Customer Reviews

The Art of The Empire Strikes Back

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is FAR superior to the other two "Art of" books in the original trilogy because it is actually an "Art of" book and NOT an illustrated screenplay. By publishing the script elsewhere (in numerous publications - the best being "The Empire Strikes Back Notebook" which had the script, commentary from Kasdan and Kershner, and tons of storyboard panels - try to get a copy), Lucasfilm wisely left room for the artwork and its accompanying explanatory text. The other two books, while providing plenty of fantastic eye candy, unfortunately tell you nothing about the artwork. It is a good sign that for Episode I, Lucasfilm has chosen to go with and improve upon the editorial model set by the "Art of Empire" book.

This book is the best in the Art Of Star Wars series, but has a few downfalls.

This book is filled with color photos, but the text that goes with the pictures hasn't improved much. A good thing about this book, is the artwork is divided up into sections: HOTH, STAR DESTROYER, ASTEROID FIELD, DAGOBAH, BESPIN, REBEL CRUISER, and at the beginning of each section is about one and a half pages of text that describes how the "section" was done for the movie.

The "features" of the book such as the technique for the Imperial Walkers and Tauntauns to make them move, was included in the paragraphs at the beginning of each section, but really was poorly written. And the evolution of Yoda wasn't even written in text at all. All it consisted of was pages of drawings that looked different.

The pictures are, as always, magnificent, and included photographs, drawings, sketches, paintings, matte paintings, and blueprints, although the blueprints are on two pages, and a portion of them disappear where the two pages meet. But the rest is great, and it is so amazing to see how real the matte paintings look!

All four and a half stars are for the great pictures, organization, and text, but the missing half star is due to the lack of text. The lack of text is the real downfall, but since the pictures are great, I don't regret getting it. Especially since this is the only ART OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK book there is.

I have purchased all three of these special edition books. I think they are all wonderful. The only irritating thing is that the "A New Hope" volume, and the "Return Of The Jedi" volume have the script included. THIS VOLUME DOES NOT!?! That's just dumb. This volume is chock full of pages with pictures, their captions, and vast blank white space areas that could have been filled with the script - like the other two books in the set.

Oh well. For what the book does offer it is still great. I'd trade it in gladly for a version that included the script.

Of the three original Art-of Star Wars books, this is the best, for it does not include the screenplay that the other two do, and instead has useful information about the production of the film instead. The only drawback is that many of the illustrations run across the center of the page, where the binding obscures a portion of the image, but this is fairly common in softcover of this type. Recommended for fans and serious film buffs alike.

I'm an artist, and I have been ever since I was a kid. I have loved Star Wars since I saw the original one when I was 6 (not in the theater, of course). When I was about 12 I found "The Art of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" at my local library, and once I realized what it was, my goal in life was set: to become a concept artist for Lucasfilm. Tall order, I know, and now in my early 30s, I'm still striving for that goal. But of the three books I got (one for each of the original trilogy), this one has impacted me the most.

"Empire" is my favourite of the original three, and one can learn just as much about art technique as they can about filmmaking by looking at this book. Hundreds of drawings, some rough and some finished, models, props, photos, matte paintings, and storyboards adorn the pages, and as a result, Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston (the two Lucasfilm artists who had the biggest impact on the look of Star Wars) have become heroes of mine.

The only qualm I have (and this was mentioned in the reviews for the book about Star Wars: Episode IV) is that the binding is pretty weak. Granted, I use my books a lot. A LOT. But I've lost the first 35 pages out of my Empire book because the glue they used is second-rate. So minus one star for that.

But bad glue aside, this book is absolutely, hands-down must-have if you are an art lover or Star Wars fan (or both).

The paintings of cloud city and the Probe droid are among my all time favorie McQuarrie works.

There are great concept pics.

And with Empire as the general concensus for "favorite movie" it stands to reason this would be among folks favorite art collections.

I don't think it matters much in this book whether the script is there, because it still has tons of great drawings, etc. that will be very interesting to a Star Wars fan. Besides the lack of script will be a nice excuse to buy the Anotated Screenplays, which is also VERY interesting.

Of the three original Art-of Star Wars books, this is the best, for it does not include the screenplay that the other two do, and instead has useful information about the production of the film instead. The only drawback is that many of the illustrations run across the center of the page, where the binding obscures a portion of the image, but this is fairly common in softcover of this type. Recommended for fans and serious film buffs alike.