Star Wars in the '90s?

Star Wars to me seemed like it was at its height in the '90s, man. I don't know if it's because that's when I first saw the movies, or because they revived the action figures, or the originals got re-released with 4th one on the way, but I feel like it was so much cooler back then. Like it was something more casual to enjoy. The internet wasn't that big, you didn't have to know the real names of snaggletooth or hammerhead or yakface, and you only had the 10 or so Star Wars books instead of the hundreds that try to explain you everything.

I think it was because the movies have been around a few years, people have grown up with them, and the movies were kind of the end of it. I think what we have now is a sort of "Star Trek effect" - once you're over-saturated in material, there will be a bunch of people who take it to heart and the more universal appeal gets eclipsed.

Maybe it's because the new movies were so recent and with all the tie-ins the hype hasn't had time to die out yet. This decade's been full of books, merchandising, and spin-off media. Here's hoping for another sort of "Star Wars Renaissance" in the '10s or '20s. I want it to be cool again. :-D

Conclusion: Star Wars - 15 years ago - give me your thoughts.

PS These videos speak to me...They say "Dan, Star Wars is bitchin!"

You're right, of course. TPM was the best of the prequels.

That is so right... we had one of the films on every year at Christmas for ages over here in the UK... before VHS, you're right... we would just stop and watch... no matter what... I wouldn't do that for the PT... yes, rcb, even TPM...

Vaderisnothayden said:

... the real height of Star Wars was when the original movies were current (77-83). That was the time it was all at its coolest. Even if we were just kids. Extend that to '84 or even '85 for immediate aftermath time if you like, but by '86 the height of Star Wars was over and never to return.

True... true... the resurgence in the run-up to the SEs and then TPM never reached the heights of the early 80s, you're right...

In the early eighties I was quite young, so while I myself was big into SW at that time, I really didn't see it a whole lot from anywhere else. I remember watching as SW action figures vanished from store shelves and it was all forgotten. Even in elementary school for some reason it seemed really hard to find other kids who liked SW. To me, the eighties were when Star Was began to fade away. The nineties on the other hand, were really exciting. Suddenly SW was everywhere again, tons of new books to read, tons of new comic series to choose from. Yeah, the 1995 line of action figures sucked pretty bad in all their ape like glory, but after time rolled on, they started releasing some really cool figures. Even after 1997 things still seemed great to me, back in the days where my original versions sat on the shelf next to my SEs, where I could choose with one to watch in equal quality. To me the nineties were the height of SW.

Until... TPM came out. And I am not just saying this to spite The Phantom Menace, but this film serious brought everything to a crashing halt. Suddenly any likeness of Luke, Han, Leia, or Darth Vader were purged from toy store and comic shop shelves. Suddenly every thing SW was replace with SW: Episode I. We went from Lightsaber shaped suckers at store check lanes to Jar Jar tongue suckers at store check lanes. Every thing Star Wars made a sudden shift from what had always been Star Wars to me, to the prequels. And it has pretty much stayed this way ever since

As a teenager/young adult at the end of the nineties I didn't see the gradual fading away of Star Wars like I did as a kid in the eighties, instead I saw it disappear almost overnight, and be substituted with something completely alien.

I think the Luca$hcow was in full flow by the time the SE/PT build-up started, though... the merchandising overload in the late 90s made it seem like there was more excitement in the general public but I reckon it was actually less than during the early 80s... not being a total idiot, in business terms, Luca$h probably realised he'd have to push much harder to get TPM to a similar level of success as the OT...

Buddy, you can only say Luca$h so many times and still have it be original...

Vaderisnothayden said:

TLSO, you said on another thread you were 7 when you first saw Star Wars, on the 95 videos. That means you were born in 88 at the earliest. That means you weren't around for the 77-83 Star Wars era. See, that would give you a very different perspective from somebody like me. I can see why you'd see the 90s as the height of Star Wars then.

'90. :P Yeah, that's true. It's all perspective, like how they say your first Doctor Who is always your favorite. :P

I think the '90s were more lax on the tie-ins since, well, there was nothing to tie into, hehe. As opposed to the cartoons and toys produced then and now. I kind of regret not being there in the '80s, but I also kind of like how it was all already there, waiting to be discovered or something.

TLSO said:

Buddy, you can only say Luca$h so many times and still have it be original...

 Really?! But it's so rich in meaning...

I'd agree that the state of SW in early 1990s was much better for us, old fans. For example games: nothing beats X-Wing, TIE Fighter & Dark Forces. Enough said (I could write entire article about the fall of LEC games' quality).

I think it was X-Wing that "reminded" me of Star Wars in the first place. I didn't have Trilogy on VHS back then, go figure. So when I saw the game intro on TV (on a game-related program) I was instantly hooked.

Later on I caught Zahn's trilogy. I wasn't bad, surely one of the better EU stuff, but I wasn't blown away, like I was with the games.

From that point I've wasted a lot of $ on books & CDs... but nowadays I don't buy/get any SW stuff (except for the model kits I bought last year, OT designs of course).

BTW, I'm in the "saw SW in 1980 on the big screen" group.

Oh man, yeah, the Star Wars games of the nineties were amazing. Those early nineties games RRS mentioned are some of the most fun experiences I have ever had with videogames in my life. Even some of the crappier SW games of the nineties were still somewhat enjoyable. Rebel Assult is generally considered pretty crappy, but beyond the frustrating controls, I enjoyed it enough to play through it. I really enjoyed Rebel Assault II as well, at least enough to beat it a couple of times, and the cutscenes with real actors seemed reallt cool at the time, though it is filled with some pretty lousy acting. And like most LEC games, it was packed full of wonderful little easter eggs, especially wonderful was the Mystery Science Threater 3000 mode, you just can't get any better than a game that has a built in feature to make fun of itself. More games should do that! 

Even games from the mid-nineties like Rogue Squadron and Shadows of the Empire were quite good. But at that point it had started to become hit or miss, and since then, mostly miss.

So for from a gamers perspective, I definitely got to go with the nineties being the hieght. Not to say some of the early SW games were not good, I have played them, I loved them, but the nineties games just reached a whole new level, and it was great.

I think most gamers don't need to have these facts reminded, but back then LEC was the king of adventure games.

And because of this I cannot comprehend why, [expletive] why didn't they make a classic, point'n'click adventure game in SW universe?

A Star Wars cRPG game, my another title on a wish list, would be more difficult to pull off, yet for such a big company it counts as another missed opportunity. Especially that they're the only one who owns the [expletive] SW license!

Consider me a weird SW-fan, but did you notice that those 3 classic games I mentioned basically have no Jedi? Sure, "guest starring Luke & Darth", but essentially it was about the fight between Rebellion and the Empire. Something for the "pure SW'77" fans to ponder about.

X-Wing/TIE Fighter featured one of the best battlefield immersions (stuff that require "situational awareness" as it is called by real life combat pilots) found only in hardcore flight sims. Something hard to find in today's "happy-go-lucky" console-ready 3D shooters.

Dark Forces had one of the best level designs from pre-Quake era. Pre-Quake means before level designers started to think "multiplayer first" when making their stuff. Those Imperial bases with their labyrinths of locked corridors looked authentic (something repeated only in 1st level of Jedi Outcast) versus today's "huge empty arenas that support 16 players or more, yay!".