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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2014 3:56:00 GMT -6
Hi all,
So, these days, the nerd cup floweth over with more and more random tidbits from the upcoming seventh installment of the series, this time, hopefully with less race-driving toddlers, and more witty dialogue.
Now, I wonder, given the utter absurdity of some rumors, and the notorious unreliability of George Lucas as a source, what rumors were floating around during the dark years between the first movie, and the second? - "Splinter of the Mind's Eye", for example, or the earliest Han Solo novels (IIRC), drive the story towards directions that are not necessarily compatible with the second movie.
Any ideas on the topic, or any good stories you want to share?
Yours,
Rafe, for whom the world had to wait about five more years after "Star Wars" was released.
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Post by geoffrey on Sept 28, 2014 21:38:42 GMT -6
I was born in 1970, and I saw Star Wars in the theaters in June 1977, shortly after my 7th birthday. Here are some things I remember in pre-Empire days. (I define that as before I first saw a TV commercial for ESB, upon which I nearly wet my pants. I went to school the next day excitedly telling everyone, "There's going to be a new Star Wars movie, and Luke fights Darth Vader with a lightsaber!")
Anyway, here we go with the rumors I heard back in those days:
1. There would be TWELVE Star Wars movies. They would come out every other year. Let's count on our fingers: 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999. You have to remember that in those days the TV show "Space: 1999" was in our minds, and 1999 (and 2001) sounded SOOOOOO futuristic and impossibly far-off. While we were excited about a dozen SW films, we were crushed that we would be "grown-ups" before we got to see them all.
2. One of the movies would show a young Kenobi fighting Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel. Kenobi would win, Vader would fall into lava, and that's how he came to wear his black costume.
3. When the Star Wars Holiday Special aired on Nov. 17, 1978, you can bet that nearly every boy in America was glued to the screen. I was no different. While I recognized that this TV show didn't hold a candle to Star Wars and had some dodgy stuff in it, I didn't realize how spectacularly bad it was. I was simply glad for even a small helping of more Star Wars. My favorite part was the cartoon with Boba Fett in it. "Holy smokes! A guy named Boba Fett who wears cool armor and helps Darth Vader!"
4. I heard a rumor of the upcoming Star Wars film that it partly took place in mines. While I pictured dark, subterranean shafts, this obviously was referring to Cloud City.
That's all I can recall off the top of my head.
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Post by coffee on Sept 29, 2014 6:08:54 GMT -6
I remember the first two of those, but not in such detail.
I didn't get to see the Star Wars Christmas Special, for whatever reason. (I've since seen it, and it is rubbish.)
I did read the Marvel Comics, though, for a while.
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Post by archersix on Oct 2, 2014 19:56:13 GMT -6
I was 6 when the first Star Wars movie came out, and I vividly remember watching it in the theater, and I vividly remember my dad being singularly unimpressed with it! Except for "that little blue robot, he was ok".
I remember the rumors about the Vader/Kenobi fight (which turned out to be fairly true), and just a huge amount of anticipation for the next movie.
I had the first 12 or 15 issues of the Marvel Star Wars comic. Of course I traded them for something stupid, which I can't even remember now.....
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Post by ritt on Nov 1, 2014 20:52:24 GMT -6
Really arcane SW question: When I was a grade-schooler in the 70's, Pre-EMPIRE, Pre-anything really, I remember that "Darth Vader is all messed up and has to wear that suit because he fell into lava" was an established part of playground kid lore.
Years later, in episode III, that's what we all saw on screen: Vader got all messed up because of (In part) lava burns.
Where did this come from? Did we as kids get it from some novelization or comic? Or did Lucas get it from us (i.e. It started out as fan speculation but eventually made it canon)?
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Post by geoffrey on Nov 1, 2014 23:23:41 GMT -6
Really arcane SW question: When I was a grade-schooler in the 70's, Pre-EMPIRE, Pre-anything really, I remember that "Darth Vader is all messed up and has to wear that suit because he fell into lava" was an established part of playground kid lore. Years later, in episode III, that's what we all saw on screen: Vader got all messed up because of (In part) lava burns. Where did this come from? Did we as kids get it from some novelization or comic? Or did Lucas get it from us (i.e. It started out as fan speculation but eventually made it canon)? Here you go, from an August 1977 Rolling Stone interview with George Lucas: "It's about Ben and Luke's father and Vader when they are young Jedi knights. But Vader kills Luke's father, then Ben and Vader have a confrontation, just like they have in Star Wars, and Ben almost kills Vader. As a matter of fact, he falls into a volcanic pit and gets fried and is one destroyed being. That's why he has to wear the suit with a mask, because it's a breathing mask. It's like a walking iron lung. His face is all horrible inside. I was going to shoot a close-up of Vader where you could see the inside of his face, but then we said, no, no, it would destroy the mystique of the whole thing." (Here's the whole thing: www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/the-wizard-of-star-wars-20120504?page=4 ) That interview was published a mere 3 months after Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977. We've known about this little plot point almost since the very beginning.
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Post by ritt on Nov 2, 2014 1:44:39 GMT -6
Thank you Geoffrey, that was absolutely fascinating.
The very sharp, lively, hip Lucas of that interview seems galaxies away from the almost Aspergers-ey Lucas of the past two decades.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 2, 2014 7:18:27 GMT -6
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Post by geoffrey on Nov 2, 2014 8:54:26 GMT -6
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 7, 2014 5:33:43 GMT -6
Also an excellent book which is well footnoted. I didn't mention it because it is older and I think there's a thread that discusses it. The book I read just came out.
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