Perhaps the most popular of Ralph’s paintings, the laser duel, as he referred to it, was completed in February of 1975. While the portfolio, and nearly everyone who has discussed this painting in the past 35 years, describes it as “Luke versus Vader,” at the time it was painted, the protagonist would have been Deak Starkiller from the second draft screenplay Ralph was working from. It was because of this scene that Darth Vader came to have the look that he does. Ralph, concerned that Vader was jumping from ship to ship through the vacuum of space, felt that he would require some sort of breathing apparatus. George agreed, and the look of the masked villain was born. As for the Blockade Runner hall, Ralph pointed out that it was “transferred to film as I had envisioned it, although I felt that in the film the interior was too white-too clean.”