by Palmito » October 2nd 2005 3:38 am
Kip,
I got both the "Ultimate Visual Guide" and Knoll's "365 Days" yesterday.
-Ryder Windham's Ultimate Visual Guide
I think that the Ultimate Visual Guide is a joke, but that is of course only a matter of taste. It's a collection of drawings taken from Dark Horse EU comics, with a few production stills we have seen a thousand times. 80% of dark horse drawings, 20% of movie stills. Even for the too few movie related pages they chose excerpts from the graphic novels as illustrations rather than pics from the actual movies !!!!!!
The Starwars history told in this book is 90% EU, with only bits and pieces from the movies ! For exemple, the history of the Sith contradicts itself : it compiles everything that has been said on the matter, including pre-prequel comics (outdated) and video games ! Video games ! Which leads to pages and pages of nonsense ! The most interesting aspects of Sith history as hinted at in movies and prequel novelizations are more or less ignored.
It tries to tie *everything* together no matter what, and it really weakens the story imagined by George Lucas.
Quite surprisingly, the movies take a back seat to the EU !! For exemple,the events of "Splinters of the Mind's eye" (with Luke and Leia confronting Vader between episode IV and V) now become part of the official starwars history and take two full pages. Same with Shadows of the Empire. Any little DH series is mentionned and made canon (series about the red guards, tie fighters pilots, ...). The end of the galactic Empire in ROTJ is just another episode in the EU glactic history and the book goes on with Thrawn, Dark Empire, etc, etc ... The problem is that there is no differenciation made between the worst EU fictions and Lucas' vision. It's all mixed together and the movies really get lost in that stinking mix.
Nothing really interesting is said about character motivations. The author definitely believes RPG source books more than Lucas' DVD commentaries. If you really try to read it you'll find it's a disjointed, self-contradictory patchwork with horrible illustrations.
The only thing worth the price is, in my opinion, Ian Mc Diarmid's foreword. Too bad he wrote it for that ""book"".
If you're looking for a book tying up everything that has ever been said and told about Starwars into one big story, this is for you. So I understand it might please some. It is all a matter of taste and expectations in the end.
In any case, don't let the advertising or title of the book mislead you : it is not a visual dictionary like those that were released for the OT and Ep I, II, III. It never goes into as much details, and it is much less centered on movies. It's a whole different thing. It doesn't even compare to the visual dictionaries ! I think that's the important thing to keep in mind before to buy this book.
-John Knoll's "Creating the worlds of Starwars : 365 days"
Now that is a great book. Each and every page of this book, each and every pic is worth twice the price you pay for it.
You'll find many, many never seen before behind-the-scenes pics for both the PT and OT. Quality of even the older pics is incredible. John Knoll's notes are a great read and you'll learn many funny things about how these movies were made. It doesn't focus too much on SFX, but really goes into set building, on set shooting, etc. It covers everything.
For those who liked the Making Of documentary on the OT DVD bonus disc this book is a welcome addition : you'll find enough OT behind-the-scene pics to satisfy the hardcore OT fans. And for PT fans it really is an hyperspace set diary printed on paper.
Except for a few screenshots from the movies, I think most of the pics if not all, are rare or new.
Buy it. You won't regret it. I consider buying a second copy of it. It's that good.
Thank you Mr Knoll.
PS : The book comes with a CD-Rom, but I haven't had time to check it yet.
