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In 1988, Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered the episode "The Outrageous Okona" in its second season. The titular Thadiun Okona is a roguish cargo freighter captain. He wears brown shoulder pads, a white undershirt, and has his brown hair in a very 1988 ponytail.

Bro-Kona

In 1996, the Star Wars multimedia project Shadows of the Empire came out. In it, the character Dash Rendar originated. He is roguish freighter captain who wears brown shoulder pads, a white undershirt, and his red hair in a very 1996 mullet.

Dash

When I first watched that episode of TNG, I was seriously surprised to see this character who looks quite similar to Dash Rendar and has many of his character traits, at least in my eyes. Did the developers of Shadows of the Empire base Dash Rendar off of Captain Okona at all? I couldn't find anything on the usually reliable Wookieepedia about it.

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  • "Around the same time, concept artist Mike Butkus developed dozens of preliminary sketches of Rendar, showing variations in armor and clothing but sticking to a more clean cut appearance. Butkuss, who listens to music while he illustrates, explained that Rendar was designed while listening to Elvis Presley and 1960s rock 'n' roll. Butkus's designs were circulated to those working on the project and led to some disagreement over the appearance of the character. LucasArts lead artist and designer Jon Knoles had concerns about Butkus's sketches from a game design"
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 26, 2020 at 22:16
  • perspective, wanting to see his muscles toned down, his clothing less tight and his bushy hair replaced with something less "goofy." Knoles suggested either following Plunkett's ideas of a mean-looking character or making him have the appearance of a determined, angry young warrior. Knoles's own designs experimented with the character further, with variations on armor, helmets, a mustache, and a Vandyke beard.
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 26, 2020 at 22:17
  • Lucy Wilson favored a young and heroic appearance for Rendar and Tom Dupree wanted the character to be a Top Gun-style fighter pilot who would have a combination of talent and ego that led to a natural competitiveness with Skywalker. Over four or five months, Butkus and Knoles refined the designs, settling on a final design that was a middle ground between Butkus's clean-cut and Plunkett's rugged sketches. LucasArts produced a sculpture of this final design, which was scanned to provide dimensional information - starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dash_Rendar/Legends
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 26, 2020 at 22:17
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    well...Okana was clearly based on Han Solo so it kind of all comes full circle in a way
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Sep 26, 2020 at 22:21
  • It could be a coincidence.
    – Ham Sandwich
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 4:08

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