KittyLeiaLady

Hi all - over the last week, I found my 10 foot hunk of 70mm print from the first (A New Hope) film. I also have several single frames from the movie; I went every week without fail and knew the projectionists. I need to find a good way to preserve it, and don’t know what I should do. I have one of the frames that has the title right in the middle of the frame!

Anyone have any ideas? I always hoped that if I ever were going to lose my house, my 10 foot hunk would save it. I was wrong. Lost it anyway. But I still have the 10 foot hunk!

I have this hunk - I used to go see the movie so often, I knew the projectionists. I have several frames, including the title centered! What is the best way to preserve these? The 10 foot hunk - that must be worth something. It’s the scene right after the milleneum falcon had landed in the bay of the Death Star after being ‘tractored in.’ Darth Vader is talking to a guy who is giving his ‘report.’ One of those guys who looks like he’s wearing a Peter Pan suit…

Hi
I just bumped into this site by accident after kind of extending May 4th to a couple of weeks…well 10 days now…I saw the original film (the one now dubbed Episode IV) well over 120 times in the theaters as a 14 year old geeky kid. My mom used to say “At least I know where she is.”

I had dug out my VHS copy of Star Wars, package date on it says 1984, and talks about the oscars it won on the back cover. I was always good at taking care of my tapes, so it was rewound and played nicely without any tracking difficulties or distortions. I obtained hardware to digitize it for preservation and did so. It’s a bit grainy, of course, but very watchable. It was REFRESHING to watch it without all of the annoying additions.

I really enjoyed the page on this site about the contradictions to the story line. I used to have a 3rd draft of the script, and it cited “Journey of the Wihls” (or Whils or was it Journal?) and wish I had kept a copy. I was in search of a VHS with the starting crawler sans the Episode IV stuff but realized that home video of Star Wars didn’t come out before 1982 (in my findings). Too bad!

I have an 8’ section of 70mm print and several frames as I made friends with the projectionists. I still remember every single line, shot, mistake, etc. and even know the registration number of the film with the Motion Picture Association…I am so happy to have found this site. I might be an old fart, but I know my Star Wars.

I didn’t really get into the prequels; quite frankly, they were rather sucky. The only one I was really interested in was seeing how Darth Vader became Darth Vader. I still prefer the original storyline - that Anikin and Darth Vader were TWO DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS and it makes more sense. If you put blinders on and remain oblivious to the other films, the first one (um, the fourth one - HATE that) makes sense and is self contained. Once you know “family is all involved” it quite frankly becomes creepy. Even when it was known in Empire Strikes Back - Leia kisses her brother full on the lips? Where’s my bucket?

Anyhow, this Star Wars geek is still alive and well (hope to stay that way) and hope to entertain some discussion. I don’t have anyone to talk to about this stuff in depth! On a side note, Seth McFarland’s parody is brilliant. He didn’t miss anything and I think he knows that film as well as I do!!!

And the references to TK521, THS1138…

I am soooo delighted to see the content on this page! This is stuff I remember - I saw the 1977 film way more than 120 times in a theater when I was a kid and kept all of these articles about the storyline, and how it kept changing, despite what Mr. Lucas insists. So many of the articles I read at the time are right here and I remembered it all correctly. This is heady stuff and I wish I had some friends I could sit down with and hash over this content with. I was sad to hear about David Prowse but had this very distinct feeling that there was a LOT of bad blood there - I never read anything about it - but I always felt bad that he never got to speak and we never saw his face - even in the end when he is finally unmasked. After he wandered around in all of that gear that he could hardly see out of (I had the opportunity to speak with him on the radio sooooo many decades ago) - he said the lenses were always fogging up. After a year of COVID and wearing a mask and having my glasses fog up - I CAN RELATE. I was saddened even more to hear of his passing.

I will be lurking about in this wonderful site and thanks for putting it up. I wish I had hung onto all of my stuff I used to have. I do have about an 8’ section of 70mm print that a projectionist gave me, plus a bunch of single frames, including the title slide! Yes, really. I wish I had the beginning of the crawler SANS the Episode IV line(s). I even have a bunch of my old ticket stubs…I was a strange kid but geeky before it was stylish.

Thanks for this site. I’m sure I’ll get lost in here more than once…

I would LOVE to see the original version of the 1977 film. I have a 1984 release on VHS that is in pretty darn good shape. I recently digitized it*; a little grainy but the sound is good and is very watchable. I was on a quest to find a tape without the “Episode IV” on it but realized that the film was not released on home (or rental) video before 1992 - after they decided that this was the fourth installment of the series. I saw the original 1977 film in theaters well over 100 times as a youngster (my mom said “At least I know where she is…”) and saw it first when it came out in just a couple of sound channels, and then my friend and I were stunned when the 6 track version hit our theater one day. What happened to Aunt Beru’s voice? All of a sudden, her low key dialog was this sing-songy voiceover that we both hated. Certain sound effects - and even some dialogue - was missing (Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!) and even C3po’s explanation of what Ben had to shut off in order to disable the tractor beam were GONE.

I wish I had kept all of the literature I collected back then - with the suggestions of the sequel’s plot twists etc. Lucas claimed the whole thing was written ahead of time, but I know better. I just wish I had kept my substantiating documentation about this - that no, it was decided later that it would be revealed that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. If you forget all that you know about what happens in the “fifth and sixth” installment with that paternal revelation and the fact that Luke & Leia are not only related, but twins - and watch the first episode, sorry, the FOURTH episode - Star Wars released in 1977 is all inclusive. But knowing the revelations, it gets creepy.

Anyway, I’m glad I found this forum. I have a LOT of information I have carried with myself over the years. To this day, I still know every flipping word in the 1977 film - every shot, every blooper they left in. I was relieved they left those in when they came out with the remastered stuff. I was intrigued by the remastered version at first, but now I sort of resent what was done. The scene with Jabba and Han Solo really pi–ses me off. They recycled dialogue! UGH. I’m glad I have my 1984 copy that clearly also shows that the scene with Greedo & Han Solo - SOLO SHOT FIRST and Greedo didn’t shoot at all…

I know Lucas is strange about having any of the “original releases” available for viewing - it’s my understanding that the Library of Congress doesn’t even have one! I am fortunate to have 3 copies - 2 of them are in pretty good shape. It’s ironic that VHS machines are very expensive now by the way, but a trip to my thrift shop landed me one for $7.

I look forward to participating in these forums. I only wish I had kept all of my Star Wars articles I had saved during that period where Star Wars was my 14 year old life!!

*DIGITIZED: For my own use and preservation. VHS tapes degrade, so do DVDs - DVD Rot. I do not and will not violate laws by selling said digitized copies.