A retrospective that mostly skims the surface

A bit more surface-level than I was expecting, but I suppose I should have seen that coming. Most of the story I already knew from sources like Carrie Fisher's books, and other things I must have read here and there. I was really expecting more of a deep dive into the making of the first Star Wars, but Ramsey paints with pretty broad strokes—there wasn't much detail in the depiction of day-to-day filmmaking, mostly just non-specific sketches of robots breaking down and budgets running over. I don't think the word "Tunisia" is mentioned more than once, and The Hidden Fortress and Joseph Campbell aren't mentioned at all.

What also didn't help the level of detail is that three-and-a-half of the episodes aren't actually about Star Wars, leaving under half of the total runtime to cover the production itself: two-and-a-half episodes are run-up, which isn't such a bad thing, covering Lucas' biography and then his first two films, but the final episode covers the film's legacy, and the subsequent 40+ years of franchise history, and, to be honest, that's not really what I was here for. Like everyone else in the galaxy, I am well aware that Star Wars' original trilogy was followed up by some not-so-well-beloved prequels and a corporate buyout which led to more films yadda yadda yadda. It's difficult to divorce this one film from its subsequent half-century of cultural baggage, which was perhaps why I was hoping the podcast would strip that all back to take a closer look at where it all started.

The production decision to have the show structured largely as reenactments narrated solely by Ramsey was questionable, though I'm sure the lack of a voice cast helped keep the budget low for Wondery. He kind of does half-impressions some of the time, occasionally sounding a little like Carrie Fisher, for instance, but he makes no effort to do any accents for British personalities, like Alec Guinness. What really made the sole-narrator format unhelpful, though, was the fact that the podcast featured an "interview" with George Lucas, but because Ramsey was reading both roles, it's difficult to know whether this was an actual interview that really took place, or whether it was a fictional device that conjectured Lucas' responses based on recent interviews he really has given. And if it was a real interview, were these Lucas' verbatim words, or has the dialogue been edited for the show? Why wasn't it recorded for the podcast, an audio medium? Really a confusing choice.

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A Fun Look Back at Original Film

I love the Inside films series from Wondery. The Exorcist, Jaws and Psycho were all fantastic. Star Wars is just as great. It covers a bit of George Lucas' bio and how he came up with the concept as well as meeting his fellow filmmaker friends and studio rejections. The improvised dialogs are fun and based on extensive research and books. It is framed around the difficult production of the film. As a lifelong fan who know the story and remembers this well, it was more fun to listen to the denials that this film would bomb. How wrong they all were. Also includes a wonderful interview with Lucas biographer Brian Jay Jones. Brings back memories. Happy listening and May the Force be With You!

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pathetic. just dirt

absolutely pathetic. If you want to know why George Lucas does do interviews. listen to this.
upset that many have nondisclosure agreements this is why.

TERRIBLE

Amazing

not just your typical documentary! there's a lot of drama worked into the historical facts. highly recommend for anyone who's even a mild Star wars fan.