By Rudie Obias | 7 years ago

One of the most beloved characters in the entire Star Wars universe is Boba Fett. Although the Mandalorian bounty hunter is one of the franchise’s villains, Boba Fett’s look and attitude has drawn many Star Wars fans to his style. While Boba Fett certainly looks badass now, the way he started off was completely different than how he currently appears.

Retroist.com reported on Boba Fett’s original test footage. The then art director Joe Johnston designed the character after the original Star Wars film and was introduced in the dreaded Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. He was later appointed a key role in the Star Wars sequel film The Empire Strikes Back a few years later in 1980. From the looks of the original test footage above, Boba Fett’s menacing costume and armor were originally all white, but later would feature different colors for the new film.

Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art of the Mandalorian bounty hunter’s armor was also all white. Luckily, Boba Fett’s design was changed for The Empire Strikes Back. If it had not, Boba Fett would have been confused for a more lethal Stormtrooper instead of a badass mercenary. Check out Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art below:

Inside of the Boba Fett costume for the original test shoot was Duwayne Dunham, the assistant editor for The Empire Strikes Back, who showcased the various weaponry including darts and a flamethrower the bounty hunter featured on his armor. The most interesting tidbit about the Boba Fett design was that it originally included spurs to pay homage to classic gunslingers such as The Man With No Name from Sergio Leone’s Western trilogy. The idea would be that Boba Fett was like Clint Eastwood in outer space. Although the final design didn’t feature the aforementioned spurs, Star Wars sound design Ben Burtt added the spurs sound in the film anyway.

The original Boba Fett test footage appeared on the official Star Wars YouTube channel. Hopefully Disney and Lucasfilm will be releasing more rarities like this test footage in the future.