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(More customer reviews)Kaminsky's rock-solid work unquestionably belongs alongside Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars, as both a companion piece and an in-depth exploration of the creation of the six-film saga, as it actually unfolded.
The very point of this book is to cut through all the marketing, publicity and years of contravention to show the expanding genesis of the Star Wars story from the original drafts to the "Star Wars" standalone film that was "from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker" to the mythically deeper "Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes IV to VI" to the thematic reconstruction of the "Star Wars Saga: The Tragedy of Darth Vader: Episodes I to VI".
In so doing, author Michael Kaminsky provides not only reasonable deductive examinations, but actual facts via published interviews that go back to the earliest sources and the circumstances surrounding the creation of each film, demonstrating in full how important story elements came to be. And how others were dropped. We see how Lucas' personal life impacted and was impacted by the making of the films (Particularly sad is Lucas' obsession with the construction of Skywalker Ranch that not only hampered the creative integrity of Return of the Jedi, but cost him his wife and half his fortune).
Beyond the fascinating unveiling of the true story behind the development of Darth Vader from a mere mustachio-twirling henchman to the greatest villain in movie history to the tragic figure that emerged in Revenge of the Sith, The Secret History of Star Wars is a chronicle of the genius and imperfection of George Lucas. In this, the author remains ever impartial, never stooping to fanboyish complaining, but neither sugarcoating less pleasant facts. This is an unbiased, rational journal that can be considered the definitive history of the formation of the Star Wars saga.
Despite its 533 pages (not counting endnotes), it's a page-turner and is written in an easy-to-follow writing style. Because of its dense matter in untangling early drafts, numerous articles/interviews and various versions of stories, the author is not shy about aiding the reader through the reiteration of certain elements previously explained throughout the book. This is never overdone and proves rather helpful in our era of information overload.
The lid blown off the notion that the saga was the slow unveiling of a thoroughly developed story contained in a volume Lucas wrote in the early 70's, what emerges is the creative reality behind the development of a grand epic not unlike Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle-Earth that showed Tolkien's creative impetus at work. Lucas emerges as a conceptual genius, painstakingly transforming an action-oriented homage to the B-serials of the 30's into a far deeper, grander epic of tragedy and gravitas, hurt only by occasional insecurity, a willingness to present a false picture to the media and at times less-than-artistic concerns. A fully human being emerges through which the struggles of Luke and Anakin can be seen as reflections of their creator, himself a larger-than-life figure beset by triumph and tragedy, moving from humble beginnings to heading his own empire, dually idolized and demonized by the critics and fans, a brilliant man who's contributions to the world of film and literature and pop-culture are only now being to be understood.
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The Secret History of Star WarsStar Wars is one of the most important cultural phenomena of the Western world.The tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker has become modern myth, an epic tragedy of the corruption of a young man in love into darkness, the rise of evil, and the power of good triumphing in the end.But it didn't start out that way.In this thorough account of one of cinema's most lasting works, Michael Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written, from its beginnings as a science fiction fairy tale to its development over three decades into the epic we now know, chronicling the methods, techniques, thought processes, and struggles of its creator.For this unauthorized account, he has pored through over four hundred sources, from interviews to original scripts, to track how the most powerful modern epic in the world was created, expanded, and finalized into the tale an entire generation has grown up with.
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