'Plastic Galaxy: The Story Of Star Wars Toys' Teaser Trailer

The popularity and cultural significance of Star Wars is largely derived from its merchandising. That's a fact. George Lucas definitely crafted a fantastic trilogy of movies but the initial popularity, eventual collectibility and amount of money derived from little plastic men has helped facilitate everything that came after it. Seems like an interesting story, no?

Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys is an upcoming documentary that not only tells that story, but attempts to delve into the psyche of a person who has spend years and years searching for, as well as thousands upon thousands of dollars buying, Star Wars toys. (*Raises hand in shame*)

Directed by Brian Stillman, the documentary will be finished and available for purchase later this year. To get people excited, a short teaser trailer has been released. Check it out below.

Thanks to Geek Trooper (via Movies.com) for the heads up. Here's the teaser. But note, despite what the teaser trailer says, the release date has been shifted to November of 2012.

For more information you can head to the film's official site, or its KickStarter page where donations are still being accepted. Here's how its described on both:

When Star Wars landed in the theaters, it introduced audiences to a galaxy filled with heroes and villains, robots and space ships, and a dizzying variety of alien life. But when the lights came up, they all disappeared...

Unless you had all the toys. In which case, the adventure never had to end.

In backyards, playgrounds, basements, and bedrooms, Star Wars toys helped kids re-enact scenes from their favorite movies, and create entirely new dangers for Luke Skywalker and his friends to face. They were lusted after on holidays and birthdays, swapped with great cunning out on the school yard, and carefully collected like fine treasures. Like no toys before them, the action figures, space ships, play sets, and props were a phenomenon that swept the nation with as much force as the film that inspired them. Along the way they transformed both the toy and movie industries, earned those behind them vast amounts of wealth, and ultimately created a hobby that, 30 years later, still holds sway over not only the people who grew up with the toys, but also an entirely new generation of fans.

Plastic Galaxy is a documentary that explores the groundbreaking and breathtaking world of Star Wars toys. Through interviews with former Kenner employees, experts, authors, and collectors, it looks at the toys' history, their influence, and the fond and fervent feelings they elicit today.

The film, which will be released on DVD, also includes tours of some of the top collections — comprising prototypes, bootlegs, foreign toys, and all manner of surprises. DVD extras, including micro-documentaries and extended interviews, make Plastic Galaxy a prize for not only newer fans, but also long-time collectors.

Plastic Galaxy will be released on DVD in 2012.

As someone who once waited in line several hours to buy Star Wars Episode I toys, had an original Millenium Falcon, X-Wing, Y-Wing and much more, this is a film I'm very much looking forward to checking out in November.