Star Wars Building Empire

Back in 2006, "Jambe Davdar" (he's listed on IMDB but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to state here) put together this sort of documentary on one of his favorite childhood films, one of the best films of all time, The Empire Strikes Back. I wrote up a full review of how this departs from a traditional doc here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/building-empire-a-filmumentary/
But basically the way this works is that you're watching the old ESB, and then the audio will change to a relevant piece of someone having a pithy interview comment, or the video will switch to behind-the-scenes footage of that sequence. The narrative plays as normal, except a bit longer due to those departures.

The quality of these extra sources varies a lot, and some effort seems to have been made to make them not TOO distracting. Overall, if you're a Star Wars fan, this is a great way to rewatch. You'll probably learn something, as the editor has pulled from really a lot of great sources. And if you're only a casual fan, watching this way as a documentary will be more fun than most docs, and will probably make you appreciate the film more.

While not quite the mythical and surreal act of filmmaking serendipity that the original Star Wars was, the story of Empire Strikes Back is just as compelling, due to the unlikelihood of the movie actually turning out to be good. Lots of fascinating BTS footage and facts while you still get to enjoy one of the great popcorn flicks of all time. Essential viewing for any and all Star Wars obsessives.

Second documentary from Jamie Benning’s Star Wars trilogy is another outstanding labor of love.
The menu design is better than Jedi, though not as breathtaking as New Hope.
Biggest plus for this edition is the extras. Building Empire boasts more bonuses, more “bang” if you like, than both Returning Jedi and SW Begins combined!

Video - As with the other two Star Wars installments, one must be forgiving in video quality disparities. While the quality varies, the editing does not. Well thought out presentation.

Audio - 2.0 channel stereo throughout. No dialogue subs, only info subtitles. Dialogue is clear throughout.

Narrative - Does not really apply here. The editor assumes the viewer is familiar with this movie, with the trilogy. Documentary follows onscreen action more or less chronologically. There are times speakers wander off point, but Benning lets them complete their thought.

Enjoyment - First off, a tremendous amount of bonus features. Highlights include the entire radio series, as well as the vinyl “Story Of.” This is extremely generous, and will afford listeners an extra 7-8 hours of pleasure.

There are a couple nice sequences of Hoth’s wampas that were cut. C3PO’s prank to the stormtroops remains a gem.

This is essential.

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Extremely detailed and very informative. I love the candid moments of the cast in crew in the behind-the-scenes footage, as well as comparisons to how the scripts were revised.

I did notice a couple video glitches during transitions that could have been smoother. Also, one major audio glitch where Mark Hamill is talking about something, but the stereo tracks aren't matched creating a really bad echo. This glitch made what he was saying almost impossible to understand.

Overall enlightening and very entertaining. Kudos!

Review by TV's Frink — October 23, 2009 @ 11:45 pm

What a great piece of work! The best fan-made documentary I have seen so far. I give this 10 Frinks out of 10.