Sadly I was not born until late that year. For those who were alive at the time, and still have memories, what was the Star Wars phenomena like?
“It is only through interaction, through decision and choice, through confrontation, physical or mental, that the Force can grow within you.”
-Kreia, Jedi Master and Sith Lord
What made it great to me was that it was a craze for nerds. It made things like science, space travel, robotics, computer programming, etc., all seem cool and fun. It wasn't like other crazes involving celebrities or rock stars or sports or clothing, or other things that made the popular kids even more popular. It was a real, bona-fide craze, for us nerds!
The other thing I remember about it is that it lasted so long. Star Wars was playing in theaters for something like a year, or more. It seemed like for a long, long time, any time you wanted to see Star Wars you just pop on down to the theater and it was there.
"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars
I was a little young to remember very much detail (I was 5 in 78), but I really remember being so excited about the Holiday Special, being captivated through the whole thing, and not being the least bit aware of any shortcomings. Such was the power of Star Wars (or extreme youth). I also remember the head came off my Luke action figure early on, so every time I played with it, Luke had to get decapitated somehow. Good times.
i was 10 when it came out..
waited a few months from when it opened in canada.
most of my friends had seen it already. but they were
talking about it all the time..
we used to have lightsaber battles. and bought
action figures. my original r2d2 and c3po figures
are on my kitchen counter, and i see them
everyday... i also still have my star wars bedsheets
in good condition! ha ha ..
i collected all the bubblegum card
sets. i remember coke had a promo of matching
characters with a plastic picture that you peeled
out from under bottle caps and you could
redeem them for money.... bought the comic
books. read the novel. there was a newspaper
comic strip that had different adventures..
and when splinter of a minds eye came out,
that was really cool to.. i remember hearing the
meco 'disco' theme from star wars on the radio.
i bought the soundtrack on vinyl, which had
a cool poster... i drew all kinds of artwork on
my own.. i always wanted to be luke as the
character i associated with..
i only saw it once originally in the theater.
and the second time was for the re-release
in 1979 before 'the empire strikes back' came out.
when they added the episode IV to the crawl.
that was it... never saw it in the theater again,
until the SE came out.. i've still only seen the
original less than 5 times to this day.. and yet
it's my favorite movie of all time.. and i can't
wait to see a restoration of it.
later
-1
[no GOUT in CED?-> GOUT CED]
I was but disparate gametes waiting to be formed.
Ah ... good times those were.
I was 6 when it came out and I didn't get into SW until '82, but even though I wasn't really paying attention in '77 I still remember that it was THE cool thing at the time.
I remember going trick-or-treating (probably Halloween '77) and my friend's little brother dressed as Luke, complete with a "litesaver." Another friend of mine had ALL the Star Wars toys at the time (he once put his hamster in the cockpit of a Tie-fighter and called him Darth Hampster) & he also had a bootleg videotape of SW that I'm sure his father procured for him.
My older sister had a friend with 2 sons and I remember seeing a landspeeder toy for the first time at their house.
SW was just everywhere and there wasn't much else to compete for the public's attention in the same way.
very good. on other threads, posters scoffed, snickered and sneered at how i lamented younger fans, due to the cruelty of timing, missing the beauty of the glory years. this thread will vindicate me!
My uncle, who was seventeen at the time it came out, described the world around him very different since the movie came out. All the kids had their toys on hand wherever they were, signs and tv ads everyday. He never saw it though; was too busy with my mom, other uncle, and grandparents in Europe moving from country to country while my grandpa was in the navy. He finally decided to see Empire Strikes Back, to which he replies to as "mind-blowing" and "like no other theater experience he'd ever witnessed". The craze didn't really catch on to him since he was already an adult, but he recalls small-talk on it always brought up amongst his co-workers at the power plant he worked at. He from time to time picked up a shirt or a burger king glass, but never dived into the toy mania. He also told me that, "you can bet that I was one of the first in line to Return of the Jedi". So yeah, I'm of course too young to explain the REAL mania around it, and both my mom and dad's side of the family were already a little too old.
OO5 started a thread about this a few years back, and SHOSW has some recollections, too.
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/A-Long-Time-Ago-Share-Your-Star-Wars-Story/post/361200/#TopicPost361200
Always good, thinking about those days. :D
Pink Floyd -- First in Space
My earliest memories of Star Wars were reading the Star Wars storybook and seeing Empire in theatres - at age 3! I remember seeing Star Wars and Empire back-to-back with my father at the Tivoli in, maybe, 1982. I would have loved to have been born anytime in '58 through '65, making me the perfect age come '77.
“It is only through interaction, through decision and choice, through confrontation, physical or mental, that the Force can grow within you.”
-Kreia, Jedi Master and Sith Lord
I was 5 yo at the time. The movie swept me off my feet and SW mania ensued. I recall my friends and other grade school kids talking about:
how many times they saw the movie
who their favorite character was
what was their favorite vehicle/ship
how many toy action figures/space ships they have
the new SW disco song on the radio all the time
which SW character they were to dress up as during halloween
kids wearing assorted SW t-shirts
I also recall many playground discussions about what Vader looks like under his helmet and whether or not stormtroopers were robots or humans and what they looked like without the armor.
I had a great Christmas in 77'. My parents got me the entire basic wave of action figs, the x-wing, landspeeder. My friends had tons of SW toys and it was great to get together and combine them all for some huge space battles!
"There's no cluster of midiclorians that controls my destiny!" -Han Solo, from a future revision of ANH
I remember all of the buzz and and a steady flow of pictures coming over here to the U.K.
I started collecting all the pictures I could.
When the film was released here, Star Wars was everywhere. It was like every shop you went into had some sort of merchandise.
Some of the kids at school saw the film before me and had window stickers with 'I've seen Star Wars' on them.
When I went to see the film, I remember coming out of the train station and there was a huge board with the quad poster on it. The cinema was packed out. We had to wait in line all around the pavement to the back of the cinema. The front entrance to the cinema had a big stand up display of Luke,Han and the Princess. I bought the programme that was for sale. There was a support film about bike riders called 'Fast Company'.
Most of the kids at school were swapping the bubble gum cards and I managed to collect the blue and red sets. Thing is..I remember collecting the red before the blue but the blue was released first !
Star Wars played for some time at cinemas only to disappear and then come back for school holidays for a couple of weeks.
I had a nostalgia trip back to the old cinema a few years ago. It's not there anymore. A row of flats now sit in the place of the hallowed ground. Shame. Star Wars changed my life on that spot. Incredible times !
I was forty-five.
TV's Frink said:
I was forty-five.
?
later
-1
[no GOUT in CED?-> GOUT CED]
Just a heads up for those in the U.K.....
Saturday 5th May at 9:30pm BBC 2
I LOVE 1977 with Carrie Fisher.
TV's Frink said:
I was forty-five.
I had the weirdest dream last night, and I swear it's true. I dreamed I met an elderly gentleman with a white beard. It turned out it was TV's Frink! Not joking!
(I met a few others here in that dream too, which means I spend too much time on this site)
Did a small, very wrinkled puppy come up and pee on your ankle?
"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars
If we ever get a convention or some other sort of thing going someday, that dream could come true! ;)
Where were you in '77?
Sorry no wrinkly dogs showered my loafers. I do recall some strange, hooded quadruped telling me he was the Jedi master who instructed Jar Jar or some such nonsense. Of course, I'm not swearing on that one ;)
Scratch the gentleman part, and you've described me perfectly.darth_ender said:
I had the weirdest dream last night, and I swear it's true. I dreamed I met an elderly gentleman with a white beard. It turned out it was TV's Frink! Not joking!
Well, the man in my dream was a gentleman until he whizzed on my socks. Sounds like I hit the nail on the head!
I wasn't around for Star Wars '77 mania either....
Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
Did a small, very wrinkled puppy come up and pee on your ankle?
darth_ender said:
Sorry no wrinkly dogs showered my loafers.
http://twister111.tumblr.com
Previous Signature preservation link
The earliest thing I remember involving Star Wars (besides watching it for the first time) was the Attack of The Clones stuff. It's not nearly as much of an exciting memory nor boastful one as opposed to have seen the original trilogy way back when, yet I do remember rushing to the stores and buying my first couple of Star Wars toys during this time.
I remember my mom purchasing a Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and Luke hanging from a Bespin weather vane after he got his ass kicked. I still have these to this day.
Even now. it still doesn't seem like it was a very long time ago, and then I have to remind myself that I was only four or five years old at the time. Unless, it really wasn't that long ago after all...
