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This is just a brilliant adaptation of Star Wars into the style of Shakespeare. Those two things are so different that my first reaction was "This is some kind of joke, right?" But while there's a great deal of humor to be found here, the project is not a parody. Not at all. It's a celebration of two hitherto separate but equally great triumphs of storytelling.
The first step was converting the dialogue of A New Hope into iambic pentameter. This is a great accomplishment in its own right: archaic sixteenth-century grammar and vocabulary are used, giving this writing a very authentically Shakespearean feel; at the same time, Star Wars jargon is faithfully represented: "Now lock thine S foils in attacking mode," for instance, or "E'en now the princess is on Level 5/Detention block of AA-23." Deliberately awkward dialogue from Star Wars is dialed up to eleven, with side-splittingly entertaining results; read the reinterpretation of Han's attempts to convince security that everything is fine in the detention block after his fire fight with the guards there. Unintentionally awkward dialogue, of which Lucas wrote a fair amount, is smoothed over and expanded upon to the point of eloquence; see Wedge's "Look at the size of that thing!" and Red Leader's response of "Cut the chatter." R2-D2's beeps and whistles and untranslated gibberish from alien characters are sometimes used as needed to get a tricky line into blank verse, which didn't bother me any. While contractions like "Millen'um Falcon" and "th'Imper'al Senate" look awful on paper, calling to mind some cotton-mouthed Mississippi redneck, there really is no way around it, given the nature of iambic pentameter.
At any rate, the conversion to blank verse is just the beginning. The dialogue is just so rich.Read more ›
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
I got a copy of this book to review from the Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review. When I saw this book was releasing I really wanted to read it, I love Shakespeare and Star Wars and was eager to see what would happen when the two are put together. The result was very pleasant; I enjoyed the dramatic way Star Wars is done in play form and the wonderful illustrations throughout. I really enjoyed reading this.
This book covers Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in a very Shakespearean format. The book is broken down into Acts and Scenes. Each line is prefaced by who is speaking it (just like in a play). There is a Chorus that covers action scenes too. The whole thing is written in very Shakespeare like language. The book is also interspersed with some wonderful drawings of our heros in their Shakespeare-modified gear.
The only bad part about this book is that I already know how the story goes and ends. So given that, there weren't a lot of surprises here...but there were some. One of my favorite additions were R2D2's soliloquies. Sure he may speak in squeaks and beeps when others are on stage with him, but as soon as he is alone then the soliloquies start. R2D2 does elaborate asides on C3PO's annoying personality and on his own sneaky plans. These are hilarious, add a lot of depth to R2D2, and are just perfect for him.
There are some other additions to the story as well. For example in an aside Obi-Wan debates what and what not to tell Luke about his father. These little asides actually add a lot of humor and thoughtfulness to the story. I thought they actually even improved the story some and made it more complex and interesting.
The language is very Shakespearean, but I still found it easy to read.Read more ›
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80 of 95 people found the following review helpful
Coincidentally I just finished reading How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, which used actual text from the Bard. After having a dose of Shakespeare and learning to memorize his works, when I got my hands on this I had one immediate response. . .
Ha. Ha. Ha!
I got a good laugh, as the timely classic story we all know so well is put into the form of a stage play with a lot of Thee's, Thou's and the like.
Not nearly as skilled writing as the Bard's trademark rhyming and other fantastic uses of the English language. Now I'm still unfamiliar with recognizing iambic pentameter, but that's supposed to play a big part in this retelling.
Here is an excerpt that folks should be able to place:
HAN: Pray tell, what shall the cargo be?
OBI-WAN: -Myself The boy, two droids, and ne're a question ask'd.
HAN 'Tis what, a touch of local trouble here?
OBI-WAN Nay, let us simply say it thus: we would Imperial entanglements avoid
HAN Aye, there's the rub, so shalt though further pay. Ten thousand is the cost, and ev'ry bit Shalt though deliver ere we leave the dock.
LUKE Ten thousand? Fie! We could our own ship buy For such a sum as this.
HAN -A goodly jest! For who should pilot such a ship -- shouldst thou?
LUKE Thou knave, I could indeed!. . .
As you can see, this is how the entire book reads. It makes the Shakespearean fan have a good laugh and enjoy the Star Wars in a different light. Also note there are some illustrations throughout that are kinda cool.
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