Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "star-wars"

Inside the Star Wars Empire: A Memoir
Bill Kimberlin
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Lyons Press (February 1, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1493032313
ISBN-13: 978-1493032310
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Star-Wa...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

If you pick up this title expecting to learn much about the Star Wars franchise, you’ll be mightily disappointed. But if you are interested in learning more about the Lucas empire built on what Star Wars bought, you will be richly rewarded.

As Bill Kimberlin admits in his “Foreword, “I was an employee at Lucasfilm, and not an especially important one . . . I did, however, work at Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) for twenty years, and ran a department for almost a decade. “He elaborates on his career saying:

“I WAS ONE OF THOSE NAMES ON THAT ENDLESS LIST OF CREDITS AT THE
close of blockbuster movies. From Star Wars to Star Trek, Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Roger Rabbit to Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan to Jurastic Park . . . I was one of those interminable people thanked as Oscars are collected by dazed winners, clutching that surprisingly heavy gold statue as they try not to leave out anyone that helped them. “

If that description sounds like an autobiography full of hit-and-run movie tidbits and trivia centered in Kimberlin’s ILM offices as he worked on creating magical special effects, then you can anticipate much of what to expect in this lively insider’s trip down his personal memory lane.

More specifically, Kimberlin’s book is all about Bill Kimberlin, including his research into his family genealogy, his research into reformed criminals as possible subjects for his own movies, and the films that brought him to the attention of George Lucas, especially Kimberlin’s 1979 “exploitation art” documentary, American Nitro.

Not surprisingly, famous filmmakers and other performers, like Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, not to mention actors like Jim Carrey and Clint Eastwood, and producers like Joel Silver and especially Steven Spielberg parade through these pages. Perhaps more importantly, we also meet many other folks who were also part of the credit list we saw scrolling on the screen when a film is over but have never heard of before.

Of course, all of these names feature in anecdotes that reveal the hows and whys of many of the special effects that have wowed us for decades as well as many other aspects of the movie making industry. In short, this is a book that should appeal to anyone interested in inside stories of Hollywood blockbusters beginning with, naturally, 1977’s Star Wars up to Kimberlin’s forced, but not unexpected, retirement in 2002.

Ironically, while changes in technology are what made Kimberlin obsolete, he uses the internet now for other projects like giving his American Nitro a second life. As with all old-timers who look back over their experiences and have a desire to share what they learned from them, Kimberlin’s story ends with his sage advice, such as always have side projects in your creative hopper to keep you fresh and perhaps give you options when you need them. You may pick up this tome more interested in the title than the author, but you may well end up glad to have learned about one of the names you never noticed on those movie credit lists.

This review first appeared on BookPleasures.com on Dec. 25, 2017:
https://waa.ai/zMrT

Sequart is proud to announce the publication of A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe, edited by Rich Handley and Joeseph F. Berenato.

Almost as soon as there were Star Wars films, there were Star Wars novels. Alan Dean Foster got the ball rolling, ghost-writing the first film’s adaptation for George Lucas, as well as penning a sequel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Novels covering the exploits of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian soon followed, ushering in what would come to be called the Star WarsExpanded Universe. The EU, like the Force itself, has helped to bind the galaxy together.

More than 250 Star Wars novels have been published by Del Rey, Bantam Books, Ballantine Books, and other companies, aimed at both young and adult readers. Spanning the decades before, during, and after the films’ events, the books have spawned new galactic governments, explored the nature of the Jedi and the Sith, and developed the Star Warsmythos well beyond merely a series of films and television shows. The Expanded Universe — recently re-branded as “Legends” following Disney’s acquisition of the franchise — has grown exponentially, comprising not only the books but also comics, video games, radio shows, role-playing games, and more.

With A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe, editors Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato continue their look back at the franchise’s highs and lows, which began with A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe and A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics. This third volume offers insightful, analytical essays examining the Star Wars EU, contributed by popular film historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts — including fan-favorite Star Wars novelists Timothy Zahn and Ryder Windham. The films were just the beginning. Find out how the universe expanded.

The book runs a massive 348 pages.
A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe is available in print and on Kindle. (Just a reminder: you don’t need a Kindle device to read Kindle-formatted books; you can download a free Kindle reader for most computers, phones, and tablets.)

Find out more on the book’s official page or its Facebook page.
Reviewers may request a PDF of the book for review, and the book's editors are available for interviews. If interested, please send inquiries to sequart.mike@gmail.com

Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Civilized...

Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded
Jason Heller
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Melville House; First Edition edition (June 5, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1612196977
ISBN-13: 978-1612196978
https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Stars-...

Reviewed by : Dr. Wesley Britton

When I read a blurb describing Strange Stars, my first reaction was that Jason Heller had beaten me to the punch. I had long thought the connections between sci-fi flavored rock music and sci-fi films and books in the 1970s would make for an interesting critical analysis. I was right, except Heller was a much better critic to pull all the strings together than I would have been. By miles and miles.

The book’s title is a tad misleading if you assume David Bowie will be an important thread in the story. Yes, Heller bookends the decade with Bowie’s 1971 “Space Oddity” and its 1980 follow-up, “Ashes to Ashes.” Sure, Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Fell to Earth aren’t neglected. And the book ends with Bowie’s 2018 death and the release of Black Star.

But Heller probes a rich well of evidence demonstrating that the ‘70s was the decade when sci-fi began to be taken seriously in popular culture, its impact ignited by two films by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange. The Planet of the Apes also contributed to a growing interest in sci-fi and the phenomena of Star Trek was just beginning its widening cult status.

Sci-fi authors cited by many musicians as influences included Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Burroughs, Philip Dick, and Frank Herbert, among many, many others. To greater and lesser degrees, these writers influenced popular rock musicians like Paul Kantner’s Jefferson Starship (“Blows Against the Empire,”) David Crosby and The Byrds (“Mr. Spaceman,”) Elton John (“Rocket Man”), Black Sabbath (Iron Man”), and the psychedelic Pink Floyd. At the same time, futuristic electronic sounds and cover art helped define Progressive Rock groups like yes and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (“Tarkus.”)

Heller also explores cult favorites including the French Magma, Germany’s Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, Gary Neuman, Devo, as well as the often forgotten Hawkwind, Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come, and the avant-garde jazz figure Sun Ra. And these are but the best known of the musical performers and groups Heller lists and describes in minute detail leaving no rare single or obscure album unturned.

Along the way, Heller discusses sci-fi lyrics, the burgeoning use of futuristic synth-sounds, new sub-genres like sci-fi-funk and Kraut-rock, concert events like 1979’s Futurama and the impact of films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Star Wars and Star Trek. Occasionally he layers in historical events that piqued public interest in space, futuristic technology, and dystopian predictions like the disappointing passing of Comet Kohoutek and the crash of Star Lab.

In his “Acknowledgements,” Heller credits one reader with keeping him from publishing an encyclopedia instead of a story. There are many, many passages where readers could be forgiven for feeling like they’re following long, encyclopedic entries, especially when Heller recites band name after band name, album title after album title. Such passages might inspire skimming along and there’s nothing wrong with that. Strange Stars can serve as a reference volume as well as an analysis of an amorphous genre, or at least a many-tentacled realm of popular culture. Strange Stars belongs in pretty much every public library and on the private shelves of both sci-fi and rock lovers.

This review was first published at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 28, 2018:
https://waa.ai/ouMU

THE GALAXY BRITAIN BUILT: The British Talent Behind Star Wars
David Whiteley
Foreword By Robert Watts: Star Wars Production Supervisor And Producer
Publisher: BearManor Media
Release date: December 11, 2019
ASIN: B081YKQ2P7
https://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-Britain...


David Witeley's exploration into the behind-the-scenes British talent involved with the Star Wars franchise was first made public in a 1917 60-minute documentary broadcast over BBC television. Google the title The Galaxy Britain Built, and you'll hit on the YouTube and BBC trailers, videos, and interviews conducted by David Whiteley promoting the film throughout 2017 and especially 2018.

If you explore any of Whiteley's online videos or his new BearManor Media book, you'll quickly learn how proud he is to have been born on May 4, 1977, known to fans as Star Wars day. So, in his opinion, he grew up with the franchise and became devoted to investigating how so much Star Wars work took place in Elstree Studios in North London. Why London and not Hollywood? Costs. The studios didn't want to invest too heavily in a science-fiction film as sci-fi hadn't been big box office for them.

As it turned out, the British talent who worked on the films on the smallest of budgets and the tightest of schedules were just what the project needed, especially in terms of costumes, props, and sets. The results were so outstanding that lucas returned to Elstreet again and again, using as much of the original talent as he could retain.


Whiteley's book chronicles to beginnings of the British work in the hot summer of 1976 through undreamed of sequels produced decades later. The stories are built on interviews with participants even the most devoted Star Wars aficionados might not have heard of: These include Robert Watts, Les Dilley, Nick Maley, Roger Christian, Peter Beale, Gareth Edwards, Colin Goudie and Louise Mollo.

All of those involved contribute so many anecdotes about how the Star Wars mythos came to be. For example, Roger Christian tells us, "We called it the laser sword because we were British! I knew the lightsaber was the Excalibur of this film! I
knew it would be the iconic image . . . I went to Brunnings on Great Marlborough Street in London, whom we rented all our film equipment from: photography, anything we needed, and I’d buy equipment there. I just said to the owner, ‘Do you have anything here
that’s unusual, or stuff that might be interesting?’ He pointed me over to the side of the room. He said, ‘There’s a load of boxes under there, I haven’t
looked at those for years, go and have a rummage through.’ And it was the first box, it literally was covered in dust. It hadn’t been out for, I don’t
know, fifteen or twenty years. I pulled it out, opened the lid and there was tissue paper and then when I pulled it open . . . out came a Graflex handle from a 1940s press camera. I just took it and I went ‘There it is! This is the Holy Grail.’"

The Galaxy Britain Built is page-after-page of such nuggets and revelations. I imagine many diehard Star Wars fans will have heard many of these stories before. But I doubt all of them

Without question, you got to be a serious Star Wars fan to one degree or another to want to dive into this book, no matter how much you think you already know about the production history of the saga. It's a fast read as we get one short chunk of one interview, then another, then another, and so on. I definitely had a feeling I was taken behind the sets and scripts and actors to see how a galaxy far away had been built with a deepened sense of just how collaborative moviemaking is. If that sort of stuff is your cuppa tea, then David Whiteley's book is just for you.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sun. Jan. 12, 2020:

https://waa.ai/ObIg