Vintage STAR WARS news

G W Zipper

G W Zipper

Well-Known Member
Digging through some old Starlog magazines, I decided to offer up some vintage STAR WARS articles, news, etc. It's fun to see what people were writing about at the time, crazy ideas they had about the next film, reviews of movies we have all come to love. Please, if you've got anything interesting or especially ironic to share, do so.
 
My first submission for your entertainment is an article from February 1980 about an upcoming new film, The Empire Strikes Back. Some plot predictions, especially one plot prediction in particular, are spot-on. Others are bat ***** crazy, certainly thought up in the minds of those with extremely low SWIQ. Enjoy!
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I remember reading a few pieces in Starlog about Empire-- but it was mostly recess time theorizing with friends. My best friend was SURE that Luke and Vader were both clones of Luke's father.

I do recall that yellow box Starlog had every month that said what was in early development. I lived for that box to talk about Star Wars or Star Trek.
 
Great idea for a thread. Do you have any Fangoria articles around as well?. There`s something special about that time when news about stuff was limited and not manipulated.
 
Thanks for sharing that post , it was an interesting read . Brought back fond memories :thumbsup .
Had a copy of a Starlog mag. doing an article on Revenge of the Jedi aka Blue Harvest aka Return of the Jedi :lol . Didn’t realise at the time that what we were doing fiercely back then in school playgrounds , would still exist today - loving , loathing and everything in between ... imagining Star Wars .
 
Cinefantastique Magazine would occasionally run some good speculation about the OT. You could tell they had an inside connection who only had fragments of the puzzle so the information was often slightly off or just plain weird. I'll try to find and post a couple of those in the next day or so.
 
wow...Cinefantastique..I almost forgot about that one! I think I still have a few of those stashed somewhere. I remember as a teen thinking "Damn, what a f-ed up name for a magazine!":lol
 
Laspector said:
wow...Cinefantastique..I almost forgot about that one! I think I still have a few of those stashed somewhere. I remember as a teen thinking "Damn, what a f-ed up name for a magazine!":lol
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Yeah, in the 70s and early 80s, I think Cinefantastique was sort of considered the adult version of Starlog with serious minded editorials and movie reviews. I'm sure it sent me scrambling for a dictionary more than once!

But the guy who published it apparently had some kind of beef with George Lucas. He would sometimes use his editorial to bash Lucas and accuse the Star Wars movies of being cynical, mediocre, cash-grabs (sound familiar? See, all of this stuff is cyclical). Worse, he would often publish hush-hush story details about upcoming films like Empire or ROTJ.

For example, behold this doozy from an early 1983 issue that came out a few months before ROTJ and reveals, among other things, Darth Vader's ultimate character arc:


Cinefan_vol13_no4_1.jpg
 
So, my first Starlog article was from the February 1980 edition. Starlog had a habit of coming out more than a month before the date on the cover, so in fact this was published early January, with stories likely written in December.
Point is, even then there were fan theories that didn't pan out, and those that did. Expectations could never be met...

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Tonight's amusement: The June 1977 issue of Starlog - released in early May. Remember, Starlog was the "go-to" source for everything science fiction at the time. Only a couple of weeks before it hit us all, and this is all they had to say about it:
img107.jpgimg108.jpg
Now, I've always asserted that STAR WARS (1977) is my favorite of the franchise, not Empire. Why? Because it came out of nowhere. That opening scene of the Star Destroyer flying overhead was completely new. Trench run, cantina, light sabers. Nobody had ever seen anything like that before. There existed no fan theories, no expectations to dissapoint, no pre-existing canon to contradict. Just pure joy, especially for a ten year old boy.

Tomorrow night, if I have time, I'll scan in issue #7. Floodgates=open!
 
Mr Webber said:
Great idea for a thread. Do you have any Fangoria articles around as well?. There`s something special about that time when news about stuff was limited and not manipulated.
Click to expand...

I had some Fangoria mags, as well as Cinefantastique and Omni, but only kept the Starlogs. That was the only one I had a complete collection of.
 
G W Zipper said:
Tonight's amusement: The June 1977 issue of Starlog - released in early May. Remember, Starlog was the "go-to" source for everything science fiction at the time. Only a couple of weeks before it hit us all, and this is all they had to say about it:
View attachment 795718View attachment 795719
Now, I've always asserted that STAR WARS (1977) is my favorite of the franchise, not Empire. Why? Because it came out of nowhere. That opening scene of the Star Destroyer flying overhead was completely new. Trench run, cantina, light sabers. Nobody had ever seen anything like that before. There existed no fan theories, no expectations to dissapoint, no pre-existing canon to contradict. Just pure joy, especially for a ten year old boy.

Tomorrow night, if I have time, I'll scan in issue #7. Floodgates=open!
Click to expand...

I remember this one, just before Star Wars opened. I was a bit disappointed that the "robot guards" weren't really robots, and they didn't use lightsabers. But gawd that movie was awesome, like you said it just came outta nowhere.
 
G W Zipper said:
OK, a little teaser:

I'm guessing many of you remember this issue, and some may even still have it. I'd love to hear from you if you do...
Click to expand...



Yep, I still remember how cool those ships looked the first time I saw them. The designs were so completely unique.

Here's an interesting one from a guy who read the SW novelization shortly before the film came out and talks about what he hopes the film might achieve. He was both skeptical and hopeful! (Cinefantastique, vol. 5, #4):


Cinefan_vol5_no4.jpg
 
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