Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible

by Stephen J. Sansweet, Steve Essig (Photographer)

The three films of the Star Wars sagaStar Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and the Return of the Jedirank among the most popular of the modern era, with ticket and merchandise sales in excess of three billion dollars. Today, collecting Star Wars memorabilia has become one of the hottest hobbies around. The first illustrated Star Wars book to feature the multitude of merchandising spin-offs generated by the filmand the only one that traces the transformation of the movie's fabulous characters, creatures, and vehicles from original concepts and prototypes into toys, clothing, and dozens of other objectsthis spectacular volume is a veritable Star Wars fan's bible. A complete overview of a modern marketing extravaganza, featuring more than 150 full-color images of collectible items, the book takes readers behind the scenes and includes many never-before-published sketches and photographs from the Lucasfilm and Kenner toy archives. A lively text featuring recent interviews with George Lucas, among others connected with the film, completes this intriguing and fascinating glimpse into one of popular culture's most engaging phenomena.

Genres: Star Wars, Nonfiction, Art, Media Tie In, Coffee Table Books, Reference

132 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Sansweet was born and educated in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He studied at Temple University from 1962 to 1966, majoring in journalism. Three years after graduating, in 1969, he began work as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal in both Philadelphia and Montreal. He was promoted to deputy bureau chief in 1984, and later the chief of Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau in 1987. In February 1996, he joined Lucasfilm as director of specialty marketing. He is currently director of content management and in charge of fan relations.

Sansweet's collection has also been featured on the History Channel's Boy's Toys special "Private Collections".

Reviews

[Ben Briles]

Really closer to 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up as to not hurt the rating and out of respect for The Brand™. I've always been a big fan of Stephen Sansweet's work, and this isn't really an exception. My main issue is that I'm just not that big into Star Wars collectibles and this book put more focus on that aspect of Star Wars than I might've preferred. However, seeing all of the old stuff was cool, and the concept art and information about the development of the Saga was super great. A lot of it was new even to me! It reads almost like an oral history, which makes this unique compared to everything I've read. There's also something special about reading Star Wars nonfiction that came out during the time between the OT and the Prequels.

[Mike]

A pretty solid, all-purpose coffee table book for Star Wars fans. A lot of great art and models from the original trilogy’s conception, then the films themselves, on into the merchandise.

There is a ton of text throughout detailing the realizations of all these concepts and products, so much so that there is a lot of substance here even without the photographs and art. You could legitimately read it as a traditional book as opposed to skimming through coffee table style. Seems like it should be a hardcover (at least mine’s not). Other than that like I said if you only buy one Star Wars book like this it’ll hit the spot, and it stands well on its own regardless.

[Mark]

Getting to it a bit late, this was published in 1992 and I kind of wish I’d read it back then. In the briefest of terms, it charts the development of the films in the original trilogy (with art from Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston) and how it inspired merchandise - not just toys, but games, stickers, cards and all else. Dropping big clues about the “next” Star Wars films (which, according to this, were set to debut in 1997), this is lavishly illustrated but could have done with more writing (and dropping the odd lightning-strike-symbol between each paragraph). Interesting, nostalgic and fun, this is decent read though in the intervening years, much more thorough works have superseded it.

[Jojono]

Awesome! I 'm a Star Warrior!

[Michael]

Awesome

[Chris]

A wonderful nostalgia trip, particularly into the world of Star Wars figures and other collectables. I was quite surprised on how many action figures Kenner sold in their first year; over 26 million!