A Galaxy Far Far Away on DVD

As I was walking to catch a bus along 42nd Street in New York City this week, I happened to slip past a tall, geeky kid holding an illuminated lightsaber. He was probably about 16, and brandishing the cheap Hasbro version of the weapon over his head. It was a moment or two before I realized that he was using the lightsaber as a beacon to a group of other field trip kids trailing behind him, but for a minute, it was totally surreal example of the way that Star Wars has completely penetrated our culture. Either that, or the Jedi Academy was on their way to Les Mis.

This is some of what ‘A Galaxy Far Far Away’ is trying to communicate – that total permeation and impact that Star Wars has had over thirty-plus years. I’m not even completely comfortable that I’m dating a girl who hasn’t seen the Original Trilogy, but I think that we can fix that. I just hope that we don’t have to go all Clockwork Orange style.

And sure, there have been many, many documentaries made about Star Wars fans, and science fiction fans in general, and there are even more recent ones than ‘Galaxy’, which was filmed ten years ago – but I don’t think that any are as funny and poignant. What starts out as another ‘let’s make fun of the geeks’ documentary by, let’s face it guys, a couple of geeks, coalesces into something pretty powerful.

Forget about the home video quality of much of the tape, and the funky sound issues, and bad camera angles (the director’s bonus commentary will address all of these points anyhow) – this was 1999. This was the dawn of the digital video camera, and before home video editing was even really a possibility. Using borrowed G2 Macs and working late nights in editing studios that they had no legal right to use, these guys made a great little film. Some of the guerilla-ness of the thing shows through, but it’s a great reminder of the context that this was created in. This was before Episode I had been released. In fact, the whole film builds up to this epic and fabled prequel film – only to have it be the very worst thing that ever happened to the adored Star Wars franchise. Not even that Han-on-Chewie fan fic that you wrote could wound Star Wars more deeply. The illustrations you did to accompany it might come close.

I didn’t want to like the film. Especially when the occasionally-smarmy director insists on referring to ‘action figures’ as ‘dolls’ (which is the equivalent of me referring to his ‘films’ as ‘cute videos’ or something). Many collectors are presented in the film, since Star Wars and collecting seem to go hand-in-hand, and there’s even an expertly shot fade between a scene of madness at a Toys ‘R’ Us when the crappy Episode I toys were released and a shot of starving people reaching for food in Kosovo that are so alarmingly similar that I didn’t realize that they were different scenes at first. And also represents why I stopped shopping for toys at brick-and-mortar retailers.

It’s at least as far reaching and intriguing as Trekkies for the full hour-or-so that it runs, and I immediately re-watched the film with the 10th anniversary commentary turned on, which added a whole awesome depth to an already interesting film. Also included is the original commentary filmed ten years ago, a new audio commentary, and a good 15 minutes of great deleted scenes.

It’s absolutely an awesome companion to have next to your limited-release Original Trilogy discs, and maybe the Episode I through III coasters, too. It’s worth a look – to see collectors, to see geeks, to feel a little better about yourself, and to dig yourself a little deeper into this surreal life. Check out the recent release from Cinevolve.