Star Wars Begins

A ton of fun -- the story of the genesis and development of Star Wars is one of the great stories in cinema history and I can never get enough of hearing about it. This A/V commentary doubles as a fun way to re-experience the film itself. The other reviewer who compared it to Pop-Up Video got it right. 70s and 90s nostalgia rolled into one, can't beat that!

Review by Ripplin — March 7, 2011 @ 7:33 pm

Everyone was happy to hear way back when that Jambe was going to complete his trilogy and it’s so great to have this done. This is an outstanding, MUST-HAVE disc for any Star Wars fan! While “Deleted Magic” was good, this one feels much more…complete, for lack of a better term. The passage of time allowed for the inclusion of many more unique interview clips and such as well, some of which were excellent, last-minute finds. The Jabba scene in its entirety was a treat, too. No more stills and/or subtitles to fill it out anymore!

This edit is receiving a huge amount of attention, and rightly so! I don’t think I’ve ever given anything on FE.org a 10/10 before, but I can’t think of a reason not to in this case, so…I gave it 10/10. :)

Review by CK1 — March 2, 2011 @ 8:06 pm

“Star Wars Begins” is a must watch documentary for any Star Wars fan. Jambe Davdar packs in tons of behind the scenes footage, audio interviews, little known facts, and other fun stuff seamlessly into the A New Hope. The documentary style plays through the entirety of the movie while interjecting commentary information throughout, which allows for a very smooth and enjoyable experience.

I would highly recommend this to all FE/Star Wars fans and this would make a wonderful second disc for anyone wanting to create the ultimate Star Wars 2-disc set along with Adywan’s Star Wars Revisited!

As this was an ‘unofficial commentary’ rather than a re-edit, I can’t rate this in the usual categories. That being said, I would give this a 10/10! Great job!

Final documentary from Jamie Benning’s Star Wars trilogy is arguably the best.
Jam packed with extras, boasting an unbeatable menu design.
If you can only get one - this is the one.

Video - 720p X 480p. My version is NTSC. Quality wobbles a bit, though nothing unexpected. As far as layering of visual “extras” this seems to have had more than the other pair.

Audio - 2 Channel AC3. Movie dialogue clear, voiceovers clear - even from Harrison Ford, with whom I have problems occasionally.

Narrative - As with the other pair, memories, anecdotes, popups and background details are interwoven with the narrative proper. Perhaps because the film had been such an unexpected smash, and enthusiasm was so high, the voiceovers are optimistic and fresh. The “good cheer” factor is off the dial in this one.

Enjoyment - This is the doc I have watched over and over. Seems like I am always picking up on fresh details, or spying something in the frame corner. As far as extras, not much, which is mildly surprising. There was a plethora of material listed on the “cuts n additions.” Perhaps Benning desired a strict DVD-5 and goodies would have bumped this into a DVD-9.

The menu deserves singular praise. This is one of the finest menus I have even seen, and extraordinarily conceived. The entire show is encapsulized in Ralph McQuarrie’s conceptual art and John Williams’ music. Often viewers click past the menu as swiftly as possible. Not so here. This shines a graceful innocence and can be rewatched multiple times. Well done - really - well done.

This is essential.

In the same vein as Roger Ebert's commentary for Citizen Kane, this is essential viewing for any and all cinephiles, regardless of your view on the film itself. If there was anyone competent on the Star Wars side of Disney, this would be on all official releases of the film.