Book Review: “The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge”

Hi everyone!

I received “The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” to review. The book released in April but I received it this past week. “The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” is written by Amy Ratcliffe with a foreword by Walt Disney Imagineering’s Scott Trowbridge. The book jacket and actual book both have unique artwork.

Images copyright Disney

Trowbridge talks about seeing Star Wars in a theater as a kid, and there was a trajectory for him of heading to USC’s film school as George Lucas had done – and then heading to Walt Disney Imagineering, where Trowbridge eventually helped create Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. He discusses a bit of that process.

Amy Ratcliffe writes the Introduction. She talks about the announcements of the new lands and really about the evolution of the announcements leading up to the land opening as information unfolded – much of it at D23 Expos.

“The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” goes pretty in-depth about the identical lands that can be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland from inception. For example, for Batuu the Lucasfilm and Imagineering artists had to decide what the planet would look like. They found inspiration in the petrified forests in Arizona. There were also research trips, including to Marrakesh in Morocco and Istanbul in Turkey. There are research photos that look similar to what the final Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge areas look like.

There is a ton of concept art over 256 pages. Much of the art looks very similar to what opened with the land and some is just that – a concept. For example, there is concept art showing alien bartenders at Oga’s Cantina. One concept we knew about was the table service restaurant, and here we see artwork for it – and a name, the Kalikori Club. There is also concept art for the Spice Den lounge. The lounge would have been two stories with an aquarium. It would look like a piece of kelp was floating around it, but instead of kelp, it was actually a sea monster. A variety of different droid concepts are shown. Elee, who would have been a “big lumbering beast lumbering through the land” would have been a fun addition to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, with guests potentially riding her.

The last pages of the book include concept art and information about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the Star Wars immersive hotel experience opening in 2022 at Walt Disney World.

The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is an incredibly detailed book with so much art and insights into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I really just touched on a little bit of that in this article. The book will make a fantastic gift for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge fans. If anything, I would have loved to see more of the concepts realized (especially the table service restaurant and lounge).

From the publisher:

The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the only book to provide an inside look at the magic behind the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge themed lands at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, documenting the art and innovations that led to the creation of Galaxy’s Edge. Featuring hundreds of full-color concept artworks, sketches, blueprints, photographs, and more, the book will reveal Walt Disney Imagineering’s creative process.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge invites guests to explore Black Spire Outpost, located on the remote Outer Rim planet Batuu—a spaceport bustling with First Order and Resistance activity where guests can interact with droids, creatures, and fan-favorite characters. Alongside Black Spire Outpost’s vibrant cantina and marketplace, a new and original score composed by John Williams accompanies guests as they seek out the land’s two major attractions: Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which allows guests to commandeer the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, in which guests find themselves in the crossfire of a ferocious battle between the Resistance and the First Order.
Exclusive interviews with the key creative minds who shaped the lands’ design provide commentary on what it’s like to dream and then build a life-size Star Wars adventure.
Plus, the book offers an inside look at the upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience, a first-of-its-kind immersive two-night adventure.

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