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star wars - When do we see Gungans in The Force Awakens?


Screenshot from [“The Force Awakens”] Comic-Con video.


In this screenshot from The Force Awakens Comic-Con behind the scenes video, the red arrows point to what look like models/drawings of gungans, implying that there would be gungans appearing in the film.


enter image description here


However I don't remember seeing any. Were there any gungans in the film?



Note: I'm asking about any gungan, not just ... that gungan.



Answer



Update


Per the Creating Creatures featurette on the Blu-ray, we find out that these aliens were dubbed "snooty pirates" and definitely not Gungans. Here's a pic I took since I can't screencap it.



enter image description here



I would say that not only were Gungans not seen in The Force Awakens, but they should not have been expected to.


Based on (1) lack of evidence to the contrary, (2) my personal viewing of the film, and (3) my counter-points to the images in question.



  1. Jar Jar was the only Gungan character mentioned in pre-production, although as @Praxis's answer shows, that idea was scrapped before the behind-the-scenes video was released on YouTube. The studio scene could have been filmed before Jar Jar was axed (not in the way we hoped), so this point alone isn't enough.

  2. I did not see any Gungans while viewing the film, even though I was on the lookout for Darth Jar Jar or his cohorts. (I don't believe the theory, but I was hoping for a detail that'd spur more ridiculousness!)

  3. I would posit that the picture creatures were not meant to be Gungans at all. My analysis follows:


enter image description here



After looking at the updated question, with outlines, I see that I was looking at the negative space in a completely different way that the OP. So, I drew these overlays to help me see it their way.


enter image description here enter image description here


After doing this, I would hazard that the sketch on the right is meant to be the same species or character as the prop on the left.


I can't guess which other character in TFA this was. There were a few scenes with many alien species, such as on Jakku or at Maz's place, and images of them all aren't available to me, yet. I can provide a comparison of the character designs to Gungan designs.


enter image description here


As you can see above, snouted Gungans like Jar Jar have:



  • Eyes attached to short stalk-like anatomy, rising much above the skull line. The eyes on the drawing seem to match the ones on the prop, and neither have the stalk, ergo one probably wasn't added later

  • Wide, flat mouths that extend back up the snout, unlike the puckered orifice in the studio image

  • Visible nostril holes and ridges halfway up the snout (I can't spot anything like them in the studio pics)


  • A cranial ridge running from behind the eyes and down into the lips

  • A short, steep cranial slope, as opposed to the long, shallow one seen in the studio

  • No clear cheekbones, which are evident to me below the eye ridge on the left prop


Then there's the ears. Jar Jar's type of Gungan seems to sport different ones than his escort, so I'll account for both types:


The prop on the left currently has no ears long or large enough to be construed as Gungan ears, and the existing cap would likely interfere with attaching such ears to the model, unless it's easily removable. To me, they look like ears or a cloak for a different species, but I'm going to write this model off as too unclear.


The drawing on the right has what looks like large ears, but they fail to be Gungan because:



  • Unlike Jar Jar's or Tarpal's ear's, the primary outer ridge has no visible segmentation or ribbing. Some of these details could be lost, but I think the segmentation near the base of the ears would be noticeable, based on other visible details in the image.

  • Unlike the Gungan guard's "ears", they are not wide, loose, or resting on the shoulders. This type of Gungan's head appendage naturally rests in line with the center of the neck on the frontal plane. The drawing's rest behind the shoulders, but without any of the thick, floppiness we'd expect from this type of Gungan if they brushed it back.



One or two points of difference in a design comparison might not be enough to rule out Gungan design, given that there are several types of Gungans themselves. However, the difference between these behind-the-scenes designs and known Gungan designs are significant enough to rule them out as Gungans, unless we were going to be introduced to yet another variety. I think a new variety would be unlike, and, ahem, alienate the fan base.



The one on the right originally looked a bit like Boss Nass to me:


enter image description here enter image description here


So, I thought that's what the OP was referring to. I personally thought it looked much more like the big gentlemen we see in Maz Kanata's place, as pictured in the center of this image:


enter image description here


enter image description here enter image description here


If you look closely at the sketch, you can even see a thin cord coming from the top right (character's left) across his chest, which the tusked alien also has.


I no longer think the drawing is meant to be a fat-headed aliens, but wanted to preserve this part in case someone else saw the sketch without paintovers and saw the same thing as I did.



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