Ralph McQuarrie I still get fan mail — people wondering if I worked on "Episode I" or just wanting to have my autograph." McQuarrie's production painting of R2-D2 and C-3PO wandering in the desert on the planet Tatooine was the first to be completed. His early concept for C-3PO was visibly inspired by the Art Deco "Maschinenmensch" robot from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film "Metropolis". The painting had a particular impact on actor Anthony Daniels, who was about to turn down the part of C-3PO; ""He had painted a face and a figure that had a very wistful, rather yearning, rather bereft quality,
C-3PO April 2014, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were rebranded by Lucasfilm as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise. Before the release of "The Phantom Menace" and the revelation that C-3PO was constructed by a young Anakin Skywalker, the canon account of C-3PO's creation placed his construction on the planet Affa 112 years before "A New Hope". This older version of his creation originated with George Lucas, and both versions were harmonized from the outset: in 1977, Lucas provided a guide for early Expanded Universe creators,