A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: © 2019 DK Children (a division of Dorling Kindersley Limited) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  On December 20, 2019 ﹘ the same day that J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker went into wide release in theaters, Dorling Kindersley Limited's DK Children imprint published Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - The Visual Dictionary with Exclusive Cross-Sections, a hardcover reference book written by Pablo Hidalgo. As the sixth and final visual dictionary based on a Skywalker Saga film. the book follows the template created in 1998 when DK Books published archaeologist and Star Wars fan David West Reynold's  The Star Wars Visual Dictionary, a 64-page volume that covered the Original Trilogy films. Although that 1998 book - which is still in print and is also incorporated into DK Books' omnibus editions of The Complete Star Wars Visual Dictionary - was marketed for the "younger reader" audience, the writing was also smartly written and edited becau...

© 2018  Dorling Kindersley (DK) Publishing and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Since the late 1990s, Britain's Dorling Kindersley (DK)  Publishing has been releasing lavishly-illustrated reference books related to various aspects of George Lucas's Star Wars movie trilogies and, since 2015, the Sequel Trilogy and Anthology films produced Lucasfilm, the production company purchased by the Walt Disney Company after Lucas's retirement in the fall of 2012. These reference books run the gamut from Star Wars: Complete Vehicles and Star Wars: Incredible Cross-sections to Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide.  In addition to these works, DK also publishes Visual Guides or Visual Dictionaries that tie in to specific films, starting with David West Reynolds' 1998 work  Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (which encompassed the Original Trilogy era) and continuing over the years with either Visual Dictionaries or Visual Guides for each of the new Star Wars films shortly after their ...

Author's Note: This is the original review of The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia that I wrote for Epinions, a now-inactive review website owned by eBay, on December 30, 2008.  It was, of course, written at a time when George Lucas still ran Lucasfilm. The now-canceled Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show was barely halfway through its first season on Cartoon Network, and as far as we knew, the feature film saga was complete; Lucas was adamant that the six films - plus the aforementioned TV series on Cartoon Network - were the complete account of The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker and that he wasn't interested in making the long-rumored Sequel Trilogy. In 2018, we know that things have changed since I wrote this review nearly a decade ago. Lucas retired and sold his company, Lucasfilm Limited, to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended its five-season run in 2014 and was followed on Disney XD by Star Wars Rebels, which recently end...

(C) 2016 Harper Design/becker&meyer! and Lucasfilm Ltd. Cover art by Steven Thomas On October 25, 2016, Harper Collins' imprint Harper Design and becker&meyer! published Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy. Written by Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo, this 112-page coffee table hardcover is an in-universe look at persuasive art created for various factions during several periods of conflict in the Star Wars timeline. Propaganda art has become synonymous with life in the galaxy far, far away. Whether it's a poster of a Star Destroyer hovering over a planet in a display of Imperial domination; a symbol painted on a wall to deliver a message of hope on behalf of the Rebellion; or a mural depicting a line of stormtroopers to promote unity within the First Order; this type of art, as an instrument of persuasive fearmongering and impassioned idealism, captures the ever-changing tides of politics and public sentiment across the ...