The 1988 Lucasfilm fantasy Willow apparently had aspirations for the small screen as an animated series. We'll blame the lackluster box office for the failure of the project, but we can still take a look at some concept art that was drafted along the way. Directed by Ron Howard and written by George Lucas, the feature film followed the dwarf-like character Willow (Warwick Davis), barbarian Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and warrior princess Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) as they attempted to protect an infant from the diabolical plans of an evil queen (Jean Marsh). It's a classic swords-and-sorcery flick with some great moments; it even managed to garner two Academy Award nominations (for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects). While it's a shame that I can't relive the childhood memories of watching an animated Willow on Saturday mornings, these images provide a nice glimpse of what could have been. Hit the jump to check them out.

The following examples of Willow the Animated Series concept art come via i09; click over to see more of them there.