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Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy book review .
If it sometimes feels like there’s little new to say about the original Star Wars trilogy, rest assured that there’s still plenty of things to see. The latest beautiful offering from the Lucasfilm archives (once again curated by JW Rinzler, biographer-in-chief of that galaxy far, far away) collects together enough storyboards from the productions of Episodes IV , V and VI to fill a space cruiser.
Rather than attempting to depict every single scene, the book wisely focuses on key action sequences like the assaults on the Death Star. As you’d expect, the artwork is great to look at, ranging from simple, almost back-of-the-envelope sketches to stunning illustrations that convey the speed and excitement of the set-pieces.
The book also helps illuminate the key role storyboard artists play as a bridge between screenwriters and directors, while offering up a fun glimpse of scenes that never were – as in the shooting scripts and Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art, it’s excised moments like Obi-Wan escaping the Death Star that make this essential. It’s just a shame they couldn’t find space for a few more words – the brief annotations from the artists leave you eager to go deeper.
Richard Edwards twitter.com/RichDEdwards
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