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Random memories from 1977-83

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I know there was a thread about your SW/OOT experience in theaters, and other threads talking about the first time you saw the movies, but I thought I would start a thread for us old guys/gals who were there when the movies were coming out and just post any memories that you had during those days.

 

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I think one of the coolest memories I had was finding out in the summer of '82 over a friends house that the 3rd SW movie was called, "Revenge of the Jedi"  At the time, I thought it was the coolest title and we all thought that Vader was lying and Luke was going to get revenge on Lord Vader by killing him.  Because of no internet we had no idea what to expect from the 3rd movie, as spoilers back then were not even a thought!

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The only really strong memory I have from my first viewing (which was on the '95 Faces VHS set) was that halfway through Empire, my mom said something to the effect of, "I think Darth Vader is Luke's father," which I didn't believe, but it's always annoyed me that I had that spoiled for me.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I most strongly remember the anticipation of Jedi coming out. I remember seeing the first 'revenge' trailer in the theater- it was so exciting. Then, there came the announcement of the name change. I remember seeing publicity photos before the film came out- Luke in his black Jedi outfit, which worried me because I thought that meant he was turning to the dark side. I remember seeing photos of the unfinished Death Star and thinking that it was the DS from SW- and this is what it looked like now after being blown up. :-P

I saw Jedi on opening day, and I don't remember a lot about the theater except that nearly every seat was filled. For most of the film, I was very worried that Luke was going to die at the end.

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Mielr said:

I remember seeing photos of the unfinished Death Star and thinking that it was the DS from SW- and this is what it looked like now after being blown up. :-P

 

That's what I thought too!  In fact, I assumed for years that the DSII was simply rebuilding what was left of the original, and that's why it looked like that.

I know I technically don't belong in this thread because I wasn't born until '86 (this exact day in '86 actually), but you people keep on bringing up things that I have to respond to!

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Err Happy Birthday then Gaffer man!!

 

I have so many fond memories, but seeing Jedi for the first time in 83 when I was a wee lad was/is probably my happiest Star Wars time. Man I was just so excited for days.

 

Saying that, getting my first action figure from Jedi also ranks high up there. It was Ackbar which I had to send off name tags for. It came in a white box, so for a year or whatever it was, I had no idea if this dude was good or bad.

 

The list goes on and on.

This sounds sad, but Star Wars has brought me so much happiness in my life.

 

http://www.facebook.com/DirtyWookie

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I remember during the ROTJ days in the summer of '83 of being obsessed with Jabba the Hutt, and there was a great documentary about the making of that whole first part of the movie on PBS.  They showed how 3 people would control Jabba, and as a kid he was the coolest bad guy.  And of course Slave Leia opened the door to manhood to many of us:)

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I also remember walking out of ESB in 1980 utterly shaking in pants wondering what just happened to my beloved characters from Star Wars?  As a kid, this movie did not sit well with me, and the irony is how I did a 180 years later and realized how great it was. 

I was 8 when I saw ESB, as I remember turning my head when Han cut open the taun-taun guts!   I will always remember when Yoda first came on screen and acted like a wack-job, and the audience actually laughing thinking this was some sort of muppet joke, and at that point the movie could have lost credibility, until Yoda turns out to sucker not only Luke but the audience! 

And of course the whole cave scene went right over my head at the time, as kids like myself really thought Darth Vader was there on Dagobah!  After that sequence was done, I turned to my brother and said, "What just happened????"

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Wow, am I the only kid who always loved ESB for being dark?  I was a little older than you (9 instead of 8) when I first saw it, but I loved the fact that everyone came away a little more scarred and worse for wear.  Maybe I'm just a sick, twisted soul.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I loved Empire Strikes Back as a kid, it was always my favorite. Not because of the dark ending, but because of the snow (always loved snow), the wampa, the asteroid field, the lightsaber fight, and Luke getting his hand cut off (that was always really cool to me. It was my favorite scene to act out, I'd tuck my arm into my sleeve, yell out "Noo, its impossible! Noooo! then run backwards with my arms held out like I was falling. Our neighbors thought I was a very odd child.

Even though I saw Empire Strikes Back before Return of the Jedi came out, I was too young to really feel the anxiety of not knowing what the next chapter had in store.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I never had a problem with ESB. I never felt it was particularly dark or whatever. It was a cool Star Wars film with cool locations and Darth Vader. I think I always liked it slightly more than the first one, but the Yoda training Luke part bored me and that part still does a bit. Originally ROTJ was my favorite Star Wars film (after I saw it in 83 that is). Now I like it about equal with the first film, a bit behind ESB.

Re when I first saw the films:

I totally loved Bespin and Hoth and the Star Destroyers. I didn't really get the Han and Leia romance. I thought it was a bit silly. But I liked both characters a lot, though Luke was my favorite back then.

Tatooine made a big impression on me too, and the Mos Eisley cantina. And the invasion of the rebel blockade runner in the beginning of the first film, with the stormtroopers and Vader strangling the captain.

When ROTJ came around I was a bit older and I took it in slightly differently, but I loved it. There was all this anticipation leading up to ROTJ. I still love ROTJ, though my feelings about the Ewoks are a bit more mixed. ROTJ was MY Star Wars film, the way the others weren't, because I was a Star Wars fan for years before I saw it and I experienced all the lead-up and anticipation before it came out. I loved the Luke storyline in it and Vader's redemption (I was a big Vader fan) and the old unmasked Vader we met at the end. I loved the Jabba section of the film and I still do. I loved the way ROTJ was a triumphant film -they beat the crap out of Jabba and his goons, then they beat the crap out of the Emperor and the Empire, and Luke and Vader came out of it shining (though Vader was a tad dead). I suspect that if ROTJ was less triumphant and more downery it might get more respect.

1983 is a long time ago now. 26 years. People have grown up and had kids who weren't born when ROTJ came out.

And it was great when ROTJ came out. It was like a big celebration.

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Yeah, the lightsaber fight has always been my favorite of the series, and I always thought the hand getting chopped off was an awesome moment too!

And, of course, since I was introduced to the series on VHS, I had no anxiety about the next chapter either.  =P

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I think what character you loved said alot about what SW movie was your favorite.  As a kid, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, he was me, and I related to him, so essentially SW was my favorite movie, and ROTJ was a close second. 

As I got older I realized how f-n cool Han Solo was, and in that time I realized how great ESB was.  But my friends growing up who loved Han Solo more then Luke were bigger fans of ESB then I was back in 1980.

 

 

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The one thing I always wanted to do as a kid when I was playing with SW figures was get as many Stormtroopers as possible, and recreate the ROTJ opening scene where Vader enters DSII.  I think I only had about 3-4 Stormtroopers since I didn't have any money at the time to buy anymore!  My mom gave all my SW figures away in the mid 80's before anyone knew they would be worth anything, and it still kills me to this day that I had the Millenium Falcon, and kept it in perfect condition, and now somebody I don't even know has it!

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CO said:

I think what character you loved said alot about what SW movie was your favorite.  As a kid, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, he was me, and I related to him, so essentially SW was my favorite movie, and ROTJ was a close second. 

As I got older I realized how f-n cool Han Solo was, and in that time I realized how great ESB was.  But my friends growing up who loved Han Solo more then Luke were bigger fans of ESB then I was back in 1980.

 

 

Really?  Cause Luke's always been my favorite too.  I thought Luke had quite a lot to do as a character in ESB, so I'm curious:  how come being a Luke fan would cause you to like the other movies more?  I suppose I'm asking, what makes the outer movies "Luke" movies to you and ESB a "Han" movie?

 

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Vaderisnothayden said:

I suspect that if ROTJ was less triumphant and more downery it might get more respect.

 

You might be right about that. I can't even remember how many times I have heard people say the movie would have been better had Han (or Lando) died at the end. Really don't see how that would improve anything though.

When I was a kid I definitely considered ROTJ as my second favorite SW film. It wasn't until I was older that I began to notice some of the silliness. The first thing that hit me as I started to get older, is how dumb it was that the Ewoks with there sticks and stones are able to beat these armed men in heavy armor. I like the idea of a small group defeating overwhelming odds using guerrilla tactics. But when you start to think about these guys in heavy armor getting knocked out (or possibly killed) by a stone being shot out of a sling, or by being beaten on with wooden sticks, it has a sort of Magical World of Disney quality to it. Like the little kid who managed to defend his house from the mofia by using suctioncup arrows and marbles or some crap like that. It is fun stuff for kids, but there is not much of a lasting appeal as you get older. 

I always loved the ROTJ space battle, and the final saber duel is one of my favorite moments from any SW film (though Vader losing his robotic hand was not near as cool as when Luke lost his real hand).

Hasbro released a Bespin Luke figure that has a removable hand. I was a bit old for action figures when it came out, but I still couldn't help but buy it. When you remove his hand, it makes a cool "pop!" sound. Love that thing. I bought a Vader with a removable hand and mask to go along with it. If I had had those things when I was a kid, I am sure I would have had hours of great fun making them mutilate each other. Closest thing to that I had as a kid was a Threepio that had arms and legs that came off, and after I used him a good bit, I couldn't get one of his legs to stay on, thing was always falling off.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Yeah, I remember when those figures came out.  I was big into my figure collecting then, and I had been waiting for those (especially the Bespin) Luke for a long time.  As a kid, I used to act out the movies with the figures while watching the movie, and it was annoying that I didn't have a Luke to use for the majority of ESB.  I had the Dagobah fatigues Luke, but a no sleeves Luke just didn't work, especially not for the hand being cut off, so I'd have to go back to the barrel-chested Tatooine Luke figure from the first movie.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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C3PX said:
When I was a kid I definitely considered ROTJ as my second favorite SW film. It wasn't until I was older that I began to notice some of the silliness. The first thing that hit me as I started to get older, is how dumb it was that the Ewoks with there sticks and stones are able to beat these armed men in heavy armor. I like the idea of a small group defeating overwhelming odds using guerrilla tactics. But when you start to think about these guys in heavy armor getting knocked out (or possibly killed) by a stone being shot out of a sling, or by being beaten on with wooden sticks, it has a sort of Magical World of Disney quality to it. Like the little kid who managed to defend his house from the mofia by using suctioncup arrows and marbles or some crap like that. It is fun stuff for kids, but there is not much of a lasting appeal as you get older. 

 

Well, in the Dark Horse Empire comics, which tried to take a kind of "we're-mature-and-serious-and-let's-look-at-both-sides-and-the-unimportant-people" take, they had a whole bunch of armored stormtroopers being killed by Amanin aliens with spears that were just sharpened sticks. These armored imperials were being skewered by sharpened sticks. If they can do that, I can let ROTJ off the hook over the ewoks' success. I don't have a problem with the ewoks with spears and slings and sticks and stones beating the armored men. Because Star Wars was never realistic about stuff like that. I mean seriously, is it realistic that these imperials have all this armor but it does zero good against the most common weapon in the galaxy (blasters)? Or is it realistic that they never hit and always miss? From the first film Star Wars established that it wasn't trying to be realistic that way, so the ewoks thing fits in with the pattern. And it was all in fun. I just go with it. I think to appreciate Star Wars you need to accept that to a certain extent it's meant for kids and be prepared to accept some stuff that's kid-style. I enjoy the Endor battle. It was good fun. Han got to kick some ass and Chewie got to take over an ATST walker and they beat the fucking imperials.

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Gaffer Tape said:

Really?  Cause Luke's always been my favorite too.  I thought Luke had quite a lot to do as a character in ESB, so I'm curious:  how come being a Luke fan would cause you to like the other movies more?  I suppose I'm asking, what makes the outer movies "Luke" movies to you and ESB a "Han" movie?

 

 

That was more a general statement, so I don't think I have any scientific proof:)  As much as the whole OOT is about Luke, I really feel Han Solo steals the show in ESB, as his relationship with Leia is front and center, he is running from the Empire the whole time, and eventually gets frozen in one of the most memorable moments in the trilogy.  In SW, he is just an outlaw, in ROTJ, he is just a second cog, but ESB is HIS movie, IMO. 

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Gaffer Tape said:
CO said:

I think what character you loved said alot about what SW movie was your favorite.  As a kid, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker, he was me, and I related to him, so essentially SW was my favorite movie, and ROTJ was a close second. 

As I got older I realized how f-n cool Han Solo was, and in that time I realized how great ESB was.  But my friends growing up who loved Han Solo more then Luke were bigger fans of ESB then I was back in 1980.

 

 

Really?  Cause Luke's always been my favorite too.  I thought Luke had quite a lot to do as a character in ESB, so I'm curious:  how come being a Luke fan would cause you to like the other movies more?  I suppose I'm asking, what makes the outer movies "Luke" movies to you and ESB a "Han" movie?

 

I was a Luke guy too, and I though the coolest Luke stuff was in ESB. It is also the movie that opens with him. He gets hung upside down in an ice cave, that was great. He almost gets eaten by Bigfoot (also known as the Hothian Plains Yeti, or the Wampa) He gets stuffed inside of an animal (my mom yelled at me once because I kept using the rewind button to watch Han cut open the Tauntaun over and over for almost ten minutes straight, not sure what was wrong with me, but it really freaked my mom out). Then Luke crashes on a really cool planet, meets a muppet and trains to be a super cool Jedi. Not long later, he discovers he has daddy issues, and loses his hand.

Han just spends the whole film turning tail and running, only to eventually be betrayed like a bitch by one of his old friends, then get frozen alive in a block of something, and sold to a giant slug. I think all the cool stuff happens to Luke in that movie.

 

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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CO said:
Gaffer Tape said:

Really?  Cause Luke's always been my favorite too.  I thought Luke had quite a lot to do as a character in ESB, so I'm curious:  how come being a Luke fan would cause you to like the other movies more?  I suppose I'm asking, what makes the outer movies "Luke" movies to you and ESB a "Han" movie?

 

 

That was more a general statement, so I don't think I have any scientific proof:)  As much as the whole OOT is about Luke, I really feel Han Solo steals the show in ESB, as his relationship with Leia is front and center, he is running from the Empire the whole time, and eventually gets frozen in one of the most memorable moments in the trilogy.  In SW, he is just an outlaw, in ROTJ, he is just a second cog, but ESB is HIS movie, IMO. 

I agree. ESB is Han's movie. Han takes over in that movie, steals it from Luke.

 

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i wasn't there in the 70's/80's, wish i was though. but i was wondering wat everybody's reaction was to darth vader revealing that he's lukes father? it was spoiled for me when i first saw ESB.

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rcb said:

i wasn't there in the 70's/80's, wish i was though. but i was wondering wat everybody's reaction was to darth vader revealing that he's lukes father? it was spoiled for me when i first saw ESB.

 

 It worked because NOBODY knew of it when you walked into the theater in 1980.  If ESB came out in 2009, the internet would have ruined the whole plot twist.  Back then there was a respect of not telling people the plot twist until they saw it, so nobody blabbed it in school the next day.

For me personally, when Vader said 'I am your father' to Luke, I was stunned, because I still saw Vader as the villain behind the mask, and I couldn't seperate that from a human being, even though Kirsh shows the back of Vader head for that split second. 

It would be cool to hear everyone's experiences after seeing ESB in 1980, I know for me as an 8 year old kid, that movie had too much for me to process at the time, and I really wish I would have been a few years older to really appreciate what I just saw. 

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I thought Vader was lying through his ass. I didn't want him to be Luke's father. Of course, I loved the way it turned out in ROTJ. But back before ROTJ I had debates in school in which I vehemently championed the like-fuck-is-Vader-Luke's-father argument. Which was dumb, because it's clear by the way Luke and Vader relate through the force when Luke is escaping in the Falcon that Vader is the real deal. Luke can clearly tell with the force that the guy's his father. And if you think about it, his impassioned "Noooo!" in Bespin comes off like a frantic attempt to deny something he knows is true.

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I remember FINALLY finding a Bossk action figure back in 1981.  My mom picked it up, and I had to mow the lawn two times! before I could open it.  It was a long week.

 

EDIT:  To explain the Bossk fetish (which I still have):

1. He is a bounty-hunter.  Awesome.

2. He wears an astronaut suit.  Awesome again.

3. He is a freakin lizard-man.  Awesome x 20.

Doesn't get cooler than that.