A long time ago, Kenner Star Wars figures fired the hyperdrives of young imaginations across the universe. The toys’ legacy is explored in Brian Stillman’s documentary, Plastic Galaxy. Rebel Briefing spoke to him about the film’s origins and journey from script to screen.
In 2010, Brian Stillman walked into a shop in New York’s East Village. He didn’t plan to, but a strange force eased him through the door. Without knowing it, he had just taken his first step into a larger world—a world that would see him make a movie about the objects staring back at him from the displays inside.
“There were shelves loaded with Kenner Star Wars figures,” he tells Rebel Briefing. “Something in my brain just flipped, and I became fascinated by these toys I hadn’t thought about in a very long time. I was struck by this wonderful feeling of nostalgia.”
Perhaps it was the will of the Force guiding Brian into that particular shop that day. The experience sparked a newfound curiosity—it was the start of a four-year mission to direct a movie about the groundbreaking and breathtaking world of these classic toys.
The Droid He Was Looking For
Not long after, Brian attended the Big Apple Comic Con. While roaming the convention floor, he spotted a trader selling a Kenner R2 unit. Although a little beaten up, he bought it. This small purchase would soon lead to a major shift in his collecting habits.
Initially, he thought the astromech would complement his collection of vintage toy robots and ray guns from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. However, the little automaton ignited a deeper interest in the Star Wars universe. “After I bought it, I thought I’d collect the other droids. You’ve got to have C-3PO to go with R2, don’t you?”
R2 was soon joined by his golden counterpart, a Gonk droid, and R5-D4. As a fan of the original Alien movie, Brian also started collecting Cantina creatures. It wasn’t long before he was fully immersed in collecting Star Wars figures. “I then had to have Luke because he was my favourite character. After that, everything spiralled, and I was full-on collecting Star Wars figures.”
Filling the Void
Brian has a deep curiosity about the toys he collects. Once he had gathered several figures, he delved into their history. “I bought all the books I could find, including Steve Sansweet’s From Concept to Screen to Collectible,” he recalls. “I assumed there would be a movie about all this stuff. I looked online, only to discover nothing out there.”
He felt compelled to fill this gap in the documentation of toy history. “I was producing videos for the New York Post at the time, so I thought, if no one has made this movie yet, I’ll take a crack at it. I naively believed I’d make a short documentary because it combined my passion for toy collecting and journalism. I thought it would be an easy project and maybe take a year. It took four…”
Brian decided the best approach was to learn everything he could about the figures. He began reaching out to fans with a shared love of the toy line on websites such as The Imperial Gunnery and Rebel Scum, seeking people with interesting stories to tell.
“The flip side of my movie was that other Star Wars collectors would have the opportunity to hear from these people,” he says. “My inspiration was twofold—I wanted to learn everything possible about the toys, and this seemed like a fun way to do it. I also wanted to give something back to the community and other collectors.”
“My inspiration was twofold—I wanted to learn everything possible about the toys, and this seemed like a fun way to do it. I also wanted to give something back to the community and other collectors.”
Brian Stillman
Big Questions
Despite the ease of making and uploading movies for today’s YouTube generation, Brian questioned whether his film was a good idea. He wondered if he had the technical and economic resources to pull it off. It was a big concern.
“Was there a movie there?” he says. “Was there a narrative, and did it have a beginning, middle, and end? Was there a story to tell, or was it just ‘here are some cool toys and here’s what they do’? Eventually, I figured, yeah, there’s totally a story there.”
Steve Sansweet was a major inspiration. “His book showed there was a story to tell. It explained how George Lucas went from having an idea for a film to moving it through production, including its marketing and commercialisation. Product creation was vital, especially the toy line, and Kenner was key to this.”
Brian also connected with collectors who had a deep understanding of the toys’ history. “My good friend John Alvarez introduced me to people like Gus Lopez, Mike Ritter, and Ron Salvatore, and also Steve (Sansweet), who agreed to be in the film.”
He also found an article about Jim Swearingen, the former principal designer of Star Wars toys at Kenner. “I spoke to Jim. At the time, nobody had done anything like Plastic Galaxy, so he was amazed someone wanted to talk to him about this stuff.”
With Jim on board, Brian checked his bank balance one last time to ensure he had enough funds. He did. “At that point, you put your gear in a big suitcase and start travelling and shooting.”
Into the Wild
The hardest part of making Plastic Galaxy was the logistics. “We’d fly to Ohio and speak to people there, and then travel to Seattle and interview several people there, too,” Brian explains. “Planning those interviews and maximising my time and budget was tricky, but I made it work.”
Brian credits his friend Karl Tate for helping film the interviews and keeping things running smoothly. Karl also created much of the artwork in the movie, including the DVD cover. “You get help where you can, and you just go ahead and do it,” he adds. “It was a little crazy.”
Talking to the legendary Kenner team was an unforgettable experience for Brian. He recalls, “I was such a fanboy and tried to hold it together. Listening to their stories about the toys I still love today was a thrill. It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad to have had the chance to sit down with them. So too was chatting with the collectors and authors I interviewed, seeing their toys and how they approached their hobby.”
With his footage finally in the can and edited together (a process Brian says was agonising), he released his movie into the wild. The response from fans and collectors was, he says, “mind-blowing.”
The film’s impact on Brian himself would go on to change everything…
Rebel Briefing 
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