In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, I believe Chris Taylor makes a good case for the galaxy far, far away being far, far better when taken out of the hands of the Creator (as Taylor refers to George Lucas). Star Wars was certainly birthed by Lucas, but it took a village of collaborators to make it into something that has lasted nearly four decades in the public consciousness.The first several chapters deal with how the first film in the series was thought up and made. The most well known influence was Flash Gordon, including the idea for the scrolling text at the start. What Taylor makes clear is that the commonly assumed influences of Kurosawa films and Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces has been overstated, seeing as Lucas only became familiar with Campbell's book toward the end of the film's production. There are also distinctions made between the "official Lucasfilm history" and the facts that Taylor uncovered in his research and interviews. It's striking how much Lucas's painful divorce influenced his filmmaking after 1983.
The exploration into Lucas's influences and creative process is alternated with chapters about how fans have taken the franchise as their own. For example the 501st Legion of stormtroopers who made their own costumes, and another group dedicated to building astromech droids (usually R2-D2) from scratch.
The only problem I have with this book is that there wasn't equal time given to The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which makes it seem as if the author remembered halfway through the manuscript that he had planned to write about the franchise as a whole and not just 1977's A New Hope. It was interesting to read about how Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand were chosen to direct the sequels, and I would have liked more about how the stories were developed. But I can see why the first film was the most important to discuss. This book puts to rest the naive idea that Lucas had six movies mentally planned from the beginning, and is especially telling when describing how rushed the writing of the prequels actually was.
Yes, the three prequels and their mostly negative response are given due diligence. Taylor has no love lost for those misfires but plays devil's advocate with a fan who defends them. The overall problem was that Lucas insisted on writing and directing those films by himself, while most of the aspects of the original trilogy that worked out best were the result of letting others into the decision making.
This was one of the most interestingly comprehensive non-fiction books I have read in a long time. I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of the Star Wars franchise and wouldn't learn anything new, but I found this book had a number of surprises and debunked common rumors about what happened behind the scenes. Anyone who is a fan, or even a former, disillusioned fan, should read this book and perhaps will be become optimistic that the new movies will be just as lovable as the ones we grew up with. I for one, can't wait for mid-December.
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