‘Star Wars’ Book Looks At The Franchise In Its Totality

Yes, there’s another Star Wars book out on Tuesday, but does it really reveal anything that die hard fans don’t already know?

According to How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present and Future of A Multibillion Dollar Franchise, written by Chris Taylor, deputy editor of the online news website Mashable, we do need another Star Wars book and it actually reveals things many never knew.

“There’s not an actual history of the franchise as an independent entity” before the franchise was purchased by Disney in 2012, says Taylor, so he took matters into his own hands. “There have been biographies of Lucas, which he hated. There have been making-of books that Lucasfilm produced. But this is first independent look at the whole thing.”

Star Wars is one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood’s history, raking in over $3 billion in sales worldwide. The original trilogy was received with very good reviews from critics and moviegoers alike, surprising even creator George Lucas, who didn’t really expect his space saga to become the international phenomenon it did.

Taylor timed the release of his book perfectly, as director J.J. Abrams is in the middle of production of the latest installment, Star Wars Episode VII, in England at the moment. According to the author, this is the first book that looks at the franchise in its totality.

“There’s $32 billion in merchandise sales. Ticket sales are $4.5 billion. Home video, games are another, $6 billion, so that’s $42 billion for whole franchise, which increases a half a billion a year and that’s without the new movies.”

One of the most interesting details revealed in the Star Wars book is that David Prowse — who plays Darth Vader in the original trilogy — but is voiced by James Earl Jones, was quoted as saying, after the release of the first Star Wars, “in upcoming movies we’ll find out Vader didn’t kill Luke’s father, he is Luke’s father.”

Today, if an actor involved in a movie uttered the words, it would spread like wildfire, but in those days there was no social media or spoilers, and people mostly talked about a movie after it was released. Abrams is working overtime trying to keep Star Wars Episode VII under wraps and it’s proving to be a full time job.

Talking to USA Today, Taylor says he believes Prowse just guessed the plotline, since Mark Hamill stated he was sworn to secrecy by director Irvin Kershner, and he was one of three people who knew that Darth Vader was Luke’s father, the other two were Kershner and Lucas. The new Star Wars book also confirms what many now know, that nobody saw the success coming.

“‘When you look at each draft of the movie, first draft is almost unrecognizable, Han Solo is a green alien with gills, Luke Skywalker is an old general. But the biggest change was that sense of lightness and humor,’ which came from a late polish on the script and led to comedic lines such as Solo’s withering chess match comment, ‘Let the Wookiee win.'”

“The sense of humor (in Star Wars) made it accessible to people who don’t normally watch science fiction.”

Taylor says George Lucas’ ultimate goal with Star Wars was to build a self-sustaining franchise, where he didn’t need to oversee every single detail. The director was hospitalized during the filming of A New Hope due to the stress he was under, and he also ended up getting divorced.

Lucas was ultimately able to open his own production company, Lucasfilm, and became his own boss at Skywalker Ranch in Northern California.

“As much as Lucas loved Star Wars, it was now a means to a filmmaking end: the creation of a filmmaking paradise. That would mean turning Star Wars into a self-sustaining entity, a franchise that Lucas wouldn’t have to get completely involved in. Sending the universe, in other words, out of the nest on its own.”

“It’s easy to move beyond the George Lucas vision because it’s such a large universe. As long as you have that essential sense of humor, then it’s very easy to leap the expectations of the audience and produce something that is brilliant.”

Chris Taylor’s Star Wars book is now available for purchase. To read an excerpt, click here.

[Image via Twitter]