STAR WARS SUPERFAN DOCUMENTARIES ON THE BBC

As Star Wars fever grips the globe once more and fans flock to see The Rise of Skywalker I just wanted to mention two ace documentaries that were on UK TV early this week.

They were both written and presented by a British superfan and he did an amazing job I thought.

Toy Empire, the shorter film, at 30 minutes, was about the original toys from 1977 and the trouble Kenner had getting a British manufacturer to take it on. Sci-fi was classed as B-movie rubbish and not something to invest in. 

All the companies associated with Kenner and its parent US company General Mills couldn't tale the Star Wars toys on for various reasons and Denys Fisher said an outright no, which has to go down as one of the biggest 'no's' in history, akin to rejecting the Beatles.

As we all know it was Palitoy would felt the force and brought the small Star Wars figures to the UK. The documentary makes it clear that it wasn't easy. Action Figures up to '77 had been 12 inches tall and Palitoy's number one toy for boys, Action Man, was still selling well after a decade or more.They didn't want to upset Action Man.

But he did get upset and Star wars toys rose to the top as young fans couldn't get enough. The film showed a brilliant still of Palitoy's Luke Skywalker stood triumphantly on top of Action Man's chest, light sabre pointing down. It summed it up. The rise of Skywalker had begun.

The second documentary, The Galaxy Britain Built, is longer at 90 minutes I think. This fascinating film looked at the contribution made by the UK to the original Star Wars trilogy with an emphasis on the 1977 movie. There are many insights and curios to be had in the film and two stood out for me, both to do with old junk.

I've often thought how the glorious props came about in Star Wars and over the years found out this and that but it was fabulous to hear that junk really played a part as it had done for Derek Meddings and his team over a decade earlier.

The first box of junk mentioned was a crate of old guns found at the back of a militaria shop in London I think. The costume designer had been in before and asked for anything interesting. He came away with so much weaponry we see in the film, albeit spiced up for a galaxy far far away: mausers, sten guns and more.

The second junk crate mentioned was a box of old camera parts found by the artistic director [I think] at, yes, the back of a photography and scientific instruments suppliers in London again [I think'. We'll all know the next bit, how a Graflex camera flash unit eventually became Luke's Lightsabre. Yep, it was in that box and going on what the film said, with just the addition of some plastic T-section insulation around the handle, it was pretty much as we saw it on screen. It just need light adding!

Much of this stuff will be known to ardent fans but seeing it all in two back to back documentaries was a real Christmas treat for me.

You can still see these films on the BBC4 iPlayer I imagine.  Did anyone else see them?

Feel the Beeb Luke.