Review by Jody Reeves
CONTINUED
EVENTS
The Events section features a timeline, highlighting events from 25,000 years before "A New Hope," and concluding at 25 years after. The timeline is current through the novel "Vision of the Future," and included hyperlinked references so you can jump to the section that details the event.
EPISODE ONE PREVIEW
At the conclusion of the first disc is the section spotlighting
on information about the first film in the trilogy detailing the events leading up to
"A New Hope." Unfortunately, there’s no new information put on here, only a
gathering of news items that have been known for some time. What is interesting is seeing
interviews with key figures in the production of the film, including George Lucas and Rick
McCallum. The photos of sets and costumes are nice, but there is nothing here that is
new.
SCENE BY SCENE
Starting off the second disc is the Scene by Scene section,
broken down by individual scenes and the shots that compose them. By clicking on one of
the Special Edition poster graphics, you can view each scene’s dialogue, a picture of
the shot, and information about the filming.
Also included are the infamous Lost Scenes of Biggs! That’s right, the scenes some
people would swear were in the original release of "A New Hope" can now be seen
at last. But even better than that is the original Cantina scene as shot by George Lucas.
The aliens were a little less developed than in the final cut, and the scene was far
longer than the one we know. We also see Han Solo, that rogue, sitting with a woman he
later sends off when Obi-Wan and Luke join him to negotiate for the trip to
Alderaan.
BEHIND THE SCENES
This section is broken into five categories: People,
Processes, Culture, Timeline and Lucas Companies. People covers what seems like everyone
who worked on one of the three original films. On one side of the screen is the credit
listing for each film and on the other side, a search index that allows you to type up a
name to get more information, including a biography and filmography.
Processes covers the different aspects of making a film. Interested in what goes into making props, check out the props section. Culture shows what critics had to say about each film; Timeline has an index of each significant date for the filming of the movies; Lucas Companies offers information about Industrial Light and Magic, Skywalker Sound and others.
EXPANDED UNIVERSE
This section highlights the various components that go into the "Star Wars" story beyond the films. A timeline features the events covered by novels, comic series, computer games and more. There is a sequential listing of the novels, a section on collectibles, and a search feature that allows you to type in key words and bring up the related sources.
GLOSSARY
Bringing up the end is the Glossary, a search index that
works like those found in a computer encyclopedia. Type in anything, a character’s
name, a ship, a group, and information about your query will appear. The entries are
hyperlinked, so if you look up Princess Leia, you can click on the link for Bail Organa
and find more information about him.
Now that you see what I really liked, I do have a couple of minor gripes to mention. The fact that there are two discs can cause some fuss. In the example I mentioned above, I read Princess Leia’s biography and clicked on Bail Organa. However, I was told to insert Disc One. Okay, that’s not a huge problem. I would like to have had constant background music playing as I clicked my way around. While the introduction screens did play selections from the film soundtracks, it would have been nice to have that going through all the categories and sections.
ALL SAID AND DONE...
Overall, this is a fabulous product. The system requirements are a bit steep for someone, like me, who has an older computer. I ran the discs on a Pentium 200 laptop, and found the sound to be choppy. But I’m sure that’s due to the inferior sound card I have. Even so, the video and animations worked nicely. Even if you have everything else that’s related to "Star Wars," I recommend the "Behind the Magic" CD-ROM. You’ll find things you didn’t know, have suspicions confirmed, and watch Leia strut her stuff on the catwalk wearing a metal bikini. Now, if only they had Han modeling the latest in Calvin Klein underwear...
(When not slaving away in America's own version of the Imperial Senate, Jody Reeves can be found avidly hunting down nude photos of Harrison Ford on the internet. Authenticity matters not.)
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