Thursday, February 10, 2011

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species #10

Hm, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Better rectify that.

91. Besalisk. Besalisks are bulky four-armed creatures. If you watched Attack of the Clones, a Besalisk was the Dex of Dex's Diner. They are described as "being mistaken for reptilian, but are actually avian." I suppose you might interpret that as a comment on dinosaur paleontology.

Rating: 4/5. These guys are visually interesting, their societal description isn't unpleasantly narrow, and named Besalisk characters include a good-natured guy running a low-class restaurant and a psychotic Separatist general. I think they're fairly diverse. (And I know that there are people who believe that Dexter Jettster's role in the film undermined the Jedi Order, but depending on who you ask, it may have been intentional, to show that the Jedi Order was, as Count Dooku said, weak and corrupt.)

92. Bezim. The Bezim are humanoid with dome-shaped heads. And now you know... all the story that is to be had on Wookieepedia.

Rating: 1/5. They get a negative rating instead of "N/A" because I hate reading "humanoid" in a description, because there are so many things it could mean that it doesn't mean that much.

93. Biituian. The Biituians are green-skinned humanoids from the planet Biitu. Biitu was the planet that the Empire apparently sent the Great Heep to, with the intention of ruining the planet.

Rating: 2/5. They get an extra point if only because they were involved in the Great Heep plotline (and I love me some Abominor nonsense). I'm sure that they could be made more interesting, but it isn't likely to happen.

94. Bilar. Bilar are hideous hairless bear/Grey hybrids. They apparently form smallish (probably never more than ten creatures) group minds.

So they're basically tiny hairless hive-minded bears.

...

RUN! They're deadlier than Ewoks!

Rating: 4/5. They get points for being hive-minded on a limited scale rather than a single massive totality, and for being bears instead of something more stereotypical.

95. Bimm. Bimms are actually two species, one of which is "near-human" and the other of which is merely "humanoid." The "humanoids" have long ears and slightly more animal-like/less-human appearances. They treat each other as members of a single, fully integrated society. Nice to see.

Rating: 3/5. The reason there are two types is to cover a minor continuity snarl, but it's still nice to see two species interacting in what appears to be excellent harmony.

96. Bith. These guys were the jizz-wailers in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Bith are tiny-mouthed aliens who can only eat heavily processed food and are known for being majorly "cultured."

Rating: 4/5. The reason they don't get a 5 is because their cultural description tends to indicate that they view themselves as "better" and "more civilized." But they make awesome music, so I can't get on their cases too much.

97. Bitthævrian. The Bitthraevians (I'm not taking the time to figure out that key) are "warlike" humanoids. They have porcupine-like spines on their elbows and knees, and apparently practice a Muay Thai-like martial art which involves lots of knee and elbow hits. They also used flails in personal combat. They hated the Old Republic because it defeated them, and they hated the Empire less even though it was repressive because they could respect it.

Rather interestingly, Bitthraevian men took the surnames of their wives in addition to their own when they married.

Rating: 4/5. Wow, I like these guys pretty well for never having heard of them before. They've got an interesting, developed culture and a reasonably interesting look; alphabetical order also amusingly places these ever-cranky and belligerent individuals next to the pacifistic Bith.

98. Blagwahr. The Blagwahr are primitives that live on some planet or another. From the limited description of events in stories they appeared in, they could be Ewoks for all I could tell.

Rating: N/A. The name apparently just filled in a role in some story.

99. Blood Carver. Blood Carvers are so-called because they carve statues out of bright red wood and because they also as a society produce excellent assassins, and they view assassination as little different from sculpting. They also look like birds from the mind of H. R. Giger or Wayne Barlow.

Rating: 4/5. Aside from the cool appearance, they have just about the best (non-risque) double entendre I've ever heard for a name.

100. Bloxian. Bloxians are described as "very large" and red.

"Very large?" Compared to what? An insect? A human being? A starfighter? (And what shade of red?)

They're also described as being strong and not very bright.

Rating: 1/5. Bah, that whole thing comes across as a combination of an odd sort of racism and general lack of details.

Huh, for a bunch of guys I'd heard/read pretty little about (other than Bith and Blood Carvers), there were quite a few good ones.

-Signing off.

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