''The Making of Star Wars'' is a television special produced by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, which aired on the ABC Television Network on September 16, 1977. It was written by

Richard Schickel Richard Warren Schickel (February 10, 1933 – February 18, 2017) was an American film historian, journalist, author, documentarian, and film and literary critic. He was a film critic for ''Time'' magazine from 1965–2010, and also wro ...

and directed and produced by

Robert Guenette Robert Guenette (January 12, 1935, Holyoke, Massachusetts – October 31, 2003, Los Angeles, California) was an American film producer, screenwriter, film director, television director and television producer, recipient of the Directors Guild ...

Synopsis

Premiering four months after the release of the film, the special was the first ''Star Wars'' documentary ever made. The special was hosted by C-3PO (voiced and played by

Anthony Daniels Anthony Daniels ( ; born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and mime artist, best known for playing in 10 ''Star Wars'' films. He is the only actor to have either appeared in or been involved with all theatrical films in the series, and h ...

) and R2-D2. A voiceover narration was additionally supplied by

William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...

. It features behind-the-scenes footage from ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'', and interviews with writer/director

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

, producer Gary Kurtz, and castmembers

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

, Carrie Fisher,

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

, and

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

. Among the behind-the-scenes footage is a brief glimpse of a deleted scene between Luke Skywalker and

Biggs Darklighter Rogue Squadron is a fictional Military spacecraft in fiction, starfighter squadron (aviation), squadron in the Star Wars, ''Star Wars'' franchise. Many surviving members of Red Squadron, the Rebel Alliance, Rebel attack force that Luke Skywalk ...

Tatooine Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...

Home media

The special was the first ''Star Wars'' material to be released to the home video market (in 1979, by Magnetic Video). It was reissued to video in 1980 with a trailer for '' The Empire Strikes Back'', which had been released that year. This trailer was not featured on the DVD box set issued in 2004. In 1982, it was reissued again by 20th Century Fox on VHS,

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

, CED, and

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

as part of a double feature with the 1980 special '' SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back''. It was reissued separately in Japan on

in 1992, and was reissued as a triple feature with SPFX and the 1983 special '' Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi''. The special is included as an additional feature in the ''Star Wars: The Complete Saga''

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

box set, which was released in September 2011. The version included is the original version with William Conrad's voiceover.

Alternate version

In 1995, an alternate version of the special was released to VHS as a special mail-in offer with

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

to tie in with the last video and laserdisc releases of the original versions of the ''

Trilogy''. This version is almost identical to the 1977 version but replaces William Conrad's voiceover with that of famed movie trailer announcer Don LaFontaine. This version has not been issued on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

nor any other format. Some portions of the special were edited into ''

The Story of Star Wars ''The Story of Star Wars'' is a 1977 record album presenting an abridged version of the events depicted in the film ''Star Wars'', using dialogue and sound effects from the original film. The recording was produced by George Lucas and Alan Living ...

'', a DVD that was issued as a promotional bonus available at Wal-Mart stores for the DVD release of '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' in 2005.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Making of Star Wars, The Star Wars documentaries American Broadcasting Company original programming 1970s American television specials Star Wars (film) Television shows directed by Robert Guenette 1977 television specials 20th Century Fox Television films 1977 documentary films Television shows shot at EMI-Elstree Studios