Star Wars Widevision: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One (Topps Star Wars (1)) Hardcover – Illustrated, 18 April 2017

Like the previous three volumes this is a great addition to the range. Trading cards were more popular before the arrival of the home video but made a comeback in the last decade or two. I would have given this five stars, except that when I compared it to the dozen or so cards I have, the reproduction is not to the quality it could be. Nonetheless I will continue to collect this series.

Following on from the excellent “Original Topps Trading Card Series” I read last year, this features the pack published in 1995 and taking advantage of new printing technology to produce a widescreen card. Featuring all entries from the “New Hope” set - 120 base-cards, 10 chromed cards (production art by Ralph McQuarrie), 8 promotional cards and 4 Kenner Classics - this shows the front and back over a 2-page spread. Gerani, who designed the original set in 1977 (and wrote a good introduction here) used the extra space well, filling the backs with production information, storyboards and behind-the-scenes imagery and the reproduction is good (though the original images were taken from telecine for the Laserdisc presentation so aren’t as sharp as we’d expect today). Also included are the 60 Special Edition cards and whilst these capture the changes well, they were written and designed by Stephen J. Sansweet who’s unfortunately not on a par with Gerani. That’s also apparent in the write-ups in the book - Gerani talks about stuff to do with the cards, the film or what he was aiming to achieve, Sansweet makes do with recycling information we’ve literally just read on the card back. On the downside, some of the card backs contain glaring errors - a lit Millennium Falcon is mistaken for the Death Star, Joe Johnston (mentioned on every card in relation to the storyboards) is listed as “a technician” on a photograph showing him and a production design mock-up is mistaken for ILM lining up a computer shot, amongst others - which is odd, bearing in mind the co-operation between Topps and Lucasfilm. Errors and Sansweet aside, this is a great collection of some brilliant images and if you’re a fan of Star Wars or trading cards, I’d very much recommend it.

I should have listened to the reviewer who noted the poor quality of the photos. If the original cards were no better then perhaps there can be no complaints. There is plenty to read though, but I have yet to start.