The passing of a visionary - Ralph McQuarrie

There may be no other man more responsible for influencing the look and feel of the Star Wars universe - and so many others - than visionary concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, who passed away this weekend after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. Star Wars, Close Encounters, the original Battlestar Galactica, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. - McQuarrie took his experience as an illustrator for Boeing and his work animating the moon landings for CBS to give far-flung fantasy a realistic and technologically believable edge. He was hired by George Lucas to illustrate the Star Wars screenplay to a very skeptical 20th Century Fox. So little was changed from McQuarrie's visualizations to the final product. He gave us so many icons, including Darth Vader, Boba Fett and droids R2 and C-3PO. Gaze with wonder at the vision of a master. He was one in a billion.