Empire Of Dreams

I'm running out of Star Wars stuff.

Literally, after season 7 of Clone Wars and an In Retrospect of The Rise Of Skywalker, that's it for Star Wars here until season 2 of The Mandalorian. I am not brave enough to watch the Ewok stuff so this is the end. But I have to say this is a fine documentary, the first I ever watched concerning my favorite movies. It only centers on the first trilogy, mainly the first film, and with a run time of 2 and a half hours the information that you get is good and seeing the formation of this franchise is entertaining, enlightening, and really puts this whole series in perspective. I am going to say this once and only once, I hate how people take Star Wars for granted. I could rant for hours about how people take this so seriously, and this is coming from a die hard Star Wars fan. This really and truly does put the entire franchise into perspective, people always assume, oh Star Wars was planned from episodes 1 to 6 immediately and never had to be revised or changed, oh Star Wars was widely accepted during production and didn't have any problems or trials to overcome, oh the special effects were done with a mass of materials to be used. No! Noooo!! Damn you a thousand times no! This might be an odd thing to say but this is a documentary that flat out tells you the truth, there is no bullshit here and they tell you how Star Wars came to be in the most un-dramatic, straightforward, and sometimes even humorous way. The "script" for Star Wars was a very basic cliffnotes version of the story we know that was radically different than what we got on screen, the production was a huge hassle that hardly anybody believed it would have even gotten half of it's money back, the special effects guys for this film are absurd with how they didn't have a single thing to work on beyond sketches and artwork and made some of the best special effects ever like friggin' EVER, the imagination and creativity they had to make this passion project a reality is nothing short of unbelievable. Like man, if one single aspect of that finished film was off....Star Wars would not be here today. It would have come and went with zero fanfare, zero fans, zero recognition. And you know, there are some unsung heroes in this that deserve recognition, Alan Ladd Jr. is the man who made Star Wars possible cause without that guy George Lucas could have never made the movie. Period. Not with the kind of budget he got. Ralph McQuarrie has been getting more recognition through the years but it was his initial paintings and artwork that got people onboard for this science fiction movie in a time where such a film would have been laughed out of every studio and theater in America. Just...I have to give props to the editors, producer, and visual effects team so much for getting this film finished. Yes George Lucas deserves huge recognition for his ideas, ambition, and the scale he wanted this movie to be but I really, truly, very much believe this film wouldn't have gotten anywhere without these people. Star Wars didn't have a road map, not really, because as time progressed ideas and concepts changed, shifted, were dropped, or improved as the scripts were being rewritten and all for the better in my opinion. In fact there is a comic series I believe it is just called The Star Wars where the original original story that George Lucas penned, design choices and all, was published and booooy is it out there. Thankfully you can find the documentary totally free on YouTube, and it is worth the time to watch. I got a little choked up seeing Carrie again, just being her ridiculous awesome self and it brought up points I knew, I never knew, I knew but then I forgot, it's absurd how much this simple story grew in now over 40 years. It's a big reason why I think people need to chill the f*** out over the sequel trilogy, it really ain't all that bad when you get right down to it. We've seen worse in this series and The Last Jedi ain't one of them examples and I'm talking everything here, not just the films. But what the hell do I know? Maybe I'll make a review in 10 years time that will start something like this: "Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker was the most disappointing thing since my son. I mean how much more could you possibly f*** up the entire finale to Star Wars? And while the prequels aren't bad on paper, the unfortunate reality is that the sequels will be around. Forever. It will never go away, it can never be undone. If you're someone under the age of 20 and say you don't remember a time when Disney didn't own Star Wars and that you thought all of them were good, then I suggest you turn this review off right now before I carefully explain how much of a f***ing idiot you are.". But as of now, I very much like the sequels, I love the original trilogy, and I like...parts of the prequels. But Star Wars is bigger than that and no doubt will entertain the world for decades to come. But take a look at the source and how it all came to be, if only to appreciate where we are now. May the Force be with you always.