What are your must-have documentaries covering the OT? What's "core" for you?
After watching Jambe Davdar's Star Wars documentaries and Deleted Magic Revisited, I've decided I need a few more to feel like I've got the making, and impact, of the OT covered.
Whoops I meant to put this in General Star Wars Discussion. Oh well.
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My favourite is 'From Star Wars to Jedi, the Making of a Saga'.
Creator of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi
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Mine is From Star Wars to Jedi- the making of a saga. Havent watched it in a few years as i only have it on VHS, maybe ill find it later and give it another viewing.
Thanks for the replies. I haven't seen that one, I'll have to track it down.
Jambe, big thanks again for your docs. I can't say enough how awesome I think they are. Love the Kenner toy commercials disc too. Really takes me back to the late 80s and playing with my older cousin, who had all the best Star Wars toys from before my time.
mine is Empire of Dreams from when the OT came out for the first time on DVD
I like all the old documentaries from each film, then From SW to Jedi, Empire of Dreams (mainly only the SW part, sequels didn't get much attention) and of course Jambe's great docs.
And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.
In wanting to build a good archive of OT docs, I recently picked up RowMan's Ultimate Supplemental Collection, but haven't had time to dig into it yet. It looks like it lives up to its title and is mostly "pure", i.e. focused on the production of the OT and not the special editions or prequels.
I enjoyed the segments in the SE before the movie started explaining how and what they added/changed/enhanced in each movie.
The Making of Star Wars (1979)
SPFX: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back
From Star Wars to Jedi
These are the best documentaries about the making of the films.
Thanks, Ziggy. Looks like all three of those are on RowMan's set. I added Return of the Ewok to the shelf too. It's a great short film. Hopefully one day the reel will manage to be properly transferred and released. Maybe on the Blu-Ray set... (hopes definitely not up).
Also added Star Tours. I loved that ride as a kid. Plus, the C-3PO rap and Star Wars ballet are laughably bad.
I rather liked From Star Wars to Jedi, mainly because it offered a good overall look at the saga without too much revisionist crap. The Making of Star Wars does exactly what it's meant to, and - if only Star Wars is your thing - then it's perfect.
A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em
The Empire Of Dreams documentary was the best!
Returning to Jedi. Sadly my copy is not rotten,lol.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
Jambe Davdar said:
My favourite is 'From Star Wars to Jedi, the Making of a Saga'.
ThiefCobbler4ever said:
The Empire Of Dreams documentary was the best!
Amen!
EOD was very good while it was focusing on SW. It didn't spend nearly enough time on ESB or ROTJ, and at the end it became a massive FAIL when it just turned into one giant Lucas kiss-ass piece.
Overall it was decent, but it could have been so much better.
Jambe's ESB and ROTJ docs are my favorite. I'm excited to see Star Wars Begins when I have the chance.
And I love to see some of the other docs mentioned in this thread. I should probably try to track them down one of these days.
"classic creatures" is worth it just for this kind of thing:
R2-D2: Beneath the Dome.
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
My favorite is The Making of the Empire Strikes Back. But nobody can find it nowadays. When I was a kid I wore that tape out!
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Project-To-Collect-All-Star-Wars-Documentaries/topic/2506/ (Warning Extreme Hiatus)
TV's Frink said:
EOD was very good while it was focusing on SW. It didn't spend nearly enough time on ESB or ROTJ, and at the end it became a massive FAIL when it just turned into one giant Lucas kiss-ass piece.
Overall it was decent, but it could have been so much better.
Yeah, i felt that not enough time was spent on ESB or ROTJ also. But, i guess the first movie was the one they focused on because GL was on the verge of his movie being cancled and how it made a big impact on audiences.
I wish they would've talked more about people's reactions to those two movies. However, the Yoda part was my favorite. How he was made, what they had to do to give him a life like feel.
Empire of Dreams and From Star Wars to Jedi are both great.
Keep Circulating the Tapes.
END OF LINE
(It hasn’t happened yet)
Thanks for the great responses. I haven't seen Empire of Dreams, but then I never bought the 2004 DVD set.
I'm glad to see most of the documentaries you guys have mentioned are included on RowMan's laserdisc set.
20th Century Mark said:
My favorite is The Making of the Empire Strikes Back. But nobody can find it nowadays. When I was a kid I wore that tape out!
Is this the one you're talking about? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqzfTD2ZGpM
At the risk of sounding partisan I'm going to plum for Jambe's trilogy because while they are pooled from many sources, some very watchable documentaries in their own right, the final projects are so dense in information and easy to follow.
I also enjoyed the Behind The Magic CD ROM because it was fun to navigate around but I'm not sure if that counts as a documentary even though many of the entries were moving images and sound.
