With his first Archives book, Paul Duncan was able to illuminate The Original Trilogy in a new way through his extensive research, use of concept art, behind-the-scenes pictures that had never been seen before and interviewing George Lucas. Thankfully he has been able to do the same thing now for The Prequel Trilogy in The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005.
Like the first Archives book, this one is presented in a XXL format. This allows the concept art, behind-the-scenes pictures, production notes and interviews to come to life. Duncan expertly weaves old interviews that he’s mined as well as new interviews with Lucas and many others that were intimately involved with creating The Prequel Trilogy to make readers feel like they are apart of creation of the series.
The book may cover the Prequels, but Duncan traces the genesis of the series back before the Special Editions to allow the reader to see just how important the advances in technology were to Lucas deciding to begin the Prequels when he did. From his time creating and working on Young Indiana Jones to the advancement in computer technology, that Lucas himself had helped push for, the time was finally ripe. Duncan covers all of this build up to the Special Editions which sets up The Prequel Trilogy and it’s creation in the context of film-making’s evolution.
Throughout the new interviews that Duncan completed with Lucas for the book, fans are treated to in-depth discussions of things like midi-chlorians, the dialogue of the Prequels and the plan he had for the Sequel Trilogy! Do yourself a favor and skip all the sites spoiling the book’s revelations and get them in their correct context, you won’t regret it! This truly is the definitive work on The Prequel Trilogy and a must for every Star Wars Fan. The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 is rated 5 out of 5 stars.
This review was completed with a review copy of The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 from Taschen Books.
If you would like to hear an interview with Paul Duncan about the book please check out Matthew’s conversation with him on Aggressive Negotiations!
Author: Matt Rushing
Matthew Rushing is the host of Trek.fm‘s The 602 Club and co-host of TheNerdParty.com‘s AggressiveNegotiations: A Star Wars Podcast. He can be found on Twitter @mattrushing02.