Customer Reviews

The Making of Star Wars as told by C-3PO and R2-D2

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Originally released to the home video market in 1979 by the then-fledgling Magnetic Video corporation, this is the rarest of Star Wars material on video. It's also the first piece of Star Wars material, predating even the VHS release of Episode IV: A New Hope, by two years. (Lucasfilm and Fox would not officially
Originally aired on ABC in 1977, this special features behind-the-scenes footage from the sets, the visual effects, interviews with the cast and creators of the legendary film. Interviews with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, George Lucas, and Gary Kurtz are featured on this video narrated by the late William Conrad. This special was only reissued once in the United States on video in its original format, as part of a double feature with a similar special on The Empire Strikes Back.
The video and audio quality is typical for late 1970's video releases, with the source print being a 16mm print. Also, attached to most of the Magnetic Video prints is a trailer for The Empire Strikes Back that is not present with the current trilogy DVD set.
The only other U.S. video release of this special is a 1995 reissue through a mail-in offer with Kellogg's Cereals, which replaces William Conrad's voiceover with another actor. The rest of the special is similar to its initial appearance.

Rare is right! I spent the better part of a year and a half looking for this original video at a reasonable price and I finally recently found it! This is the original version as it was aired on ABC-TV in 1978 with Robert Conrad as narrator and not the 1995 version that was re-dubbed with a different narrator's voice and broadcasted on the Sci-Fi channel.

The tape was in surprisingly good condition, considering it's over 25 years-old. It was a thrill to return to day when this monumental film was simply known as STAR WARS, without an episode number and without George Lucas's butchering and editing. The movie-making process was more painstaking and much more admirable than today's CGI methods. And, wow, didn't George, Mark, Harrison and Carrie look so young!

This version that I received, though, must be the very first videotape, because it did not have the sneak preview of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on it. In fact, the STAR WARS sequel is only briefly mentioned as it will likely involve an ice planet (Hoth) and a tropical planet (Dagobah).

This video makes a great addition to my small STAR WARS collection, considering the 30th anniversary is just around the corner.

This is it - the documented Making of ... from around 1977-78. This was aired on TV back then I believe. This has the fresh young unknowns interviewed just a bit after the worldwide success. That the sequels were works in progress is apparant. You hear Carrie Fisher questioned which man she will end up with. Mark Hammil chimes in that if she picks Han she is a punk (or something to that effect). So the love triangle is very much alive in THIS version of Star Wars revisionist history. Get this to hear awkward truth about just how NOT set in stone was the continuing story of Star Wars.