May 14, 2021 • 11 mins
Holly and Tracy talk about how they decided to cover the life of Ralph McQuarrie, and discuss the breadth of his awe-inspiring work.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class. A production
of I Heart Radio, Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Holly
Fry and I'm Tracy Bee Wilson. We got to spend
a luxurious two episodes talking about Ralph mcquarie. This week
(00:21):
we did. This is one of those episodes. First, I
should mention that it was your idea it kind of yeah,
should I tell that whole saga shower? Um? So, as
you may have noticed, we had some three D audio
in these episodes, and originally we had been asked to
do something that was going to come out the week
(00:42):
of May four, and I said, hey, we could do
something kind of Star Wars e because we were trying
to think of what would work well with a three
D audio aspect for our show, which right, and and
May the fourth is Star Wars Day, and May the
fourth is Star Wars Day, So that seemed like a
good can action. Uh. And then the date of the
(01:03):
drop for these episodes got pushed by a week and
it wasn't around Star Wars Day anymore. That's okay, which
was fine. Anytime is a good time to talk about
Ralph McQuary. Yeah, um, yeah, this is one of those
those episodes. That is simultaneously an absolute delight for me
to research and work on and incredibly deeply painful for
(01:28):
me to research and work on because anybody who knows
Ralph mcquarie's work, particularly for the Star Wars films, which
obviously I'm rabbit about, it's so dense, there's so much
of it. They're literally thousands of pieces of art. So
having to only talk about a few of them was
I could do an entire episode where I only talk
(01:50):
about his work on best Bin because Cloud City is
where it's at for me. Yeah, something that was really
interesting to me. I have seen all the Star Wars movies,
some of them more than one time, and I've seen
all of the Mantalorian but like, I have never had
the level of Star Wars connection and immersion that you
have had. But still, reading a lot of the descriptions
(02:13):
of the art that he made, so much of it,
like I immediately know exactly what's seen you were talking
about and exactly what it looks like. Yeah, I mean,
it's really really marvelous to see how meticulously some of
his his imagery was recreated on screen, was really very
little or no changes to it. I mean, he he
(02:36):
talks in various interviews. He he talked through the years
about how like there were just times when things could
not look the way he drew them because there were
just logistics and he understood that from like a material's perspective,
you can't actually make this thing, which is pretty interesting,
but there are some that just look exactly like what
he painted. One of the things that I did not
(02:59):
get into, and it kind of falls into that territory,
is his designs for Yoda, because his Yoda does not
look like Yoda at all when he read the script
and it was, you know, this sort of wizzened very
old Jedi in his mind, he was like a bony,
crotchety looking creature, and he looks much more severe in
(03:20):
his images. If you've seen any of his paintings of Yoda,
you'll see that they look very very different. Um and
he kind of said, like, well, some of the that
changes that other concept artists were coming up with things
that were a little closer to what George wanted. But
also the puppeteers really like kind of dominated the decision
process because they knew what the materials could and couldn't
do it. She's actually going to work and play on
(03:42):
screen versus like trying to create this weird, bony thing
that probably wouldn't have had the same level of of
warmth to it. Um. It's so wonderful because he was
for the most part when you read interviews with him,
he was not territorial about his art at all, Like
he never was like they didn't do I thought was better.
The only thing I ever saw him mentioned was the
(04:03):
e Walks. He just like, I really wish they had
look scarier. Um, you know, man, I was the exact
age to those Waks. They were adorable meat. I still
love the e Walks. The the animated Ewok Adventures are
now on Disney Plus, and I'm They're so ridiculous and wonderful,
and I relish that they turned out so cute that
(04:24):
now we have adorable animated stuff that we can revisit. I. Um, yeah,
there were things that I was like, oh, should I
put this in? I had a whole long description for
a while of his art of the speeder bike chase,
which has a lot of a sense of motion to it,
But it was just like, this is another like five
D words that is just about this one painting, And
(04:46):
I don't know that it does anything different from what
we've already talked about. UM. I mean, I'm happy to
talk to all these paintings forever and ever and ever,
but you have to load balance it a little bit.
It's also in interesting that his work, it appears, was
just universally awe inspiring. Like there are even moments where
(05:10):
people talk about different collaborators that maybe weren't always great
at like and at being that sort of non ownership
approach that he had where they were like, no, I
want my version, but like everybody would see his work
and be like, this guy is amazing, and whenever he draws,
let's put it in the movie, um, which is sort
of lovely. And I really could watch interviews with him
(05:31):
forever because he has this very gentle, sweet way about
him and you just kind of want to like buy
him a coffee and ask him to tell you stories
about art. Yeah, he's just he was a really, really
wonderful man, um, you know, and did did some various
convention appearances before his passing, and and just so beloved
(05:54):
by everybody. There's just no bad press on the dude.
But I I there is a mind boggling part of
it where we talked about how fast he was, like
he would turn around a concept painting sometimes in two days,
and they were big paintings with a lot of details.
But to him and he talks about how well that
was work, that was my job. But I it's so
(06:17):
strange to juxtapose his kind of pragmatism about it and
his lack of like, no, I've passionately fought for it
to look this way. He doesn't do that. He's very like, well,
practically speaking, it seemed to make more sense this way,
so that's what I did. And yet he turned out
these things that just take people's breath away, which is
kind of a very different image of an artist than
(06:39):
what we often get, right right, just a Mr. Equanimity,
relaxed about everything. Even though the quote that you read
from him at the very end of the episode kind
of downplayed the idea of like commercial and technical art
being art. Um, I feel like a lot of what
(07:02):
he did just is really evidence that like, yeah, if
you're doing this for your paycheck and you're doing it
to the clients spec it's still art. Like even if
you felt like that wasn't really are it definitely is
still art. Uh, yeah, yeah, I Uh. There's another quote
(07:23):
I didn't include from him, but it was very um,
I don't know if I would call it self critical,
but it was very humble where he was talking about like,
you know, beautiful, perfect art incorporates like he he would
see that like commercial art could beautiful, and he be like,
but it incorporates like this sense of just uh, you know,
(07:43):
effortlessness and beauty and it all comes together and my
art just isn't quite there. And I'm like, what, Yeah, yeah,
I know, I know a lot of people whose job
involves making art who are incredibly hard on themselves when
they see their finished art that they have made for work.
(08:05):
And I mean, I know all of us who do
something creative can be really hard our on our own
creative work. But like there, it's it's a similar vibe
and in how people have talked about the flaws they
have seen in their own visual art that they did
for their job. Yeah, it's astonishing. I mean again, I'm
(08:25):
like you, I get it, but it's so mismatched to
what we're actually looking at when we look at his
paintings that I'm like, wow, who did not have a
really strong grasp on reality? Of my friend. Um, I
will tell you, researching for this one may have also,
uh you know, resulted in another tattoo plan nice, So
(08:48):
if that happens, I'll be sure to share it on
social It's the not one of his more detailed things,
but one of his sketches that I just kind of
fell in love with and kept going back to. I
uh yeah, I uh those ice spiders, love them. I
love them. I may be the only one who was
(09:09):
like clapping and squealing with joy through that episode the
first time I saw it, because I like spiders anyway,
while my poor husband was like wadded up in a
ball at the end of the couch or I'm like,
are you a Katie's like not really, and I'm like,
well sorry, um uh yeah, but it's beautiful. I encourage
anybody if you haven't spent time looking at his work,
(09:31):
particularly if you've seen maybe his more famous work but
not some of his lesser known pieces, it's worth just
doing a search on the internet and kind of getting
lost for a little while. Maybe why you have your
coffee or something or a little break in your day,
because it's it is just it's refreshingly beautiful, Like I
think there is something so special about his work because
(09:53):
he does bring that technical expertise that he got working
in aerospace, but elevates it in a way that is
completely sublime and beautiful. UM And I obviously have like
fangirl rabies over his work in particular, but I think
most people that look at it can appreciate that it
is really quite spectacular. If you can find a picture
(10:14):
of UM, particularly those Matt paintings that he did for
the landing platform scene that we talked about in Empire
Strikes Back, and also the scene where the big showdown
between Luke and Vader happens in that shaft like where
they're just surrounded by open space and black walls full
of light. He painted that um that background and then
(10:40):
had to go in and it got filmed, and then
he did some retouching to fill in some spaces, and
it's just it's really a testament to like an incredible
level of skill. UM that will forever blew my mind.
So I hope everybody enjoyed it and found this fun
and was okay with indulging me in my Star Wars
rabies or two full episodes. UM. Also, we hope that
(11:07):
you have a great weekend to head. If you have
time off, I hope you spend it doing things that
are joyous and RESTful. Not making art for other people,
but maybe for yourself. Follow Ralph's lead, just lie down
and see what happens. Um If you do have to work,
I hope that you can also find your your moments
of inspiration or beauty, and that everybody is super cool
(11:28):
to you. We will see you here tomorrow with a
classic and next week with new episodes. Stuff you Missed
in History Class is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class. A production
of I Heart Radio, Hello and Happy Friday. I'm Holly
Fry and I'm Tracy Bee Wilson. We got to spend
a luxurious two episodes talking about Ralph mcquarie. This week
(00:21):
we did. This is one of those episodes. First, I
should mention that it was your idea it kind of yeah,
should I tell that whole saga shower? Um? So, as
you may have noticed, we had some three D audio
in these episodes, and originally we had been asked to
do something that was going to come out the week
(00:42):
of May four, and I said, hey, we could do
something kind of Star Wars e because we were trying
to think of what would work well with a three
D audio aspect for our show, which right, and and
May the fourth is Star Wars Day, and May the
fourth is Star Wars Day, So that seemed like a
good can action. Uh. And then the date of the
(01:03):
drop for these episodes got pushed by a week and
it wasn't around Star Wars Day anymore. That's okay, which
was fine. Anytime is a good time to talk about
Ralph McQuary. Yeah, um, yeah, this is one of those
those episodes. That is simultaneously an absolute delight for me
to research and work on and incredibly deeply painful for
(01:28):
me to research and work on because anybody who knows
Ralph mcquarie's work, particularly for the Star Wars films, which
obviously I'm rabbit about, it's so dense, there's so much
of it. They're literally thousands of pieces of art. So
having to only talk about a few of them was
I could do an entire episode where I only talk
(01:50):
about his work on best Bin because Cloud City is
where it's at for me. Yeah, something that was really
interesting to me. I have seen all the Star Wars movies,
some of them more than one time, and I've seen
all of the Mantalorian but like, I have never had
the level of Star Wars connection and immersion that you
have had. But still, reading a lot of the descriptions
(02:13):
of the art that he made, so much of it,
like I immediately know exactly what's seen you were talking
about and exactly what it looks like. Yeah, I mean,
it's really really marvelous to see how meticulously some of
his his imagery was recreated on screen, was really very
little or no changes to it. I mean, he he
(02:36):
talks in various interviews. He he talked through the years
about how like there were just times when things could
not look the way he drew them because there were
just logistics and he understood that from like a material's perspective,
you can't actually make this thing, which is pretty interesting,
but there are some that just look exactly like what
he painted. One of the things that I did not
(02:59):
get into, and it kind of falls into that territory,
is his designs for Yoda, because his Yoda does not
look like Yoda at all when he read the script
and it was, you know, this sort of wizzened very
old Jedi in his mind, he was like a bony,
crotchety looking creature, and he looks much more severe in
(03:20):
his images. If you've seen any of his paintings of Yoda,
you'll see that they look very very different. Um and
he kind of said, like, well, some of the that
changes that other concept artists were coming up with things
that were a little closer to what George wanted. But
also the puppeteers really like kind of dominated the decision
process because they knew what the materials could and couldn't
do it. She's actually going to work and play on
(03:42):
screen versus like trying to create this weird, bony thing
that probably wouldn't have had the same level of of
warmth to it. Um. It's so wonderful because he was
for the most part when you read interviews with him,
he was not territorial about his art at all, Like
he never was like they didn't do I thought was better.
The only thing I ever saw him mentioned was the
(04:03):
e Walks. He just like, I really wish they had
look scarier. Um, you know, man, I was the exact
age to those Waks. They were adorable meat. I still
love the e Walks. The the animated Ewok Adventures are
now on Disney Plus, and I'm They're so ridiculous and wonderful,
and I relish that they turned out so cute that
(04:24):
now we have adorable animated stuff that we can revisit. I. Um, yeah,
there were things that I was like, oh, should I
put this in? I had a whole long description for
a while of his art of the speeder bike chase,
which has a lot of a sense of motion to it,
But it was just like, this is another like five
D words that is just about this one painting, And
(04:46):
I don't know that it does anything different from what
we've already talked about. UM. I mean, I'm happy to
talk to all these paintings forever and ever and ever,
but you have to load balance it a little bit.
It's also in interesting that his work, it appears, was
just universally awe inspiring. Like there are even moments where
(05:10):
people talk about different collaborators that maybe weren't always great
at like and at being that sort of non ownership
approach that he had where they were like, no, I
want my version, but like everybody would see his work
and be like, this guy is amazing, and whenever he draws,
let's put it in the movie, um, which is sort
of lovely. And I really could watch interviews with him
(05:31):
forever because he has this very gentle, sweet way about
him and you just kind of want to like buy
him a coffee and ask him to tell you stories
about art. Yeah, he's just he was a really, really
wonderful man, um, you know, and did did some various
convention appearances before his passing, and and just so beloved
(05:54):
by everybody. There's just no bad press on the dude.
But I I there is a mind boggling part of
it where we talked about how fast he was, like
he would turn around a concept painting sometimes in two days,
and they were big paintings with a lot of details.
But to him and he talks about how well that
was work, that was my job. But I it's so
(06:17):
strange to juxtapose his kind of pragmatism about it and
his lack of like, no, I've passionately fought for it
to look this way. He doesn't do that. He's very like, well,
practically speaking, it seemed to make more sense this way,
so that's what I did. And yet he turned out
these things that just take people's breath away, which is
kind of a very different image of an artist than
(06:39):
what we often get, right right, just a Mr. Equanimity,
relaxed about everything. Even though the quote that you read
from him at the very end of the episode kind
of downplayed the idea of like commercial and technical art
being art. Um, I feel like a lot of what
(07:02):
he did just is really evidence that like, yeah, if
you're doing this for your paycheck and you're doing it
to the clients spec it's still art. Like even if
you felt like that wasn't really are it definitely is
still art. Uh, yeah, yeah, I Uh. There's another quote
(07:23):
I didn't include from him, but it was very um,
I don't know if I would call it self critical,
but it was very humble where he was talking about like,
you know, beautiful, perfect art incorporates like he he would
see that like commercial art could beautiful, and he be like,
but it incorporates like this sense of just uh, you know,
(07:43):
effortlessness and beauty and it all comes together and my
art just isn't quite there. And I'm like, what, Yeah, yeah,
I know, I know a lot of people whose job
involves making art who are incredibly hard on themselves when
they see their finished art that they have made for work.
(08:05):
And I mean, I know all of us who do
something creative can be really hard our on our own
creative work. But like there, it's it's a similar vibe
and in how people have talked about the flaws they
have seen in their own visual art that they did
for their job. Yeah, it's astonishing. I mean again, I'm
(08:25):
like you, I get it, but it's so mismatched to
what we're actually looking at when we look at his
paintings that I'm like, wow, who did not have a
really strong grasp on reality? Of my friend. Um, I
will tell you, researching for this one may have also,
uh you know, resulted in another tattoo plan nice, So
(08:48):
if that happens, I'll be sure to share it on
social It's the not one of his more detailed things,
but one of his sketches that I just kind of
fell in love with and kept going back to. I
uh yeah, I uh those ice spiders, love them. I
love them. I may be the only one who was
(09:09):
like clapping and squealing with joy through that episode the
first time I saw it, because I like spiders anyway,
while my poor husband was like wadded up in a
ball at the end of the couch or I'm like,
are you a Katie's like not really, and I'm like,
well sorry, um uh yeah, but it's beautiful. I encourage
anybody if you haven't spent time looking at his work,
(09:31):
particularly if you've seen maybe his more famous work but
not some of his lesser known pieces, it's worth just
doing a search on the internet and kind of getting
lost for a little while. Maybe why you have your
coffee or something or a little break in your day,
because it's it is just it's refreshingly beautiful, Like I
think there is something so special about his work because
(09:53):
he does bring that technical expertise that he got working
in aerospace, but elevates it in a way that is
completely sublime and beautiful. UM And I obviously have like
fangirl rabies over his work in particular, but I think
most people that look at it can appreciate that it
is really quite spectacular. If you can find a picture
(10:14):
of UM, particularly those Matt paintings that he did for
the landing platform scene that we talked about in Empire
Strikes Back, and also the scene where the big showdown
between Luke and Vader happens in that shaft like where
they're just surrounded by open space and black walls full
of light. He painted that um that background and then
(10:40):
had to go in and it got filmed, and then
he did some retouching to fill in some spaces, and
it's just it's really a testament to like an incredible
level of skill. UM that will forever blew my mind.
So I hope everybody enjoyed it and found this fun
and was okay with indulging me in my Star Wars
rabies or two full episodes. UM. Also, we hope that
(11:07):
you have a great weekend to head. If you have
time off, I hope you spend it doing things that
are joyous and RESTful. Not making art for other people,
but maybe for yourself. Follow Ralph's lead, just lie down
and see what happens. Um If you do have to work,
I hope that you can also find your your moments
of inspiration or beauty, and that everybody is super cool
(11:28):
to you. We will see you here tomorrow with a
classic and next week with new episodes. Stuff you Missed
in History Class is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Stuff You Missed in History Class News
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Tracy Wilson
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