elements.
08:35
The good guys become the bad guys.
08:37
You’ll notice in the Jedi Interceptor
08:39
that we’re really starting to tie and bridge
08:41
the Jedi starfighter with the TIE fighters.
08:44
You’ll notice that the wings, when they unfold
08:45
have sort of early distinct silhouettes
08:47
of the TIE Fighter.
08:48
And then the cockpit is actually starting to become a ball.
08:50
And one of the other interesting facts
08:51
is that the R2 unit can’t fit in it.
08:53
The body is actually too thin.
08:55
So the R2 unit has to be a really short one.
08:57
[laughing] [exploding] We got him R2.
09:05
The original inspiration was the P-38 Lightning.
09:07
And that’s where you’ll see the twin tails on there.
09:09
As the design evolved, slowly we start to modify it
09:13
so that we took the round wings off
09:14
and then we actually removed the connecting tail piece.
09:17
You can see connecting elements like the engine scoops
09:19
are actually scoops on the P-38 Lightning.
09:22
This is the Techno Union Fighter,
09:23
the first time we see this is in Revenge of the Sith.
09:25
It has a very Flash Gordon esque feel to it.
09:27
And George was very inspired by Flash Gordon.
09:29
I think Star Wars itself
09:30
is sort of inspired by Flash Gordon
09:31
and George’s love of it.
09:33
And that can be seen in ships
09:34
like the Techno Union Fighter.
09:38
V-Wing from Revenge of the Sith
09:39
so you can kinda get a hint
09:40
at what’s going to come in A New Hope.
09:42
And I think this probably is the most extreme,
09:45
if you look at it head on,
09:46
has more of that TIE Fighter silhouette
09:48
where you kinda see the H with the ball in the middle.
09:52
The First Order Tie Fighter,
09:53
in keeping to our design philosophy,
09:54
where VII, VII, and IX were more contemporary times,
09:57
we wanted to update the TIE Fighter.
09:58
And part of the thinking was that maybe
10:00
the TIE Fighter for The First Order,
10:02
they made it more robust using new materials
10:04
to make it faster and leaner and more strong.
10:07
And so part of the idea was that we actually
10:09
took the classic design of the TIE Fighter
10:11
and just beefed it up, changed the material,
10:13
changed the configuration of the colors.
10:17
[yelling] This thing really moves!
10:19
[Amy Beth] The First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter.
10:21
We distinguished them by giving them red.
10:23
But then we also gave them external magazines
10:25
for the weaponry. The other thing
10:27
that distinguishes the Special Forces TIE Fighter
10:28
is it actually has two seats back to back in the cockpit.
10:31
You’ve got the gunner in the back,
10:32
and you’ve got the pilot in the front.
10:33
So that’s when Poe and Finn are actually piloting
10:39
Did you see that? I saw it!
10:43
[Doug] The T-70 Resistance X-Wing.
10:45
The inspiration for this was actually Ralph McQuarrie’s
10:48
original painting of the X-Wing
10:49
where he actually had the twin turbine of the engine
10:52
split down the middle for the split wing.
10:54
And it was a very sleek design.
10:56
It really looked like an F1 car mixed with a spaceship.
10:58
The T-70’s a little bit obsolete
11:01
in the Star Wars universe even at the time
11:03
of The Force Awakens.
11:04
The Resistance still doesn’t get all the new stuff,
11:06
right? Yeah, exactly.
11:07
Part of the charm of T-70 design is that
11:09
it evokes the original trilogy design, that it’s scrappy.
11:12
The Resistance at this time,
11:13
didn’t have a whole lotta resources, so they have leftovers.
11:18
The TIE Striker from Rogue One
11:19
One of the most interesting things
11:21
about the TIE Striker, is that we wanted to come up
11:23
with a new idea for a TIE Fighter.
11:25
And we thought, how would it actually operate
11:27
And so we turned the wings up
11:29
so they are almost like wings up on top.
11:31
And then the ball is suspended below.
11:33
And so it has a slight hang glider configuration.
11:36
And it really sort of helps to communicate the idea
11:38
that this TIE Fighter, this unique TIE Fighter
11:41
operates in the atmosphere. Behind you!
11:48
The Resistance A-Wing, the great part about this design
11:50
is that it really evokes the original A-Wing design,
11:52
but I like the engines are even more beefed up
11:55
than the original. And the great thing
11:57
is that it is sort of the next evolution.
11:58
It’s the next model.
12:00
And in this one, in particular,
12:01
you can see the power and the speed
12:02
in terms of the form language.
12:10
[Amy Beth] Resistance Bomber,
12:11
the first time we see this
12:12
is at the very beginning of The Last Jedi.
12:15
And one of the interesting things about it
12:16
is that we wanted to evoke sort of old technology.
12:19
So this is obviously an old bomber.
12:21
And the vertical spine is actually
12:23
almost like an ammunition cartridge of a gun.
12:25
The great thing about the bomb magazine
12:27
pointing downwards is it kinda gives you that hint
12:28
that the artificial gravity well is going to be used.
12:31
So that way the bombs can actually fall in space.
12:42
The TIE Silencer, basically the concept for that
12:43
is we wanted to give Kylo something really unique.
12:47
We just basically took the TIE Interceptor
12:48
and just stretched it even more
12:49
to make it even more aggressive.
12:51
It also reminds me of Kylo’s mask
12:52
because you see the silver framework around the cockpit
12:54
and that kind of reminds me of the silver around his mask.
12:57
When we design spaceships, they do tie in
12:58
to the personality of the character
13:00
that’s gonna be piloting it.
13:02
And for Kylo’s ship, it was really trying to evoke
13:04
the menace that we see in Kylo’s mask.
13:06
And so how do we translate that into a spaceship form?
13:08
And part of that was just the from language,
13:10
just making it more aggressive, making it more pointed
13:12
so it looks like it’s a flying dagger.
13:15
[Amy Beth] This is the TIE Brute,
13:16
and the first time we see it is in Solo
13:18
during the Kessel run.
13:19
This is really interesting to me
13:20
because this is the first really asymmetrical TIE design.
13:23
The bomber, if you drew it shorthand was still,
13:25
everything else has been symmetrical.
13:28
It was an interesting play to try to put
13:29
a separate ball turret for the gun.
13:31
It sort of is interesting in the sense
13:33
that it still feels very TIE fighter-ish,
13:35
but yet it looks like it’s a more brutish version of it.
13:38
The Resistance B-Wing, we first see that
13:39
in The Rise of Skywalker.
13:41
And it’s basically an updated model
13:42
from the B-Wing that we saw in Return of the Jedi.
13:44
the updates are primarily just thinning down the shapes,
13:47
making it a little bit sleeker, and adding new coloration.
13:50
[Amy Beth] The Resistance Y-Wing
13:51
first introduced in Rise of Skywalker.
13:53
Just like the Resistance X-Wing,
13:54
this one also evokes a little bit more
13:56
of that original Ralph McQuarrie painting.
14:00
TIE Dagger, the first time we see it
14:01
is in Rise of Skywalker.
14:02
And it’s basically the next evolution of the TIE Fighter.
14:05
Part of the idea is that we wanted to give it
14:06
a very angular, aggressive look.
14:08
And so we took the triangular shapes of the Star Destroyers,
14:10
and put ’em into the wings. And the red markings
14:12
on the TIE Dagger denote that they’re Sith.
14:18
The first time we see it is in The Rise of Skywalker.
14:20
Kylo Ren has a modified version with longer wings.
14:22
The design for this really feels like the original TIE.
14:25
But you can see it’s got the extra armor around the cockpit.
14:27
And it’s red, so it’s evil. [laughing]
14:34
Have two bonus ships that are technically
14:36
not starfighters, but they’re so cool
14:37
there’s no way we’re not including them.
14:39
The first one is the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels
14:42
but you can see it fight in Rogue One
14:44
and in Rise of Skywalker.
14:45
That ship was originally designed for rebels.
14:47
It’s piloted by Hera Syndulla
14:49
and the rest of the Ghost crew.
14:50
And then for the design of that,
14:52
originally Filoni was really drawn to the diamond shape.
14:55
So from the top down, you can see it’s got
14:56
that distinct, perfect diamond silhouette.
14:58
But he really wanted it to feel like the Falcon.
15:00
And it was also inspired by B-17 bombers
15:02
from World War II, that’s where you get
15:03
the rounded cockpit from the front.
15:07
The Millennium Falcon.
15:09
It is probably the most iconic design from Star Wars
15:11
and one of my favorite.
15:13
I remember when I first saw it, it was just like wow,
15:15
that’s a ship that I want to be on.
15:17
The original design actually was the blockade runner.
15:19
And it had the very distinct Falcon cockpit on there.
15:22
But then George wanted to create something else
15:24
a little bit more unique.
15:25
And he decided that let’s keep the cockpit,
15:27
but let’s turn it into something more iconic.
15:29
And so he suggested that perhaps we should make it round,
15:32
more like a saucer.
15:33
And so Joe Johnston, when he designed it again,
15:35
he actually gave it some front mandibles
15:37
to give it some direction.
15:38
And by combining that with an offset cockpit,
15:41
that gave it a really distinct personality
15:43
that was unlike anything that we had seen at that time.
15:45
I like the Falcon a lot because it feels very fast.
15:47
It’s got a subtle curve to the top and the bottom.
15:50
Kind of evoke that kind of saucer feel,
15:52
but also makes it feel very fast.
15:53
I love the engines on the Falcon.
15:55
I love that they’re a strip of blue light in the back.
15:57
Part of the charm of the Millennium Falcon
15:58
is that it is a character, it is a Star Wars character.
16:01
So we want to imbue it with a lot of personality.
16:03
And like a character, it evolves.
16:05
There’s a character arc to it.
16:06
And so one of the first tasks that we had
16:08
was for Solo we want to see an earlier version
16:10
of the Millennium Falcon, sort of the cleaner version,
16:14
prior to Han Solo coming in and sort of hot rodding it.
16:17
And so in Solo you see all the panels are intact
16:19
and there’s actually the escape pod
16:21
that actually fits between the front mandibles.
16:22
And as you progress into the original trilogy,
16:24
it becomes more beaten up. You came in that thing?
16:28
You’re braver than I thought. It becomes more robust.
16:30
You can see Han’s touch
16:32
in terms of how he beefed up the engine,
16:34
made it more robust, made it more practical in some ways.
16:37
And then moving forward to Episodes VII, VIII and IX,
16:40
you can start to see how the Falcon has been repaired
16:43
after all its various adventures
16:45
where it knocks off its radar dish in Return of the Jedi.
16:48
How there’s a new radar dish.
16:49
And so all those little evolutionary things
16:51
help to inform the evolution of the character of the Falcon.
16:54
And it’s interesting because the Falcon is so iconic
16:57
that even with all these slight variations,
16:58
you know that it’s the Falcon.
17:00
And one of the beautiful things about what we’re doing now
17:03
for Rise of Skywalker is that we’re consolidating
17:06
all those designs to create the iconic Millennium Falcon.
17:12
What a piece of junk!
17:13
She’ll make .5 past light speed.
17:16
She may not look like much,
17:17
but she’s got it where it counts, kid.
17:19
That was every starfighter in the live action
17:20
Star Wars films. And we can’t wait
17:22
to share what we have coming up next.
17:24
[swelling orchestral music]
