logo Sign In

How did you first see the Star Wars films?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

unny story. My first exposure to the original star wars trilogy was the faces vhs tapes in a Movie Gallery (similar to blockbuster video) near my house. For some reason said Movie Gallery only had the faces tapes and episode 2. No episode 1 (ironically, I think episode 1 is the best of the Prequels) and no 1997 Special Editions.

My first exposure to the Special Editions was the fullscreen 2004 dvd set (I knew there were differences [between the 1995 tapes and the 2004 dvd, wasn’t aware of the 1997SE at the time], but they didn’t matter to me as much as they did now.)

I think it would be interesting to see how each of you first saw the star wars films, in the order you first saw them, and the specific version you saw.
 

For me it goes like this:

Attack Of The Clones - vhs (movie gallery)

Fullscreen Faces - Star Wars - vhs (movie gallery)

Fullscreen Faces - Empire Strikes Back - vhs (movie gallery)

Fullscreen Faces - Return Of The Jedi - vhs (movie gallery)

Fullscreen - The Phantom Menace - vhs (borrowed from my cousins)

Revenge Of The Sith - in movie theater.

Nobody sang The Bunny Song in years…

Author
Time

Star Wars 35mm original crawl, mono sound

Empire 70mm

Jedi 35mm

Phantom Menace 35mm

AOTC 35mm

ROTS 35mm

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

Faces Star Wars VHS (I distinctly remember Ben's original hut, and the washed out color of the Tatooine sequences)

Faces Empire VHS (Could not watch the Dagobah cave fight, as it was too scary for this five or six year old)

Faces Jedi VHS (My favorite of the Star Wars movies at the time, as it had the coolest battle at the end)

Fullscreen TPM VHS (I can't actually remember whether I saw this or AOTC in the theater, so I'm going to go with a tentative no. I did buy the hardcover novelization however, and the Lego Naboo fighter, and I remember the glut of action figures. It all felt very cool at the time)

Fullscreen AOTC VHS (Again, not sure about whether I saw this in the theater, but I remember that I did not think much of this movie when it came out. I bought the VHS, but only watched it twice or so before ignoring it completely)

ROTS in theater. (This is the first I remember seeing in the theater, and I went with some friends who were still ardent PT fans. I liked the idea that Palpatine played on Anakin's feelings that the Jedi were corrupt bastards, but Anakin's fall still made no sense)

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

Author
Time

Little kid me watching 35mm OUT film prints of the Star Wars trilogy in a basement of one of my parent's friends.

I always remembering being really scared of Vader.

Next time I saw them a few years later right when the 2004 SE DVD set came out.

Author
Time

I was introduced to the Star Wars movies beginning with TPM, which I watched at my grandparents house (I think it was a VHS from the local library). The same goes for AOTC. ROTS I saw a while later, when my mom got my dad the full Star Wars set (2004 DVD). I saw the 2004 special editions of the OT soon after that. A few years later, I watched the GOUT, immediately preferring the ST in my ignorance. Eventually I found this place and my views changed.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

TESB on a home-recorded video -- borrowed from a family friend -- that kept going blank at irregular intervals.

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure on VHS.

ROTJ on TV, dubbed in French (I couldn't understand a word, just in case you're wondering.).

SW on VHS (Faces set).

TPM on VHS.

AOTC on VHS.

ROTS on DVD.

Author
Time

RicOlie_2 said:

A few years later, I watched the GOUT, immediately preferring the ST in my ignorance.

You preferred the Sequel Trilogy to the OOT? Does that mean you're from the future? ;-)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Parents are big Star Wars fans and owned the VHS tapes. I sat down and watched them back to back one Saturday morning when I was five back in the 80's. Saw the PT in theaters. 

I am what all Jedi fear to become, and what all Sith wish to be. A GOD!

Author
Time

DuracellEnergizer said:

RicOlie_2 said:

A few years later, I watched the GOUT, immediately preferring the ST in my ignorance.

You preferred the Sequel Trilogy to the OOT? Does that mean you're from the future? ;-)

 LOL--I meant SE. :P

Author
Time

JediZombie said:

Parents are big Star Wars fans and owned the VHS tapes. I sat down and watched them back to back one Saturday morning when I was five back in the 80's. Saw the PT in theaters. 

 How did you get your parents to put Star Wars on for you at 5:30 AM (or earlier)?

Author
Time

emanswfan said:

Little kid me watching 35mm OUT film prints of the Star Wars trilogy in a basement of one of my parent's friends.

 So your parents had 35mm prints of the OUT? Must have been rich, unless they are actually 16mm or super 8mm prints.

Nobody sang The Bunny Song in years…

Author
Time

Star Wars: Drive-in, in parents' car.

Empire: 35mm theatre

Jedi: 35mm theatre

Holiday Special: In my parents' basement on our TV which was still black-and-white at the time.

I never saw Caravan of Courage.  I don't think there are any other Star Wars films or shows worth mentioning.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Sometime in the early 80s on the UK ITV channel with this advert-break titlecard...

...and then a VHS recording of that same ITV broadcast once a week for the rest of my childhood ;-)

Oooh wait I just found this, brings back fond memories...

Border TV continuity into first ITV showing of Star Wars

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

Author
Time

I saw the OT and all subsequent movies in the theater when they came out. starting in 1977 and going forward. i was only 6 when A New Hope came out, so my dad took my older brother first to test it out. They returned to tell me it was the most amazing movie they had ever seen, and that i would love it. they told me of a scene with aliens playing musical instruments (ie the cantina scene) and i was eager to find out what they were talking about. so i went to see it with them soon after. and saw every following movie with them on opening weekend. :)

Padme

Author
Time

The first time I saw Star Wars was a VHS copy at Movie Gallery, which I may or may not have copied........

Author
Time

RicOlie_2 said:

JediZombie said:

Parents are big Star Wars fans and owned the VHS tapes. I sat down and watched them back to back one Saturday morning when I was five back in the 80's. Saw the PT in theaters. 

 How did you get your parents to put Star Wars on for you at 5:30 AM (or earlier)?

 It wasn't 5:30 in the morning. It would've been more like 7 or 8. Don't know where you got 5:30 from. And I could work the VCR myself.

I am what all Jedi fear to become, and what all Sith wish to be. A GOD!

Author
Time

You said you watched the entire OT in the morning. In order for that to work, you must logically have started around 5:30 (unless you're a time traveler, like Bingowings).

Author
Time

 My Uncle Carey made a pirate copy of Star Wars (A New Hope) for me when I was 3 years old (This was before the movie's first official VHS release).  I would watch the tape every day or every chance I got until my dad bought a legal copy from Columbia Record House.  He used my uncle's pirated copy to record another show over it.  At the time, I was too young to care and my uncle had not be diagnosed with AIDS.  Had I known, I would have told my dad not to record over the only piece of memory I had of my uncle.

We later ended up getting VHS copies of "Empire" and "Jedi", then I got my own THX 1995 copies for myself.

1997 was the first chance I get to see all three movies on the big screen.  It was the special edition, but I didn't care.  I was just happy to have the opportunity.

As for the prequels, I saw each of them in their theatrical releases.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ANH, ESB, ROTJ: VHS recordings of an OUT airing in the early '90s on USA Network. My dad used the pause button to edit out most of the commercials while it was airing. I watched these tapes a lot as a kid, and didn't even know about the SE until seeing Empire of Dreams on TV.

TPM: I watched it on Fox in 2001, and recorded it while cutting out the commercials like my dad did with the OT.

AOTC: Saw it in the theater. The copy I watched repeatedly when I was younger was a copy of a fullscreen VHS tape from Blockbuster that I made.

ROTS: Saw it in the theater, and I have the DVD somewhere. Lost interest in the PT entirely not long after this.

Author
Time

Hats off for Uncle Carey.

You may not have the tape but you do have the memory of the tape and now we have the memory too (a little diluted but a memory none the less) and a little bit of Uncle Carey in there as well.

Pick a nice deceased person and keep them alive in the heads of strangers.

What a brilliant and precious gift to the world.

Thanks GE

Author
Time

I saw the first two films in movie theaters in 1982 (pre-ROTJ re-releases). I saw ROTJ on opening day, May 25th 1983.

Actually, I saw the first several minutes of SW at a friend's house on bootleg video in 1977 or 1978, but my Mom said we had to go home so I didn't get to watch the rest of the film. :-(

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Well I can't say I remember my actual first viewing of SW nor exactly where my love for SW began. I know I saw the SE edition of ANH in the theatres with my dad, stepmom, and brother when I was 3 or 4 but I can't remember if that was my first actual viewing of SW. My first VHS trilogy was the 1995 THX versions of the originals but I can't remember if I had it at the time that I saw the SE in the theaters. From what my dad has told me I got into SW because I was interested in my brothers Darth Vader action figure. Now I remember my brother had the 1995 box set as well so perhaps my first viewing was with him. Unfortunately I was introduced to SW at a very early stage of my life that I can't really remember how it all began. :( TPM I actually saw 3 times in the theatre (4 if you count the 3D release in 2012) once with my dad, another with my then babysitters son and his girlfriend, and again with my dad and my brother (3D version I saw with my mom and stepdad), AOTC in the theatre with my dad and brother, and ROTS in the theatre with my dad and brother

Author
Time

Danfun128 said:

emanswfan said:

Little kid me watching 35mm OUT film prints of the Star Wars trilogy in a basement of one of my parent's friends.

 So your parents had 35mm prints of the OUT? Must have been rich, unless they are actually 16mm or super 8mm prints.

 Not my parent's, it was one of their friends.  His family owned a movie theatre back when the films originally came out and kept some prints with them, to save for later viewings.  But I don't still have access to them sadly.