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,
The Glory That Was Darkness Fall" (1939), the main character considers the possibility that instead of being thrown back in time he has found himself in a Rome that Benito Mussolini has forced to imitate the 6th century, but dismisses the idea as impractical. In the earlier fantasy novel "The Carnelian Cube" (1948) by de Camp and his collaborator Fletcher Pratt an actual reenactment of the Biblical siege of Samaria by the Assyrians is performed, directed by astrology-guided archaeologists using drafted and hypnotized participants. "Galaxy Science Fiction"s Floyd C. Gale rated "The Glory That Was" three stars out of five, stating that "there isn't