Film #153 - The Characters of Star Wars (2004)
Viewed June 2, 2006
The Characters of Star Wars is a documentary on, well, the characters of the Star Wars trilogy. (Wasn’t that obvious?) I’ve seen many of these kinds of featurettes and documentaries over the years (my favorites: From Star Wars to Jedi (1985) and When Star Wars Ruled The World (2005)). The ones like this one, from the Star Wars Trilogy Bonus DVD, are short, but have a specific focus that gives them their reason for being.
It’s pretty much a standard talking-heads-with-filmclips kind of an affair. It features some of the actors, but not all. A blatant omission is Princess Leia (and, therefore, Carrie Fisher). But for the characters that are covered, they each recieve a good bit of attention, including early production drawings and comments about their development from Lucas and the cast.
Basically, this is one for the general audiences. Big-time fans of Star Wars will have heard most of these stories before, but casual fans might be surprised to learn, for instance, that Han Solo was originally a seven-foot tall green alien. Still, it’s always nice to see the old faces talking about the nature of the characters. I was especially pleased to see Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) get some decent screen time, as he was often overlooked in the contemporary documentaries. So, The Characters of Star Wars is certainly worth a watch, but it’s not going to be challenging From Star Wars to Jedi for repeated viewings anytime soon.
Note: Am I stretching things too much to get Star Wars material in here?