Legacy of The Force

Star Wars–related books are legion, but this is the hands-down best, the champion film tie-in book period. Just mentioning the book's title can make die-hard fanboys cream their jeans. Home costumers, model makers, artists, and prop geeks especially lust after Chronicles for its rich mine of simply stunning and often unique OT reference photos. Next to a genuine Graflex lightsaber hilt, Chronicles is any SW fan's most-prized possession. The dark side is the price. Amazon.com lists it for $105, but cheaper copies appear fairly regularly in bookstores and other online sellers.

Not as elaborate as Chronicles (see above), but still yummy and way cheaper, DK's "Visual Dictionary" and "Incredible Cross-Sections" series are fan faves. The former offers a photo of a character or prop with a caption that details its background and identifies specific elements of clothing, weapons, etc. The latter sports drawings that label parts of the interiors/exteriors of vehicles and ships from the SW universe. Reynolds's background in archaeology adds some meat to the brief text. Fabulous for the price.

The tie-in titles for the first two prequel films follow the same formula as the other books by Reynolds. Although each is listed for $19.95, overstocks have dropped prices to less than $10 from many dealers. At that price, these are essential.

SW-related graphic novels are already quite popular, but this one should attract an even larger audience.

All the new characters, costumes, and craft get the DK treatment. Very cool pix, but the captions are a first-class ticket to spoilerville.

Rinzler had unprecedented access to the sets and actors during the filming of ROTS, and here records it all in the photo-rich Making of, which includes info on casting, the digital art, the non-CGI material, and the score on through postproduction. As in previous Art of tie-ins, this one sports concept sketches, background paintings, and more. Del Rey also is releasing an e-book of the shooting script.

Advancing on earlier studies such as Charles Champlin's George Lucas: The Creative Impulse (1992), Hearn follows Lucas from his Modesto, CA, motorhead youth to his student film days and early Hollywood success with American Graffiti through the OT and prequels, plus the recent restoration of his debut feature THX 1138. Along the way, each film's production is detailed, including shooting schedules and deleted scenes, with killer behind-the-scenes photos and publicity stills. For his creation of SW and Indiana Jones, Lucas is a god, but the sound and FX/CG technology created by his Industrial Light and Magic, Skywalker Sound, Lucas Arts, and other companies have revolutionized film. They've also made him wealthy enough to become a one-man studio. The best book on Lucas to date; SW fans will eat it up for the pictures alone.

This showcases props, models (miniature to life-size), costumes, set pieces, artwork, background drops—basically everything—from Lucas's productions; housed at his Skywalker Ranch facility in a warehouse that's a sort of Fort Knox of SW paraphernalia where fans hope to go when they die. At $23, it's also a babe.

This four-disc package includes enhanced editions of the OT films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, along with several short documentaries, including The Birth of the Lightsaber and The Return of Darth Vader, plus the feature-length documentary, Empire of Dreams. The DVDs boast additional footage and dialog included neither in the initial theatrical releases nor the 1990s Special Edition rereleases. Some fans love the changes, some hate them. Regardless, LucasFilm Limited performed miracles on these transfers: they're beautiful.

Airing on the Cartoon Network in 2003–04, the gangbusters animated Clone Wars series unfurls the action between Episodes II and III. The three-minute segments cut the small talk and get right to the dogfights, shootouts, and lightsaber duels—the good stuff fans want. Along with the major players, lesser Jedi Council members Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, and Adi Gala all get to kick some butt, and the series introduced Episode III's lead baddy, General Grievous. This collection gathers the first 20 episodes, plus exclusive featurettes with George Lucas and animator Genny Tartakovsky, a peak at the forthcoming Volume 2, art galleries, and video game previews. Clone Wars rocks!

The costumes, both simple and complicated, have always been one of the series' signature elements. Biggar, who designed the prequels' elaborate costumes, offers an insider's guide to creating the unique clothing of the Jedi, Sith, princesses, and politicians. Biggar includes preproduction sketches through artist renderings to finished, screen-used outfits. Stars Natalie Portman and Samuel L. Jackson also provide commentary. Fans have been waiting years for a book like this.

Abrams adds SW to its ongoing "365 Days" series with this title by Knoll, visual effects and top FX guru on the prequels. Its 1000 pictures include 360-degree panoramic views of sets and models as well as film stills, concept art, and props. The package includes a CD-ROM sporting QuickTime movies of the panoramas for detailed exploration of the sets (oh, baby!). This title will make fans do their own heavy breathing.

This sequel to Chronicles (see p. 91) highlights Episodes I through III, plus the Cartoon Network's animated Clone Wars series, which many fans found superior to the films (see review at left). Written by noted LucasFilm Limited's insider and SW guru Sansweet, the book features 1000 photos and illustrations. Again, the price is stiff, but that will drive fans into libraries looking for it, so pony up for a copy if possible. Your patrons will love you for it.

Sansweet is joined by Vilmur, LucasFilm Limited's content developer and fellow SW geekasaurus, to produce this ultimate film poster collection. The book boasts 350 photos and illustrations of one-sheets, lobby posters, billboard spreads, and other advertising resources from across the globe produced by artists including the legendary Drew Struzan. Some of the works were not used and appear here for the first time. Poster art is a huge facet of SW collecting, so this should be hot.