Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
THE Star Wars reference for true fans!, Feb 12 2004
Except for the fact of missing references to the prequels, but with so many people complaining of their (minor) inferiorities who's arguing? The undying classic trilogy is brought in splendid life with characters, droids, creatures, monsters, and technologies from A to Z.Whether it's the history of the Skywalkers, Jabba the Hutt, droids, Imperial Commanders, Super Class Warships, alien species, or monsters from all sorts of galaxies - this book is the source of information bringing the evolution of how they came to be in each film. Given it was published in 1998 it gave audiences an even wetter appetite to view the trilogy in full splendor and understand how all of it came to be a story. Stephen Sansweet, who also wrote earlier books of STAR WARS collectibles ranging from toys to audio cassettes gives classic depth to the classic trilogy. It's heavy and rich with information, so this is a must for any true fan. By the way, George Lucas, we can't wait until September 21, 2004 for the release of the trilogy on DVD! Even more so for EPISODE 3 in May 2005! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Star Wars (before the prequels) from A wing to Zuggs...., Oct 1 2003
Ever since the first Guide to the Star Wars Universe was published in 1984, there have been many reference books written about the characters, weapons, spacecraft, fauna, flora, and worlds of that "galaxy far, far away...." Raymond Velasco's first Guide had precious little to go on back in '84. Bill Slavicsek was luckier a decade later; the Expanded Universe had grown a bit larger with the new wave of Star Wars-related novels, role-playing game guides, graphic novels, and even young readers' books.But even though Slavicsek's 1994 and 2000 Guides are very well-done, Steven J. Sansweet's huge Star Wars Encyclopedia is a treasure trove of information about the Star Wars saga's details. Following the same format as the Slavicsek "Guides," Sansweet's large and lavishly illustrated one-volume Encyclopedia covers every imaginable topic from the Rebel A-Wing to the Imperial officer known as Zuggs. Because it was published in 1998, precious little information from the current "Prequel Trilogy" appears in this edition of The Star Wars Encyclopedia. Also, the Expanded Universe has gotten larger, so readers who want to find out about topics covered in the New Jedi Order series will be disappointed. Fans will have to wait until 2006 to see the second, updated edition. Still, Sansweet's book is considered to be the best reference work, not only for its thoroughness, but because the author is a vice president at Lucasfilm and is the owner of one of the world's largest private Star Wars collections. He also appears frequently on the "Ask the Jedi Council" forum at www.starwars.com.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
A very complete textual condensation..., Sep 9 2003
A very complete textual condensation, in thousands of entries, of probably every piece of important knowledge from the novels, comics and films. Although illustrations are included for many entries (there are multiple pictures on every page), I believe a truly comprehensive encyclopedia should include, for example, maps of locations of important star systems in the Galaxy and diagrams of spaceships, and so forth. I was looking forward to technical materials like this to be found in the book, and so I was a little disappointed. There is no question: they missed some great opportunities for additional pictorial information.(There is a reason for the book's shortcomings: the Star Wars franchise doesn't want one single commercial item to be so comprehensive that it does away with the need for any of the plethora of other titles available. Instead you'll need to buy some of the other books to see the kind of info I feel the encyclopedia should have included. But, then, whoever said Lucas was dumb?) As such, for an Encyclopedia it falls short of what could have been. However because of quality of information that *is* there - every single entry is highly readable - I rate this GOOD (3 stars). And be forewarned: being a few years old, it comes without any of the material from the latest trilogy.
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