Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004)

Director: Edith Becker, Kevin Burns
Starring: Robert Clotworthy, Walter Cronkite, George Lucas

Synopsis:
A look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy and its impact on filmmaking and popular culture.

Impressions:
Other than softening some of the offenses of the Special Edition, perhaps the best thing to come out of the 2004 DVD release of the Original Trilogy was this documentary, an excellent in-depth look at the making of the first three films. A lot of time is spent developing the story of the production of the first film and indeed more than half of the runtime is devoted to Episode IV. It's an excellent retrospective that also contextualizes the films. A lot of major players in the cast and crew are called in and there's a good balance discussing the story, the performances, the special effects, and the business side of the OT's history. We get a lot of rough cut footage that gives us alternative takes and such hilarious things like an undubbed Darth Vader and Chewbacca. This may well be the definitive take on the making of the OT. Though my personal DVD copy is the '06 release with the theatrical cuts, I made a point to get the separate DVD of this documentary because I like it so much. It definitely warrants the place in the collection of any Star Wars fan.

Rating:
Own It