The Unauthorized Star Wars
Compendium
Review by Gini McDonagh
The
Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium
By Ted Edwards
It’s
1999, the Prequels are on their way, and everyone is
trying to get a piece of the Star Wars pie. This book,
published by Little, Brown, boasts on both the front and
back covers that it is in no way endorsed, approved or
licensed by the creators of Star Wars. Does that mean
that Ted Edwards and Little, Brown are taking the chance
of raising the ire of LucasFilm Limited with a daring
critique of the Star Wars world?
Not particularly. While Edwards does take a critical look at some of the problems surrounding Star Wars, both in the physical making of the movies and in the stories themselves, movie and post-movie, there is no new material, no tidbits unavailable in previously published books.
The book is divided into seven main sections and an appendix, each section coyly referred to as an "Episode" rather than a chapter. There’s no compelling reason for this choice, since the chronology followed is the actual making of the movies and the subsequent publications. So "Episode VI" in the book refers to the prequels, or in other words, George Lucas’ "Episode I." Confused yet? Fortunately, this cute trick isn’t really confusing, just a little silly.
The first section deals with the making of The Holy Trilogy. While not as in-depth as last year’s Empire Building, it’s a nice overview of the process Lucas went through in the making of the three movies.
Section Two covers the Radio Dramas. Edwards provides a little information on their inception, then gives a lengthy critique of each. Being a fan of the Radio Dramas, I found his take on them to be nit-picking and his complaints to be against the very things I like best about these expanded views of the stories we know so well. But that’s the point of review and criticism, isn’t it?
The Third Section is a lengthy overview of the comics throughout the years, beginning with the Marvel series that ran back in the 70s and continuing through the Dark Horse years. Edwards does a good job of condensing the many stories into a few lines each and giving an opinion of the strengths and weaknesses he sees in each. This section is a little scatter-shot in feeling, but this is due to the enormous amount of material he must cover. On the whole, this is one of the best sections of the book.
Following this section is on overview of the novels. Edwards handles these in "chronological" order, which means that once or twice books within a trilogy are not reviewed as a group but with other books between. This is actually rather nice, since it cements the order in which these events happened. Each book is reviewed in about a page and given a letter grade. I found much to disagree with in Edwards’ opinions of the assorted books, but not with his writing as such. Still, how can a man who writes this intelligently be such a big Anderson fan? (Strangely missing from this chronological review is any mention of the X-Wing books, even though he covers I, Jedi.)
Section Five covers the Special Editions, and includes Mark Altman’s A Critical Look at the Star Wars Special Editions, which first appeared in Universe magazine. This really is the only criticism offered in the chapter. Edwards backs off from taking a hard look at the problems in the Special Editions. He even reports Lucas’ claim that Greedo shooting first was the plan from the beginning without the slightest questioning of that bit of revised history. For the most part Edwards only helps readers engage in the "Find Waldo" aspect of the Special Editions, enumerating the changes in all three movies without much mention of any problems (though he does complain about Luke’s scream as he falls from the catwalk). This is probably the weakest section of the book, saved only by Altman’s article appearing in the margins.
Section Six takes a look at the rumors surrounding the Prequels. This material is very dated, dealing mostly with casting. It includes an article by Dan Vebber who interviewed a number of cast members from the first movies asking them to speculate on the new movies. Amusing as a view into these people’s minds, and it will probably be a fun read once the new movies are out, but there really isn’t anything of substance in the chapter.
Section Seven truly ought to have been an Appendix. It is a timeline of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, starting thousands of years before A New Hope with Dark Horse’s Tales of the Jedi comics. The X-Wing books get a nod in this part of the book, making me wonder even more why Edwards chose not to review the popular series. The Young Jedi Knights and Junior Jedi Knights books are also included, as well as short stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journals. I don’t know if all of the short stories included are ones from the collected "Tales of…" books, but it makes an interesting addition to the book chronology.
The only Appendix is a reprint of Dan Vebber and Dana Gould’s hysterical 50 Reasons Why Return of the Jedi Sucks, which originally appeared in Universe magazine (and was accompanied both there and here by their companion article, 10 Reasons Why Jedi Doesn’t Totally Suck). While it’s delightful having the article in a more permanent form than a magazine, one can’t help wonder why Edwards chose to make this single piece an Appendix, rather than working it into the margins as he did the other articles. Following the Timeline, which has a very Appendix look about it, this feels more afterthought than careful planning.
A couple notes on the design of the book. The first page of every "Episode" is laid out with broad margins at the top and the words widening line by line down the page. So they’ll look like the opening crawls from the movies, get it? Like calling the chapters Episodes, this strikes me as overly cute. The pages without photos have a "quote bubble" with an interesting tidbit, but these bits are not separate pieces of information, only lines culled from the text of the book itself, which I find disappointing. And, borrowing from the Animorphs series, the lower corner of the book is a "flip book" of lightsabers dueling. Not particularly well done, but I’ve still flipped it more than a few times.
Is this book a must-have edition to your Star Wars library? Not really. But if you enjoy reading reviews or are looking for a comprehensive chronology, it’s an interesting read.
(Gini McDonagh has discovered that one of the joys of being editor is you can occasionally keep a review for yourself. Then hope for the time to write it. She does answer her e-mail in a timely fashion. Write her at gini@echostation.com)