Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle Review

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Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle ReviewDK Publishing continues a trend of producing lavish coffee table books filled with page after page of montages of full color images. In this case, the topic is the Star Wars phenomenon.
This coffee table book is very large - one inch thick, 10 inches wide and nearly a foot high. My copy does not have the color cover featured by Amazon, but rather it is black and white with very similar photos of the exact same characters in the exact same positions on the page. I did verify that it is the same book by using Amazon's sneak peek feature.
This book could just as easily have been called "George Lucas Year by Year." Star Wars dominates Lucas's career like the Eiffel Tower dominates the Paris skyline. Perhaps, even more so.
As the title states, the book is a visual timeline of George Lucas, Star Wars and the people and companies involved in its production and promotion. We see early handwritten notes about "Journal of the Whills" - one of the first drafts of Star Wars Episode IV. Later on, we see further updates, including the introduction of a character named Luke Starkiller who, of course, became Luke Skywalker in later revisions. We learn about Lucas's early life, his early films and his influences and a bit about the research he did to create the series.
Included in the timelines are other bits of news about movies, politics and space exploration. For example, on pages 34 & 35 we read about July through December 1974 which includes the first draft of the script for Episode IV, some very early drawings for the TIE Fighters, X-Wings and the Death Star, Nixon resigning as President, the birth of the actor that played Darth Maul in Episode I, early plastic models of the Y-Wing Fighters, the release of "The Godfather: Part II" (the director is a colleague and friend of Lucas), the production of the first script for another Lucas movie - "The Radioland Murders" and Christopher Lee's (Episodes II & III) role in a James Bond movie. Every picture has a detailed caption and the story goes on for page after page after page.
It is a fascinating read. I particularly enjoyed the pictures and descriptions of the Star Wars dolls that I collected and nearly wore out as a child. There is also information on the different videogames, novels, radio dramas, fan magazines, board games, fan clubs, appearances on TV shows, the famed Star Wars Christmas Special, John Williams, the cartoon shows, the Lego sets and even the Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head toy.
Lavish, thorough, massive and entertaining - this promises to be a hit with any fan. A can't miss gift.Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle OverviewFrom the first release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977 to the 2009 second season of The Clone Wars, Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle is an unparalleled chronological journey through the making of the most epic science fiction series ever! Featuring incredible illustrations and stills, the book chronologically details the history and development of the Star Wars movies; the events, press, and logistics surrounding the making of each movie; and exclusive interviews with people who worked behind the scenes. The year-by-year format includes images from the movies, TV series, comic books, video games, and novels as well as movie posters, memorabilia, book covers, and more.(c) 2009 Lucasfilm Ltd. (r) & TM. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

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The Making of Star Wars (TM): The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film Review

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The Making of Star Wars (TM): The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film ReviewThe Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (Star Wars)
I was four years old when the original "Star Wars" was released, and like so many kids of that generation, that film and its two sequels defined an enormous part of my childhood. Even though I didn't know it at the time, it introduced me to the "best bits" of classical mythology, while being a visual catalyst for my imagination (and years of subsequent role-play, particularly in Upstate New York, where re-enacting ice planet Hoth after "Empire" came out was all too easy...).
As I grew older (I hesitate to use the phrase "grew up," as I'm not sure it's happened yet), I came to appreciate more than just the adventure and dynamic visuals that "Star Wars" represented; it was my "gateway drug" into wanting to learn more about how movies were made. I remember all of the TV specials of that era that pulled back the curtain on the filmmaking process, particularly with regard to the original "Star Wars" trilogy, and I couldn't get enough information. That hunger became the same kind of obsession that's typically associated with "Star Wars" fans, and I absorbed every scrap of detail I could find, from Ralph McQuarrie's concept art, to model photos, to script pages, and even before the Internet made it only a matter of a few clicks to access such information, there was a wealth of it, when it came to "Star Wars."
Fast forward to 2007; "Star Wars" is 30 years old, a whole separate trilogy has come and gone, and my own children are budding "Star Wars" fans for their own reasons. I figured I knew pretty much all there was to know about this film. I darn well should have, for as much time as I had spent (and continue to spend) over the years actively seeking out new details about it. Then came this book; I didn't know anything.
This is dense, dense reading, covering every minute detail about every aspect of production of the original "Star Wars," from drafting the script, to getting it taken seriously by Hollywood, to assembling the team that would revolutionize filmmaking as we came to know it. This is a wonderful thing. I find myself poring over every word, every image, every caption and footnote, just as I did as a child who was learning about film for the first time. It is an amazing tribute, an insanely detailed reference volume, and most incredible of all, a unique representation of a film that has been covered in so many ways by so many authors, that finding anything new to talk about seemed impossible.
The aspect of this book I personally find most exciting is that all of the interviews that comprise it are taken from the period immediately surrounding the production and release of the original film. There is none of the revisionist hindsight pertaining to the film that has come about as a result of the films that came after; every word spoken by the people involved is "of the moment," and as such, is refreshingly candid about what was going on while the film was in the throes of its conception and execution.
The hardcover volume is worth the extra cost, because of its additional supplemental material, not found in the softcover edition. There are 45 pages of storyboard reproductions, as well as Lucas' first-ever references to the larger world beyond what was shown in the original film, in the form of interview excerpts taken in 1977, which involve Lucas describing character and environmental background information. As author J.W. Rinzler explains in the opening to the section, "Many of these ideas...[have since been] modified to a greater or lesser degree. They are presented here...[as] an idea of how he first began [the process of expanding the "Star Wars" universe]." Given the amount of tweaking that the backstory has undergone in the decades following "Star Wars," the inclusion of Lucas' first impressions of it in this volume are incredibly valuable to anyone who, like me, has wondered if the second trilogy of films was truly borne from his original ideas, or was more a product of his later experiences.
This book is exactly what its title promises: the definitive history behind the original film. And for someone who has spent most of his life feeling like there was nothing new under the suns (not a typo) when it came to the story of how "Star Wars" was made, that's saying something.The Making of Star Wars (TM): The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film OverviewMore than thirty years ago, filmmaker George Lucas realized a longtime dream, creating a swashbuckling sf saga inspired by vintage Flash Gordon serials, classic American westerns, the epic cinema of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, and mythological heroes. Its original title: The Star Wars. The rest is history–and how it was made is a story as entertaining and exciting as the movie that has enthralled millions for the past three decades.Using his unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives and its trove of never-before-published "lost" interviews, photos, production notes, factoids, and anecdotes, Star Wars scholar J. W. Rinzler hurtles readers back in time for an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the nearly decade-long quest of George Lucas and his key collaborators to make the "little" movie that became a phenomenon. For the first time, it's all here:• the evolution of the now-classic story and characters–including "Annikin Starkiller" and "a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and large gills" named Han Solo• excerpts from George Lucas's numerous, ever-morphing script drafts• the birth of Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects company that revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking• the grueling, nearly catastrophic location shoot in Tunisia and the following breakneck dash at Elstree Studios in London• the intensive auditions that won the cast members their roles–and made them legends• the who's who of young 1970s film rebels who pitched in to help–including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and Brian DePalmaBut perhaps most exciting, and rarest of all, are the first interviews conducted before and during production and immediately after the release of Star Wars–in which George Lucas, the film's stars, composer John Williams, effects masters Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, and John Dykstra, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, legendary production designer John Barry, and a host of others share their fascinating tales from the trenches and candid opinions of the movie that would ultimately change their lives.No matter where you stand in the spectrum of this thirty-year phenomenon, The Making of Star Wars stands as a crucial document–rich in fascination and revelation–of a genuine cinematic and cultural touchstone.

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The Sounds of Star Wars Review

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The Sounds of Star Wars ReviewAn amazing book. A must read (listen!) for any Star Wars fan. A great gift book-
XOXOThe Sounds of Star Wars OverviewAny Star Wars fan can mimic Darth Vader's voice or Chewbacca's roar with ease. But how many of them would be able to identify the lion's roar used in the sound of the Millenium Falcon's engine? In this aurally astonishing and visually engaging book, New York Times best-selling author J. W. Rinzler reveals the illuminating history of the sounds that make the Star Wars universe so believable, as recounted by their creator, legendary sound designer Ben Burtt. An attached sound module with an exterior speaker and headphone jack lets readers listen to more than 250 unique sound effects, and more than 300 photographs illustrate the epic's many memorable scenes. From the first films to the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, The Sounds of Star Wars is Star Wars as you've never heard it before.

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