Okay, so I know that I started this series of book reviews of the Storybooks for the original Star Wars trilogy with the second movie, and not the first. Of course, Star Wars itself seemed to have specialized in non-sequential stories, perhaps it is fitting that way.
Why did I, personally, choose to do it that way?
Well, things were just different when I was a kid. Movies were not as accessible as they are now. There was no internet, and thus no streaming services. Most of the kids in school - it seemed all of the kids except for my family, although that surely could not be true - had access to cable. So they got programs and movies that we never did. In particular, it seemed that the Star Wars movies came on HBO (the Home Box Office). That was how I got to see the first Star Wars movie. At the time, my neighbors had invited me to watch it at their place when it aired, and it was fantastic. They said that they would invite me over to watch Empire Strikes Back, but there was a rift between their family and ours. And so they never did invite me back, and I did not get a chance to see Empire Strikes Back for years. The only familiarity I had with the story was through the Storybook, which was why I chose to review that one first. It meant a lot to me, and was my ticket, so to speak, to what is now generally considered to be the greatest of the original trilogy movies. In fact, many believe it to rank among the greatest movies ever made, period.
True, there were some video rental places, and they would grow really big and popular, as I recall, by the end of the eighties. However, we did not have a video recorder and player until the mid-eighties. And we did not get a VHS recorder until late 1987 or early 1988, as I recall.
Eventually, I did see the movie. Not sure that I had to wait all the way until we got a VCR, or in particular, a VHS player. I recall those movies being broadcast on regular network television once or twice, and it was always a big deal whenever one was. So I may very well have seen in through a television broadcast, although I no longer even really remember, specifically.
All of that to say that seeing the original Star Wars movies was very different, and more challenging, than it is today. So I got to see the first movie, which is now known as A New Hope but back then was simply known as Star Wars. I read the storybook for the Empire Strikes Back. And I actually did get to see Return of the Jedi in the theaters not long after it was released.
With my reading of the Empire Strikes Back Storybook, I became familiar with that story long before I ever got to see the movie. But reading the Storybook for the original Star Wars movie (I don't recall actually having obtained the storybook version for Return of the Jedi allowed me to not only relive a little of the magic feeling I had experienced while watching that movie, but to understand it differently, possibly on a deeper level. So there were advantages to reading it, even after having watched the movie.
Now, rereading these particular books after all of these years was a bit of a trip. I really got a wave of nostalgia while rereading Empire, because again, it brought me back to my first memories of that installment, since it was, ironically, reading the storybook long before I would ever actually be able to watch the movie itself. My first real glimpse of the characters and the story was a mixture of the storybook pictures and the Kenner figures, which were enormously popular at the time. And yes, I was a collector. In fact, I still am.
So let me just say that there really is not much to tell in terms of the story, because it is not much different than the movie. That is why I did not bother with any spoiler alerts for this book, just like I didn't bother with the Empire storybook when I reviewed that. There hardly seems to be any point, since pretty much everyone is already familiar with these stories already.
What I will say is that there are some differences. The dialogue is a bit different, although it feels better and funnier and more complete with the movies, somehow. Perhaps that is because the storybook versions are made for kids and so are simplified and kid-friendly. That makes sense for the most part, doesn't it?
Also, there is one scene which is not even in the movie, apparently edited out. That was also the case with Empire as well, if memory serves correctly. Most likely it will be true with Return of the Jedi, also, although I have not quite gotten around to reading that one just yet. But that is the case in this particular storybook of the original movie. Luke has a discussion with a friend of his, and this friend and Luke later join together again when fighting the Empire and launching the attack on the Death Star. It altered my understanding of the movie back then, as I recall. That said, I had admittedly largely forgotten about it until rereading this book now, many years - even decades, really - later.
Would I recommend this book?
Absolutely. Reading these over again after all of these years, I wondered why I had not thought to obtain copies and read them to my son when he was younger. Let him go through the books and study the pictures, much as I had done when I was a kid. That's part of the magic of being a kid, allowing yourself to dwell on things that capture your imagination, right? And Star Wars captured my imagination as a kid, much like it would my son with the latest trilogy, which he was very excited about. He became a Star Wars fan much like I did in my own time.
So yes, I would absolutely recommend this book, at least to the right audience. To anyone who was a fan of the movies and wants to get a different perspective, or maybe even understanding. To kids, because they need more encouragement to read actual books than ever before these days. Certainly to any hardcore Star Wars fans, who likely will dwell on those scenes in the storybooks which were not actually included in the movies. These books can be read in one sitting, at least for most people. Again, there also are a lot of pictures, and these really helped to captivate my eager attention when I was a kid. There seems no reason why they cannot do that again with young people these days.
Highly recommended!
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