LIGHT & MAGIC: A Review of the ILM Documentary

Recently Light & Magic, a six-part documentary on the legendary special effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) premiered on the Disney+ streaming service. Founded by film icon George Lucas in 1975, the documentary covers the lives, including the early years, of the people working at ILM. It also focuses on the stories behind the movies that the company has worked on, from Star Wars (1977) through Jurassic Park (1993) and beyond.

Coming in at nearly six hours in length this is a definitive insider look at the company during those years. A substantial amount of the runtime is never before seen footage of the making of some of the greatest effects-driven movies of all time. The series is ushered in by Lucas’s friends. Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) is in the director chair, and Ron Howard, director of Willow (1988) co-produces the series. As a result of their intimacy with both Lucas and ILM, Light & Magic really feels like a fresh and new look at the heyday of this storied company.

Episodes 1-2: Gang of Outsiders, On the Bucking Bronco

The first two episodes of the series are undoubtedly the best. They primarily cover the creation of ILM and the making of the original Star Wars. It’s a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage of the making of that landmark movie.

The episodes cover a good amount of things you’d expect in a documentary about Star Wars. One example is Lucas having trouble getting a studio to greenlight the movie. However, Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox loved Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) and signed on to make his movie about “dogfights in space.” It also goes into the evolution of the script but brings a lot of new information to the table.

One of the best things about Gang of Outsiders is the background stories of the early ILM pioneers such as Dennis Muren, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, and Harrison Ellenshaw. The stories these men and others tell are supplemented with footage from low-budget special effects movies. Films that they made during their adolescent years. It’s astonishing watching these movies made by a bunch of high school (or younger) kids. It’s even more mind-blowing that this footage exists over five decades later.

Lucas gets similar treatment in On the Bucking Bronco, much like his original ILM team. This episode covers his childhood and how he got interested in making movies. It also dives into the friendships he developed with both Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola in the late 1960s, as well as focuses on Lucas’s early career. Additionally, this episode is supplemented with archival footage.

Gang of Outsiders covers roughly the first year of ILM’s existence, which is spent building models. It’s also spent developing a new camera that allows movement in any direction, the Dykstraflex. For Star Wars, only two of the movie’s hundreds of visual effects shots were filmed by the end of this period. This put the movie way behind schedule.

On the Bucking Bronco also focuses on the constant conflict between Lucas and Dykstra and bringing the chaotic nature of the making of Star Wars into a more streamlined process. It also covers the completion of the film and touches briefly on its cultural impact.

Episode 3: Just Think About It

Just Think About It is a tightly focused episode, much like the first two. It covers the move of ILM from Van Nuys to San Rafael. The rest of the episode explores the special effects work done by ILM on The Empire Strikes Back (1980), specifically the scenes shot on the ice planet, Hoth. The highlights of the episode involve the evolution of the AT-AT as well as the effects done on the Tauntaun ice creature that is native to the planet.

Episode 4-5: I Think I Found My People, Morfing

I Think I Found My People is where the series begins to accelerate the timeline. It spends considerably less time on any one particular movie. The episode covers a wide range of movies roughly from 1981 through 1985. This includes Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Dragonslayer (1981), Poltergeist (1982), E.T. (1982), and Return of the Jedi. It also covers the early years of computer-generated special effects and the development and sale of Pixar.

The fifth episode, Morfing, is structured very similarly to its predecessor. While I Think I Found My People concentrates on the practical effects work of the early 80s, Morfing concerns itself with the early computer-generated effects work done on Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Willow (1988), The Abyss (1989), and T2: Judgment Day (1991).

Both of these episodes also concentrate on the new generation of creative people at ILM as well as the culture changes at the company during this time. They also go into the background of this new generation in a similar way to the first two episodes. People that are highlighted in this manner include John Knoll and Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams.

Episode 6: No More Pretending Your Dinosaurs

The final episode, No More Pretending Your Dinosaurs, is by far the weakest. It covers Jurrasic Park and then rushes to include the Star Wars prequels, Marvel Studios, as well as the Star Wars shows on Disney+. It’s basically a rush job to include as much as possible in this last episode and still tell a story. It would have been better to have either an additional episode or end with the Star Wars prequels. Thus, giving them more time in the process.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Light & Magic is a fantastic documentary series that covers the entire history of the company. The only criticisms that can be offered are that it feels rushed towards the end. It also should have either been at least one more episode in length or should have covered less material.

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