In nineteen seventy seven, one of the new Turks, stalking the back lots of Hollywood, decided to give in to his inner child and release a space fantasy. The man was, of course, George Lucas, the film Star Wars. Star Wars would go on to be a movie which would massively exceed its maker’s expectations to become a genuine cultural event.

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe (2015. 458 Pages) is one of the most comprehensive and well researched book that I have ever read regarding Lucas and the growth of the Star Wars phenomenon. This authoritative tome is lovingly penned by Chris Taylor, the deputy editor of Mashable and should become essential reading for anyone interested in Star Wars.

There are many books around which take a look at the making of the individual films in what is currently a sextet of movies. Others have concentrated on Lucas as a film maker, few have tried and succeeded in bringing the whole story from Lucas’s early years to the sale of the franchise to Disney into a single book. Taylor has tried and succeeded.

For the most part the book is told in chronological order, however this order is allowed to slide around, sometimes to contrast past and present. There is a large section on the 501, the group which, in the main, consists of guys and gals who like to dress up as Stormtroopers. This gives a nice juxtaposition between the uncertainties about the success of the first film and the mass appeal which the series is able to command.

Taylor writes from the perspective of a fan, but this does not mean that he shies away from highlighting some unfortunate truths in the story, like the fact that Lucas patently finds it difficult to write good dialogue, a complaint Harrison Ford pointed out during the filming of the original movie. The book highlights the fact that Star Wars took over Lucas’s life in a way he never intended and that with its growing popularity it became more difficult to challenge him on poor choices: We’re looking at you Jar Jar Binks. You do get the feeling that the whole project became a mixed blessing for Lucas.

The book opens with an interesting experiment. It’s difficult to find a single person who, even if they say they have never seen the film cannot quote a few lines or do a poor impression of Yoda. Taylor, however, found a tribe of Navajo Indians whose relative cultural isolation meant that the majority had not even heard of the film. The screening was a mixed blessing with some of the audience just not getting it, whilst others were so enthusiastic that, apparently there is a version now in their native language.

The overview of the film and its legacy is comprehensively covered, with many contributions from the people involved. During the hiatus between the first and second trilogy the book covers the expanded universe, now sadly consigned to the bin, including the novels, comic books and scaled models (or toys as my wife would say, with some derision). The book is supported with twenty-one pages of references and a comprehensive index, as well as a smattering of black and white pictures.

The info dump aside, Taylor, an obvious fan, writes about the subject with wit and fondness for his subject, making the book probably one of the best overviews of Star Wars and how it came to conquer the universe.

9

Charles Packer