Star Wars -- the villains

[fabiani12333]

With the popularity of the Star Wars franchise seemingly in decline, I thought it would be a good time to show off my collection of autograph cards of Star Wars villains.

First up is the mysterious Boba Fett. Portrayed in the films by the late actor Jeremy Bulloch. The character was a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader to hunt down Luke Skywalker. He actually made his debut on the streets of a northern California city marching in a parade (a street I knew very well while growing up):

“Boba Fett was actually in this Marin County parade,” legendary sound designer Ben Burtt says in the documentary, going on to say that George Lucas himself lived in the town, and they wanted to put something Star Wars related in the parade. “They put Vader, and this strange character Boba Fett, who people didn’t know, into the local parade.”

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/star-...a-local-parade

Here's Jeremy Bulloch's first Boba Fett autograph card from the 2001 Star Wars Evolution set:



Next up is the cartoonish General Grievous. The character is a reptilian creature with a cyborg body and four arms -- that's a mouthful. He debuted in an episode of the animated show, Clone Wars, in 2003. Computer generated in the Revenge of the Sith, the character was voiced by Matthew Wood, an employee of Lucasfilm's sound department. The character spoke with a chronic cough as a result of being wounded in a fight.

Gary Oldman was originally cast to the voice the character, but decided to drop out due to Australian union filmmaking rules:

“Well, I did a voice for ‘Star Wars’…was it General Grievous?” Oldman said, unable to fully recall the name of the character at first. Oldman explained that ultimately, some of the Australian rules of union filmmaking, where the film was shot, prevented Lucas from using his voice. “What happened was something to do with union stuff and non-union stuff,” he said. “I was not going to be the poster boy for [breaking union rules].”

But to hear it from Oldman, he recorded his lines and spent time with George Lucas. “[Lucas] directed me the whole thing; yeah, he was terrific,” he said.

https://theplaylist.net/gary-oldman-...vous-20220611/

Here is Matthew Wood's autograph card from 2017 Masterwork:




Next up is Captain Phasma, portrayed by actress Gwendoline Christie. With an outfit clearly derived from the Storm Troopers, and serving in the First Order, which itself was clearly derived from the Galactic Empire, Phasma is best described as a Nazi -- a feminazi?. With there not being many female villains in the Star Wars universe -- not including a person with the initials of KK, if you know what I mean lol -- I think that makes Phasma pretty unique.

Here's a card Gwendoline signed for the debut release of Stellar in 2017:





I'm not a big fan of the Disney Star Wars sequels -- honestly, I'm not a fan of any of the Star Wars films other than the original trilogy -- but I did kind of like Adam Driver's depiction of Kylo Ren. At least, I liked his character when not wearing the "ridiculous" mask, which kind of looked like a paint gun mask. He was basically an emo youth with anger problems who admired Darth Vader and wanted to rule the galaxy -- what teenage boy doesn't?

Driver is a former US Marine -- thank you for your service, sir -- and like the actors in the original Star Wars trilogy, his career took off after joining the franchise. Now he's a bona fide actor getting Oscar nominations.


Here is a card Driver signed for 2018 Masterwork (the facial scar adds character):





Another mysterious villain who died too soon (or not) -- Darth Maul, portrayed by acrobatic English actor, Ray Park. Maul was Palpatine's first apprentice. He had a cool look and introduced the double lightsaber. Unfortunately, he pissed off a young Obi-Wan and got cut in half -- is the dark side in fact stronger? Perhaps in a fight.

Somehow Maul survived -- don't ask me how -- and he showed up again in the Star Wars cinematic universe in the Han Solo film -- yeah, I saw it in the theater.

Park also portrayed the Marvel villain Toad in the 2000 X-Men film -- do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning?

Here's Park's autograph card for 2016 Masterwork (cool rainbow foil version):





Perhaps the evilest villain in the Star Wars universe, Dark Lord Palpatine, portrayed masterfully by English actor Ian McDiarmid. I'm not lying -- he's legit creepy to me as Palpatine -- like some kind of evil Pope.

McDiarmid has a background in stage acting -- he performed Shakespeare plays in Britain -- and you can tell with his on-screen performance.

He was only 37 years old when he first played a much older Palpatine in the Return of the Jedi. As a result, he had to wear facial prosthetics.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually liked the inclusion of Palpatine in the Rise of the Skywalker film. McDiarmid was maybe the creepiest he had ever been as the character -- and I think there's some strong symbolism involved. But I've got to say, I didn't much care for Palpatine in the Revenge of the Sith -- the prosthetics were ugly and too dissimilar to ROTJ, and the incessant laugh was just too over the top and annoying.

Here's a McDiramid's autograph card for 2019 Topps Chrome (as "Emperor Palpatine):





Finally, we've nearly reached the conclusion of our list. There is, of course, one more -- the OG himself: Darth Vader. Portrayed by the late David Prowse -- a large, muscular actor remembered well in Clockwork Orange (hilarious, twisted scene). And voiced by the great James Earl Jones -- who had also been in a Stanley Kubrik film: Dr. Strangelove -- a hilarious, twisted film.

Vader was a brutish cyborg with dark force powers and great strength who was essentially the enforcer of the Empire. He had a dark suit and helmet that were inspired by traditional Japanese samurai armor. It was later revealed he was Luke Skywalker's father -- a secret that was held close to the chest by George Lucas during filming of the Empire Strikes Back; even David Prowse and James Earl Jones didn't know.

Jones was known for his deep, masculine voice. But he was also a good on-screen actor -- he was great as the villain in Conan the Barbarian.

Here's Jones' autograph card for the debut release of Masterwork in 2015:




Welp, that's it. Maybe you can post your own Star Wars villain cards.

[peterose4hof]

Great cards! Great write-up!

[Bunny Hop]

Awesome cards and fun post. Thanks for sharing.

[DynaEtch]

Very nice stuff fabiani- like a true who's who of SW baddies. And you saved the best for last, wow!

Love the idea of this collection as it's usually the SW heroes who are getting all the attention. I enjoyed the descriptions as well. You've kind of exhausted the main ones, but do you plan on adding any more villains, or pretty much considering it complete since it covers the big ones? Did Christopher Lee ever have a SW auto?

Palpatine is truly such a well-done (in an evil way) character, and McDiarmid was so good in this role. I too preferred his portrayal in ROTJ over ROTS. One of the few characters I can think of that have no redeeming characteristics at all, just pure evil, he has a lot of similarities to Voldemort from HP, another of my fav series. (well I guess you can say he saved Anakin from death, but that was just to use him in his evil plans). You could perhaps say Tarkin or Jabba have no redeeming values either from what we’ve seen, but they are more minor roles. The ROTJ throne room has to be one of the best scenes of star wars - just 3 characters: one pure evil, one pure good, and one grayish/conflicted in between.

[DynaEtch]

What’s also nice is most if not all these autos look on-card, whereas I thought Topps did stickers for lots of SW autos.

The Masterworks rainbow Darth Maul really pops, great looking card.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Very nice stuff fabiani- like a true who's who of SW baddies. And you saved the best for last, wow!

Love the idea of this collection as it's usually the SW heroes who are getting all the attention. I enjoyed the descriptions as well. You've kind of exhausted the main ones, but do you plan on adding any more villains, or pretty much considering it complete since it covers the big ones? Did Christopher Lee ever have a SW auto?

Palpatine is truly such a well-done (in an evil way) character, and McDiarmid was so good in this role. I too preferred his portrayal in ROTJ over ROTS. One of the few characters I can think of that have no redeeming characteristics at all, just pure evil, he has a lot of similarities to Voldemort from HP, another of my fav series. (well I guess you can say he saved Anakin from death, but that was just to use him in his evil plans). You could perhaps say Tarkin or Jabba have no redeeming values either from what we’ve seen, but they are more minor roles. The ROTJ throne room has to be one of the best scenes of star wars - just 3 characters: one pure evil, one pure good, and one grayish/conflicted in between.

Thanks, Dyna.

Christopher Lee signed for Lord of the Rings and James Bond sets, but never Star Wars. He would be a good addition, for sure.

I did intend to add more villains like Jabba -- I just never got around to it. I think I might at some point.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

Great cards! Great write-up!

Originally Posted by Bunny Hop

Awesome cards and fun post. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks.

[the mesiah]

Awesome JEJ!