Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Iconic Crature Handler moments from the movies, from StarWars.com databank
Taun-Tauns
Tauntauns are a species of snow lizard found roaming the windswept snow plains of Hoth. The Rebel Alliance domesticated the swift creature during their stay on the ice planet, and used the animals for patrol duties outside Echo Base. The animals came in useful as the Rebel technicians had difficulty adapting their repulsorlift speeders to the subzero temperatures.
Both Luke Skywalker and Han Solorode tauntauns on Rebel patrol missions, planting a network of life-form sensors along Echo Base's perimeter. Though tauntauns are sure-footed and well equipped to handle Hoth's daytime temperature, the chilling extremes of a Hoth night will prove deadly.
Boga the Fearless Varactyl
With its plunging sinkholes, layered city levels and sheer cliff-faces, the remote world of Utapau can be difficult and hazardous to navigate. When Obi-Wan Kenobi came to the planet in search of General Grievous, he relied on native know-how to scale the sinkhole walls to track the droid general to his Separatist command center.
Kenobi went to the pens where Utapaun wranglers corralled native winged and wingless lizards for use as transports. From the livery he selected an obliging and brave lizard named Boga, with a leather saddle strapped to her swaying back.
She stood four meters tall at the shoulder, and had a pebbled skin with an iridescent green and blue sheen. A crown of richly colored feathers fringed her head and neck, trailing away from her beaked face and keen eyes. Her powerful limbs ended in five-toed feet, tipped with curved claws providing excellent purchase on the sandstone surfaces. A long tail aided in balance and agility.
Though a large creature, Boga had a silent tread, quiet enough to sneak into the rafters of the tenth level compound of General Grievous. There, Obi-Wan was able to confront the Separatist commander. As their duel erupted into a chase, Kenobi called for Boga and the loyal creature carried the Jedi general in pursuit of Grievous.
Her stride was swift enough to keep pace with Grievous' wheel bike as it tore through the avenues of the sinkhole city. Boga was brave and trusting enough of Kenobi's command to perform daring leaps and close with Grievous' dangerously spiked conveyance.
When Order 66 was enacted, Kenobi's clone trooper battalions turned on him. A laser turret targeted Boga. The near-miss knocked the lizard and her rider off the cliff-side, sending both plunging into the sinkhole grotto.
Found on the desert planet of Tatooine, the saurian ronto is a huge four-legged beast of burden. Locals, such as the native Jawas, use the ronto to haul cargo and passengers through the streets of port towns like Mos Espa and Mos Eisley. Though a towering 4.25 meters in height, rontos are nonetheless skittish and easily startled.
The rancor was a terrible creature hidden in a shadowy chamber beneath Jabba the Hutt's throne room. A five-meter tall towering hulk of muscle and reptilian flesh, the rancor walked on two stubby legs and had disproportionately long arms to capture prey. Dominating its flat face was a salivating tooth-filled maw. Its armored skin was so tough that the beast could slough off blaster bolts as little more than annoyances.
The rancor served the dual purpose of not only amusing Jabba, but also disposing of unwanted servants, musicians, or anyone else the Hutt would want to get rid of. With a shout of "Boska!" Jabba would activate a secret trap door in front of his throne. The victim would tumble into the underground chamber as a viewing grate opened to allow Jabba and his depraved audience a glimpse of the gruesome proceedings. A creaky retaining gate would unleash the beast. The rancor would make short work of any unfortunate soul dropped into the pit.
Luke Skywalker reversed the typical fate of a rancor victim when Jabba sent the young Jedi tumbling into the monster's lair. Skywalker was able to escape the beast's clutches, and lure it back into its pen. When the rancor stood beneath the retaining gate, Luke hurled the skull of a previous victim into the control mechanism. The gate came crashing down on the rancor, killing Jabba's pet.
Marching from mist-filled swamps to challenge the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo came the Gungan Grand Army, with militiagungs riding atop their faithful kaadu. Like the cavaliers of countless primitive armies, the Gungan soldiers have a special bond with their loyal mounts. At times of peace, the Gungans use the kaadu as patrol animals, policing their city streets.
Kaadu are swift-footed scaly-skinned wingless avians with strong legs and smooth bodies. Like their Gungan masters, they have duck-billed snouts, colorful skin and aquatic ancestry. During the Battle of Naboo, Gungan generals like Jar Jar Binks commanded their troops from atop kaadu, using the animal's speed to avoid the Trade Federation battle tanks.
A lumbering beast of burden favored by the Gungans of Naboo, fambaas are immense quadrupeds capable of hauling enormous cargoes. The Gungan Grand Army uses fambaas as transports for their impressive shield generators. A pair of fambaas travelling in single file each carries a necessary component for the generator to function.
(To be continued...)
Message Edited by Iakimo on 11-06-2005 05:02 AM
Felucia Ground Beetles
The Felucia Star Corps of clone troopers assigned to Aayla Secura didn't solely rely on mechanized transports to move through the exotic wilderness of their colorful battlefront. The clones also employed these native gelatinous larva-like ground beetles as mounts.
Mustafar Lava Fleas
As evidence of the hardiness and tenacity of life in the galaxy, a world as inhospitable as Mustafar has borne a variety of well-adapted life-forms on and beneath its hellish surface. The native Mustafarians have domesticated an enormous species of hard-shelled arthropods. These Mustafarian lava fleas are capable of walking on the encrusted surfaces of lava flows and atop the searing rock of the volcanic planet.
Shaaks
A docile herd animal native to the grassy plains of Naboo, shaaks are rotund grazers raised for their meat by Naboo shaak wranglers.
[Iakimo's note: These iconic elements of the Naboo landscape (Anakin stood on the back of one of these bulbous creatures to show off for Padme in Episode 2) do not appear in SWG. Let's hope the devs add these creatures to the game one day.]
Can-Cells
The primeval forests of Kashyyyk have fostered in them life forms that grow far larger and far more dangerous than counterparts on other, more tamed worlds. A prime example is the can-cell. It is an enormous insect, over three meters long, with gossamer wings that strobe at a fantastic rate, creating a buzzing drone as it flits through the skies, trailing behind it a feathery tail.
The insect is not dangerous, however. It can be tamed by other species, and beings small enough have been known to ride them, such as Aleenan scouts and even fugitive Jedi Masters.
Blurrgs
Blurrgs are dim-witted, tough-skinned reptilian herbivores used as riding animals and beasts of burden by the Marauders of Endor. The egg-laying creatures produce five or six young at a time. During their early years, they stay close to their mother for protection. Blurrgs communicate through a series of low roars.
Though not carnivorous, the blurrgs do have powerful jaws for rending apart trees and other hard plants. They are often preyed upon by boar-wolves. Their simple intellect, awkward gait and odd appearance have made them objects of derision in Ewok folklore.
Boar Wolves
The boar-wolf, or borra, is a vicious predator native to the forest moon of Endor. Roughly three meters tall at the shoulder, the shaggy creatures have tusk-like teeth, a keen sense of smell, and large, hooked claws. They often howl at the shining Endor planet in the night sky, and they typically hunt in pairs. The Ewoks of Endor sometimes hunt these massive creatures, using traps and poisoned spears to kill the dangerous predator.
The Gorax of Endor is known to have borra as pets. A Gorax will find a boar-wolf mother who has gone to ground in a cave to give birth to a litter. The Gorax then smashes open the whelping place, kills the mother, and chooses a boar-wolf to take as a pet.
[Iakimo's note: The database mentions that these things are three meters tall! Far larger than portrayed in SWG.]
The Reek
A stout brute with tough leathery skin, the reek was one of three deadly creatures unleashed in the Geonosian execution arena, dispatched to kill Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The surprisingly fast animal was directed by picadors to attack Anakin Skywalker. Skywalker used his Jedi agility to leap upon the beast, and used the reek's sheer muscle-power to break the chains that bound him. Skywalker was able to momentarily calm the reek, and used the massive horned creature as a mount while chaos reigned within the arena.
As Jedi reinforcements and battle droids waged war within the arena, and the reek again went berserk, charging battle droids and Jedi alike. The creature's trampling rampage was cut short by the marksmanship of bounty hunter Jango Fett.
The Nexu
A fierce and agile predator, the nexu was one of a trio of deadly beasts unleashed by the Geonosians upon Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the execution arena. The nexu's broad face was split by a terrifying tooth-filled maw, and four eyes glinted from atop its spade-shaped head. Its wiry, supple muscles were visible beneath its fine coat, and sharp curving quills lined its spine. A naked, forked prehensile tail trailed it, aiding in balance, and its arms and legs terminated in large curved claws.
The nexu zeroed in on Padmé Amidala, who had partially escaped her bonds and climbed up her execution pillar. Mostly safe from its reach, Padmé was able to user her own chains and shackles to stun the beast. Though sustaining a glancing slash of the nexu's claws, Padmé was able to kick the wind out of the animal, momentarily stunning it.
The injured nexu was then killed by a charging attack from a fellow arena beast, the reek, which was under the control of Anakin Skywalker.
The Acklay
A surprisingly agile fury of sharp claws and pointed fangs, the vicious acklay was one of the three arena creatures unleashed in the Geonosian execution arena, dispatched to kill Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Geonosian picadors steered the acklay toward Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was able to outmaneuver the beast. A clumsy yet powerful strike from one of its claws sheared the chains that bound Kenobi. The beast continued to pursue the Jedi Knight, rending large holes in the hard-packed sand with its vicious stabs. It even shrugged off a pike attack, chomping through the offending polearm with bestial rage.
When the execution erupted into a gigantic melee between Jedi and battle droids, the acklay roamed the arena floor in a frenzy. It still stalked Kenobi, who was finally able to silence its terrifying howls with skillful swipes of his lightsaber blade.
Ysalamiri (Expanded Universe)
Sessile tree-dwellers from the obscure planet of Myrkr, the ysalamiri are among the most bizarre creatures of the galaxy. As part of a defensive mechanism that protects them from Force-sensitive pack animals called vornskrs, the ysalamiri have developed the unusual ability to "push back" the Force.
Ysalamiri are small, furry salamander-like creatures no larger than 50 centimeters long. Their long claws grow directly into the cores of the branches they inhabit, drawing nutrients from the mineral-rich trees. It takes special knowledge to successfully remove an ysalamiri from a branch without killing it.
A single ysalamiri creates a bubble in which the Force cannot be manipulated. In groups, the size of the bubble increases. Vast areas in which the Force cannot be used cover Myrkr.
Five years after the Battle of Endor, Grand Admiral Thrawn used ysalamiri in a cunning plan to topple the New Republic. Imperial engineers fashioned a special nutrient frame that allowed ysalamiri to be transported and kept alive once removed from the trees.
Thrawn used the ysalamiri in order to secure the allegiance of Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth. With ysalamiri in place, Thrawn would have a distinct advantage over Force-sensitives like C'baoth, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. Thrawn also discovered that strategically placed ysalamiri employed in Spaarti-based cloning chambers eliminated the clone madness caused by the disruption of identical Force patterns inherent in Spaarti clones. By using ysalamiri in his vast cloning facility in Mount Tantiss on Wayland, Thrawn was able to grow adult clones in a fraction of the recommended time.
Message Clickified By Iakimo Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 at 5:25am
Message Edited by Iakimo on 11-06-2005 05:26 AM
George Lucas himself said that the Star Wars universe is filled with creatures. Rontos, dewbacks, banthas on Tatooine, just for starters.
CH IS starwarsy. There can be no doubt of that as Obi-Wan rides a varactyl into battle against Grevious.
Anyone who tells you otherwise (I"m talking to you, dev gundark scum) has a braincase filled with rancor poodoo.
It's not just that the SW universe is filled with creatures; it's that every one of these creatures I've listed are specifically portrayed in the movies (with the exception of the ysalamiri, which is part of the Expanded Universe, but included here because it's so interesting) as being domesticated in some form or fashion.
SioBabble wrote:
George Lucas himself said that the Star Wars universe is filled with creatures. Rontos, dewbacks, banthas on Tatooine, just for starters.
CH IS starwarsy. There can be no doubt of that as Obi-Wan rides a varactyl into battle against Grevious.
Anyone who tells you otherwise (I"m talking to you, dev gundark scum) has a braincase filled with rancor poodoo.
I know you are taking this from SW databank, but the story by Kevin J. Anderson "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale" from the "Tales from Jabba'a Palace" short story collection could be included. There is a nice part of the story where Malakili and the Rancor go out for a jaunt across the sands and battle Tuskens and their Banthas. Additionally, several dozen, if not more, of the NPC names running around Tatooine were taken directly from that book and/ or "Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina." Lucas authorized this stuff, it is iconic.
Oh, but wait. Our mistake. We know what iconic means. SOE/ LA doesn't, they just liked the way it sounds and the spin. Stupid us.
UrukXul wrote:
Sweet. Bumpity, bumpity.
I know you are taking this from SW databank, but the story by Kevin J. Anderson "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale" from the "Tales from Jabba'a Palace" short story collection could be included. There is a nice part of the story where Malakili and the Rancor go out for a jaunt across the sands and battle Tuskens and their Banthas. Additionally, several dozen, if not more, of the NPC names running around Tatooine were taken directly from that book and/ or "Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina." Lucas authorized this stuff, it is iconic.
Oh, but wait. Our mistake. We know what iconic means. SOE/ LA doesn't, they just liked the way it sounds and the spin. Stupid us.
LOL! Cool!
Any stuff like this from the Expanded Universe is well worth adding to this thread. I stuck primarily with the creatures from the movie (except as noted with the Ysalamiri) to make sure none of the critics who look this over can fudge and say these are not part of the movie canon. All but the ysalamiri show up on-screen. Of course, the movie does beg the question of who tames all these wonderful creatures.
I will reiterate that a HUGE part of what makes the Star Wars cycle such a unique entertainment experience is the presence of these creatures. And for my part, as a former Creature Handler, it was a blast to play the role of one of the beings who helped bring such creatures into the domestic worlds of his companions. It was definitely part of my in-game plan to build a new Creature Handler profession for one of my characters, probably as soon as I finished Iakimo's Jedi template. Let's hope the devs at LucasArts or SOE, whichever is driving this new environment to Live, makes the restoration of this hugely fascinating profession ahigh priority.
Thanks! And thank you for the bumpage....
JCooper2 wrote:
Nice Post Iakimo
And Bump It On Up !