You know what post of mine in the last few years gets a lot of hits? Rotoscoped orcs, from Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 Lord of the Rings movie. Here are more of them:
It occurs to me — they resemble Tusken Raiders:
Could one have inspired the other? Star Wars was filmed starting in March 1976, and released in May 1977. Bakshi’s LOTR was released in November 1978, and was made during the two years prior. I can’t find when the rotoscoping art was done, for LOTR, but it could have easily been after May 1977, so in other words after the LOTR artists had seen the Tusken Raiders onscreen. Bakshi and George Lucas did know each other; Mark Hamill did work for Bakshi around the time of the filming of Star Wars, and Anthony Daniels performed the voice of Legolas.
And why were we talking about rotoscoped orcs anyway? Because they remind me of the dunters in my novel High Iron! You can check it out via the link over in the right margin!
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