Book Review: The Star Wars Archives: Episodes IV-VI (1977-1983)

The world of Star Wars is a vast and often limitless place for ideas to take form.  Spanning nearly 50 years at this juncture, the franchise has evolved across several forms of media, all to present us with new and interesting stories in the galaxy far, far away.  It has to be said though, even with how extensive and rich the universe is, there’s an equal level of depth to the behind the scenes work that goes into making the franchise.  Star Wars was crafted by a man with a clear vision and while it may come off confidently on the big screen, his journey to produce the original films was anything but plain sailing. 

The Star Wars Archives is a comprehensive breakdown of the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, filled to the brim with interviews, set photos, concept art, script notes, shot notes and even more.  Written by Paul Duncan, this hefty tome sets out to transcribe the extensive history and labour that went into crafting the beloved franchise. Following George Lucas during his early directing days, the book then follows by walking through the lead up to Lucas’s first foray into Star Wars with A New Hope in 1977 and then subsequently the additional work that followed with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  

As a transparent behind-the-scenes look at the making of these films, there’s so much here for any self-respecting Star Wars fan to adore. This book is a labour of love when it comes to breaking down the key details that contributed to the production of Star Wars. Paul Duncan layers each section of the book with key information that helps us understand how extensive the production was for each movie. Getting to read from a range of cliff notes, scripts, interviews and other elements helps the book keep a consistent variation to appreciate.  While I personally adored reading everything the book had to offer, I can’t help but feel the format in which the written elements were presented to us could have been more thought out.  I think the structure of the written segments doesn’t transition well, especially for the book’s length, and its devotion to presenting shot notes, while enlightening can be hard to appreciate from a written perspective.

The quality and presentation of the book is something to be appreciated as well.  There’s a lot of photos and concept art interspersed within the book and they give a lot of insight into the early designs as well as the actual on-set happenings that occurred during the filming of the movies. Splicing visual elements alongside the written portions helps to give the writing more associative elements to reinforce its purpose. It is worth highlighting however that I think at times the visual elements don’t sync up always with what’s being discussed in the written portions, as the photos are more in line with the progression of the movie.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be confusing as you realize the photo you’re looking at may not relate to the section being discussed.

Despite its odd choice of structure both visual and written at times, this book still holds so much content to appreciate. As a major Star Wars fan, my knowledge of the original trilogy’s production was admittedly quite limited, which is something I wanted to rectify. Paul Duncan showcases a clear devotion to reflecting the labour of love that went into making these films and puts everything out there for fans to soak up and appreciate. If you love these movies and have any level of interest into the behind-the-scenes work, this is a must-have book!