10 Best Star Wars Documentaries

With any sufficiently popular movie franchise, there's naturally a major thirst from fans to see how the sausage was made, with behind-the-scenes documentaries holding enormous value for those who cherish the IP the most.

And that's perhaps no truer of any franchise than Star Wars, which between its enduring popularity and pivotal role in shaping blockbuster filmmaking, has remained a source of fascination for even the most casual-minded of audiences.

It's hardly a secret that any Star Wars movie is basically fresh hell to make, from the technical challenges on set to the endurance trial that is post-production, and then weathering the fan response to it once it actually comes out. It is a miracle that any of these things turn out well.

And while there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of great Star Wars docs to feast your eyes upon out there, if you want to focus on the cream of the crop, look no further than this lot.

These 10 Star Wars documentaries all provide grand insight into what it takes to make a Star Wars film, and also what the franchise means to its fiercely dedicated fans...

There will surely never be a more infamous piece of Star Wars media than The Star Wars Holiday Special, the seasonal variety show aired in 1978 which was so poorly received by, well, everyone, that George Lucas and Disney have refused to ever officially release it.

The Holiday Special has since become a beguiling piece of cult esoterica in its own right, living on through bootleg distribution online and spawning its own inexplicable fandom in the process.

And A Disturbance in the Force perfectly runs down the development, troubled production, and unexpected legacy of this hallowed dud. 

Melding archive footage and new talking heads interviews with a bevy of nerd culture mainstays - such as Kevin Smith, Seth Green, and Paul Scheer - this is an insightful doc which nimbly toes the line between laughing at the Holiday Special and showing genuine affection for its mere barmy existence.