A great man once sang that the times, they are a changing. So many aspects of our lives have changed in dramatic ways over the last few decades that it’s hard to categorise all of them. One of the more obvious things is the sheer selection of series and movies that are now available and regularly released. Streaming platforms have now taken over, with new things to watch weekly. It means that rewatching shows is extremely difficult if you are also trying to keep up with new content.
In 2023, when I went to Star Wars Celebration Europe with my sons, I was fortunate to be heading into the centre to turn around and see a familiar face. Doug Chiang just happened to be walking behind me and was gracious enough to let me take a photo with him. My sons, who were looking a little confused, asked me who was that. I was a little dumbstruck, I mean, it’s Doug Chiang. How could they not know who this important figure in Star Wars was? With so much selection now of series and films, they hadn’t watched the documentaries that I had. They are living in a time when you are not having to desperately search for something because there is always something new.
In the nineties, this was not the case. My brother James and I would watch and rewatch all the ‘quality’ movies and series, usually recorded from terrestrial television onto a blank VHS. Our favourite was of course Star Wars. But what happened when we’d watched the trilogy three hundred times and the Ewok movies? We found a few documentaries. Whether they were at the start of the Special Edition VHS releases, or it was a documentary that was presented by Eamon Holmes, we would watch anything we could get our hands on. With the advent of DVDs that were loaded with special features, we then had a treasure trove of extra content to devour. It was The Phantom Menace DVD and the lengthy documentary on there that I first encountered Doug Chiang. With three years between movie releases, I remember watching that documentary again and again. When the Original Trilogy was released and we got the monumental documentary Empire of Dreams, my brother and I were glued to the screen. We just couldn’t get enough. It’s how we got to know legends like Denis Muren, Phil Tippett and John Dykstra. These people we got to know so well, so well in fact that I could spot one of them walking behind me with nothing more than a glance.
The times they are a-changin. With so much content, my sons hadn’t thought to seek out the documentaries that my brother and I would watch, why would they? Unless you have a desire to see the magic that occurs behind screen, keeping up with just normal releases on the wide variety of platforms is enough to occupy anyone’s time. It seems a bit of a shame.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing my account on Disney Plus, ready to settle down to watch Empire of Dreams. It is my favourite documentary on Star Wars that has ever been made, and I find myself continually coming back to it. The kids might have all their fresh releases, but I still enjoy the documentaries like I did when I was younger. Before I clicked on it, a recommendation came up for a different documentary, a mini-series called Light and Magic. Somehow this one had slipped by me! I didn’t need any convincing and pressed play. Although I have known the story of how Industrial Light and Magic was formed, the revolutionary techniques that were developed, this still held new interviews, new information and new insights that I hadn’t seen. I was back to my younger self, captivated by the story behind the story.
As many parents will testify to, even when you think you have some time to yourself, it never seems to last. A few minutes into the first episode of the documentary, my daughter Ember (who is seven) walks into the room. ‘Oh well, there goes that then’ I thought to myself. However, Ember looks at the television, looks at the heroes I have been entranced by for most of my life and then just slides next o me on the sofa. “What is this?” she says slowly. “A documentary” I reply and with that I can feel her body relax, not saying another word and watches the rest of the episode with me. Looking at her face every now again, I could see myself reflected in those eyes that were getting lost in this tale from the mid 1970’s.
The episode came to a close and my daughter is suddenly asking me why I am watching that without her. I didn’t really have a good answer and was quickly instructed that that would not happen again. She wanted to watch the rest of the series with me. Surprised doesn’t even begin to state how I felt. I had never thought that a seven-year-old would want to watch a documentary about Star Wars with me. We sat down to watch the second episode the next day and if I was thinking she’d get bored I was very wrong. Some video was shown of shots being taken of the Millennium Falcon on blue screen. For those of you who have been following my reviews, Ember and I are midway through constructing our own studio scale Falcon. This did not go unnoticed by Ember. “Isn’t that what we’re building?” Once I confirmed it was her jaw almost hit the floor. She couldn’t believe it. She knew what we were building and here it was, on the screen. It cemented her interest in the whole series.
Over a few weeks we watched the whole series. There were times I thought she might lose interest, yet she was adamant she wanted to watch it. The more we watched, the more questions she had. She was taking it all in. At one point, we had to watch another documentary on Disney Plus about Pixar to fill in some of the gaps. Even my interest was starting to wonder what other documentaries I had missed. I ended up buying a French DVD of Phil Tippett’s Mad Dreams and Monsters as I wanted to see more and more. When Ember saw Tippet’s face she was like “isn’t that Phil?” When did she become on a first name basis with Mr. Tippett?! She was immersed with these creators; these visionaries and I was loving it.
Perhaps not everything is changing as much as I thought. Yes, there is enough content, if that is all you want. But for those who want to delve, there are some amazing documentaries out there. The fact my daughter now has an interest in them too makes me happier than I could express in words. She’s already told me she wants to watch Empire of Dreams and Mad Dreams and Monsters (although I’ve had to tell her she’ll need to wait a couple of years before she can watch that one!). Documentaries are still out there, still making an impact. I wonder how many of the younger generation are as enthralled as my brother and I were all those years ago. Disney Plus has some great documentaries, whether it be on ILM or John Williams or just Star Wars in general. I can also highly recommend Mad Dreams and Monsters, although finding a copy isn’t easy. It fits in what happens to Tippett after Light and Magic. If you want something that explains before when the documentary starts Zoetrope on the THX 1138 Blu-ray is also fantastic. Perhaps best of all, I showed Ember my photo with Doug Chiang, not telling her who it was and when she saw it her face was shocked and she came out with, “Wow, you’ve met Doug!” She knows who he is without me having to say a word. I suppose my only real concern is if she ever meets any of these great individuals, she needs to not address them by their first name!
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