‘From ‘Star Wars’ to ‘Jedi’: The Making of a Saga’:-

https://www.starwars.com/video/from-star-wars-to-jedi-the-making-of-a-saga - at StarWars•com. (A 1983 Documentary. 65 mins)
 

The blurb:-

“From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is the classic documentary chronicling the creation of the original Star Wars trilogy. Narrated by Mark Hamill, it features rare behind-the-scenes footage from the original trilogy.”
 

IMDB Page
 

‘Star Wars Begins’:-

https://vimeo.com/32442801 - at the Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning vimeo channel. (A 2011 Documentary - 139 mins)
 

The blurb:-

"Filmmaker Jamie Benning has finally finished his trilogy of documentary-commentaries. This final chapter concentrates on the first Star Wars film. Like his two previous documentaries, Building Empire (2006) and Returning to Jedi (2007), Star Wars Begins is an unofficial look at the creation of the classic movie and features deleted scenes, alternate takes and different angles, bloopers, original on set audio recordings and a huge amount of commentary from cast and crew, culled from every corner of the galaxy.

What’s interesting about the format is that Benning’s documentary is feature-length, and follows the flow of the original movie itself with the deleted scenes added where they would have been, with interviews placed over the top of the action they’re describing. The overall effect is much more engrossing than a DVD commentary track and the wealth of material contained makes it well worth sitting through the entire runtime of 2hrs 18mins.

If you’ve never seen the deleted scenes of Jabba the Hutt or Biggs Darklighter on Tatooine, or heard David Prowse saying Vader’s dialogue, then you will get a real kick out of this. Many reviews and comments have centered on the fact that it’s like watching your favourite movie but from an entirely different perspective.

Benning has obviously invested rather a lot of time and effort into creating this film, and the other two parts of his own trilogy. Lets hope that on the forthcoming Blu-Ray box set LFL will go into as much detail and exude as much love for the subject matter as these films do."
 

IMDB Page
OT•com thread

‘Building Empire’:-

https://vimeo.com/36158111 - at the Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning vimeo channel. (A 2006 Documentary. 137 mins)
 

The blurb:-

“Building Empire is an unofficial commentary on The Empire Strikes Back. Starting with the movie itself, it adds behind the scenes footage, audio interviews with the cast and crew, alternate angles, reconstructed scenes, text facts and more to give an in-depth look at the process which brought the film to the big screen.”
 

IMDB Page
OT•com thread

‘Returning To Jedi’:-

https://vimeo.com/36474256 - at the Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning vimeo channel. (A 2007 Documentary. 148 mins)
 

The blurb:-

“Returning to Jedi is an in-depth look at the making of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. It features rare alternate takes, production audio, on-screen facts, cast and crew commentary, storyboards, behind the scenes footage and reconstructed scenes.”
 

IMDB Page
OT•com thread

Jambe Davdar (aka Jamie Benning) has also produced some other quality Star Wars projects and content, too…
 

Slimy Piece of Worm-Ridden Filth - Life Inside Jabba the Hutt - a mini documentary about puppeteer Toby Philpott work on Jabba the Hutt for Return of the Jedi, and more…

Return of the Jedi - Special Location Effects - Kevin Pike talks to Jambe about his location special effects work on ROTJ.

Do or Do Not - a mini documentary about the team who brought Yoda to life…

Star Wars In Numbers - a short fun video pointing out some interesting facts.

Blast it Biggs! Where are you?! - Jambe talks with Garrick Hagon, aka Biggs, about his role in Star Wars.

Robert Watts - A Life In Film - fascinating interview with the production manger of SW, who then became a producer on ESB & ROTJ.

as well as outtakes and rare scenes from the Original Trilogy too.
 

And also some non-Star Wars projects - covering films such as Back To The Future, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Labyrinth and Chinatown - amongst others.

 
There are also many interviews with people who contributed to the making of the Original Trilogy (as well as other Star Ware content, Lucasfilm releases, and other quality films and TV series in general) in Jamie’s Filmumentaries podcast series…

The Filmumentaries Podcast - OT•com thread by Jamie Benning

Filmumentaries platforms: Website : YouTube : Vimeo : Twitter : Patreon : Merch : Return Of The Jedi - Unauthorized Timeline

‘Star Wars: Music by John Williams’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eWqxlCNnKE - at the Neil Bowyer youtube channel. (A 1980 documentary - 60 mins)
 

The blurb:-

“BBC documentary showing John Williams’ writing, recording and editing process for the soundtrack of The Empire Strikes Back, as well as discussions about his earlier works as a composer of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Mainly served as a way to build up hype for The Empire Strikes Back, but it was insightful and comes recommended for fans of Star Wars and Williams’ music.”
 

IMDB Page
OT•com thread

2019 re-release of the Original Trilogy films on blu ray & DVD (2011 SE version)

 
This repackaging of the 2011 SE version seemed to be a way of getting rid of old stock before the 4K / UHD releases in 2020… (which would feature the new 2019 SE version of the films - first seen unannounced on the Disney+, on the 12th November, 2019).
 

22nd September 2019 saw the re-release of the-then eight ‘Main Saga’ Star Wars films, as well as Rogue One and Solo, on both blu ray and DVD - all were sold individually. There were the first releases of the Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy films under Disney - who now own both Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox.

The cover art for the Original Trilogy films were as follows:-

The official disc art for the Original Trilogy releases:-

 
with matching style artwork covers for The Prequel Trilogy, Rogue One, Solo, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi - as can be seen below (The Rise Of Skywalker would be released in theatres in December of 2019):-

More information on these single film releases can be found below:-

https://www.fanthatracks.com/news/film-music-tv/take-a-look-at-the-new-star-wars-dvd-and-blu-ray-covers (with DVD covers)

http://www.starwarshomevideo.com/search/label/2019 (with images of back covers and disc art)

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_home_video_releases (scroll down to 2019)

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=321806 (blu-ray•com thread on this 2019 release)

Star Wars Blu-ray Collection Review - at the TheDVDFreak youtube channel. (12 mins)

An insightful video review of both the blu ray and DVD releases, by the informative Nathan P. Butler:-

'From the Star Wars Home Video Library #221: All 20 Sept. 2019 Reissues:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD_LujIU-4E - a 36 minute video at the Nathan Butler youtube channel.

The cover art for the above 2019 releases is VERY similar to the later 2020 4K UHD, blu ray and DVD releases. An easy way to spot the difference between the two sets is that the 2020 4K UHD, blu ray and DVD releases have a red band across the bottom of their cover art - with the words ‘Ultimate Collector’s Edition’ across it, as pictured below:-
 

A thread for the 2020 release of the 27-disc 4K UHD ‘Skywalker Saga’ box set (which also contains some info on the 2020 18-disc blu ray, and the 9-disc DVD box set releases too) can be found here:-

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 4k UHD – 27 DISC Boxed Set – 3/31/2020

DuracellEnergizer said:

theprequelsrule said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

theprequelsrule said:

Let’s face it; the worst idea was to do prequels. They should have done sequels way earlier. Ford, Fisher, and Hamill would have been younger and more convincing as action heroes, and Lucas would probably have respected their input.

I doubt Lucas would’ve respected much of anything. An ST made in the '90s would’ve been preferable to the schlock we got in its place, but only if Lucas left the writing and directing to persons with actual talent and humility.

Lucas has talent, but yeah, the humility had disappeared by the 90s.

He HAD talent, certainly. Somewhere between 1977 and 1997, it evaporated. I see very little artistry in the “shot reverse shot” cinematography of the PT, and absolutely none in the kludgy alterations to the OT.

Possibly less collaboration and exchanges of ideas with those in their respective fields too… fewer people around who’ll say ‘no, that’s a bad idea’ or ‘how about this, instead?’ to him?

^ He put sand in my coffee - not sugar!

ChainsawAsh said:

Good point. I should amend my statement to say that 1997 was the last time changes were advertised before release of a new version.

Dammit - I was hoping I was wrong and one of you guys knew of a 2011 list of changes made back then on SW.com too! 😃

I think this could be the plan re the next change made from George…

‘Star Wars Ultimate Edition: Han & Greedo Shootout’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2i0nvnErFU (the action starts 30 seconds into the video…)
 

FreezingTNT2 said:

Admiral Holdo’s hyperspace-kamikaze in The Last Jedi. I mean, why hasn’t anyone used this in any space battle before, ever?

These may be of some interest / information / alternative viewpoints etc…
 

‘Did Hyperspace Ramming exist before THE LAST JEDI?’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFX3fdp1f0 - by EckhartsLadder
 

‘Hyperspeed Ramming: Does it break Star Wars lore?’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pLdjf2NSiU - by EC Henry
 

& maybe…

‘The Last Jedi SOLVES Space Combat’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmk3YS7xLOo - also by EC Henry

http://maklunky.com

😃

2025 Edit: to see the above site: https://web.archive.org/web/20200930100352/http://maklunky.com/
 

Force-Abel said:

Ugh indeed, ooj.

Is it usual for the offical Star Wars website, or other social media pages, to not make any mention of these changes for the 4KSE?

The Star Wars website had articles mentioning / listing the changes made for the 1997 and 2004 releases (though IIRC the articles for the 2004 release were published in 2006: SW, ESB & ROTJ) - yet I don’t think they did so for changes made for the 2011 blu ray releases.
 

DavidMDaut said:

I can’t confirm this personally, but I’ve seen a couple people mention that on Pablo Hidalgo’s now private Twitter, he said the latest Greedo change did come from George Lucas himself when they started work on the 4K restoration.

Grain of salt, of course, but that makes more sense than LFL/Disney deciding to arbitrarily make one more weird change without his input.

This is Pablo Hidalgo’s comments on it…

(from https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp/status/1194284818290401280)

Superb work on the 4KSE changes, doubleofive 😃

https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp
 

crissrudd4554 said:

Well we got a new contender! Greedo’s LAST WORD!

https://streamable.com/nit5m

Ugh.

Quite strange that Greedo’s last word isn’t subtitled.
 

IF that change to the Greedo scene is from George himself, then that is now the fifth ‘vision’ he has had for it so far…?
 

Have you tried Jackpumpkinhead’s Custom Crawl Creator: Revisited (A Free Blender Project for Fan Editors) thread, mate?
 

There are indeed changes…

https://twitter.com/starwarsviscomp/status/1194160489825284097?s=21

^ links to doubleofive’s superb ‘Star Wars Visual Comparisons’ twitter page

Edit - a link to the changed Greedo scene on a larger sized screen:-

crissrudd4554 said:

Well we got a new contender! Greedo’s LAST WORD!

https://streamable.com/nit5m

Double Edit - a link to a couple of ‘frame comparison’ scenes highlighting the colour changes:-

Han Solo IRL said:

Quick comparison with what I have on my hdd:

http://www.framecompare.com/screenshotcomparison/DYLWWNNX

edit:
http://www.framecompare.com/screenshotcomparison/DYLWGNNX

^ Loved it.

C3PO: ‘Flash who?’ 😃

Interesting to see the hints re a love triangle for the then-coming Empire Strikes Back film - and the toy promos as well!

‘Star Wars At The BBC’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxd5dMHDJBw - at the Des Chelsea youtube channel. (A 2015 documentary - 17 mins long)
 

The blurb:-

“A long time ago in a TV studio not so far away, the stars of the original Star Wars film came to the BBC to promote their then-unknown movie” - with Peter Serafinowicz.
 

A short and lighthearted documentary with the voice of Darth Maul on some of the early promo work for Star Wars in the UK.

Feature a decent snippet of an interview with Mark Hamill where he talks about his car accident; which wasn’t as bad as was made out - just a broken nose that needed to be reset which nobody seemingly noticed, yet… “Over a period of years it has [the story] built up into having my face reconstructed with plastic surgery”.
 

IMDB Page

Just a polite reminder that this is the thread to discuss episodes and events from season one of The Mandalorian in.
 

A lot of European countries and various other countries around the world will not have Disney+ until early 2020 - and so many members on here will not be able to watch The Mandalorian until then - and we don’t want to spoil events from the show for anyone not able to view it yet…

So please only use this thread to discuss episodes and events from the series.
 

Happy viewing…
 

Huh - I really enjoyed the Walter Cronkite doc; thanks man. Though it was a little strange to see George kind of happy / excited to talk about the models, laborious effects, cameras and the process… 😃

‘The Galaxy Britain Built: Droids, Darth Vader, and Lightsabers’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMJ7vXnyyRA - at the ‘Ceejay Julien’ youtube channel. (A 2017 documentary - 59 mins)
 

The blurb:-

"The Galaxy Britain Built celebrates the British contribution to the original Star Wars.

Presenter and Star Wars fan David Whiteley uncovers some never-before-heard stories from the geniuses who helped build the galaxy, from the costume designer and art director to the man who made the lightsaber. It was a time when science fiction films were not box office draws, and very few people in the industry believed in George Lucas’s vision. But his first Star Wars film ended up being a very British endeavour.

The programme documents the behind-the-scenes talent that helped bring the galaxy to life in the late 1970s. It also looks at how the British talent continues to be part of the Star Wars legacy to the present day."
 

IMDB Page
 

^ A great idea for a thread 😃

‘BBC’s The Risk Business (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sdB4zedK4w - from the ‘Adywan revisited’ youtube channel. (With props to Babyhum)
 

A little bit of info on the documentary can be found at http://www.starwarsarchives.com/the-risk-business (1980 - 35 mins)

IMDB Page
 

DuracellEnergizer said:

Mocata said:

Still looks like the Evil Dead II logo though…

Considering the state of the franchise, that’s rather fitting, no?

Just an alternative outlook…

The Mandalorian seems to be an intriguing and eagerly anticipated show airing soon - with both a new Cassian spy series & Obi-Wan mini-series on the horizon, with apparently some others in the pipelines (likely for Disney+).

The Main Saga coming to an end with IX (which will seemingly please some people) - and yet also plans for future Star Wars films outside of the events/timeline of the Main Saga so far.

Plus a new SW film by Kevin Feige to come - who seems to quite popular and successful with his efforts with the Marvel franchise…

A new season of The Clone Wars too.

Some decent comics out already - and more to come, more novels - as ever, and even some new promising looking games.

A fair bit of content for the kids of late - and the new theme-parks too; for those that like / can afford that sort of thing.
 

And if you don’t like any of that… you still have whatever you liked about Star Wars in the first place (though an official UHD OOT release would be most welcome 😉)
 

Obviously YMMV…

ZkinandBonez said:

I was looking through the list and found a lot of individual threads about various documentaries (like f.ex. Michel Parbot’s ESB making of), but I couldn’t find one about these kinds of videos in general. If that doesn’t already exist, I figured it might be a good idea to make a thread similar to the “YouTube/Vimeo/etc… Star Wars finds” thread but focused only on old TV documentaries, making ofs, BTS segments, etc.

I see what you mean - there are the Must-See Documentaries? & What are your favorite OT documentaries? which are somewhat generic discussion threads… yet a central Documentary thread in a similar vein to the “YouTube/Vimeo/etc… Star Wars finds” would probably be both a welcome and useful addition.

A quality idea 😃

You’re more than welcome to start one mate…

Edit: much credit and kudos to ZkinandBonez - he has created and maintained several quality and helpful video threads…

A ‘Mini-Index’ of the main Star Wars video threads…

The ‘Documentaries’ section of An Index & Help Thread for The Expanded Universe also has links to many Docs & Specials.

Superb work from ZkinandBonez and everyone involved in creating, maintaining and continuing these quality threads. 👍
 

‘.@DisneyPlus will be available in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain (and more to be announced soon) starting on March 31. Please note: Titles may vary by territory.’:-

https://twitter.com/Disney/status/1192557043694964736?

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/disney-plus-uk-and-more-international-release-date/1100-6471280

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/disney-plus-uk-release-date
 

Hi and welcome - loving the avatar!

The Any interest in professionally made box sets for Despecialized? thread may be of interest mate.

As well as the An Index Thread (and more) for Case Covers, Disc Labels, and Fan Art… thread - which is likely worth a read through… as it has a fair few differing box sets to suit many tastes, with downloads, ideas, templates, guides, and also some offers of making box sets too, IIRC.
 

Good luck with it 😃
 

DominicCobb said:

Billie Lourd mentions Leia in TROS in this, but it really should be read because it’s just a very nice and touching piece in general about her relationship with her mother - https://time.com/5720323/billie-lourd-princess-leia-essay-carrie-fisher/

An illuminating and poignant article, that mate - nice one on posting it up.

From the 2017 article at Vanity Fair - Cover Story: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Definitive Preview - on Carrie Fisher’s planned larger role for IX, it being ‘her film’ (in the context that TFA had Harrison ‘front & centre’, and TLJ had Mark ‘front & centre’), before her passing…

'Fisher had a bigger role to play in The Last Jedi — General Leia Organa logs significantly more screen time in Episode VIII than she did in VII. Isaac, who filmed several scenes with Fisher, said that, like Hamill, she delivered a rich performance, giving her all as an actor, rather than treating Leia’s part as an exercise in feel-good sentimentalism. “We did this scene where Carrie has to slap me,” he said. “I think we did 27 takes in all, and Carrie leaned into it every time, man. She loved hitting me. Rian found such a wonderful way of working with her, and I think she really relished it.”

For his part, Johnson quickly formed a deep bond with Fisher as a fellow writer, spending long hours with her at the eccentric compound she shared with her mother, Debbie Reynolds, in the Coldwater Canyon section of Beverly Hills. “After I had a draft, I would sit down with her when I was working on re-writing,” he said. “Sitting with her on her bed, in her insane bedroom with all this crazy modern art around us, TCM on the TV, a constant stream of Coca-Cola, and Gary the dog slobbering at her feet.” (For visuals on this characteristic state of affairs chez Fisher, I highly recommend Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens’s HBO documentary, Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.)

Fisher completed her part in Episode VIII late last summer, when principal photography on the film wrapped. “She was having a blast,” said Kennedy. “The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’ Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”’