Blu-ray Review: ICONS UNEARTHED: STAR WARS

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Mar 17 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The first season of the Vice TV series Icons Unearthed arrives on Blu-ray thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment. Each season of the documentary series delves into the behind-the-scenes drama of a different popular TV or movie franchise. This inaugural season originally aired in the summer of 2022, and takes an in-depth look at Star Wars—more specifically, the first 6 installments helmed by George Lucas.

The series makes use of behind-the-scenes footage, concept artwork, and brand new interviews with historians, pop culture experts, and the cast and crew involved in making the films—though George Lucas himself was not involved in this, and neither are any of the more A-lister main cast of the first two Star Wars trilogies. Across the 6 episodes, those interviewed include author/former Lucasfilm archivist David West Reynolds, editors Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch & Duwayne Dunham, professors of sociology John Tenuto & Maria Jose Tenuto, correspondent Victoria Bennett (Den of Geek), producer Howard Kazanjian, authors/film historians Ray Morton & John Kenneth Muir, author/producer Dale Pollock, miniature & optical effects unit members Richard Edlund, Ken Ralston & Phil Tippett, set decorator/second unit director Roger Christian, special photographic effects supervisor John Dykstra, makeup artist Rick Baker, sculptor/FX artist Tom Spina, director Stephen Spielberg, matte artist Harrison Ellenshaw, memorabilia collector Gus Lopez, puppeteer Tim Rose, biographer Brian Jay Jones, former president of the Star Wars fan club Dan Madisen, screenwriter Jonathan Hales, producer Rick McCallum, creature shop creative supervisor Dave Elsey, makeup supervisor Nikki Gooley, and actors Anthony Daniels (‘C-3PO”), Billy Dee Williams (“Lando Calrissan”), Ian McDiarmid (“The Emperor”), Julian Glover (“General Veers”) & Caroline Blakiston (“Mon Mothma”).

Here’s a rundown of the topics covered in each of the 6 episodes:

A New Hope: Part 1
The first episode looks at how the Star Wars film came about, from the early life/career of George Lucas, to his desire to create his own space opera and studio, trying to sell his sci-fi vision to a studio, writing the script, assembling a crew, casting the movie, and the initial filming challenges. This leads to a falling out among the crew, ho are on the verge of mutiny, and leaving the production in danger of getting the plug pulled.
A New Hope: Part 2
The second episode continues the look at A New Hope as it enters post-production. This starts with a look at the early life/career of Marcia Lucas, the final push to finish the movie, bringing in Marcia to help completely re-cut the film, completing the special effects, embellishing the Cantina scene, and adding the sound effects and score.
The Empire Strikes Back
The third episode explores Lucas building Skywalker Ranch and his own studio, coming up with the story for the sequel and finding a screenwriterc finding a new director, a shakeup at ILM, and the new characters of Lando, Yoda, The Emperor &, Boba Fett. It also looks at how once again the weather proved to be a challenges at the start of filming, additional challenges with the special effects sequences, a new style of directing, confronting Carrie Fisher about her drug and alcohol problems, money issues and replacing the producer, he rush to complete the effects, and the initial reactions to the film.
Return of the Jedi
In episode four, we explore the final film of the trilogy and how Lucas reigns in the budget, signing Harrison Ford to return, the evolution of the script, adding the Ewoks and the actors behind them, finding a new director, designing new space aliens including Admiral Ackbar and Jabba, casting The Emperor, disastrous issues with the director, Lucas’ divorce and the effect on the post production, and bringing Marcia back to re-cut the film to bring in the missing emotion.
The Phantom Menace
As Star Wars starts to fade from the public conscience, Lucas works on other projects (such as Howard The Duck, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) and explores, tests and improves digital visual effects technology until they are ready. In the meantime, he expands the Star Wars expanded universe via novels and gives the original films a digital makeover, making lots of unnecessary tweaks, while proving the technology is ready for a push from practical to digital effects. After announcing the prequel trilogy, he decides to return as director, and believes a kid-friendly, all-digital character like Jar Jar Binks will win over audiences. The episode also looks at casting the younger versions of the iconic characters, returning to the original filming locations, the struggle for the actors to transition to digital filmmaking and some of the issues that arise, creating the misleading teaser trailer, and the immediate reaction to the final film.
Attack of the Clones & Revenge of the Sith
The final episode discusses filming with digital cameras, casting Hayden Christensen and Christopher Lee, filming in Australia, coming up with the script at the last minute, the escalation of the number of digital effects and the negative reaction from viewers, Lucas returning as screenwriter for the third film, bringing in new digital character General Grievous as well as a return to analog for some others. The episode also talks about Spielberg’s help in creating the final face off sequence between Obi-Wan and Vader, and Lucas’ selling of Lucasfilm and severing all ties with his ex wife.

I found this 6-part documentary series to be quite entertaining and informative. It comes from The Nacelle Company, who also created The Toys That Made Us. The series is narrated by actor Michael Pennington (“Moff Jerjerrod”), who keeps things fun and light. It is well edited to provide an interesting narrative that flows across the six 45-minute episodes, making it feel like one 3-hour documentary. The series also makes really clever wordplay and use of clips from the films to inject a lot of humor. George Lucas did not participate in the interviews, and the participants offer both the positive and negatives of his vision and what it was like working with him. It doesn’t really feel like anyone is holding back when it comes to discussing any issues or frustrations with the shoot, or with some of the directors/producers involved. Marcia Lucas, George’s ex-wife and editor on the original trilogy provides a lot of heart to the story and even though her marriage ended badly, you can see how much the films and time working on them means to her, and how she poured her heart and soul into these movies. Actor Anthony Daniels (“C-3PO”) had me laughing throughout—you can see that he is equal parts annoyed and happy to be working on these films, and will forever be C-3PO. It was great to see that the Blu-ray’s bonus material includes the full 3-hour-ish interviews with both Marcia Lucas and Anthony Daniels. There many interesting factoids and behind-the-scenes tidbits mentioned throughout the series by the wide variety of other participants as well.

Mill Creek’s release provides solid picture and sound. The picture and archival footage generally looks quite clean, and the stereo soundtrack is more than sufficient for the interviews. Mill Creek’s release is split across 2 discs, placed on either side of a standard HD keepcase, which is covered with a cardboard slipcover. The first disc contains all 6 episodes of the series with a Play All option and optional subtitles, while the second disc includes all of the bonus material—three full length interviews with participants Marcia Lucas, Anthony Daniels & Billy Dee Williams. These are presented in their raw form without any color timing or visual touch-ups, and make for an entertaining and interesting watch. I especially enjoyed being able to see more of Daniels’ interview.

I really enjoyed this first season of Icons Unearthed, and hope that Mill Creek will also releases additional seasons on Blu-ray.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (6:30:10)

All 6 episodes of the first season:
“A New Hope: Part 1”, “A New Hope: Part 2”, “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Return of the Jedi”, “The Phantom Menace”, “Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English

Extras:
The bonus material consists of the full-length interviews with three of the participants, provided in their raw form, without any additional color-timing or picture enhancements.

Marcia Lucas — Complete Interview (3:11:37)
Anthony Daniels — Complete Interview (2:52:57)
Billy Dee Williams — Complete Interview (37:04)

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Icons Unearthed: Star Wars provides an interesting and entertaining look back at the first two film trilogies through the eyes of many folks who were involved. It is both humorous and heartfelt, and Mill Creek’s Blu-ray release offers a solid audio/video presentation as well as almost 7 hours of raw interview footage as bonus material. This is definitely worth a look for Star Wars fans. I really enjoyed this first season of Icons Unearthed, and hope that Mill Creek will also releases additional seasons on Blu-ray.