27 years of Star Wars

Krash · Jedi Knight Joined: Mar 20, 2004 Posts: 3495

On May 25, 1977, Star Wars (A New Hope) was released in theaters. Seems kinda strange to think that the thing that started it all...and what brought all of us together, is 27 years old!

Happy Birthday Star Wars!

Beltayn · Jedi Knight Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 1712

Here's the question- how many of us saw Star Wars at the movies in 1977?

I did Very Happy

Malo-ha · Recruiting Councillor Joined: Mar 27, 2004 Posts: 786

Is this one of things where we show our age? Laughing

I know I saw it in the theater and I loved it because I was so psyched to see Empire but I can't actually remember being in the theater seeing it.

Beltayn · Jedi Knight Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 1712

Malo-ha wrote:

Is this one of things where we show our age? Laughing

It's not the age...it's the mileage Wink

I remember seeing it Parmatown Mall theater for the first time... then about 10 times at other theaters... including a re-release in the early 80's right before Empire was released.

(Matter of fact- I first saw Empire & Jedi at Parmatown Mall... and to think I used to attend the midnight showings of 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' every other Saturday night for two years straight!)

Something else... I've never gotten quite used to hearing the origional Star Wars movie refered to as 'A New Hope'. Yeah, I realize that was the Episode IV title... but... to not just myself but some other old folks I know- it's always been just Star Wars Cool

Krash · Jedi Knight Joined: Mar 20, 2004 Posts: 3495

Beltayn wrote:

It's not the age...it's the mileage Wink

Right on!

Beltayn wrote:

including a re-release in the early 80's right before Empire was released.

That must have been how I managed to see "Star Wars" in the theaters (Great Northern Mall). And for you younglings...yes, there WAS a theater in the middle of what now is HOME DEPOT. I was born June 9th, 1976...and aside from the possibility of "images really, feelings" I douby i could remember watching the movie at 11 months old. I saw ESB at Great Northern as well.

I know the fans (especially on the internet) always refer to it as ANH, but when I talk about the original theatrical release...I try to say "Star Wars" because that WAS the title of the movie. I can't imagine what experiencing a "blockbuster" must have felt like, before the concept of a blockbuster movie became the expected result. "Titanic" may have come close...same with LOTR...but to be there when it was a unique experience must have been cool.

TheRandomMenace · Jedi Knight Joined: Mar 30, 2004 Posts: 1886

My parents were engaged and had another 14 months until they were even married when ANH came out. Then I didn't arrive until 4 years later.

Quote:

I know the fans (especially on the internet) always refer to it as ANH, but when I talk about the original theatrical release...I try to say "Star Wars" because that WAS the title of the movie.

You're partially right... it was the title of the movie, but this was when Lucas had no weight as a director because he had yet to deliver a commercially successful film like ANH (I know American Graffitti and THX 1138 were already made but none of them were at blockbuster status). "A New Hope" was always the title of the movie, but 20th Century Fox made him remove "Episode IV" and "A New Hope" from the original crawl despite him wanting to include them, because the studio thought that no one would want to see a movie called "A New Hope," and would be confused walking into the fourth movie of a series in which no one saw the first three movies. Hence the promotion of the film as "Star Wars." As I already said, Lucas had no real weight as a director at this point, so the studio won out. But George got the last laugh after he did become so commercially successful and the studio allowed him to finally reattach the film's real title to the crawl.

I personally call it A New Hope because my "certain point of view" of Star Wars is that it is one movie with six episodes... with A New Hope being one of those individual episodes. I associate the Star Wars title with the saga, not Episode IV. Probably because that's the way George envisioned it. Very Happy

Krash · Jedi Knight Joined: Mar 20, 2004 Posts: 3495

While most of us have heard this story before, there is one interesting frell-up in your assessment of how much importance the "A New Hope" subtitle really has to GL.

This was the SE poster from 1997 (GL had full control by now)...I don't see the ANH anywhere? Question

Also IMD has some enlightening info on this:

1. Star Wars (1977)
aka "Star Wars IV: A New Hope"
aka "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope"

aka stands for "also known as" meaning that wasn't the primary name for the film. So, in regards to the movie that started it all...it's "Star Wars" we fans refer to it as ANH to seperate it from the other Star Wars films.

Padme92 · Treasury Councillor Joined: Mar 27, 2004 Posts: 2123

Wow Geoff you have way too much time on your hands first of all!!! Rolling Eyes

Also I can believe it has been 27 years since in 2002 it was 25 years!! That is like a quarter century!!! I got to see the SE Episode IV on the big screen cause I was pushed there but that is a whole different story!!