Fulminata reviewed The Star Wars by J. W. Rinzler
Review of 'The Star Wars' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
There's a reason why the final script was different from the rough draft, but it's still an entertaining read. The story's origin in Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress is more obvious here than in the final script.
The art is great. It takes a lot of the early concept art and merges it with the aesthetics of what ended up on the screen, both in the original trilogy and the prequels.
A lot of the concepts that show up throughout all six movies have their origin in this rough draft, and it's interesting to see them pop up.
Possible SPOILERS ahead.
A lot of the foolishness that ended up in Jedi and the prequels is apparent in this rough draft as well. We have primitives learning how to deftly fly starfighters in a matter of hours or days. We are supposed to side with a hereditary monarchy that has remained in a …
There's a reason why the final script was different from the rough draft, but it's still an entertaining read. The story's origin in Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress is more obvious here than in the final script.
The art is great. It takes a lot of the early concept art and merges it with the aesthetics of what ended up on the screen, both in the original trilogy and the prequels.
A lot of the concepts that show up throughout all six movies have their origin in this rough draft, and it's interesting to see them pop up.
Possible SPOILERS ahead.
A lot of the foolishness that ended up in Jedi and the prequels is apparent in this rough draft as well. We have primitives learning how to deftly fly starfighters in a matter of hours or days. We are supposed to side with a hereditary monarchy that has remained in a single family for 1000 years over a new empire, apparently because old is good and new is bad. We are also supposed to side with the Jedi-Bendu, who protected the old empire until they were usurped by the Sith, again because old is good and new is bad. Basically it seems like we have a bunch of elites fighting another bunch of elites, and if it weren't for a few scenes of the empire behaving in stereotypically evil fashion, they would actually appear to be the more progressive of the two.
Lucas' problematic approach to female characters and romantic relationships is apparent in the way that Leia and her relationship to Annikin Starkiller is portrayed.
Aside from those larger issues, there are many small holes in the plot. Lots of things appear to be done solely for reasons of plot without any internal logic powering it.
In the end, it would be easy to dismiss a lot of these by pointing out that this WAS a rough draft, and problems are to be expected. The problem is that he went back and ended up recycling so many ideas that would have probably been better off forgotten.
