Major Empire Spoiler Actually Dropped in 1977

[d_jedi1]

The Official Star Wars Blog » Major Empire Spoiler Actually Dropped in 1977

A lot of buzz has surrounded a recent post at retroist.com concerning an alleged major spoiler leak made two years before The Empire Strikes Back was released. The article, which we’ve identified as having appeared in the July 24, 1978 issue of The San Francisco Examiner, relays comments made by Dave Prowse (Darth Vader) claiming that the sequel would reveal that Darth Vader is in fact Luke’s father. Actually, it turns out, this little rumor had been dropped several months earlier in a fanzine called Little Shoppe of Horrors #4 (April 1978), which featured an exclusive (and lengthy) Prowse interview (reprint copies can be found on eBay, which is where we picked up ours thanks to a tip from SW bibliographer Bob Miller).
Among the passages of the interview, which, according to the author, were collected between October and December, 1977 (including a public discussion at the Horror Elite Convention in October), were these sentences, which seem to mirror the comments made in the SF Examiner interview:
“In the next film, there is going to be a confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader and they then discover that Darth Vader never killed his father, that Darth Vader IS his father. So son can’t kill father, and father can’t kill son — so Darth Vader lives into the next sequel.”

 

[KnightAsylum]

Took us 33 years to notice it so I guess it wasn't much of a spoiler:rolleyes

 

[cboath]

Welll, in fairness, everything was scrutinized to death, then to death again, and 72 times more like it is today in the internet age. A quote like that today would be in front of the entire world in a matter of minutes/hours and there for future reference at the click of a keyboard for years and years to come.

.....Then, if it didn't get a big rise out of anyone, it got stuck in the back room and stuck on microfiche until someone knew exactly what they were looking for stumbled across it down the road.

It's kind of like people getting too big of expectations of a film today. You can bombard people with trailers left, right, sideways, up, and down. You can draw them in over months and sometimes years letting out a little bit here and there. By the time the movie actually comes out, you've built up expectations over a long period of time and been staring at promo materials for ages and then your reaction to the film is 'meh, i expected more'. The contrast is that, then you saw a trailer in a theatre once or twice and then a TV commerical whenever they aired or a magazine article around the time of release and that was it. There was no pre-release overload. No one could store all the trailers on their PC (the device and media didn't exist) and they couldn't pull up 72 stories and photos, etc on a whim.

Frequently, the less you know going in - the better.

 

[Jedifyfe]

So I assume that with this interview Prowse has breached his non-disclosure contract with Lucas, hence why Lucas doesn't pay him royalties or just the ill will feeling Prowse has towards Lucas. Well...there ya go.

 

[niennumb1]

So I assume that with this interview Prowse has breached his non-disclosure contract with Lucas, hence why Lucas doesn't pay him royalties or just the ill will feeling Prowse has towards Lucas. Well...there ya go.

That's about right! Maybe someone needs to send this to Prowse with a post-it attached saying, "See?"
:thumbsup

 

[micdavis]

I can kind of see where back then "spoilers" were not even a thing. You pretty much got whatever press out there you could.

Only after Star Wars did keeping big plots of coming movies super secret become common.

I'd heard of this even back then. But it's great to see it in print.

 

[Darth Detroit]

So I assume that with this interview Prowse has breached his non-disclosure contract with Lucas, hence why Lucas doesn't pay him royalties or just the ill will feeling Prowse has towards Lucas. Well...there ya go.

Pretty much.:thumbsup

 

[JOATRASH FX]

I'd heard of this even back then. But it's great to see it in print.

I remember hearing similar things. I also vividly recall hearing that Obi Wan "threw Darth Vader into a volcano" around the same time.

 

[feek61]

Before the internet this sort of thing could lay hidden in an obscure newspaper someplace. Except of course from Lucas. Strange though, I had heard that the cast of ESB didn't even know that Luke was Darth's son and actually the dialog was not in the script until they actually shot it. Perhaps David Prowse actually came up with the idea and Lucas stole it from him, lol.

 

[Kylash]

i thought the story was even Prowse didnt know about that until they filmed it..

 

[Alan Cross]

If you know actors, and I've known a few, they love to create back stories for their characters and think that their character is the most important character in the story. One of two things happened here: Prowse found out about Lucas's big revelation and decided to spill it... or he was just doing "that actor thing" and making up stuff that would elevate his character's importance and make the movie all about HIM. And since no one ever actually sees his face or hears his voice in one of the most popular movies of all time... I can easily imagine his frustration and motivation for making up a plot point that, coincidentally, was right on the money. But this is just a theory. Only the Prowse knows for sure.

 

[Jimbo890]

I remember during the advance screening/sneek peek of Empire Strikes Back, the big topic was not Darth Vader telling Luke he is his father, but that Has Solo was frozen and it was a cliff-hanger.

We all thought it was just a dirty trick or lie for Vader to get at Skywalker's son. Back then Vader was just Tarkin's pit bull.

 

[DarkHelmet]

It seems Prowse has been a thorn in Lucas' side for quite a long time. No wonder there is no love.

 

[terryr]

I knew of both the Lukes Father and the Volcano thing at the time. And there was no internet or conventions. So it must have been the fairly common knowledge from Starlog magazine, reprints of the article in other papers, comic stores, or word of mouth.

I was surprised anyone was surprised. It did kind of ruin the thing for me. That's why I avoid hearing about movies now.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Yes, the volcano back-story was common knowledge. In fact, the story I remember hearing was Obi-wan went to the volcano planet to prevent Vader (not Anakin) from acquiring the crystal to complete his Lightsabre.

And remember, this was from the era that ALL info came from just a few sources, such as Starlog or Omni. We took whatever we could find back then and it was all gospel.

 

[Darth Detroit]

And remember, this was from the era that ALL info came from just a few sources, such as Starlog or Omni. We took whatever we could find back then and it was all gospel.

If it was in Starlog, it HAD to be true!:thumbsup And if it was in Omni, it WAS gospel. The whole Vader volcano story is in the OT novels. So as far as HOW it was played out in the Episode III was up for interpretation.

 

[yodakiller1138]

If it was in Starlog, it HAD to be true!:thumbsup And if it was in Omni, it WAS gospel. The whole Vader volcano story is in the OT novels. So as far as HOW it was played out in the Episode III was up for interpretation.

It was in a Lucas interview in Rolling Stone. Noone knew Vader was Luke's father. At the time Vader and Anakin were two seperate people. Even the first draft of ESB that was the case. Vader wasn't the father tell later drafts and ONLY Kersh, Lucas, Kadsden, and Kurtz knew about it.
Prowse in these interviews was simply BSing. He made a LUCKY GUESS.
His falling out with LFL has more to do with his badmouthing of GL and LFL over the years then anything else.

 

[DarkHelmet]

I too think it was an extremely lucky guess. Such an important plot point wouldn't be wasted on a guy in a costume who has no face or voice time on screen.

 

[defstartrooper]

It was in a Lucas interview in Rolling Stone. Noone knew Vader was Luke's father. At the time Vader and Anakin were two seperate people. Even the first draft of ESB that was the case. Vader wasn't the father tell later drafts and ONLY Kersh, Lucas, Kadsden, and Kurtz knew about it.
Prowse in these interviews was simply BSing. He made a LUCKY GUESS.
His falling out with LFL has more to do with his badmouthing of GL and LFL over the years then anything else.

Man that was some guess then wasn't it ?

Vader and Luke will be in a do or die saber duel when Luke learns Vader is his father.
Not only did he guess Vader was Lukes daddy but he also guesed how in the movie it would be revealed.

Seems like a far fetched coincidence to me.

 

[SgtFang]

Doesn't Darth Vader mean "Dark Father" in Dutch or olde English or something?

-Sarge