Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys

Fair warning, this is a review of the film itself and not of the physical release. For more information on that, look to other reviews.With that out of the way, I have to say that despite my rating I actually enjoyed Plastic Galaxy. A 2/5 doesn't have to be bad if there's some value to the content within. The main problem with Plastic Galaxy is that it was clear that these filmmakers did not have access to certain Star Wars/Lucasfilm properties, which wouldn't have been surprising even if they didn't have to contend with Disney for that content. In other words, instead of seeing the "Star Wars" logo or the "In a galaxy far, far away" opening which they clearly wanted to show at one point, you simply see a still picture of the 20th Century Fox logo along with the 20th Century Fox sting. This type of moment happens far too frequently, which suggests that the documentary was shot on a shoestring budget, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.That being said, it wasn't just the lack of content that hurt the film, it was also the editing choices. Rather than fade into the 20th Century Fox still, they just go straight from black to the still, which isn't really what I would have done. I'm no professional editor, but I gotta feel like some sense of movement or importance is better than just "BAM! HERE'S THE LOGO!" There were editing problems like this throughout, as well as filter choices that were questionable at best and ugly at worst. This film simply wasn't edited very well, and the lack of content only made the poor editing stick out even more.Now that I've gotten the negatives out of the way, I think it's time to explain why I didn't just give it one star: The documentary was incredibly informative. Despite its many issues, the experts and fans they spoke to for this documentary were so knowledgeable that it was hard to deny the value of the information. Perhaps the film itself was poorly edited and felt somewhat amateur, but the interviews were so fantastic that I didn't even care all that much. Collecting interviews is a huge and important part of documentary filmmaking, and although they may have failed in other areas, their ability to gather all of these people together and get some solid information out of them is worth praising.Love it or hate it, Plastic Galaxy is definitely worth the watch if you want to know more about the history of Star Wars toys, and in fact the history of Toys in the late 70's. There is a bevvy of information here that, at times, is coming straight from the source. For that experience alone, Plastic Galaxy is a more than worthy film.

I'll never forget seeing the Early Bird Special advertisement. I could actually sign up and become an official Star Wars fan member and purchase Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and Chewbacca action figures before they were ever sold in the stores. As a 7 year-old I was totally hooked and still have the original four action figures in my Darth Vader action figure collector's case. It was crazy to see the designer who created the Early Bird Special talk about the process and the doubts the Kenner executives had concerning the marketing idea. Hasbro really pulled at my nostalgia heart strings when they released the 30th Anniversary Early Bird Special commemorating the original four figures. Now that I am all grown up (big kid still inside though) I passed on the Star Wars passion to my children having pulled them out of elementary school for each of the first showings of Episodes I, II, and III just like my Grandfather had done with me when I was 7 years old. I'm sure if Kathleen Kennedy continues to make Star Wars movies for another 10 years I'll be taking my grandchildren to see the first showing of the new movies as well. On a side note: I'm seriously thinking about making an offer on the craigslist Star Destroyer listing. I wonder if the moisture farmer will take a check. If you know what I'm talking about in these last two sentences, you really are a Star Wars geek. May the Force be with you always.

I am a Star Wars toy collector and love watching this. It goes in depth about how it all got started and you get great details from the people that worked for Kenner.

This is a great documentary. It's a lot of fun to watch, especially for folks of my age who grew up with the classic Kenner Star Wars line. The shots of the toy store shelves lined to the roof with Star Wars product make me nostalgic, and a bit sad- the paltry offerings of today's stores make it impossible to just walk in and find any figure one might want. The current market sees the release of only a subset of figures each period, so that not all figures are available at any one time. Has made it very, very difficult to get a collection going for my son and daughter... But I digress. This documentary covers the genesis of the Star Wars line, and follows it to its ultimate demise and revival with the Power of the Force figures. It's definitely worth a watch. May the Force be with you!

This was a good (if extremely basic) overview of some of the history of the action figures. I would have loved to see some footage of the actual sculpting - not just the finished wax model - and casting processes - perhaps a comparison to how they use computers to do so much of the design work now. It talks about the lack of information that they initially got from Lucas Films, but there was little said about the approval meetings and what types of things the designers were judged on when the decision was made whether or not to put their item into production. I did, however, LOVE the mention of the "buff-ening" of the rerelease figures. We have a Lando that would make Hulk Hogan weep and it cracks me up every time it get played with. Overall, a worthwhile way to spend an hour - especially if you are interested in collectibles at all.

The producers did a very good job. One missed opportunity was that they could have showed all the "rare" figures and why they are in big demand i.e. Jawa figure with plastic cape etc.If you're a Star Wars fan and grew up on these toys like I did you will enjoy this.

fun little book about collecting star wars figures from child to adult.

Just watched this on Prime. Awesome! So many memories flooded back and I could hear myself crying out "I had that and I had that!" over and over again!

Such a brilliant documentary! A must for toy collectors and Star Wars fans!

Sw fan born in 77 if ur from that u will love it

fantastic item fantastic service