Settle an Argument: Star Wars

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Settle an Argument: Star Wars

Screenplay to Books or Books to Screenplay?

joshie76

8:59 am on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Did Star Wars start life as books (like Lord of the Rings) or did it start life as film(s) which where later converted into books?

Any hard evidence would be useful.

Syren_Song

2:26 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

I'm pretty sure it was a movie then a book. IMDB shows the first Star Wars movie out in 1977. Amazon doesn't have much info on the earliest book published with the storyline itself. The earliest I could find was an "Art of Star Wars" book from 1979 (5th printing and not currently being published).

Have you checked the Star Wars website yet?

Syren_Song

2:29 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Wait! Found another Amazon book I missed thru IMDB here. [amazon.com] It's a book by Lucas printed in '76.

joshie76

2:40 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

From reading the bookcovers it's not at all clear which came first.

The film must have already been well into production in '76 (I would have thought so anyway)...

hmmm, baffling.

Syren_Song

2:49 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

It could also be that Lucas published the book as a lead-in for the movie. Wouldn't be the first time a director/producer did something like that.

Have you tried the official Star Wars website?

JonB

2:52 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

on google groups i foudnsome saying that he went to bookstore and While browsing through a used-book store the other day, he came across old Star Wars paperback from the first movie. The odd thing about this book is that it was published BEFORE the movie was released.The title of this book is Star Wars: From the adventures of Luke Skywalker and on the back it says, "soon to be a major-motion picture from 20th Century Fox." This is the same story, but not the same edition as that gold cover paperback that came out after the movie.

i edited soem thingsnot to break some copyright or soemthing.

Syren_Song

3:13 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

"Soon to be a major motion picture" seems to imply the movie was already well into production....

JayC

3:53 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Lucas originally wrote it as a screenplay, starting in 1975.

It's not at all uncommon for book publishers to release a book, or publish a new version of an existing book that is being remade as a film, with that "Soon to be a major motion picture" line -- and since the time to produce a film is much longer than that needed to publish a paperback, they do get out sooner.

Any hard evidence would be useful.

I don't know whether it qualifies as "hard evidence," but try a search for "star wars history" and you'll probably find plenty of accounts.

korkus2000

3:56 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Screenplay. Seen many interviews with Lucas talking about it.

Syren_Song

5:00 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

You could try posting your question in this Star Wars forum [forums.starwars.com] and see if these fanatics might have a definitive answer along with a factual resource info to back it up.

Otherwise, you may have to settle for renting the movie "The Making of Star Wars". I'm sure the movie tells when things got started. I want to say 1974 or '75, since Lucas released American Graffitti around '73/'74.

joshie76

5:35 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

I've posted (http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jsp?forum=3&thread=108868)

Let's keep our eyes on it!

TallTroll

5:48 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

I seem to recall that Lucas directed American Grafitti (Harrison Fords first major role), then was offered something else (can't remember what) but preferred to work on his own screenplay, following its recent success as a radio play. I suppose the book was adapted from that, and also the screenplay. The other project was given to a little known director called Steven Spielberg, I think

TallTroll

5:52 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

Try this too, some background info there [randomhouse.com...]

<edit> seems the radio stuff came later note to self : read the d*mn content

Syren_Song

6:23 pm on Jan 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

AHA! A link from the thread you started, joshie76:

[starwars.com...]

Looks like the book was based on the screenplay. It came out before the movie, but the movie was written prior to the book. Talk about confusing!

joshie76

10:09 am on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

Thanks for all your help guys.

I thought someone would have answered it straight off! Seems it wasn't so straight forward.

Josh

Syren_Song

1:02 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

Nothing like a bunch of Urban Legends to slow folks down in finding the correct answer. Sometimes, you've just got to ask the experts.! Glad they could help you at the Star Wars forum. :)

JayC

6:17 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

I thought someone would have answered it straight off! Seems it wasn't so straight forward.

Sometimes, you've just got to ask the experts.! Glad they could help you at the Star Wars forum.

Sheesh. Correct answer stated speculatively in post number 2. Correct answer stated directly in post number 8, and again in post number 9.

People don't believe the answers unless they're from someone who posts on a star wars site?

People should have more faith in webmasterworld -- there aren't many questions for which expert answers won't be found here... no need to go traipsing around in the backwoods of the web. :)

Syren_Song

6:40 pm on Jan 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hey, JayC.

I think the problem was that Joshie76 needed some "physical" proof to win an argument. The Star Wars Official Site would be definitive proof.

I'm betting whoever he was having the argument with doesn't believe we're all experts on everything here. ;)