Title: The Art of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Author: Jonathan Bresman
ISBN: 0-345-43108-1 (hardcover), 0-345-43109-X (paperback)
Publisher: Ballantine Books Del Rey/Lucas Books
Copyright: 1999
Reviewed by Keith Palmer.
One of the many Star Wars traditions renewed with the arrival of The Phantom Menace in 1999 was the publishing of a "The Art of" book, showcasing production paintings and sketches for the movie. Like the other books in the series, The Art of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace may appeal the most to those interested in seeing both the development of what wound up on the screen and concepts that never made it there. At this point as well, several of the unused concepts that can be found in it can been seen to have appeared at last in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. There is also a hint or two of the development of the story itself, which the book's introduction explains was running in parallel to the work of the art department.
Unlike some of the books in the series, The Art of The Phantom Menace does not include a copy of the movie's script: at the time, that was being sold separately. This perhaps, though, offers more space for both art and explanations of it, from the animals the vehicles of the Trade Federation are meant to embody to the cultural references that inspired the architectural and costume designs on Naboo to the car George Lucas once owned that the markings on Anakin Skywalker's Podracer were taken from. The book is organised into five thematic sections, covering the machinery of the Trade Federation, the Gungan and human civilizations of Naboo, the desert realms of Tatooine, and the cityscapes of Coruscant, each introduced with a brief description of that part of the movie's world. From time to time, this does mean having to hunt for things. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi and their diplomatic starship Radiant VII may have appeared at the very beginning of the movie, but their artwork is in the Coruscant section at the back of the book. Before that point, in the captions for two of Doug Chiang's production paintings (all very clean and detailed in the Ralph McQuarrie tradition, and distinct from some of the more impressionistic paintings in the later two volumes), the story's development is suggested in comments that the character of Qui-Gon was added after some of the movie's plot had already been worked out. How this changed the larger story is left for the reader's own contemplation.
Most of the machinery and characters from the movie are covered in enough detail to show an early concept or two quite different from what they became in the end, such as battle droids "clearly based on the stormtroopers of the original trilogy," Nemoidians who would have resembled the final design of their battle droids, Podracers more compact and solidly assembled than in the movie, Jedi costumes that would have been more reminiscent of Willow than of Star Wars: A New Hope, and a female Sith Lord concept with a first resemblance to Darth Maul, drawn from Iain McCaig's "second worst nightmare" on George Lucas's suggestion.
Some concepts didn't make it into the movie at all, but can be seen to have appeared later. The idea of Queen Amidala's starship being equipped with a "solar sail" was transferred to Count Dooku's vessel in Attack of the Clones, and Mos Espa was originally to have been placed in a huge pit now reminiscent of both "Luke Skywalker's pit house" and Utapau from Revenge of the Sith. Another concept for "air whales" on Naboo was drawn from concepts first envisioned for The Empire Strikes Back and included at last in Attack of the Clones.
Finding a copy of this book now may require searching the used book market. (While looking for it, though, it shouldn't be confused with a smaller paperback reprinting a selection of its pages that was a bonus in the widescreen VHS release of the movie.) For those interested in the design work of The Phantom Menace, though, it should be rewarding. The artwork selected for it has a polished quality, and it fits in with the other "The Art of" books.
