Book Review: 'The Empire Strikes Back Notebook'

(C) 1980 Ballantine Books and Lucasfilm Ltd.

In November 1980, Ballantine Books, an imprint of New York-based publisher Random House, published The Empire Strikes Back Notebook, a large-format paperback book which presented the complete script for Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Edited by Diana Attias and Lindsay Smith (who later worked on Star Wars: The Radio Drama), the book not only included the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett; it also featured selected storyboards drawn by Lucasfilm artists involved in the making of The Empire Strikes Back, including Joe Johnston – who went on to become a successful director – and his assistant Nilo Rodis-Janero.

Here at last is the complete script of the exciting continuation in the STAR WARS saga—THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Containing the dialogue and stage directions from the film, the script will take you—again and again—into the thrilling world of this space fantasy.

Magnificently illustrating the script are beautiful selected storyboards—some of the essential tools used in visualizing this fabulous STAR WARS episode. Quotes by director Irvin Kershner and scriptwriter Lawrence Kasdan serve to further illuminate aspects of creating this complex film adventure.

In addition, a fascinating foreword by Irvin Kershner describes how he combined storyboard with script as part of the filmmaking process involved in realizing the dazzling space story, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.  – Publisher’s back cover blurb, The Empire Strikes Back Notebook

Unlike Ballantine’s previous release of a Star Wars screenplay – 1979’s The Art of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back Notebook does not go beyond its basic script-and-storyboard concept. As a result, the book is shorter – 127 pages versus The Art of Star Wars’ 192 – and more focused. (It was also cheaper – my first edition copy has a cover price of $5.95; Canadian editions cost $6.95 in 1980.)

The book includes:

·         An introduction co-written by Diana Attias and Lindsay Smith that briefly tells the story of how The Empire Strikes Back was written and, of course, how The Empire Strikes Back Notebook came to be

·         A foreword by Empire director Irvin Kershner (1923-2010)

·         The script (not presented in “screenplay format”) and selected storyboards by Lucasfilm subsidiary Industrial Light and Magic artists

·         Selected quotes by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan – Leigh Brackett, George Lucas’s first hired script writer, had died in 1979 – and director Kershner on various topics related to the film’s themes and development

Making a film requires that the people who work on the project have a shared understanding of what the film is to be. Communication is essential.

A film begins with a script. But a script is words, and words, no matter how precise, suggest different meanings to different people. For THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, the storyboards were the first step in giving concrete definition to the suggested images on the script. It was through the storyboards that I was able to communicate to the film crew how I perceived the scenes and what images we would be striving to create. – Irvin Kershner, in the foreword for The Empire Strikes Back Notebook.

Storyboards by Joe Johnston. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd.

Every so often, the editors place selected quotes by Lawrence Kasdan or Irvin Kershner in text boxes off to the side of the main content. Here's one by Kasdan on the script's tone:

George was anxious that I capture the tone of the STAR WARS story right from the beginning. I quickly caught on to what he wanted, since he was very clear in his mind about how people in STAR WARS talk as contrasted to other dialogue in the world. He didn't want certain expressions to be used, no references to time, no earthly kinds of remarks, such as referring to someone as "lazy as a sloth."

My Take

Over the 38 years since Ballantine published The Empire Strikes Back Notebook, the screenplay for Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back has been reissued in at least two other Ballantine/Del Rey books, including 1998s Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: The Illustrated Screenplay and Laurent Bouzerau’s Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays.

The later works closely resemble this one because – no surprise there – they contain the screenplay for Empire. The Bouzerau book is the most interesting of the two because it not only includes the original version found in The Empire Strikes Back Notebook, but also has detailed notes on how the script evolved from George Lucas’s first story treatment in 1978 to the final draft. In addition, Bouzerau included sidebars with new action and dialogue cues for The Special Edition reissue of Empire.

Nevertheless, The Empire Strikes Back Notebook is particularly important for Star Wars fans and bibliophiles because it marked the first time that the public got to see the script for the second film of the Star Wars saga.

Like many books of its time, including the similar Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay, The Empire Strikes Back Notebook is out of print. To my knowledge, Ballantine never reissued this book, and even though copies are still to be found in used book stores or third-party sellers in Amazon, prices vary from $9.00 (plus shipping and handling) to $25.34 for Amazon Prime members), depending on the condition of the copy in question.

The prices are higher than the original $5.95 in the U.S./$6.95 in Canada prices from 1980. However, if you don’t have a copy of The Empire Strikes Back Notebook but would like one, I strongly recommend this book.