Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays

by Laurent Bouzereau

Book Overview

n all three full-length screenplays, presented with the secrets that led to their creation. Through hours of exclusive interviews with George Lucas and others involved in crafting the original... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345409817
• ISBN13: 9780345409812
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Lucas Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Perfect Argument Solver

Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays is not only a collection of the scripts for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, all of which were individually published in various forms. It is also replete with notes and commentary on the evolution of each screenplay from story ideas to final drafts. While it might irritate a few readers (the effect is rather like literary Pop Up videos), the commentary reveals that what we saw on the silver screen was not what was originally conceived by George Lucas. While to a few fans who read Dale Pollock's Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas some of this new information isn't so new, to most fans the constant changes in the characters and situations will be enlightening. Also, material from the Special Edition appears in boxes alongside the original versions of the final scripts. Enjoy! (And have this tome handy to settle trivia disputes that previously could only be settled by a Jedi Knight!)

Essential to any true Star Wars fan...

If there's one book every Star Wars fan should read, it is this one. Written in a interesting, down to earth, though informative style; the book gives endless information on the early formation of the Star Wars saga. Far beyond being just an endless script, full of nothing but lines we've all memorized many times over; interspersed throughout is not only commentary on most of the scenes from greats such as George Lucas and Ralph McQuarrie, but also quick glimpses into early drafts, from each movie. Luke (Starkiller?!?!) trying to rescue his younger brother from the Death Star? Leia the daughter of Owen and Beru? Lando as a clone? Obi-Wan rising from the dead to aid Luke in his struggle against Vader? Priceless! I had a few minor gripes about this book, the main one being that the book itself was slightly flimsy, and it was difficult to read at times without bending the binding. Besides that extremely minor difficulty though, it was excellent. Very enjoyable and informative. Recommended to Star Wars fans of any and every age.

The secrets are finally unlocked!

This books allows to go inside Lucas's mind as he was developing the Star Wars universe. The first thing you notice is that the hexalogue or nonalogue was not planned out in millimeter as many people suppose. Lucas went through the normal development anyone else would go through. For example, Lucas didn't decide on making Darth Vader Luke's father, until the fourth draft of Empire. Ant that is a very significant item of plot!This book is trivided among the three films, beginning with excerpts from the early drafts Lucas wrote, then the screenplay is presented with the Special Edition line highlighted by grey. Throughout the script, there are italicized comments about how the story changed or was modified from the original draft.This book is not up to quote-unquote scholarly levels of historical precision, but that does not mean it is absolutely useless. It is quite a fun book,a nd you can win many arguments about Lucas with this book!You want to read this book along side of Joseph Cambell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces," to see where Lucas is getting his mythological ideas.The best tidbits are the ideas Lucas scrapped, and later reused in the other films. But you will have to read that on your own!

UTTERLY FASCINATING

This book is JUST AWESOME and a must for any real Star Wars fan. To see how the entire saga came about and all the changes and the last minute rush jobs to be ready for filming. Well, it was utterly fascinating. The evolving of the characters, futuristic machines and weapons, and who changed what and the some of the chances that were taken and pulled off were as exciting and inspiring as the movies themselves. Like Solo saying I know when Leia says she loves him, was a chance taken and it worked and therefore it was used. The expression "I have a bad feeling about this." ended up in all 3 films. Some people think books and reading are/is boring. Not with this book. A fantastic read. Get it - you won't be sorry.

Forget the hype: this is the soul of Star Wars!!!

I've always loved Star Wars. Who does not? But to tell you the truth I'm sometimes overwhelmed by all the tie-in books that come out.Except this one. To have all three screenplays along with running commentary from George Lucas and all other major players in this empire- building process just blew my mind away.To be let in on the development of the characters and the events that make up one of the modern classics of the cinema is too much of a good thing. Also to get glimpses of the Star Wars that might have been at a story and character level is a unique treat.Add to that the fact that you get three complete screenplays (with the special edition modifications also included) for the price of a trade paperback and the decision to get it is a no-brainer for any aficionado of Star Wars, Science Fiction or screenwriting in general.