Star Wars: The Making of Episode I

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Informative
Review: This is a very infomative book, and lots of fun to read. Finding out how the movie was made and all the work that went into it, astounded me. Lots of nitty-gritty details and interviews with George Lucas, Rick McCallum, and other members of the crew and cast. The behind the scene pictures were also very intersting. I couldn't stop reading. A must have for any Star Wars fan.

Rating:
Summary: Great behind-the-scenes shots!
Review: This is really a nicely done book, with great pictures from filming. The book goes into great detail about design, especially sketches from Doug Chiang and other artists, and also focuses on all production aspects. The work done on this movie was amazing, and this book really documents it. A great read, and lots of fun!

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Tour de Force!
Review: Well,to begin this review I must say that this is an incredibly interesting behind the scenes (BTS)look at one of the most successfull films of the 90`s.
I don`t think I've ever been looking forward to any film as much as this (may be except the Lord of the Rings),and it was really a pleasure to watch it,although I was a little bit disappointed on the childishness of the movie.
But with the incredible special effects,I was more than pleased to see how they were done. And I bought this book and became very happy. It contains nearly all you need to know about SW Episode I. It follows the movie as it developed from beeing just an idea to the most impressive CG effects movie I'd ever seen by that time. In the introduction,George Lucas says how he had to develop an entire new world,which is an interesting read about how he created the new characters and locations. Anakin needed a mother,Obi-Wan needed a master and Palpatine needed an apprentice. The first chapter contains some great preproduction artwork and notes for every drawing. They are really nice,and definitly worth having (some of them does not appear anywhere else). It also has some notes when looking for good cast. They needed a man who looked like a new Alec Guiness for playing Obi-Wan and they needed a 8-year old boy who could really act to play Anakin. That wasn`t easy to find.
There are also some pics of the fantastic clothes featured in the film,as Amidala`s dresses.
The second chapter is mostly about the shooting itself. It is interesting to see how the stunts were performed and how they built up all the locations on Tatooine. There are also some good shots of the cool masks that people wore during the podracer sequences. In this chapter,there are also lots of interviews with the crew,especially George Lucas.
The third chapter is about the special effects and it`s named "I could do whatever I wanted". If you didn`t knew this already,I can say that Lucas was planning this film already in '77,but he waited until now,because now he could create all of the fantastic characters and environments with the help of today's computers. There are lots of interesting BTS images here,such as the podracer arena - one before,with just about 50 people,and one when after the CG adding,with thousands of people. And it looks terrific!
At the back of the book,there is a complete list of all people that were ever involved in the project,taking up approx. 15 pages!
Over all,this is a great Behind the Scenes look at Episode I.
It has everything you could ever want from such a book. So if you have any interest in Star Wars,behind-the scenes of cool movies,or just special effects,then this book is definitly something. And if you think there is too little artwork,don`t worry - there is another book named "The Art of Star Wars". Buy both of those and the Visual Dictionary and your Phantom Menace collection will be complete!

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Tour de Force!
Review: Well,to begin this review I must say that this is an incredibly interesting behind the scenes (BTS)look at one of the most successfull films of the 90`s.
I don`t think I?ve ever been looking forward to any film as much as this (may be except the Lord of the Rings),and it was really a pleasure to watch it,although I was a little bit disappointed on the childishness of the movie.
But with the incredible special effects,I was more than pleased to see how they were done. And I bought this book and became very happy. It contains nearly all you need to know about SW Episode I. It follows the movie as it developed from beeing just an idea to the most impressive CG effects movie I?d ever seen by that time. In the introduction,George Lucas says how he had to develop an entire new world,which is an interesting read about how he created the new characters and locations. Anakin needed a mother,Obi-Wan needed a master and Palpatine needed an apprentice. The first chapter contains some great preproduction artwork and notes for every drawing. They are really nice,and definitly worth having (some of them does not appear anywhere else). It also has some notes when looking for good cast. They needed a man who looked like a new Alec Guiness for playing Obi-Wan and they needed a 8-year old boy who could really act to play Anakin. That wasn`t easy to find.
There are also some pics of the fantastic clothes featured in the film,as Amidala`s dresses.
The second chapter is mostly about the shooting itself. It is interesting to see how the stunts were performed and how they built up all the locations on Tatooine. There are also some good shots of the cool masks that people wore during the podracer sequences. In this chapter,there are also lots of interviews with the crew,especially George Lucas.
The third chapter is about the special effects and it`s named "I could do whatever I wanted". If you didn`t knew this already,I can say that Lucas was planning this film already in ?77,but he waited until now,because now he could create all of the fantastic characters and environments with the help of today?s computers. There are lots of interesting BTS images here,such as the podracer arena - one before,with just about 50 people,and one when after the CG adding,with thousands of people. And it looks terrific!
At the back of the book,there is a complete list of all people that were ever involved in the project,taking up approx. 15 pages!
Over all,this is a great Behind the Scenes look at Episode I.
It has everything you could ever want from such a book. So if you have any interest in Star Wars,behind-the scenes of cool movies,or just special effects,then this book is definitly something. And if you think there is too little artwork,don`t worry - there is another book named "The Art of Star Wars". Buy both of those and the Visual Dictionary and your Phantom Menace collection will be complete!

Rating:
Summary: Wow! I'm surprised!
Review: When I bought this at my nearby spaceport, I've been looking and reading it ever sinse. I'm a BIG star wars fan, and have been fascinated by the story line! Well, I've got to go to Jupiter! Read it! it's out of this world!