What are the 10 best designs from the Star Wars movies?

1. Light Sabers
2. Storm Troopers
3. Boba Fett's Armor
4. Millennium Falcon
5. AT-ATs
6. Astromech Droids (R2 units, duh!)
7. X-Wings
8. Sand People
9. Star Destroyers
10. B-Wings

I did not purposefully leave out the Prequels . . .

Close to yours, no particular order:

1. IG-88
2. Storm Troopers
3. Boba Fett's Armor
4. Millennium Falcon
5. AT-ATs
6. Darth Vader, but I prefer the Ralph McQuarrie version over the "real" one
7. X-Wings
8. Sand People
9. Star Destroyers
10. Slave 1

Check this out:

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodi ... EFXMCVADER

Define "best."

10. Jar Jar Binks
9. Ewoks
8. Baby Ewoks
7. Crying Dungeon Master
6. Crying Dungeon Master's Pig-Men Friends
5. Upside down droid getting his feet tortured
4. Kabuki Queen Amadala
3. Annie's Pod Racer
2. Lando's co-pilot from the Cosby Kids
1. Yoda

Darin's right, the definition matters on this one. If I define "best" as "having the largest impact on subsequent culture," I come up with --

1. Darth Vader's mask & voice
2. Lightsabers
3. Leia's double hair buns
4. The Death Star
5. R2D2 & C3PO
6. Hyperspace POV effect
7. Star Destroyers
8. Chewbacca's voice
9. Stormtroopers
10. Yoda

I won't make a list, but put me down for Vader, Darth Maul, X-Wings and Tie Fighters, Luke's outfit from New Hope, and Yoda.

Also, Leia's metal bikini.

I interpreted best as "favorite". At least, my own.

Y Wing Fighters
ARC 170

And everything else you all listed.

Okay, since everyone is clamoring for direction here, "best" in this thread is defined as "Man, that's fucking cool. That WORKS. I want to go out and buy a toy of that. I want an action figure of that." And it is design, not concept, so take off things like Chewbacca's voice or Hyperspace POV effect. This is for those artists you see on the DVD extras. The ones working and Lucas walks in and tosses 10 drawings out and takes the last one and they are barely acknowledged.

Now, looking at the lists I think most of these designs are from Ralph McQuarrie, but really, if that is the case, lets give credit where it is due.

Best = most super awesome

10. Lightsaber



Is it very original? No. But that doesn't matter. Lightsabers aren't just iconic, they're badass super awesome cool. They tap into about three dozen different kinds of adolescent awesome. They're space samurai kickass fun. Obi-Wan was right. Simple, elegant, and AWESOME.

9. Boba Fett



This weak, shallow-as-a-puddle character managed to become a fan favorite by virtue of nothing more than looking totally freakin' AWESOME.

8. R2D2



The fact that we learned to love a trash can says it all. The pair of side roller arms was the real stroke of genius, moving R2 away from the boxy droids then so common in SF.

7. AT-ST



The "chicken walkers" were cool when we first caught a glimpse of them in Empire, and were even cooler when they were stomping on Ewoks. Only Star Wars could make such a crappy design so awesome. Who would actually use this thing? No one ... but who cares when it look so cool?

6. Republic Gunship



It's pretty much an Apache attack chopper in the Star Wars universe, isn't it? And that's why it's awesome. Maybe the best design to come out of the prequels.

5. Tie Fighter



Stick a ball between two slats of cardboard and invent one of the coolest fighters ever? I don't know how, but they made it work. The Tie Fighter should look silly, but instead it's got a menace to it that is full of win. Maybe it's that big ugly "eye" cockpit in the middle.

4. Millennium Falcon



It shouldn't work. It's kind of clunky and is the exact opposite of sleek ... but that's its appeal. The Falcon's design has personality, just like the Falcon itself. Plus having the cockpit on the side is rad.

3. Imperial Star Destroyer



A heaping helping of cruiser blasting awesomeness, the Star Destroyer is the perfect SF distillation of everything that makes WWII era battleships cool.

2. AT-AT



Okay, so it's really just a tall robot dinosaur. THAT'S WHY IT'S AWESOME! These things are way cooler than almost any science fiction war vehicle EVER.

1. Darth Vader



Before the prequels, the coolest villain in film history and one of the coolest in all of fiction, period. A design for the ages, there is nothing about his look that isn't fantastic. From the moment he comes on screen you know he's for real.

I had to look up the ARC 170. That is nice, but it didn't leave an impression on me. Would you (any of you) say that is the best ship from the prequels?

The Y-Wings are cool. I remember really liking them in the cartoon that was attached to the Holiday Special. The cartoon where Boba Fett was introduced.

I can't agree with you on this one. First, I was distracted by the thought that the open doors creates the fear that someone would fall out (which actually happened!). That, and I don't like the dudes in the glass balls on the wings. But, I did like how they moved, all lumbering and such.

I always really liked the Snow Speeder.



I like their compact size, that they have rear gunners, they way they took off, and those neat little air brakes that go up and down. Oh, and that shot where the snowspeeder banks and flies over Han and Luke on Hoth is awesome.

This could be the coolest shot of all nine movies. So cool.

Adjusted side scroll: Judge WAN

That's geek overthinking. I recommend you take a pill to help you stop, as it's an affliction (dare I say Syndrome?) known to ruin All Good Things.

FARK!!!!

I don't know how I forgot that. It's always been in my top 3 vehicles. Slot this in at #3 and bump lightsabers off the list. The Snow Speeder is 40 kinds of cool.

Why is the lightsaber not very original?

Snow Speeders are awesome. I'm agreeing with pretty much everything here. Although, I'm not crazy about the gunship. It's merely okay to me.

Stormtroopers are awesome. Sandpeople. The Death Star. Darth Maul.

Because variations on the theme appeared in dozens and dozens of science fiction stories for decades prior to Star Wars, such as Fritz Lieber's Gather, Darkness! or the laser swords from goofy 1970s SF show Far Out Space Nuts. That, and the glowing magic swords that were present in just about every fantasy story ever, for many many many years.

Stormtroopers, yes, great call. Also an excellent design. I'd bump Boba off my list for them.

Because my son and I like them. They look cool.

This design is so different that it has to be on the list. I love how the ship rotates around the cockpit.

I may be overthinking this, but when ships are done with CGI they don't have that feeling of mass that models do. They also don't have all that cool stuff stuck on them, nor a feeling of having been used. They are too clean. So, the ships from the prequels (and the designs of the ships) suffer by comparison to the ships from the original trilogy.

Here's a question: Why doesn't Hollywood continue to use model work, but use CGI to help clean up the shots? Like Jackson use of "Bigitures."