Suvudu Universe

Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy is latest non-fiction book published by Lucasfilm and Abrams. This large format (9 x 11 7/8″) coffee table book was released on May 13, 2014.

Storyboards is edited by Lucasfilm’s J.W. Rinzler and features a foreword by Joe Johnston and introduction by Nilo Rodis-Jamero. Johnston and Rodis-Jamero crafted many of the storyboards in the book. Artwork from Ivor Beddoes, Roy Carnon, Dave Carson, Steve Gawley, Paul Huston, George Jenson, Ralph McQuarrie, Gary Myers, Ken Ralston, David Russell, Ronnie Shepherd, Alex Tavoularis, and Brook Temple are also included.

The book includes sparse writing throughout including captions placing the drawings in context as well as comments from the artists. The book includes artwork from the Original Trilogy (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi).

At 352 pages and over 1,000 storyboards and sketches this book is a visual smorgasbord that shows scenes that are the same, slightly different or very different from what we saw end up on the screen in the films.

The nature of storyboards means that the artwork is mostly in blacks, whites, and grays. There is a section featuring the Battle of Hoth that includes color but don’t expect that throughout the book. In many of the panels you can even see the marker strokes that were used to color in the black background of space.

The book has some very impressive artwork given the amount of time and number of storyboards that the artists had to produce in a limited amount of time. I particularly enjoyed the artwork of the actin in space. It was also very cool to see the different styles and interpretations of the different artists.

This is a perfect companion piece to other behind the scenes Star Wars materials, like Rinzler’s “Making of” books or copies of the screenplays. It is fascinating to see this intermediary stage in the process of film making, contrast what we saw written in the scripts, what we see represented in the screenplays and ultimately what we saw on the screen.

Throughout the book you get the sense of what a mad adventure it was working on those films and just how much innovation and learning on the job was necessary from a generation of artists and filmmakers that would go on to shape much of what we see in cinemas today.

Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy is a book you want to leave out prominently in your home and enjoy as others pick it up and flip through it’s fantastic pages. I guarantee this book will be a great conversation starter for Star Wars fans.

For more on the book visit Abrams.

Editor’s Note: A review copy of the book was provided by the publisher.