Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy

September. 12,2004      
Rating:
8.2
Trailer Synopsis Cast

From the earliest versions of the script to the blockbuster debuts, explore the creation of the Star Wars Trilogy.

Robert Clotworthy as  Narrator (voice)
George Lucas as  Self
Steven Spielberg as  Self
Mark Hamill as  Self
Carrie Fisher as  Self
Harrison Ford as  Self
Peter Mayhew as  Self
Anthony Daniels as  Self
Kenny Baker as  Self
Billy Dee Williams as  Self

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Reviews

ThiefHott
2004/09/12

Too much of everything

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Marketic
2004/09/13

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

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Janae Milner
2004/09/14

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

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Allison Davies
2004/09/15

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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MissSimonetta
2004/09/16

This documentary about the making-of the Star Wars trilogy makes one realize how much of a miracle it was that the original film was made at all. A myriad of problems beset George Lucas and his collaborators during production and few predicted the film would be as big as it became.Empire of Dreams (2004) is a generally good documentary. It goes in-depth with the production of the first film especially. The best asset is the plethora of archive footage, which is wonderful to see.I'm not sure if this is the definitive behind-the-scenes SW. The majority of Empire of Dreams (2004) focuses its attention on Star Wars (1977) and lavishes a good deal of attention on The Empire Strikes Back (1980), virtually ignoring Return of the Jedi (1983). You're probably better off with JW Rinzler's Star Wars books, which give each film in the trilogy equal attention and go into an almost day-by-day record of the productions.Empire of Dreams is also quite uncritical and there are several moments when as much extreme praise is showered upon George Lucas as possible, bordering on nauseating. Marcia Lucas, whose contributions to the film were important, is quickly glossed over. She and David Prowse (the physical performance of Darth Vader) were not interviewed due to having rather rocky relationships with George. There's also a plug for those wretched special editions, with their intrusive CG additions and narrative tampering.Is this necessary viewing? Not really, but Star Wars fans will enjoy the behind-the-scenes footage.

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TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
2004/09/17

This special starts before the original Star Wars, and after introducing Lucas and setting the scene for the time period, it takes us through the entire trilogy, with clips, interviews and behind the scenes footage en masse(I won't throw on the ever-ambiguous "and more" that is a common favorite to throw on DVD covers and the likes... believe me, if they've got something good to sell you, they know it, and they won't hesitate to tell you, "more" is like "interactive menus"... it makes nothing out of the ordinary sound like a real treat). Each main member of the cast, including Kenny Baker(R2D2), and Anthony Daniels(C3PO) - who sounds a lot like his character even when he's just speaking normally - and Peter Mayhew(Chewbacca). It has a good pace throughout, the version I watched was 90 minutes, and it never grew stale. It is edited expertly throughout. There is a solid flow to the documentary. It holds a lot of information, and the right amount of time is spent on it. The fun factor of this is achieved nicely, and without overshadowing what it is presenting. About the only person not brought in for an interview is David Prowse, who I suppose may still hold a grudge over not being told that they weren't going to use his voice(and if he knew that they were going to add in footage of Vader where his voice was still the one heard, in this special(which... let's just say, doesn't exactly sound as powerful and terrifying as that of James Earl Jones, who is also interviewed in this)... well, he might have stayed away for that reason, I know I would). There is perhaps a bit of patting on the back going on, as the special mentions just *how many* nominations and wins the films got, and how important it was, and so on and so forth, but this doesn't keep it from being worth watching. I recommend this to any fan of the original trilogy. Heck, the anecdotes alone almost make the hour and a half worth it. 8/10

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I_Am_The_Taylrus
2004/09/18

SPOILERSI am a huge Star Wars fan and I had recently seen this on television. Since I had seen it I decided to comment on it. Remember, though, I had seen the television version, not the longer DVD version of this documentary. There are fun interviews in this documentary, and this includes some interesting details about the making of the first three Star Wars film. They do talk about Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, but not much. This documentary was made before Revenge of the Sith.Here is the basis of this documentary. It is basically the history behind the infamous Star Wars movies. George Lucas and the rest of the cast and crew talk about how the movies came to be. There were difficult hardships, including the intense heat in the desert sequence, from the cold winter in the snow sequence in the Empire Strikes Back. They also talk about the slew of awards that Star Wars won, and the records that it shattered.Overall, this is a fun-filled documentary to watch. Some of the facts about Star Wars are also really interesting to hear about. For example, Frank Oz, who is the puppeteer for Yoda, accidentally breaks and shatters the Yoda head, so they have to make a brand-new one. Also, in the Empire Strikes Back the crew were snowed in a hotel so Mark Hamill, who plays Luke, had to go out in the freezing cold alone. I also like the fact that the director and the producers told nobody that Vader was Luke's father. Anyway, this is an enjoyable documentary to watch if you are a fan of the Star Wars trilogy.9/10 Recommended Titles: Star Wars.

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MovieAddict2016
2004/09/19

Like most DVD fanatics I picked up the "Star Wars" boxset last Christmas when it came out. I was disappointed, to be honest. Apart from the fact that much more could have been included in terms of extra content (did we need a video game demo taking up space on the fourth disc?) it also didn't include the original versions of the films - which, as far as I know, are those that practically everyone prefers.Nevertheless this insightful and exhaustive documentary - which covers the entire pre-production through post-production phase of each original "Star Wars" film - almost redeems the DVD collection. Although it is fairly "full of itself" as IMDb commentator Bob the Moo notes, it DOES feature a good wealth of information - including some facts I hadn't heard about before (e.g. Jedi was given a fake working title so fans wouldn't sneak onto the set).If you're a fan of "Star Wars," definitely check this out - if you don't want to dish out the cash, it's playing on A&E right now. But in my opinion it's not as great as it could have been because it falls victim to George Lucas' "cleanness" - we're led to believe "Star Wars" is the most important and defining event of the past century and that turned me off a bit.

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