To be fair, Leia was never supposed to be Like’s sister until Lucas pulled it out of his ass for the last movie. He hoped it would tie up loose ends. He’s not always the most logical thinker.
6 Likes
Are we allowed to not care about Star Wars any more?
If you liked Return of the Jedi and you want more then Farscape is really the next thing on your list.
1 Like
Oh, yeah. I remember that trailer.
A week or so before, I spotted the first printing of the novelization in Sun Drug’s book rack:
The cover was cheesy, and the blurb was cheesy. “Meh” I thought, and put it back.
The trailer, as goofy as it seems now, was full of WOW. I asked my mom to stop by Sun Drug on the way home from the theater to pick up that book.
Now: I was a serious SF reader before Star Wars. Dune, Ringworld, Foundation trilogy, Star Maker, Starship Troopers, etc etc. I had started playing D&D the summer before, and had been playing SF strategy games like Stellar Conquest and Starforce: Alpha Centauri for years.
So . . . nothing in Star Wars was really new.
What it brought was validation. It was like someone finally made a SF movie that acknowledged all the sprawling galactic civilization stuff in the novels I loved, and stuck it up on the big screen.
7 Likes
My brothers reaction to that trailer was “This movie is going to flop” and after seeing it again many moons later I can see why he thought that.
2 Likes
I understand my love for it again. This was in the time of Hollywood Squares and the Mike Douglass Show.
That really was the coolest thing that had ever been seen.
4 Likes
The trailer was also on TV and yep it does look like a slow moving train wreck from that trailer. First time I saw it was that summer at a drive in.
2 Likes
I remember telling a store clerk, after seeing it opening weekend, that the music was a combination of Rocky and Adventures of Robin Hood.
1 Like
I and all my friends saw the ads and had to see it immediately. I don’t recall that particular trailer, but there were some ads that were faster-paced and looked awesome. Seeing Siskel and Ebert review it made the anticipation even greater.
I think some people here have been conditioned by the quick-cut style that took hold in the 80s and beyond. And familiarity with the characters. Maybe seeing Darth Vader and Chewbacca is old hat now, but put those two–as new characters–in ANY trailer would make my childhood self want to see the movie. So I don’t think this trailer was awful; it’s just that in retrospect it doesn’t do Star Wars justice. In 1976, however, even the way the ships flew and fired was a revelation. The bar was still set pretty low for special effects back then, remember.
9 Likes
All trailers looked like that in the 70s. They all used the same weird, deep, spooky voiceover, even for non-horror movies. And horror movie trailers–which they played on TV in the morning and afternoon–were scarier than any horror movie trailers since. They even used deep, spooky voices for coffee ads. I don’t know why.
At some point the “in a world…” guy took over movie trailers and the old trailers look weird and slow-paced, and wayyyy too long.
7 Likes
“15 minutes”? Man, you were a tough audience. I still can’t hear the Fox Fanfare without my heart beating faster waiting for the opening strains of the Star Wars theme. 
I hadn’t noticed before watching the trailer, that Carrie Fisher closes her eyes when shooting the blaster (and is still a better shot than the Storm Troopers); it really adds to the “realism” of the scene.
@mcme, “My brothers reaction to that trailer was “This movie is going to flop” and after seeing it again many moons later I can see why he thought that.”
That’s no moon.
4 Likes
This is my first time seeing this trailer. I was on a military base with 1 movie theatre that changed movies once a week. Not much else to do on a night off other than bowl. Glad I didn’t see the trailer or I would have went bowling.
1 Like
8 Likes
“Oy, ham yer faaarthur.”
4 Likes
Darth Farmer
2 Likes
Assuming this was made before the soundtrack was finished, I’d bet money Lucas or someone else said, “for the trailer’s music, use ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’ from Holst’s ‘The Planets’,” and the producers of the trailer said, “You can’t tell us what to do.”
1 Like
I noticed that on the DVD bonus discs that came out years ago, too. I’m hoping that with Disney acquiring Fox, we’ll get those shined-up copies of the originals in the next year or two. Fingers crossed.
1 Like
I remember seeing the trailer as a kid and really wanting to see the movie because I was totally fascinated by the dog-like creature (Chewbacca).
Side note: I used to love Battle of the Network Stars! Do you remember the episode when tough guy Robert Conrad was all pissed off because he was beaten in a relay race by Mr. Kotter? He demanded a re-run and Kotter smoked him again. I think that clip is on YouTube now.
3 Likes
Imagine Darth Vader sounding like one of the Fanshaw-Churnleighs of Berkshire.
Movie trailer for “The Empire Strikes Back” done in contemporary style:
1 Like
