The Original Trilogy Trailers/Promos Video Thread (YouTube/Vimeo, etc. finds)

Since people really liked the YouTube/Vimeo/etc. finds for Original Trilogy making-ofs, documentaries, promos, etc. thread and have already been sharing a lot of interesting OT-related trailers/promos on the The random YouTube / Vimeo etc OT video finds thread I figured it made sense to make a new thread dedicated to just trailers and promos which can also double as an index for those looking for a specific OT trailer or home video promo that they might be looking for.

• When adding a link to a video, please add a title and/or description so that we don’t have to click on it to find out what it is. Any additional info would be appreciated as well, like f.ex. article links, or just a simple blurb. Please add a thumbnail if you can. This can be a screenshot, poster, or simply add the YouTube thumbnail (like this).
• Trailers/Promos for home video releases (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) are just as valid and welcome as Theatrical trailers (provided they conform with the last point on this list).
• No Fan-made trailers, only videos related to official releases.
• This thread is specifically for Original Trilogy trailers/promos, so please don’t post anything primarily or exclusively dealing with the PT, ST or other new SW materials like f.ex. The Mandalorian, or The Clone Wars cartoons (there’s a separate thread for that). Some trailers and promos do of course promote box-sets covering several eras of Star Wars, so it’s fine if other movies or content is mentioned in the trailer/promo provided the focus is primarily on one or several of the OT films.

I’ve also made a similar thread for post-OT trailers: The Beyond the OT Trailers/Promos Thread

A CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX… (click on ‘Expand’ to see the Index)

THEATRICAL TRAILERS
Star Wars
• 1976 STAR WARS Teaser Trailer (scroll down)
• Star Wars 1978 Theatrical Re-Release Trailer
• Star Wars 1981 Theatrical Re-Release Trailer (scroll down)
• Star Wars 1982 Re-release Trailer [35mm]
The Empire Strikes Back
• The Empire Strikes Back - Teaser Trailer (featuring McQuarrie art)
• The Empire Strikes Back - 1979 “Vivaldi” Teaser Trailer [35mm]
• The Empire Strikes Back - 1979 Trailer (featuring Harrison Ford as narrator)
• Empire Strikes Back 1982 Re-release 35mm Trailer
Return of the Jedi
• Revenge of The Jedi - 1982 UK Teaser Trailer
• Revenge of the Jedi - 1982 Theatrical Teaser Trailer [35mm]
• Return of the Jedi - 1983 Trailer 35mm
• Return of the Jedi 1985 re-release Trailer

TV SPOTS
• Star Wars 1979 Re-release TV Ads
• ITV ad for the 1982 UK TV Premiere of Star Wars
• ON-TV Star Wars Pay-Per-View special event promo (September 25th 1982)
• ON-TV Star Wars Up Next & Star Trek II Premiere promos (1983)
• The Empire Strikes Back 1987 NBC Sunday Night at the Movies intro
• 1987 ITV ad for 1988 New Years Day broadcast of Star Wars
• Star Wars 1988 CBS Special Movie Intro

HOME VIDEO ADS
• Star Wars Trilogy 1986 CBS/FOX VHS Preview
• Star Wars Trilogy 1989 VHS Collector’s Preview
• The Star Wars Trilogy Widescreen Editions 1992 UK promo
• Star Wars Trilogy THX Remastered Edition 1995 In-store VHS Preview
• Star Wars Trilogy – ‘One Last Time’ 1995 VHS Trailer
• Star Wars Trilogy - ‘Buy It Now Or Lose It Forever’ 1996 VHS trailer
• Star Wars Trilogy 2000 VHS Commercial
• Star Wars Original Trilogy 2004 DVD Trailer
• Star Wars Original Trilogy 2006 DVD Trailer

MISCELLANEOUS
• Star Wars: The Complete Saga - 2011 Blu-ray Trailer
• Sky Movies Star Wars Saga ident (2015)
• Sky Movies Star Wars Saga Advert (2015)
• The Complete Skywalker Saga Streaming May 4th - 2020 Disney+ Trailer
• The Complete Skywalker Saga - 2020 Disney+ Trailer

^ This Index was added as the thread grew to help navigate through the various Trailers, Promos, etc.
 

NOTE: If one of the videos should be deleted from YouTube/Vimeo/etc. please PM ZkinandBonez so that the link can either be replaced or labelled as defunct. Alternatively PM one of the mods.

I figured the appropriate place to start would be with the very first Star Wars trailer ever:

Original 1976 STAR WARS Teaser Trailer (35mm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onikub5BaZU - from the Tyler YouTube channel (2 mins long)

Back-up (low-res) from the Official Star Wars YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-vsILeJ8_8

‘Star Wars – One Last Time VHS 1995 Trailer (HD Restoration)’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKr5R1VNPjI - at the Rogue Video youtube channel. (1 and a bit minutes)
 

The voiceover:-

"For those who remember
For those who will never forget
And for a whole new generation who will experience it for the very first time…

The Star Wars Trilogy…
Three timeless adventures which changed movie-making forever!
Now, the entire Trilogy digitally remastered in THX for the ultimate in sound and picture quality.

This will be your last chance to own the original version of Star Wars…
The George Lucas masterpiece that launched the Star Wars Trilogy.
The Force is forever - for all generations!

The original Star Wars Trilogy on video - one last time…"
 

‘Star Wars Original Trilogy 2006 DVD Trailer’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmtnEQS8ICw - at the skip3579 youtube channel. (3 minutes and 8 seconds)
 

The official trailer for the 2006 DVD release containing the unaltered theatrical version of the Original Trilogy as ‘bonus discs’ on a repackaged 2004 OT Special Edition release.

The trailer had a total of 14 seconds runtime advertising that the unaltered theatrical version of the Original Trilogy was included in this release - out of 3 and a bit minutes.

In fact, more time was given to advertising the coming ‘Lego Star Wars II: Original Trilogy’ video game!
 

Awesome idea for an Original Trilogy Trailer / Promo thread, ZkinandBonez 😃

'Original Star Wars Trilogy - Buy It Now Or Lose It Forever (1996):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6NPIN_OTLw - at the Bamptonoid youtube channel. (28 seconds)
 

The blurb:-

“Star Wars VHS Trilogy Australian-TV Ad (1996)”
 

The voiceover:-

“Star Wars… The Empire Strikes Back… Return Of The Jedi…
Your last chance to own the original Star Wars is almost gone… Buy it today - or lose it forever…”
 

^ originally posted by Mocata, here - link

Star Wars Trilogy VHS Collector’s Preview 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDkm_pMypMc - from the movieweb YouTube channel (4:30 mins long)

The blurb;
“Promo found on the early 90’s era video releases. Also includes a plug for the BTS documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga.”

The Empire Strikes Back - Teaser Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_4QAVa9K_k - from the THX1968 YouTube channel (1:25 mins long)

This was the highest quality version I could find online, but keep in mind that he image has been cropped.

Backup from the Official Star Wars YouTube channel. The quality on this version is much worse, but it does have the proper aspect ratio.

The blurb:
“The original teaser trailer for The Empire Strikes Back, notable for solely featuring concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.”

The Empire Strikes Back - 1979 Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNwNXF9Y6kY - from the Official Star Wars YouTube channel (2 mins long)

The blurb:
“Watch The Empire Strikes Back theatrical trailer, which debuted in fall 1979 and gave audiences their first look at the sequel to Star Wars. In addition to a sampling of scenes taken from the entire movie, the trailer surprisingly features footage that was cut from the final film, including a kiss between Luke and Leia, C-3PO removing a warning sticker from a door in the Rebel base on Hoth, and more. Most interesting, however, is the voiceover – provided by none other than Harrison Ford himself.”

Empire Strikes Back 1982 Re-release 35mm Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWLksS3wtWA - from the TheStarWarsTrilogycom YouTube channel (2 mins long)

The blurb:
“In November 1982 The Empire Strikes Back was re-released in cinemas across the US for a limited run. This trailer was captured from one of the actual 35mm film reels that was sent to cinemas around the country in the fall of 1982 to promote the film.”

Revenge Of The Jedi - 1982 UK Teaser Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAW1E3JIQZE - from the official Oscars YouTube channel (35 sec long)

The blurb:
“The Academy Film Archive holds several trailers from the United States with the initial ‘Revenge’ title, most of which announcing a May 25th 1983 release date which coincided with the anniversary of the original Star Wars stateside release in 1977. However, this peculiar and very brief Revenge of the Jedi teaser trailer originated from a cinema in the United Kingdom, where the film was originally being considered for a Christmas 1983 release. This rare teaser, preserved by the Academy Film Archive, was apparently shown with the U.K.’s May 1982 double feature re-release of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. American audiences would not get a glimpse of the third film until Star Wars was re-released in the U.S. in August 1982, meaning that this may be the earliest Revenge trailer distributed – and fans from across the pond got the first peek!”

BONUS:

The Lost & Found “Revenge” of the Jedi Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIFQQYAKK4 - from the That Junkman YouTube channel (6 mins long)

“In 1982 a teaser trailer for Star Wars Revenge of the Jedi come to the UK and was lost and forgotten about until 2016!”

Revenge of the Jedi - 1982 Theatrical Teaser Trailer [35mm]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8zxWHlOHyE- from the Lego Stalin YouTube channel (1:20 mins long)

The uploader didn’t provide much more info other than that it was a 1982 teaser trailer. If you know more about it, please let me know and I’ll update this post.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - 1983 Trailer 35mm flat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZUmYF7xwYg - from TheStarWarsTrilogycom YouTube channel (2:25 mins long)

The blurb:
“Full trailer for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. From an original 1983, 35mm film reel.”

Star Wars 1982 Re-release Trailer [35mm]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4601lNCveA - from TheStarWarsTrilogycom YouTube channel (2 mins long)

The blurb:
“In August 1982 Star Wars, was re-released in cinemas across the US for a three week run. This trailer was captured from one of the actual 35mm film reels that was sent to cinemas around the country in the summer of 1982 to promote the film. The color has been restored, but the dirt and scratches have not been cleaned up. Personally I quite like the grungy, ‘film’ look - you can almost hear the projector…”

The voiceover:
“It has been 5 years since we first felt the Force, and it’s stronger than ever. There is only one way to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Star Wars; See it…Again.”

Star Wars TV Ad 1979 #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cE8ICezoz8 - from TheStarWarsTrilogycom YouTube channel (40 sec long)

Star Wars TV Ad 1979 #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHSstUdf2sk - from TheStarWarsTrilogycom YouTube channel (40 sec long)

The blurb (for both videos):
“Captured along with Saturday Morning Cartoons on ABC during the summer of 1979. Star Wars would not be available to rent or buy on Video tape until 1982 so it was enjoying another re-release in theaters that August. It’s easy to see kids jumping up from watching cartoons and urging their parents to take them to see Star Wars again…”

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

It would be very hard to index them properly if they were all in the first post, or a long regular post, plus it’s not like I’m the only one who’s posted videos here (I just got a little carried away earlier today). If I find videos that are part of a “series” like f.ex. the PT Webisodes then I’d post them as a playlist. Ditto if I find smaller clips from a longer program, like the SW Oscar clips I posted on the OT docs thread. Other than that the point of these threads is to keep posting interesting videos as you find them.

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

The Empire Strikes Back - 1979 “Vivaldi” Teaser Trailer [35mm]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CroqdjDv82s&t - from the SpaceHunterM YouTube channel (1:30 mins long)

Now this one’s a bit of an oddity. First of all it’s clearly imitating the 1976 Teaser Trailer (same music and the narration is very similar), which I find really strange because I can’t imagine a lot of people would have understood that reference/call-back in the pre-internet age. So at first I thought this was a fan trailer, but after some googling it seems that this was the 2nd official trailer released in late 1979 after the McQuarrie art teaser trailer which I posted earlier.

Overall thought, it’s a pretty moody trailer that makes a lot more sense for ESB than it did for ANH. BTW, the name comes from it’s use of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, which in and of itself is pretty unique, as I can’t think of a lot of SW content that used pre-existing classical music.

Published content, that is. The temp track for SW 1977 used classical composers who John Williams was told to riff on. IIRC Lucas actually considered releasing the film with that version of the music if Williams’ work didn’t turn out to be what he was looking for.

I knew Lucas used a lot of temp music for ANH, but I didn’t know he actually considered using it for the finished film. Makes sense though, that’s basically what happened to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it worked really well there. It’d be quite interesting to see that version of ANH. Wonder if it exists somewhere in the Lucasfilm archives. Either way, it’s pretty fascinating to see any official SW material using classical music like this trailer. I’m also guessing that the 1976 teaser was made before Williams started scoring the movie? The tagline seems to have been part of the movie at that time, so I wonder if the same piece of music was also in the actual film at some point.

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can as the first post is edited anyways to include all the posted trailers. That was just my opinion on usability from doing several video searches and chronological lists for a few years.

LexX said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can

Yeah, ZkinandBonez. Get on it. Did you not realize that creating a new thread is akin to taking on an extra part-time job?
Geeze, man.
/S

LexX said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can as the first post is edited anyways to include all the posted trailers. That was just my opinion on usability from doing several video searches and chronological lists for a few years.

I’ve added an index that links to all the posted videos in the first post. Isn’t that essentially the same as what you’re suggesting?

Maybe one day I’ll make an index that’s organized into groups based on which movie or which media the trailer is from, and I’ve already tried to make the list clear and easy to read through. Beyond that it just seems needlessly complicated to me.

ray_afraid said:

LexX said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can

Yeah, ZkinandBonez. Get on it. Did you not realize that creating a new thread is akin to taking on an extra part-time job?
Geeze, man.
/S

Are you saying that the thread creator can’t edit his first post or are you just being an asshole? I was responding to the question and it is the truth. What is your problem again?

LexX said:

ray_afraid said:

LexX said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can

Yeah, ZkinandBonez. Get on it. Did you not realize that creating a new thread is akin to taking on an extra part-time job?
Geeze, man.
/S

Are you saying that the thread creator can’t edit his first post or are you just being an asshole? I was responding to the question and it is the truth. What is your problem again?

Can we please not start an argument here. I get what you’re saying LexX, but this is how I’ve decided to run these threads and most people seem fine with it, so take it or leave it. I’ve added an in-progress index to the first post so that you can navigate through all the various posts easier than just scrolling through every page (once we get to multiple pages that is).

Now I’d appreciate if we could all get back on track in order to stop cluttering the thread with this discussion and focus on sharing and discussing trailers and promos instead.

ZkinandBonez said:

LexX said:

ray_afraid said:

LexX said:

V.I.N.Cent said:

LexX said:

Why do these need to be posted separately? Would be easier to have them in the first post. Or just make a Youtube playlist out of them.

I haven’t posted many videos of late, but how would I go about editing the first post (in a thread I didn’t create) to include or update videos?

You obiviously can’t, but the thread creator can

Yeah, ZkinandBonez. Get on it. Did you not realize that creating a new thread is akin to taking on an extra part-time job?
Geeze, man.
/S

Are you saying that the thread creator can’t edit his first post or are you just being an asshole? I was responding to the question and it is the truth. What is your problem again?

Can we please not start an argument here. I get what you’re saying LexX, but this is how I’ve decided to run these threads and most people seem fine with it, so take it or leave it. I’ve added an in-progress index to the first post so that you can navigate through all the various posts easier than just scrolling through every page (once we get to multiple pages that is).

Now I’d appreciate if we could all get back on track in order to stop cluttering the thread with this discussion and focus on sharing and discussing trailers and promos instead.

My mistake making needlessly complicated suggestions of improvement.

Again, I was responding to a question to a guy who quoted my post. I already got your response for the first time. I guess I’ll leave it then.