Post by geoffrey on Oct 20, 2010 0:16:30 GMT -6
Lately I've watched several old Hammer flicks starring Peter Cushing. Tonight, without thinking about Peter Cushing being in it, I popped in Star Wars. When Peter Cushing came on screen, I instantly thought of him in his older roles. I'm sure plenty of people back in 1977 had a similar experience.
George Lucas hired Alan Dean Foster to write a novelization of the screenplay of SW, and he also hired him to write a possible sequel to SW (Splinter of the Mind's Eye). Both were finished before SW premiered on 5-25-1977. Here's what I find quite interesting:
Darth Vader does not show up until page 168 of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, even though the book has only 199 pages. In other words, Vader is absent for the first 84% of the story. Translated into a 2-hour movie, Vader wouldn't show up until 1 hour and 41 minutes into the film (i. e., only the last 19 minutes).
This, of course, would be unthinkable to us now. But when Star Wars was released, Lucas and crew were surprised at how fascinated peole were with Vader. Star-quality Peter Cushing was intended as the main bad guy, but he got overshadowed by a character intended as a mere henchman.
George Lucas hired Alan Dean Foster to write a novelization of the screenplay of SW, and he also hired him to write a possible sequel to SW (Splinter of the Mind's Eye). Both were finished before SW premiered on 5-25-1977. Here's what I find quite interesting:
Darth Vader does not show up until page 168 of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, even though the book has only 199 pages. In other words, Vader is absent for the first 84% of the story. Translated into a 2-hour movie, Vader wouldn't show up until 1 hour and 41 minutes into the film (i. e., only the last 19 minutes).
This, of course, would be unthinkable to us now. But when Star Wars was released, Lucas and crew were surprised at how fascinated peole were with Vader. Star-quality Peter Cushing was intended as the main bad guy, but he got overshadowed by a character intended as a mere henchman.
