Happy 40th anniversary, STAR WARS! :-)

Saw Star Wars at age 9 in 77. My brothers and I loved it so much, it became the first and only movie my parents were willing to sit through twice in a row. Then I went back that summer and fall with friends to see it again and again, always wondering how they made it seem so real. I remember being blown away by Starlog issues that explained what matte paintings and miniatures were. That was a great year to be a kid.
 
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I first watched Star Wars on VHS, with a version recorded off of the old PRISM TV network, probably in 1981 or so. Immediately after viewing it, I grabbed this set of big tinkertoys like the ones shown below, and took two of the cylindrical connectors, stuck a blue piece in one, a red piece in the other, and we had a lightsabre duel.

6a00e554d86f24883301a73dbf3722970d-800wi



I watched that video tape every Sunday morning from the time I was about 4 probably until I was about 12 or so.


Today, I dressed my 14-month-old daughter in a "Han Shot First" t-shirt, and dropped her off at daycare. Tonight, I'll put her to bed in her crib, which has a mobile featuring hanging stuffed versions of Princess Leia, Chewbacca, BB-8, and Yoda. I personally replaced the music box (which played You Are My Sunshine) with one that plays the Star Wars theme. (PM me if you want to know how to do this for your own kids.)

After that, I'll sit down to dinner and watch either a despecialized Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back, and then maybe play a little Star Wars Battlefront, or possibly Rebellion on PC, or maybe install the old X-wing games and hook up my joystick again.


Star Wars has been a huge part of my life. I haven't always been happy with the direction of the franchise, but I've always loved it and still do to this day. And I can't wait to share it with my little girl when she's old enough to really enjoy the films (after I've told the whole thing to her as a bedtime story, of course).
 
Galactican said:
Yep, I tried that but it seems that you can't edit the title of a thread. Everything was supposed to be in capital letters. When I submitted the thread, everything save the first letter was made small. Maybe an admin can help? :cry

EDIT: I have asked Art for help.
Click to expand...

You have to hit "Edit" twice. In other words, hit "Edit" on your original post. As you saw, it only allows you to edit the body of the post, not the thread title. But if you hit the "Edit" button again, it will then allow you to edit the title.

Please hurry.

The Wook
 
In a way, I kind of feel a little sad for those that were not around 11-13 years of age during that summer of '77 and saw it on the big screen with no real prior knowledge of what they were about to witness. It was a magic that cannot truly be explained. It really was special. There hasn't been a summer like that one since. It is something I know I can never forget.

When I walked out of that theater I knew right then and there that my life would never be the same again.
 
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Laspector said:
In a way, I kind of feel a little sad for those that were not around 11-13 years of age during that summer of '77 and saw it on the big screen with no real prior knowledge of they were about to witness. It was a magic that cannot truly be explained. It really was special. There hasn't been a summer like that one since. It is something I know I can never forget.

When I walked out of that theater I knew right then and there that my life would never be the same again.
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Oh man, you said it! Reading people's recollections here like this really is reminding me of that magic feeling you speak of. What a great time to be an 11 year old! Were it not for Carl Sagan's Cosmos coming out in 1980 and setting the direction of my professional life I'd have ended up in VFX for sure...

I'm going to watch my (unfortunately crappy) DVD copy of the original screen release of Star Wars tonight to celebrate!

Dan
 
The Wook said:
Disney got a steal at $4B.

I was shocked George sold, period. But even more shocked to learn he let it go for a song!

The Wook
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That franchise value is revenue since 1977. So the sale price is based on current cash flow, i.e. how much the STAR WARS earns every year with a forward multiple applied. $4B was a good deal for Disney in retrospect, there was no guarantee they could make $3B in box office from the first two films. If TFA and R1 had been financial failures and merchandising suffered it could have been a terrible deal for them. But they have been hugely successful, despite what you try and say over and over... ;)

- - - Updated - - -

Dem Bones said:
Saw Star Wars at age 9 in 77. My brothers and I loved it so much, it became the first and only movie my parents were willing to sit through twice in a row. Then I went back that summer and fall with friends to see it again and again, always wondering how they made it seem so real. I remember being blown away by Starlog issues that explained what matte paintings and miniatures were. That was a great year to be a kid.
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I was a few months shy of my 9th B-Day, saw it 13 times that summer. :)
 
And one other thing so great about it was it crossed barriers. It wasn't just a great movie for us sci fi nerds--the whole damn planet went nuts over it! Despite media then being nothing like it is now--EVERYTHING was Star Wars that year. Everybody saw it!

It was the only movie I ever made my parents go to. I HAD to make them realize why I was going absolutely nuts over this movie!! After I had seen it twice my parents said "No more!" Back then going to see a movie even twice was practically unheard of. My third viewing was the one I made them go to. Even though they admitted it was a great movie they said three times was enough.

Didn't stop me, though. I saw it ten times that summer. More than any of my friends. It was a badge I carried proudly. Although it did get me bullied quite a bit from some kids.
 
There was a glossy black press book that the Coronet Theater in SF just cut up and put in the poster displays. So before it opened, if you went by and looked (as I did), you had all these beautiful pics of the sets and the creatures, and descriptions of characters. A school chum had read the A.D. Foster novelization (I had bought it but waited until I'd seen the film), and slipped a few details.

I never did go into film SFX (I could've if I'd known that ILM was relocating to Marin County, just north of me), but it started me down a path of being fascinated with the artistry of making models and them film them in such a way that had them swooping around the frame.

CGI never equals the beauty of those models. I sat and smiled when Grant McCune, Joe Johnston, Steve Gawley, Colin Cantwell and others' names scrolled past.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Bryancd said:
That franchise value is revenue since 1977. So the sale price is based on current cash flow, i.e. how much the STAR WARS earns every year with a forward multiple applied. $4B was a good deal for Disney in retrospect, there was no guarantee they could make $3B in box office from the first two films. If TFA and R1 had been financial failures and merchandising suffered it could have been a terrible deal for them. But they have been hugely successful, despite what you try and say over and over... ;)
Click to expand...

Now don't put words in my mouth. I have never once said they were financial failures...only artistic ones. (Particularly TFA. R1 had its moments.]

The Wook
 
Laspector said:
In a way, I kind of feel a little sad for those that were not around 11-13 years of age during that summer of '77 and saw it on the big screen with no real prior knowledge of what they were about to witness. It was a magic that cannot truly be explained. It really was special. There hasn't been a summer like that one since. It is something I know I can never forget.

When I walked out of that theater I knew right then and there that my life would never be the same again.
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Absolutely. There just wasn't anything else like it at the time which is very difficult to imagine now that there's so much science fiction and fantasy content to choose from. Between Star Wars and Close Encounters both hitting in 77, I never looked at the night sky the same way again.
 
I love that youtube video -- not often you have a chance to have a vivid window into your past of that nature and it brings back a flood of memories. I didn't see Star Wars opening weekend but some time the following week. I was three months shy of my 8th birthday. My recollection is that I ended up seeing it about 15 times over the next year and half that it played in theaters. Every time anyone I knew had a birthday we went and saw Star Wars.

I remember the treat of seeing it again in the theater when it was re-issued before the premiers of Empire and Jedi. Until then I had the Star Wars Storybook, the super-sized comic adaptations, and my gum cards to re-live the movie in my head (still have all of them). It seemed like I sat down in the theater, the opening title crawl started, then suddenly they were blowing up the Death Star it flashed by so quickly.

I remember the first time it was shown on TV -- I put my portable cassette recorder next to the speaker on the television and recorded it on cassette so I could listen to it over and over and over. I remember seeing it on Betamax video for the first time in 9th grade -- and the real eye-opener after years of seeing it panned and scanned on TV -- the first issue of the letterboxed Laserdisc!! It was like seeing the movie for the first time all over again. I still have my Star Wars Laserdiscs too.

Can't wait to watch again tonight!
 
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