main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

BTS JW Rinzler's 'Making of Return of the Jedi'

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by Darth_Nub, May 23, 2013.

  1. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    I personally like the ESB book the least. It doesn't delve into the rough drafts enough for my liking, and details about some of the creative decisions taken during the writing of the film seem obscure, perhaps deliberately so. (I doubt Lucas would want Rinzler revealing that Vader wasn't meant to be Luke's dad all along.) However, the excerpted material from the story conferences is well worth reading.

    The ANH and ROTJ books are both great.
     
    Ord-Mantell70 and TOSCHESTATION like this.
  2. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2013
    "destroyed the Emperor and, consequently, the Empire, then it's a Republic again and the Senate will come back."

    Does this mean that the Empire went back to being the Republic at the end of ROTJ?
     
  3. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001
    More or less. Lucas didn't exactly establish a time frame for how it went down, since he hadn't gotten that far back then. Presumably by the time Episode VII begins, the Republic will have been around for a good number of years.
     
    EternalHero likes this.
  4. Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn

    Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 1999
    Interesting... I like the Empire one. The details do seem a bit vague (Vader/Anakin, Trilogy-of-Trilogies Saga plans?), but I think the story/concept development section of the Jedi book is even more sparse. It just feels like something is missing at the beginning there. There aren't as many notes or anything shown. The story conference stuff is really, really good, but anything before that is just so... 'ethereal.' Maybe it really was that loose, but surely at some point Lucas must have contemplated who/how/why for the Other on paper, right?

    ... maybe not.
     
    TOSCHESTATION likes this.
  5. EternalHero

    EternalHero Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2014
    All three books are a revelation. TMO:ESB revealed how much Lucas contributed to the film which goes against fan mythology that he had the least to do with that one - anything but! ESB had a fairly fast script development compared to ANH & RotJ: GL found the story he wanted to tell pretty quickly and abandoned the Story Treatment/Brackett-Draft as soon as he honed in on the stronger story, probably because of the pressure to get the film out. I thought the RotJ book covered the story development very well, it also highlighted how hard Richard Marquand worked on the film & how much GL contributed. The ESB book also revealed how hard it was to make that film, in some ways it was a harder film to make than a ANH! Another aspect of the RotJ book I found interesting is how far back GL was trying to make a film like a painter makes a painting, altering images (literally by painting things out!) all the way to the end, so much so that the VFX team was completely burnt out by the end. You can see why GL got so into digital production and why there was so much stuff in the PT, it was a pent up stream of ideas just bursting the dam. As for the Father/Son thing, I didn't feel like anything was 'covered up' in the ESB book, Rinzler points out how many aspects of the unfilmed SW drafts pointed to that connection existing in GL's mind almost from the beginning; the Second Draft of the first film is all about a boy searching for his powerful Jedi father. But all three Making Of books are essential reading for any SW fan.
     
  6. TOSCHESTATION

    TOSCHESTATION Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2003
    Something about the Making of TESB book (I know, different thread):

    Howard Kazanjian is mentioned in the pre-production process when Kurtz was producer. Was Howard involved somewhat on Empire, but this was sort of hushed-up? Was he Lucas' preferred producer for that film?
     
  7. gezvader28

    gezvader28 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2003
    has anyone read Rinzler's new book on the OT storyboards ? is it worth getting ?


    .
     
  8. TOSCHESTATION

    TOSCHESTATION Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2003
    YES!
     
  9. TOSCHESTATION

    TOSCHESTATION Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2003
    Yes AND yes!!!
     
  10. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    I'll second that. It's definitely worth picking up.
     
    TOSCHESTATION likes this.
  11. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    Does the making of ANH book say anything about the idea behind the Massassi Temple?
     
  12. TOSCHESTATION

    TOSCHESTATION Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2003
    I don't think so.
     
  13. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001

    I don't think so. It might have been that Kazanjian was brought in to help get things up and going, but he wasn't meant to run the whole show. Lucas and Kurtz were still on good terms in 1978, before filming began the following year. Kazanjian went to work on "Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark", so I think that's why he didn't have more of a role on TESB that he did with ROTJ. Granted, he didn't get involved with Indy until later, but that's probably part and parcel of why he was involved in one and then more of the other.

    And yes, I used the franchise boxset title from a dozen years ago.
     
    TOSCHESTATION likes this.
  14. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    I do think that Kurtz's relationship with Lucas going into ESB wasn't quite as solid as it had been going into ANH, though--I distinctly recall that Rinzler says Lucas thought about replacing Kurtz as producer as early as the pre-production of ESB. Kurtz convinced Lucas to give him another chance, and we all know how that went.
     
    TOSCHESTATION likes this.
  15. TOSCHESTATION

    TOSCHESTATION Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 17, 2003
    Right.

    ATM, have you noticed the 'odd' but sort of casual mentions of Kazanjian during the pre-production period of ESB?
     
  16. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    I have, yes. I suspect Lucas had him in mind as the replacement for Kurtz even then and was grooming him for the role.