The moment would come soon enough when the uncertainty wave collapsed, and we found out whether Schrodinger’s Cat was alive or dead in its box. Kennedy’s canniness, Hidalgo’s knowledge, J. J. Abrams’s experience: all of these could yet conspire to produce a turkey. Difficult choices about the directions of a limitless franchise would have to be revealed. When they were, a world of fans lay in wait, preparing to pick apart every detail. At least one Star Wars fan predicted stormy weather ahead. “It’s a complicated cultural icon,” George Lucas said in 2013, when asked about his advice for Kennedy and Abrams. “You’re always going to be in trouble no matter what you do. So the best thing you can do is just plough forward and try to do the best story you can.” In private, he urged Kennedy and Abrams to remember that the movies worked best when they were both aspirational and retained a sense of humor.
But we won’t know for sure whether the franchise’s new stewards have told that best of all possible stories, not until that glorious and terrifying day in 2015, when we’ve all filed, finally, into a packed theater, filled with excited murmuring and plastic lightsabers. The house lights will dim, and an electric cheer will go up. Some version of “When You Wish Upon a Star” will play, incongruously, over a Lucasfilm logo. The screen will go black. Then up will come ten familiar words in blue: “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away . . .” Then silence. Blackness again.
Then an orchestra will explode in B-flat major, and the largest logo you’ve ever seen will fill the entire screen. And no sooner has it appeared than it will immediately begin to recede, slipping away, pulling back into the stars as if daring you to give chase.
________
* Despite online rumors to the contrary, the spin-off movies would not be based around well-known Star Wars characters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As the nerdiest of Star Wars fans know, the original full name of the Force—as written in the crucial penultimate drafts of the original movie—is The Force of Others. I am here to testify that the Force of Others is real. I was knocked over by its positive spirit repeatedly during the process of writing this book. I found it in the stars of the Star Wars firmament; in the highest echelons of fandom; in Lucasfilm, though Lucasfilm did not officially cooperate with this book; in friends old and new.
The Force of Others manifested itself in generosity, advice and various other kindnesses. It was to be found in Consetta Parker, Steve Sansweet, Anne Neuman, Jenna Busch, Dustin Sandoval, Aaron Muszalski, Michael Rubin, Hal Barwood, Rodney and Darlene Fong, Chris Argyropoulos, Lynne Hale, Lynda Benoit, Anita Li, Charlotte Hill, Chris James, Pablo Hidalgo, Edward Summer, Dale Pollock, Alan Dean Foster, Alain Bloch, Michael Heilemann, Chris Lewicki, Liz Lee, Don Glut, Kyle Newman, Dan Madsen, James Arnold Taylor, Ed daSilva, Peter Hartlaub, Charley Lippincott, Manuelito Wheeler, George James Sr., Christian Gossett, Derryl dePriest, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Jeremy Bulloch, Cole Horton, Bryan Young, Lou Aronica, Paul Bateman, Audrey Cooper, Albin Johnson, Mark Fordham, Christine Erickson, Todd Evans, Chris Giunta, John Jackson Miller, Shelly Shapiro, Timothy Zahn, Mark Boudreaux, Bobak Ferdowsi, Sasha and Nick Sagan, Howard Kazanjian, Fred Roos, Tracy Duncan, Terry McGovern, Bob & Zach Wookey, Jennifer Porter, Josh Quittner, Jessica Bruder, Dale Maharidge, David Picker, Patrick Read Johnson, Daniel Terdiman, Cherry Zonkowski, Seth Rosenblatt, Bonnie Burton, Michael Barryte, Michael Kaminski, Patti McCarthy, Alan Ladd Jr. and Amanda Ladd Jones, Jack Sullivan, Matt Martin, Andrey Summers, Phil Tippett, Shanti Seigel, Walter Isaacson, Simon Pegg, Ronald D Moore, Mike Stackpole, Steve Silberman and Gary Kurtz. Alongside that list, I would like to raise a lightsaber in silent salute to various Lucas employees past and present who asked that their names not be used.
I would also like to thank David Perry, spokesperson for George Walton Lucas Jr. Mr. Lucas is a brilliant and profoundly protective man whose strong feelings on the subjects of privacy and biography were bound to make his cooperation with a book like this impossible. But David was gracious in passing every request for an interview on to the Lucas desk itself. More than this: David and his husband Alfredo have become dear friends.
This book would not exist without the initial prodding, cheerleading and hustling of Kathryn Beaumont Murphy. Katherine Flynn, my agent, helped steer it to a safe landing. Tim Bartlett is the reason the book landed at Basic when it had an abundance of suitors, and he will always have MFNF (most-favored non fan) status. Alex Littlefield was a keen and capable editor whose modifications took this book to point five past light speed; my thanks also for the patience of project manager Rachel King and the corrections of copy editor Beth Wright. Of course, any mistakes that remain after their meticulous reads are mine and not theirs.
Writing a book of this scale in less than two years would not have been possible without the support and indulgence of all my friends and colleagues at Mashable, in particular Lance Ulanoff, Emily Banks, Kate Sommers-Dawes, and Jim Roberts. On the home front, family and friends too numerous to mention were supportive and tolerant when I vanished into my writing cave for weeks at a time. But the Yavin throne room gold medal for support and tolerance goes to Jessica Wolfe Taylor—a Star Trek fan for whom Star Wars was just alright.
Finally the author would like to acknowledge that Mowgli is a padawan wise beyond his years, and that his frequent attempts to push my laptop out of my lap during the writing of this book were simply his way of getting me to let go my conscious self and reach out with my feelings.
May the Force of Others be with you, always.
Chris Taylor
Berkeley
June 2014
NOTES
INTRODUCTION: A NAVAJO HOPE
vii“When I heard the title: George James Sr., author interview, July 3, 2013.
ix“We’re know-it-alls now,”: Manuelito Wheeler, author interview, July 3, 2013.
x“I used to have to just ask: Christine Erickson, author interview, September 16, 2013.
x“I’ve had people say: Natalia Kochan, interview by Daniel Terdiman of CNET, May 4, 2013.
xii“I know it’s out of order,”: Jamie Yamaguchi, interview by Daniel Terdiman of CNET, May 4, 2013.
xiii“I know the big reveal,”: Tami Fisher, interview by Daniel Terdiman of CNET, May 4, 2013.
xvi“I am the father: Total Film Magazine, April 2008.
xvii“That’s when I realized,”: Andrey Summers, author interview, February 13, 2014.
xvii“If you run into somebody: Andrey Summers, “The Complex and Terrifying Reality of Star Wars Fandom,” Jive, May 31, 2005.
xviii“The Navajo must be: Anthony Daniels to the author in the corridor at Star Wars Celebration Europe II, July 25, 2013.
xx“We call for strength: Thomas Deel, author interview, July 3, 2013.
xx“Good was trying: Annette Bilgodui, author interview, July 3, 2013.
1. MARS WARS
2never heard of Verne’s book: H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon (London: Newnes, 1901), Chapter 3.
2show me the Cavorite!: Basil Davenport, Inquiry into Science Fiction (New York: Long-mans, Green, 1955), 7.
2“that place just over the hill”: Michael Pye and Lynda Myles, The Movie Brats: How the Film Generation Took Over Hollywood (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1979), 133.
3idea of a fantasy Mars was rescued: See Richard A. Lupoff, Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), Chapter 3, for the argument that Barsoom descended directly from Arnold’s book.
5“effervescent giddiness.”: Aljean Harmetz, “Burden of Dreams: George Lucas,” American Film, June 1983.
7say, Buck?: Patrick Lucanio and Gary Coville, Smokin’ Rockets: The Romance of Technology in American Film, Radio, and Television, 1945–1962 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002), 35.
10“When I went home in the evening: Kinnard, Crnkovich, and Vitone, Flash Gordon Serials, 34.
2. THE LAND OF ZOOM
13“He’s a behind the scenes guy: “Is
George Lucas Returning to His Modesto Roots?,” Modesto Bee, November 4, 2012.
13“A nerd, but: Modesto quotes from “For Many, Parade Is Drive Down Memory Lane,” Modesto Bee, June 7, 2013.
14“impeccably polite and implacably distanced: Peter Bart, “Godfather, Starfather Eye New Galaxies,” Variety, July 27, 1998.
14“the small one,”: “George Lucas Talks to the Bee’s Marijke Rowland,” video interview, June 7, 2013, http://www.modbee.com/2013/06/07/2752579/video-george-lucas-talks-to-the.html.
15The Gallo winery: Ernest and Julio Gallo, with Bruce B. Henderson, Ernest and Julio: Our Story (New York: Times Books, 1994), 55.
16“on all the coffee tables”: Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, updated ed. (New York: Da Capo, 1999), 19.
16“I like to say Star Wars: Cole Horton, author interview and talk at Star Wars Celebration Europe II, July 2013.
16“no matter where they go: Duck and Cover description and quote from Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us, directed by Richard Schickel (Lorac Productions, 2005).
17“frightening” and said he was “always on the lookout: Pollock, Skywalking, 15.
17$30,000: John Baxter, George Lucas: A Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 1999).
18“I was in heaven,”: Pollock, Skywalking, 21.
18“His dad was stern,”: Patti McCarthy, author interview, April 19, 2014.
18the boy detested having to mow the lawn: The lawnmower anecdote is in Pollock, Skywalking, 20.
18“My first mentor was my father,”: Lucas to Bill Moyers in The Mythology of Star Wars, PBS, 2000.
18only one God, but so many religions: Lucas editorial in Edutopia, the magazine of the George Lucas educational foundation, July 1, 2003.
18“I liked to build things,”: Melece Casey, “George Lucas: Behind the Scenes with Modesto’s Movie Mogul,” Stanislaus Magazine (Summer 2013).
19pictures of “space soldiers.”: Samuel G. Freedman, “Taking a Lightsaber to Tired Old Teaching,” New York Times, August 31, 2005.
19Once upon a time: “Slow Poke” manuscript from Patti McCarthy, Department of Film Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.
19“He was bored with school: McCarthy, author interview.
19“It was very critical to him: Mel Cellini interviewed in The Unauthorized “Star Wars” Story (Visual Entertainment, 1999).
21“EC Comics had it all,”: Lucas, foreword to The EC Archives: Weird Science, vol. 1 (York, PA: Gemstone, 2006).
21“Mad took on all the big targets,”: Lucas, foreword to Mad About “Star Wars,” by Jonathan Bresman (New York: Del Rey, 2007).
22Edward Summer: Edward Summer, author interview, June 24, 2013.
24Charley Lippincott: Charley Lippincott, author interview, July 8, 2013.
24Howard Kazanjian: Howard Kazanjian, author interview, September 10, 2013.
24Don Glut: Don Glut, author interview, July 9, 2013.
24“The original Universal serial: J. W. Rinzler, The Making of “Star Wars”: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film: Based on the Lost Interviews from the Official Lucasfilm Archives (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), 93.
24The serial was the “real stand-out: Alan Arnold, Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of “Star Wars” (New York: Ballantine Books, 1980) 220.
26Lucas picked up a 1955 copy of Classics Illustrated: Summer, in Star Wars Insider 141, July 2013), 26.
26“He was really taken with it,”: Cellini, interview from The Unauthorized “Star Wars” Story.
26“stay in his room and draw: Randall Kleiser, in “George Lucas: Creating an Empire,” Biography, Arts & Entertainment Network, January 27, 2002.
3. PLASTIC SPACEMEN
27Star Wars was the last thing: Albin Johnson details and quotes from author interview, October 11, 2013.
31“The big invasion: Lucas at the Tournament of Roses Parade from Star Wars: Star Warriors, documentary (Los Angeles: Prometheus Entertainment for Lucasfilm, 2007).
32Mark Fordham was a sniper: Mark Fordham details and quotes from author interview, October 9, 2013.
34“It kind of reflects the films,”: Suzy Stelling, author interview, July 27, 2013.
34I’ve heard guys say: Ed Da Silva details and quotes from author interview, June 21, 2013.
36When I met Ainsworth: Andrew Ainsworth details and quotes from author interviews, April 26 and September 2, 2013.
38“viewing events through his own: Quote from Mr. Justice Mann and other details from transcript [2008] EWHC 1878 (Ch) Case No: HC06C03813, High Court of Justice of England and Wales (Chancery division).
38didn’t stop Muir from taking to the Internet: Brian Muir, forum posts, therpf.com, December 5, 2010, http://www.therpf.com/f45/original-anh-stormtrooper-helmet-armor-just-facts-102219.
39“actually doesn’t matter”: Brian Muir, email exchange with author, September 2, 2013.
4. HYPERSPACE DRIVE
41drove around like cars: Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, updated ed. (New York: Da Capo, 1999), 154.
41“dumb little car”: Pollock, Skywalking, 24.
41always jabbering about a story: “George Lucas—Allen Grant,” YouTube video, 1:13, July 13, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMxhdiVQv0w.
41lure local toughs: John Baxter, George Lucas: A Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 1999), 33.
42quieter and more intense: Mel Cellini interview from Unauthorized “Star Wars” Story.
43“It gave me this perspective on life: “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” OWN, January 22, 2012.
43“no longer a lot of mythology: John Seabrook, “Letter from Skywalker Ranch,” New Yorker, January 6, 1997.
44an “echo” of Lipsett’s film: Steve Silberman, “Life After Darth,” Wired 13, no. 5 (May 2005).
45Wexler said he would have gotten: Michael Rubin, Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution (Gainesville, FL: Triad, 2006), 8.
45“It’s supposed to be easier than P.E.,”: Lucas, interview with American Film Institute, 2004.
45“For God’s sake, watch this kid.”: Pollock, Skywalking, 35.
45millionaire before I’m 30: Pollock, Skywalking, 38.
46“I had this idea for doing a space adventure: Kerry O’Quinn, Starlog, no. 47 (June 1981).
46“Conditions were crowded: Howard Kazanjian, author interview, September 10, 2013.
46bearded and strange: Melece Casey, “George Lucas: Behind the Scenes with Modesto’s Movie Mogul,” Stanislaus Magazine (Summer 2013).
46Don Glut: Don Glut, author interview, July 9, 2013.
48stay in and draw star troopers: Randall Kleiser, in “George Lucas: Creating an Empire,” Biography, Arts & Entertainment Network, January 27, 2002.
48run circles around everyone else: Pollock, Skywalking, 56.
50friends with the guy who made it: Walter Murch, interview, THX 1138, Two-Disc Director’s Cut Special Edition, DVD extras, directed by George Lucas (Warner Home Video, 2004).
51“too fascist,”: Pollock, Skywalking, 61.
51take any shit: Pollock, Skywalking, 63.
51“That damn movie: Kerry O’Quinn, “Star Wars Memories,” Starlog, no. 127 (February 1988).
53“erosbods and clinicbods.”: “Trends: the Student Moviemakers,” Time (February 1968).
53not of this earth: Pollock, Skywalking, 69.
53“It’s a chase film,”: Charley Lippincott, author interview, July 8, 2013.
54“As corny as it sounds,”: Kerry O’Quinn, “The George Lucas Saga,” Starlog, nos. 48–50 (July–September 1981).
54cheap, behind the scenes documentaries: Pollock, Skywalking, 70.
55“stinky kid.”: Stephen Farber, “George Lucas: The Stinky Kid Hits the Big Time,” Film Quarterly, Spring 1974.
55“George broke the rules: Kazanjian, author interview.
55Lucas was captured on documentary: Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola TV interviews in �
�Indies,” YouTube video, 2:05, December 19, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhfY4LvpevI.
5. HOW TO BE A JEDI
57“There must be something independent: Deleted scene quoted in J. W. Rinzler, The Making of “Star Wars”: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film: Based on the Lost Interviews from the Official Lucasfilm Archives (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), 18.
57Lucas feared: Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, updated ed. (New York: Da Capo, 1999), 224.
57“Knowing that the film was made: Pollock, Skywalking, 288–289.
58“The more detail I went into”: Laurent Bouzereau, “Star Wars”: The Annotated Scripts (New York: Ballantine Books, 1997), 35.
59“When I was 12: Jennifer E. Porter, “‘I Am a Jedi’: Star Wars Fandom, Religious Belief, and the 2001 Census,” Chapter 6 in Finding the Force of the “Star Wars” Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, & Critics, ed. Matthew Wilhem Kapell and John Shelton Lawrence (New York: Peter Lang, 2006), 101.
59“The theme that emerges: Jennifer Porter, author interview, March 6, 2014.
60In 1977, Frank Allnutt: Frank Allnutt, The Force of “Star Wars” (Van Nuys, CA: Bible Voice, 1977).
60“I devoured that book: Albin Johnson, author interview, October 11, 2013.
60trying to do God’s bidding: Pollock, Skywalking, 141.
61that’s one way to describe it: Orville Schell, “George Lucas: ‘I’m a Cynic Who Has Hope for the Human Race,’” New York Times, March 21, 1999.
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise Page 59