The Making of Star Wars
Encyclopedia
The Making of Star Wars is a television special produced by 20th Century Fox
, which aired on the ABC Television Network
on September 16, 1977
. It was written by Richard Schickel
and directed and produced by Robert Guenette.
(voiced and played by Anthony Daniels
) and R2-D2
. A voiceover narration was additionally supplied by William Conrad
. It features behind-the-scenes footage from Star Wars
, and interviews with writer/director George Lucas
, producer Gary Kurtz
, and castmembers Mark Hamill
, Carrie Fisher
, Harrison Ford
, and Alec Guinness
.
Premiering four months after the release of the film, the special was the first Star Wars documentary ever made. It is also notable for showing footage not seen in the film, particularly the scene between Han Solo
and Jabba the Hutt
in its original form in which Jabba was played by Irish
actor Declan Mulholland
(this scene would be included in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars but Jabba would now be a CGI
rendered character).
A brief glimpse of another deleted scene between Luke Skywalker
and Biggs Darklighter on Tatooine
is also included.
). It was reissued to video in 1980 with a trailer for The Empire Strikes Back
, which had been released that year. This trailer was not featured on the DVD box set issued in 2004.
In 1982, it was reissued again by 20th Century Fox on VHS
, Betamax
, CED
, and Laserdisc
as part of a double feature with the 1980 special SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back
. It was reissued separately in Japan on Laserdisc
in 1992, and was reissued as a triple feature with SPFX and the 1983 special Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
.
The special is included as an additional feature in the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray box set, which was released in September 2011.
The version included is the original version with William Conrad's voiceover.
as a special mail-in offer with Kellogg's to tie-in with the last video and laserdisc releases of the original versions of the Star Wars
Trilogy. This version is almost identical to the 1977 version but replaces William Conrad's voiceover with that of famed movie trailer announcer, Don LaFontaine
. This version has not been issued on DVD
nor any other format.
Some portions of the special were edited into The Story of Star Wars
, a DVD that was issued as a promotional bonus available at Wal-Mart
stores for the DVD release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
in 2005.
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, which aired on the ABC Television Network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on September 16, 1977
1977 in television
The year 1977 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1977.For the American TV schedule, see: 1977-78 American network television schedule.-Events:...
. It was written by Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
and directed and produced by Robert Guenette.
Synopsis
The special was hosted by C-3POC-3PO
C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...
(voiced and played by Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels
Anthony Daniels is an English actor. He is best known for his role as the droid C-3PO in the Star Wars series of films made between 1977 and 2005.-Early life:...
) and R2-D2
R2-D2
R2-D2 , is a character in the Star Wars universe. An astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character throughout all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga...
. A voiceover narration was additionally supplied by William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
. It features behind-the-scenes footage from Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, and interviews with writer/director George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, producer Gary Kurtz
Gary Kurtz
Gary Kurtz is an American film producer whose list of credits include American Graffiti, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. He later produced The Dark Crystal and Return to Oz after departing from the Star Wars series...
, and castmembers Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
, Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
, and Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
.
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
and Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
in its original form in which Jabba was played by Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
actor Declan Mulholland
Declan Mulholland
Thomas Declan Mulholland was a Northern Irish character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films....
(this scene would be included in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars but Jabba would now be a CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
rendered character).
A brief glimpse of another deleted scene between Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...
and Biggs Darklighter on Tatooine
Tatooine
Tatooine is a fictional planet and setting for many key scenes in the Star Wars saga, appearing in every Star Wars film except The Empire Strikes Back, although it is mentioned at the end of the movie...
is also included.
Home video release
The special was the first Star Wars material to be released to the home video market (in 1979, by Magnetic VideoMagnetic Video
Magnetic Video was a home video/audio duplication service established by Andre Blay in 1968 and based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1977 it became the first corporation to release theatrical motion pictures onto Betamax and VHS videocassette for consumer use. Magnetic Video was a home...
). It was reissued to video in 1980 with a trailer for The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
, which had been released that year. This trailer was not featured on the DVD box set issued in 2004.
In 1982, it was reissued again by 20th Century Fox on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
, CED
CED
CED may stand for:*The UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design*Capacitance Electronic Disc, a playback-only video medium*Classical electrodynamics*Community economic development*Collective Earth Defense from the video game Descent³...
, and Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
as part of a double feature with the 1980 special SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back
SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back
SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back is a television documentary special which originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1980. Hosted by actor Mark Hamill, it is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the special effects in the second Star Wars film, which was released that year...
. It was reissued separately in Japan on Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in 1992, and was reissued as a triple feature with SPFX and the 1983 special Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi is a television documentary, first broadcast on PBS in 1983. It is a look behind-the-scenes of the creation of the various alien creatures from the third Star Wars film Return of the Jedi which was released that year...
.
The special is included as an additional feature in the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray box set, which was released in September 2011.
The version included is the original version with William Conrad's voiceover.
Alternate version
In 1995, an alternate version of the special was released to VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
as a special mail-in offer with Kellogg's to tie-in with the last video and laserdisc releases of the original versions of the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
Trilogy. This version is almost identical to the 1977 version but replaces William Conrad's voiceover with that of famed movie trailer announcer, Don LaFontaine
Don LaFontaine
Donald Leroy "Don" LaFontaine was an American voiceover artist famous for recording more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers. His nicknames included "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God"...
. This version has not been issued on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
nor any other format.
Some portions of the special were edited into The Story of Star Wars
The Story of Star Wars
The Story Of Star Wars was a 1977 record album presenting an abridged version of the events depicted in the film Star Wars, using dialogue and sound effects from the original film. The recording was produced by George Lucas and Alan Livingston, and was narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne. The script was...
, a DVD that was issued as a promotional bonus available at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
stores for the DVD release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
in 2005.