"Return of the Ralph"

 Some Pics by Ralph McQuarrie  and Joe Johnston and Nilo Rodis Jamero I coloured about two years ago  for a project I doubt I'll pursue much further  but the idea was to mix Star Wars with Apocalypse Now with a 30 year old Mace Windu  as Willard so it took place ten years before Phantom Menace ,it would been released in a alternative universe  1975 and would be based around Georges first go at The Journal of the Whills if if it had a car crash with John Milius

. So here's "The Star Wars " Apocalypse Ago

Mace would come out of hypher space  to board the ""Cantwell"  where he is due to meet the new Chancellor Valorium  as a crisis has arisen

 

 

Bit of A.I here as I did colour Ralph's ball robot it's kind of twee but i fed it through dream wombo and kinda   liked  it 

The little robot would hop out of Maces Interceptor and speed towards the medbay as his master seems to have picked up a hypherspace fever -the droids name is Reel D and ideal voice actor would be Danny Devito  as he doesn't bleep but talks basic ,a  very old droid  he squirts oil and steam as he moves

 illustrations- Ralph McQuarrie .

Next we a sequence from the very end of the movie of a artificial moon exploding over a city like planet -this been Had Abbaddon  

We get another glimpse of another scene further in story where Aquilian Ranger faces off with a dark lord he is wields a purple lightsabre much like Maces. Another Aquilian Ranger attempts to stop the Vader like figure ..and fails 

 

 The Vaderesque figure walks through the ship corridors and the doors open to reveal  Chancellor Palpatines Office as it was in Revenge of the Sith   Lord Windu  announces "You're Under Arrest Chancellor"

But before he can react the  Lord Vader/Windu is bombarded by force lighting and crashes through a window to an endless fall

 Windu wakes up , at his bed side is Jedi Master Yoda , he lends a sympathetic ear as Mace tries to explain his fever dream but soon ut appears Yoda  gets bored and proceeds to force choke Mace ...

The whole Med bay is wrecked and the bacta tank that Mace was actually recovering in  has exploded such was the shock of the dream ending a second time , Mace is worse for wear and begins to doubt himself and his abilitys .,a young officer appears at the med-bay and gets Mace cleaned up, he is a young Billy Dee Williams replica about 17  years old his name is "Clone"  he escorts Mace to the meeting with Chancellor Valourium

 Mace greets Valorium , who with a man in Espo fatigues who is the dead spit of Harrison Ford and an E,T Citizen (an Asogian) discuss the highjacking of a important hyperspace route by what it seems native insurgents the Opuchi, Their leader is known as Kurtz the Abhorrent leaves a holographic message and a demonstration of how cryptic and ruthless he is 

 illustration Joe Johnston

Kurtz and his Opuchi Warrior Braves have besieged  two large space stations that direct intergalactic trade routes his demands are simple that all non Opuchi leave the system. .

The Espo Officer explains that all hypherspace lanes have been shut down by Kurtz he was actually there and got out by skin of his teeth his fellow station officers weren't so lucky. Communications at the space stations have been shutdown

 

Then the Asogian interjects he has been silent throughout until now "Terminate!, Terminate with Extreme Prejudice"

 

Mace tells them that Kurtz was  in fact a Jedi Knight who had gone missing 7 seasons prior on a trip to the Dagobah System  he never returned it was thought he was lost to the planets hostile environment He informs the E.T citizen that Jedi's do not Terminate or harbour prejudice but instead negotiate

Mace meets "Clone" at the Cantwells docking bay as the two approach an old battered Old Republic trawler "The Tarnack" which is with Reel D's ancient databanks can jump through the Opuchi's blockade 

undetected . The Craft embarks and  "Clone" introduces his fellow crewmates 

 

 First up is Captain Dardell Thorpe (played by either James Coburn or Lee Marvin) who strikes Mace as very serious minded , very much the captain of the ship   fed this image and a few prompts again into wombo and came up with these images 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then Mace is introduced to CJ Thorpe Dardells eldest daughter played by a young Michelle Pfieffer or Debbie Harry) Mace senses she is very strong with the force but because she is 18 she is too old to train  , but it strikes him that she is force sensitive

 The final crew member is "Cheff" a Lasat  and the ships cook he takes great  delight in his talents for creating unique dishes and prepares a final supper before the ship  jumps into lightspeed 

 The Tarnack on it's uncharted trip comes out of hypherspace only to find itself dead centre  in a oppuchi  laid minefield the mines themselves look like the original designs for the blue tie-fighter  

Fed Ralph's Alderann City painting through wombo to see what it would come up with

 Suddenly  the Tarnack lunges   the crew are thrown to the deck  as the ship rises  vertically  carried up  by a tractor beam intro a large Mandolorian Battle cruiser .

 

 They are greeted by Lieutenant Gor Kil (Robert Duvall )and a large group of Supercommandos ,Lt  Gor wants to know why a Jedi Knight and a crew of Aquilian Rangers are doing in Oppuchi space . there is a standoff but Mace with Jedi Mind trickery convinces Gor that they come in peace and have a common foe in the The Opuchi and if he and the Tarnacks Crew can aid them in any way-Gor explains his problem as the minefield needs to be cleared in order for his Mando Commandos to attack the small green moon that orbits Had Abaddon 

Captain Dardell Thorpe tells his fellow Rangers to suit up as they will  attempt to take a distant freighter of Opuchi design  navigating through the tie minefield  with jet packs , Windu asks if he join them , Dardell having his ship damaged is irate with the Mando's and has also taken a dislike to the Jedi , and states that it is Aquilian Ranger business and not to risk his own primary mission.

 

CJ and  Clone  get kitted up and embark on there three man space ranger assault , a  tense suspenseful  space  minefield scene follows till the trio  reach  the Opuchi freighters docking bay unmolested as it seems every oppuchi warrior has been slain. CJ notes that some of the warriors  have been struck by laser sword the choice of sidearm Aquilian Rangers use.

 The three rangers explore the ghostship and search for the control room where they can deactivate the tie mines  as they approach  the relevant panel  a masked cloaked figure leaps out of the darkness , Dardell reacts by opening fire on the masked figure but his shot is deflected directly back into his chest armour CJ leaps into action and engages in a laser sword duel with the Vader like figure 

 

a  Laser Sword duel breaks out and takes place in the corridors of the ghostship  CJ Unleases a metal sphere shaped  combat remote an earlier version of the one used by Luke in a ANH  this helps CJ to direct the mad space warrior towards the escape pods where the duel continues..

Meanwhile Clone assists Dardell  pulling him towards a two seater  X Wing the original Colin Cantwell green X Wing- Clone states that the Ship belongs to there superior officer Marshall Tora (Dennis Hopper) Dardell reminds Clone why they are here and Clone presses the wrong button instead of deactivating   the mines they fall downwards onto the green moons surface. Dardell protests as Clone takes him onto Tora's X Wing that he can't leave his daughter but Clone is thinking of saving his captain  and takes off for he Mandolorian fleet 

On the green moon hell rains down and the Oppuchi forces flee but not before cutting Mandolorian Gauntlets cut  through the sky and attack the defences  on board alongside  Gor Kil is Mace who assists the supercommando's  as the over power the Oppuchi braves 

 

 Meanwhile the game of cat and mouse between the golden masked figure and C.J concludes when the young ranger accidently seals them both an escape pod  which hurtles down to the Moon landing in the jungle river  then down a waterfall then to a sudden halt where  C.J leaps out the pod  a stunned gold mask figure pursues , C.J see's a vision what appears to be  Diathim Angels high up in the sky  she is greeted by a number of tiny versions of the diathim that tell her to follow them to safety through the forrest fires now far behind the masked figure follows but is interrupted by falling tree branches and various oppuchi warriors 

The tiny angels lead CJ towards Gordon a spaceport town  the angel transforms into her singular form

The Angel introduces her to a high priestess  a Zeltron  called Nellith

Nellith tells CJ Thorpe that she has been summoned by the force itself to part take in a ancient ritual .

Meanwhile on the outskirts of the town the Vaderesque Figure approaches.

That's as far as I'll go for now I do sort of  know how rest of story goes but I need to collect more images  and give them a colouring but right now it ain't  so good what with my Mum in hospital , it's been a while and it's really scary so I've been spending most of February by her bedside so not sure if I'll post much in near future. I  have a few episodes of stories I've been colouring but with this new crisis it's difficult to complete them , mind you I'll see if I can come up with a OST I did do one of Udio  a few monthes back but I'll do a better one which lasts a bit longer this time around.

Hearing about Robert Duval made me want to do this post so a Boba Fett Nod to Tom Hagen