ZkinandBonez

SilverWook said:

Whoa!

“Startled by the Ewok’s grotesque features”

At first I thought; “Grotesque? But they made a children’s cartoon aboout these guys”.

Then I remembered that they actually looked like this;

I’d be startled too if this^ popped out of a bush.

More buttons/badges from 1977

So, did people actually wear these?
(I know they still make SW pins, but I’ve never seen anyone actually wear them.)

“NEW RUSSIAN ROGUE ONE POSTER”

“NEW CINEMATIC TOY AD FEATURES ‘ROGUE ONE’ SHORETROOPERS IN ACTION”

Saw Garrera will apparently have a robotic leg in addition to his life-support armor in Rogue One;

I also found this interesting (and I guess it’s sort-of RO related? It could be anyway, who knows);
https://twitter.com/bad_robot/status/779403639232147456/photo/1

Well, it’s never specified why they chose Threepio specifically. Although the Empire didn’t exactly treat them very nicely, so I don’t see why they’d worship them. It was probably because of the Empire that the Ewoks were initially planning to kill Luke, Han and Chewie. Leia was the exception as she’d previously saved Wicket from a stormtrooper. (Also I don’t see why they’d worship the giant death machines that trample their forests.)

Also as Frink already pointed out, Threepio does stand out being golden.
(Which is the specific explanation the EU gave; http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Golden_One.)

SilverWook said:

Has the EU ever dealt with the implications of Threepio being a deity to the Ewoks?

Apparently not.
This was all I could find; http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ewok_religion

(It’s a question left unanswered though, so it wouldn’t surprise me the new EU explores it one day.)

I always felt vector graphics looked very appropriate for SW, considering how the computer graphics within the SW-universe itself more-or-less looked like it.

DuracellEnergizer said:

What exactly is this?

Is this fanart, or is it actually from some children’s book or something?

The SW script referred to him as the “dark lord of the sith”, and a lot of marketing material back in the 70’s, as well as comics, etc. used the same description of him.

Granted at this point Lucas hadn’t really established what a sith was. However what they were in the earliest drafts weren’t too far away from what ended up being in the PT.

Caravan of Courage Button

"With the release of The Ewok Adventure, better known in the UK and Europe as Caravan of Courage, the UK arm of the fan club sent out this 2" button featuring the one and only Wicket W. Warrick to promote the coming of the TV movie to the UK and select European screens."
Source (StarWars.com)

Can you imagine someone actually walking around with this bug-eyed Ewok pinned to their chest?

(I also like how the parenthesis on the tag-line kinda makes it look like it’s phrased as a question; “Can Ewok adventure?”)

Clearly to be taken with a pinch of salt (probably a pile of salt), but I figured this was worth sharing anyway.

https://www.inverse.com/article/21439-yoda-puppet-star-wars-episode-viii

Neat.

These designs are pretty cool just on their own (provided you flip them of course).

Source (has all the above images in high-res)

ATMachine said:

Who did the cover art on that “Revenge of the Jedi” ad? It’s good enough that it kind of looks like Nilo Rodis-Jamero’s work.

I’m actually having a really hard time figuring out that myself.

All I’ve been able to find out is that it was placeholder art on a one-sided mock-up used for trade-show displays. No idea who actually made it, or where Parker Brothers got it from.

The final artwork, which appeared on the only existing cartridge, was made by the Hildebrandts.

Atari Star Wars games

Star Wars: The Aracade Game

Click Here for Larger Image

Gameplay footage

TV commercial

Star Wars: Jedi Arena

Click Here for Larger Image

Gameplay footage

TV commercial

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Click Here for Larger Image

Gameplay footage (taken from “How To Beat Home Video Games - Vol. 1” 1982 VHS)

TV commercial

TV commercial (Frogger and ESB)

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle

Click Here for Larger Image

Gameplay footage

TV commercial

Click Here for Larger Image

Star Wars: Ewok Adventure (cancelled game)

Gameplay footage

Source (AtariMania.com)

SilverWook said:

LOL! I was just about to say that about the glass.

And someone probably has a sealed box in their collection.

Well, the guy who wrote the article that I got these photos from did actually open a sealed box, and those are 30 year old cookies.

(The real question is, what’s the most dangerous; novelty glasses covered in lead paint or three decade old chocolate cookies?)

Pepperidge Farm’s Star Wars Cookies (1983)

1983 TV commercial

These cookies came in three flavors;

Vanilla; referred to as the “Rebel Alliance I” set. This contained cookies shaped like; Luke, Han, Leia, Yoda and Wicket.

Peanut Butter; e.g. “Rebel Alliance II”. This contained Chewbacca, Artoo, Threepio, Ackbar, and for some reason; Max Rebo.

Finally there was Chocolate; referred to as “Imperial Forces”. This had Vader and the Emperor’s Royal Guards, as well as Jabba the Hutt, Bib Fortuna and the Gamorrean Guard (not really Imperials, but I guess chocolate flavor had to represent as many interesting and new bad guys as they could fit into one box).

(Well, someone’s going to get lead-poisoned.)

Source (StarWars.com)

“FINDING PEPPERIDGE FARM’S ORIGINAL STAR WARS MOLDS AND ENGRAVINGS!” (StarWars.com article)

Well, this is why people have their own head-canon, just pick what you like and ignore the rest.

(I ignore the PT and treat the Disney films as interesting fan-films. That might be an odd solution, but it works for me.)

Hmm, there’s that pesky yellow lightsaber again.
(Don’t think I’ve ever seen that appear as late as 1983 before.)

Also now I’m curious as to what “Jedi jelly” tastes like.

Star Wars candy dispensers/containers

Topps ESB candy dispensers 1st set (1980)

2nd set “Yoda Series” (1980)

Source
(I haven’t really been able to find much informaton about the above dispensers other than the photos. It is however funny to see Bossk with little ears. I guess they misinterpreted his little “horns” as being ears based on a poor reference photo.)

Topps ROTJ candy containers (1983)

These were apparantly sold primarily in delis and corner stores, and the the author of the StarWars.com article that I found these pictures in described the taste as “bootleg Smarties.”

Source (StarWars-com)

SilverWook said:

And I recall those erasers and such pegwarming for years at my local Kaybee Toys. I think the idea of slowly eroding a beloved Star Wars character’s head off didn’t go over too well?

Depends on who you ask.
The guy who wrote the article that I got these pictures clearly didn’t mind;
“I have fond memories of chewing the dome off my Artoo. (Don’t judge me.)”

At least by 1983 they’d realized that it was smarter to label them as “collectibles.”
(Or maybe they thought it’d be a tad too morbid to shave off the heads of the "Baby Ewoks eraser.)

SilverWook said:

And I don’t smell like oranges!

I’d be more surprised to hear that Gamorreans supposedly smell like mint.

Star Wars pencil toppers and erasers (because why not?)

Helix pencil-top erasers - UK 1977

H.C. Ford & Sons Ltd. of London perfumed erasers - UK 1982

(Threepio & Artoo = apple, Chewie = orange, Han = lime, Luke = mint, Vader & Stormtrooper = grape, Leia = strawberry.)

ROTJ pencil-toppers - US 1983

(These are apparently available in vending machines for the most part, which also came with the stickers shown in the photo, but I can’t really figure out what those were for.)

More scented erasers - UK 1983

(This time around the Gamorrean guard got to smell like mint and Paploo got to smell like strawberry.)

Butterfly Originals glow-in-the-dark erasers - UK 1983

(I like how the Falcon eraser is firing at the Vader eraser on the card-back.)

Butterfly Originals also released these much more elaborate collectible erasers which almost looked like little action-figures.

Source; StarWars.com
Link 1
Link 2

SilverWook said:

I was disappointed those commercials with Colonel Sanders, the Taco Bell dog, and anonymous Pizza Hutt delivery lady weren’t included on the TPM DVD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnbNXlpWdh8

Did the voice say “The Naboo system has been invaded by the Force?”

(Lol, “Pizza Hutt”. Was that spelling intentional or accidental?)

Man, I could’ve made an entire thread for just SW-related fast-food restaurant merchandising.

Apparently Taco Bell released some toys to advertise the Special Editions of the OT in 1997.
This isn’t quite retro enough for me to bother posting a lot of pictures, but I though it was worth a mention since it’s OT related.

Source

EDIT: TV commercial

SilverWook said:

There never were any Burger Chef’s near me as a kid. I always thought McDonald’s invented the Happy Meal concept. Guess what franchise they kicked off with?

I didn’t even know that Burger Chef existed until recently, but apparently they were the first to come up with the idea.

I can’t imagine that that Star Trek marketing worked out too well for MacDonalds. Didn’t most merchandising for the first ST movie fail pretty badly? It wasn’t exactly the most “kid-friendly” in the series.

SilverWook said:

What’s more “fun”? Dead Rebels, or hideous head swapping transporter malfunctions?

Well, I never thought I’d ever see Spock in Klingon armor before, so that’s a bonus.
(Also is that one Klingon having a head-ache?)

Burger Chef Star Wars Funmeal

1977 TV commercial

My first though while watching this low res video was “what heck are these kids even playing with?”. Well, cardboard ‘puppets’ apparently. I couldn’t find much info about this until I found this article at StarWars.com and they do have a point when saying that these must have been extremely cumbersome to put together while eating at a Burger Chef.

Also, the C-3PO ‘puppet’ was the only one I could find a proper picture of.

(Nothing says “Funmeal” like a bunch of dead Rebel soldiers.)