Today is the last day of our huge 50% off sale! We have comic books as low as $1! Come and get them before they sell out!
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The Last Day Of Our 50% Off Storewide Sale On Comic Books & Toys!
Today is the last day of our huge 50% off sale! We have comic books as low as $1! Come and get them before they sell out!
The Shogun Warriors - The Many Heads of Cerebus!
$5.39 @ Atomic Robot - Order Here
Story by Doug Meonch. Art by Herb Trimpe and Mike Esposito
Part 1 of 2 - "The Many Heads of Cerebus!":
Can even the mighty Raydeen triumph against the mysterious new threat - Cerebus.
Notes:
The events in this issue take place "weeks" after the three humans were teleported to Shogun Sanctuary in issue Vol 1 1. The plane that Genji Odahsu was flying when she and it were teleported is described in this issue as an experimental prototype for a jet-fighter that was being developed by Japan Airlines.
Story by Doug Meonch. Art by Herb Trimpe and Mike Esposito
Part 1 of 2 - "The Many Heads of Cerebus!":
Can even the mighty Raydeen triumph against the mysterious new threat - Cerebus.
Notes:
The events in this issue take place "weeks" after the three humans were teleported to Shogun Sanctuary in issue Vol 1 1. The plane that Genji Odahsu was flying when she and it were teleported is described in this issue as an experimental prototype for a jet-fighter that was being developed by Japan Airlines.
Futurama Reboot Coming To Hulu July 24th
From Hulu:After a brief ten-year hiatus, Futurama has crawled triumphantly from the cryogenic tube, its full original cast and satirical spirit intact. The ten all-new episodes of season eleven have something for everyone. New viewers will be able to pick up the series from here, while long-time fans will recognize payoffs to decades-long mysteries - including developments in the epic love story of Fry and Leela, the mysterious contents of Nibbler's litter box, the secret history of evil Robot Santa, and the whereabouts of Kif and Amy's tadpoles. Meanwhile there's a whole new pandemic in town as the crew explores the future of vaccines, bitcoin, cancel culture, and streaming TV.
CAST: John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman
CREDITS: Created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen. Executive Producers include Groening, Cohen, Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz.
Disney Campsites Series Chip 'n Dale DS-144 D-Stage Statue by Beast Kingdom
$33.99 - Order Here
Celebrate the great outdoors, set up camp, and relax with your favorite classic Disney characters! The vividly designed Disney Campsites Series Chip 'n Dale DS-144 D-Stage Statue brings a 360-degree cartoon camping scene to life. The outdoorsy diorama style statue measures approximately 7 1/4-inches tall x 5-inches wide. Complete a full campground scene by adding this and other Disney Campsites Series statues (sold separately) to your collection!
Specifications
Company: Beast Kingdom
Theme: Disney
Product Type: Statues
Characters: Chip, Dale
Material: Plastic
Item Height: 7.28 inches (18.49 cm)
Item Width: 4.92 inches (12.50 cm)
Item Length: 4.92 inches (12.50 cm)
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Bandai Millenium Godzilla Movie Monster Series Vinyl Figure
Anime Classics - Dominion: Tank Police (1988)(Agent 21, Manga Entertainment)
Imagine a future where hospitals only treat healthy people, the two sexiest women in town are part android, and the criminals are so extreme that the police department has to resort to using tanks to fight them. Such is the world of Newport, Japan, a fictional city that serves as the backdrop for Koichi Mashamoto's 1988 four part anime, "Dominion Tank Police."
See Also: Fight!! Iczer-One Volume 1 - Acts One & Two - VHS Tape - US Renditions
As the story begins we learn that the "Tank Police" have been getting into a little trouble as of late. It seems that they have been doing more damage to the city of Newport than the criminals have. This hasn't been sitting too well with the local government, who have begun a campaign to eliminate the them. It seems that the very people who have been entrusted to keep the peace have they themselves become more of a menace than the low-lives that they were created to combat.
Enter Leona Ozaki, formally of the motorcycle division, who has requested a transfer to the "Tank Police" because she....well ..thinks tanks are cute.
Now, the last thing that the leader of Newport's Tank Division, Charles Britain, wants is some girl distracting his testosterone filled officers. So, the savvy commander puts the young Leona behind the controls of the largest tank in the corp. It is his hope that the machine will be too much for her, and she will be scared back to her motorcycle.
Here is where we meet up with those, "extreme" criminals that the "Tank Police" were created to stop. Buaku is the leader a small gang who generally specializes in bank robbery and general mayhem. His two counterparts are the sexy felines AnnaPuma and UniPuma, who were originally created as android "love dolls" who evolved beyond their programing to enter into lives of crime.
Buaku has come up with a ingenious plan to break into a local hospital to steal urine samples for a mysterious crime boss known as Mr. Big. He has hidden a machine gun under a fake cast in which he uses to shoot up the hospital as steel the....um.....pee.
Everything is going fine until the ambulance that they have stolen crashes into the back of Leona's monster tank. Britain becomes incensed that his precious tank has been scratched and Buaku is forced to blast him. Britain survives the blast and the "Tank Police" take off in "hot pursuit". Leona destroys the ambulance with a lucky shot and Buaku escapes with the Puma Sisters into the night.
After her experience with the monster tank, Leona decides to build her own mini-tank from spare parts she finds behind the police station garage. She calls her new creation, "Bonaparte" and with Britain's blessing, Leona and fellow officer, Al Cu Ad Solte, use the the tiny tank to wage their own personal war on Buaku and his gang.
To counteract Leona's constant attacks, the mob boss, "Mr. Big", supplies Buaku and Company with their own tanks that deploy anti-tank weapons shaped.....like.....um....giant penises.
As you can imagine, there are plenty of comedic hi jinks after that point.
This is where the series makes an interesting change from a more comedic story to a very serious and philosophical one.
We find out that Buaku was apparently a "test dummy" for something called "The Greenpeace Crolis Project".
Somehow Buaku managed to escape the destruction when government agents raided the companies lab and destroyed everything except for encoded data disguised as a nude portrait of himself.
Buaku steels the portrait and breaks into the remains of Greanpeace lab to try and figure out exactly who he is.
A very deep ending for a series that started out on such a whimsical tone.
The animated version of "Dominion: Tank Police" would serve as a prequel to the1985 two volume manga series that was written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow.
The series would prove to be so popular that it would spawn two sequels, "New Dominion Tank Police" and "Tank S.W.A.T. 01"
In the later series, the Puma Sisters actually join the "Tank Police", much to Leona's displeasure.
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The Hottest Comic Book Back Issues For May 2023 @ Atomic Robot Comics & Toys!
$7.49 - Order Here
Written by Marv Wolfman. Pencils by Keith Pollard and inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover by Al Milgrom
"Never Let The Black Cat Cross Your Path!" Part 1 of 2:
Reprint of the 1st story from Amazing Spider-Man #194
One of the landmark issues of the Amazing Spider-Man series! The dazzling debut of the Black Cat! The wall-crawler has spent the first 193 issues of his title chasing super-villains! But tonight he's going to kiss one instead! Wow! Does the web-slinger stand a chance against the beauty and charm of Felicia Hardy? Not when the alluring cat has his tongue! And maybe later his heart!
Written by Marv Wolfman. Pencils by Keith Pollard and inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover by Al Milgrom
"Never Let The Black Cat Cross Your Path!" Part 1 of 2:
Reprint of the 1st story from Amazing Spider-Man #194
One of the landmark issues of the Amazing Spider-Man series! The dazzling debut of the Black Cat! The wall-crawler has spent the first 193 issues of his title chasing super-villains! But tonight he's going to kiss one instead! Wow! Does the web-slinger stand a chance against the beauty and charm of Felicia Hardy? Not when the alluring cat has his tongue! And maybe later his heart!
With the Cosmic Cube in his possession, the Red Skull confronts Captain America and switches bodies with him. Back at SHIELD headquarters, Rick Jones searches for Captain America and asks Sharon Carter if she has seen him; Although she is testing a new SHIELD weapon, Sharon tells Rick that he hasn't seen Captain America since she rejected his request that she leave SHIELD; Rick contacts his old gang of Ham radio enthusiasts, the Teen Brigade, and asks them all to out for Captain America and report back if they see him; Meanwhile, the Red Skull continues using the Cosmic Cube in ways to drive Captain America insane, hurtling him from this realm to different worlds and shrinking him down in size.
$29.99 - Order Here
Comic book version of the original Star Trek TV series that starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. 10210-912. Photo cover of Leonard Nimoy as Spock, from the TV episode Amok Time.
Script by Dick Wood, art by Alberto Giolitti
"When Planets Collide":
Kirk and Spock are in a race against time to save two inhabited planets
Script by Dick Wood, art by Alberto Giolitti
"When Planets Collide":
Kirk and Spock are in a race against time to save two inhabited planets
$9.49 - Order Here
Written by Peter David. Art and cover by Greg Land and Jay Leisten
"I was flown here by a talking raccoon and an Avengers villain... to a place where the head of security is a talking dog... and a troll brother is ritualistically hunting his sister! All to fight a villain who thinks he's my brother! Forget seriousness."
~Spider-Man
"The Sword and the Spirit" Part Five:
The god-king of the symbiotes has made his presence known across space and time - will the assembled heroes of Marvel's yesteryear be enough to stave off his suffocating darkness, or will every corner of the Marvel Universe fall to the KING IN BLACK?!
"I was flown here by a talking raccoon and an Avengers villain... to a place where the head of security is a talking dog... and a troll brother is ritualistically hunting his sister! All to fight a villain who thinks he's my brother! Forget seriousness."
~Spider-Man
"The Sword and the Spirit" Part Five:
The god-king of the symbiotes has made his presence known across space and time - will the assembled heroes of Marvel's yesteryear be enough to stave off his suffocating darkness, or will every corner of the Marvel Universe fall to the KING IN BLACK?!
$4.49 - Order Here
Cover pencils by Tony Daniel, inks by Jon Holdredge, script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Tony Daniel, inks by Kevin Conrad
"The Axe Falls":
X-Force rescues Gyrich; Feral quits X-Force and joins the MLF; Sunspot disappears in one of Locus' teleports.
"The Axe Falls":
X-Force rescues Gyrich; Feral quits X-Force and joins the MLF; Sunspot disappears in one of Locus' teleports.
$20.49 - Order Here
"The Thing no more!":
Arriving on Earth from the Microverse, Reed, Ben and Johnny are happily surprised to find the threat of Galactus has been averted. Elsewhere, the Wizard has been released from prison and vows revenge against the Fantastic Four, creating "Wonder Gloves" that increase his strength. After testing the weapons out, he flies towards the Baxter building to get revenge on his foes. Meanwhile, Reed has come up with yet another invention to change Ben back to a normal human, and surprisingly this time it works with no side effects. Just then the Wizard attacks, and without the added strength of the Thing, Reed and Johnny are unable to match the villain's new powers. While at the hospital, the doctors have some concerns about the baby Susan is carrying. Speaking to Crystal in private they show her medical charts which show that the cosmic rays in Sue's body could effect the baby.
Arriving on Earth from the Microverse, Reed, Ben and Johnny are happily surprised to find the threat of Galactus has been averted. Elsewhere, the Wizard has been released from prison and vows revenge against the Fantastic Four, creating "Wonder Gloves" that increase his strength. After testing the weapons out, he flies towards the Baxter building to get revenge on his foes. Meanwhile, Reed has come up with yet another invention to change Ben back to a normal human, and surprisingly this time it works with no side effects. Just then the Wizard attacks, and without the added strength of the Thing, Reed and Johnny are unable to match the villain's new powers. While at the hospital, the doctors have some concerns about the baby Susan is carrying. Speaking to Crystal in private they show her medical charts which show that the cosmic rays in Sue's body could effect the baby.
$20.49 - Order Here
"Old Man Logan" Part 1 of 8:
Nobody knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of all. For 50 years, no one has heard hide nor hair from him...and in his place stands an old man called Logan. A man concerned only about his family. A man pushed to the brink by the HULK GANG. A man forced to help an old friend-the blind archer, HAWKEYE-to drive three thousand miles to secure his family's safety. Get ready for the ride of your life, Logan
Nobody knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of all. For 50 years, no one has heard hide nor hair from him...and in his place stands an old man called Logan. A man concerned only about his family. A man pushed to the brink by the HULK GANG. A man forced to help an old friend-the blind archer, HAWKEYE-to drive three thousand miles to secure his family's safety. Get ready for the ride of your life, Logan
Bandai Millenium Godzilla Movie Monster Series Vinyl Figure
Millenium Godzilla Movie Monster Series Vinyl FigureMillenium Godzilla Movie Monster Series Vinyl Figure:
Collect all your fan favorite monsters from the world's longest running film franchise! This rendition of Godzilla captures its appearance in Godzilla 2000: Millennium. The Millennium Godzilla Bandai Movie Monster Series Vinyl Figure measures approximately 10-inches long x 6-inches tall. Bandai's Movie Monster Series offers durable, highly detailed, vinyl figures with true to film likeness of iconic kaiju. Don't miss this atomic monster for your Godzilla collection!
Specifications
Company: Bandai Namco
Theme: Godzilla
Product Type: Action Figures
Character: Godzilla
Material: Vinyl
Item Height: 6 inches (15.24 cm)
Item Width: 5.50 inches (13.97 cm)
Item Length: 10 inches (25.40 cm)
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A True Sci Fi Classic - The Day The Earth Stood Still
A perfect example of what can be achieved when Science Fiction cinema is approached in a serious and mature manor is the 1951 classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Made in the early 50s, before the atomic monster boom and sensationalised alien invasion films became the staples of the genre, "TDTESS" is arguably the best Science Fiction movie ever produced.
The films producer, Julian Blaustein, milled over some 200 short stories and novels before he discovered Harry Bates', "Farewell to the Master." He felt the story would make a perfect platform for a film that could address "Cold War" fears and provide a strong social commentary. Edmund H. North was hired one to adapt the story into a screenplay.
When director Robert Wise was brought on board, he the producer Blaustein, became wrapped up in a struggle with the executives at 20th Century Fox, who felt the film would be a perfect vehicle for actor Spencer Tracy. The production team was aiming for realism and they believed that the films title character, Klaatu, had to be someone "foreign" to American film goers. Wise went as far as to say that, "if the spaceship opens up and out walks Spencer Tracy, the film will be ruined." Eventually the studio caved, and established British actor Michael Rennie was cast as the alien visitor, Klaatu. Rennie, though a major actor in the UK, was virtually unknown in the US, thus the production was blessed with both a talented actor and someone who could be "alien" enough to give the character the sense of mystery that it required.
Rennie was not the only casting problem that Wise and Blaustein would have to go to bat over. Sam Jaffe was cast as Professor Jacob Barnhardt, even though he was blacklisted by the movie industry for being a suspected communist.
The part of the giant robot, Gort, was played by 7'-7" actor Lock Martin, who had an absolutely miserable time during filming. Despite Martin's enormous size, he, like most people of extreme height, was not very strong. One scene required the alien robot to lift and carry Helen Benson (Patricia Neal). Martin simply couldn't lift the actress and carry her, so Neal was placed on a rolling table that was off screen. In another scene late in the film, Gort walks out of the spaceship and stands behind Klaatu for several minutes. The weight of the costume was too much for Martin to stand for any long period of time, and if you look closely, it is very evident that the actor is fighting to stay erect for the entire take. To get around this, the production team used a statue for any scene that required the robot to remain stationary for any length of time.
Now, even more than fifty years after it's release, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" delivers a powerful message of peace and tolerance. The "cold war" may be over, but we still live in a very violent and narrow-minded world. It is no surprise that Fox would choose the film for a modern makeover. Many of the same issues that were prevalent in 1951 still exist, and yet there are totally new ones that plague mankind. Will the new "The Day The Earth Stood Still" have the same social impact as the original? Possibly, if the film is taken seriously. Sci Fi cinema has been a mixed bag of high-end effects and sub-standard plots over the decades. "The Day The Earth Stood Still" stands as one of the exceptions to the rule. It is a very well thought out film with exceptional acting. To say that the modern version will have huge shoes to fill is an understatement.
Plot:
A flying saucer lands on the Ellipse in President's Park, Washington, D.C. Klaatu (Michael Rennie) emerges and declares he has come on a mission of goodwill. However, when he opens a small, menacing-looking device, he is shot and wounded by a nervous soldier who mistakes it for a weapon. In response, a large robot called Gort steps out of the ship and disintegrates all weapons present without harming the soldiers. Klaatu orders him to stop and explains the "weapon" was a gift to the President that could have been used to study life on other planets. Klaatu is taken to Walter Reed Hospital, where he recovers. The doctors analyze Klaatu, learning he is 78 years old and that his people's average lifespan is 130. The military attempt to enter Klaatu's ship, but find it impregnable, while Gort remains motionless.
Klaatu meets the President's secretary, Mr. Harley (Frank Conroy), and reveals he has a message he wants the whole world to hear. Unfortunately, Harley notes the divided world leaders cannot even agree on a meeting place for such a momentous occasion. When Klaatu suggests he live among ordinary people to get to know them better, Harley rebuffs him and has him locked inside his room. Klaatu escapes to a boarding house, assuming the alias "Mr. Carpenter", the name on the laundry label of a suit he has taken. Among the boarding house residents are Helen Benson (Patricia Neal), a secretary at the Department of Commerce, and her son Bobby (Billy Gray). Helen is a widow; her husband was killed in World War II. The next morning, Klaatu listens to a paranoid radio commentator as well as the boarders' speculation over the breakfast table; one (Frances Bavier) suggests that it might be the work of the Soviets.
When Helen's boyfriend, Tom Stephens (Hugh Marlowe), plans a day-trip getaway for the two of them, Klaatu offers to take care of Bobby. Bobby takes Klaatu on a tour of the city, including a visit to his father's grave in Arlington National Cemetery, where Klaatu learns with dismay that most of those buried there were killed in wars. The two next visit the Lincoln Memorial and the heavily-guarded spaceship, where Gort stands motionlessly on guard. Klaatu, impressed by the inscription of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, is hopeful that Earth may harbor people wise enough to understand his message. When he asks Bobby to name the greatest person in the world today, Bobby mentions a leading American scientist, Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), who lives nearby. Bobby takes Klaatu to Barnhardt's home. The professor is absent; Klaatu goes into his study and helps solve an advanced mathematical n-body problem written on a blackboard, before leaving his address with the housekeeper.
Later, government agents escort Klaatu to see Barnhardt, who has seen the correction to his work as a calling card which could not have been faked. Klaatu warns the professor that the people of the other planets are concerned for their safety because human beings have developed atomic power. Barnhardt offers Klaatu the opportunity to speak at an upcoming meeting of scientists he is organizing at the spaceship; Klaatu accepts. Barnhardt is stunned when Klaatu declares that, if his message is rejected by Earth's leaders, "Planet Earth will be eliminated". The professor pleads for Klaatu to first provide a minor demonstration of his power as a warning. Klaatu returns to his spaceship the next evening to implement the professor's suggestion, unaware Bobby watched him enter the ship. He tells Helen and Tom what he has seen when they return from an evening out – Helen notices her son's shoes are soaking wet, while Tom finds a diamond – the currency of Klaatu's people – in Carpenter's room. Tom takes the diamond to three separate jewelers the following day, who all note they have never seen anything like it. When Bobby tells him what he saw, Klaatu meets Helen at work to clarify his intent. While riding in an elevator, it stops. A montage sequence shows that Klaatu has suppressed electric power all over the world – with the exception of critical systems such as hospitals and planes in flight. After the blackout, the authorities step up their manhunt for Klaatu, quarantining the city so no one can enter or leave.
Klaatu manages to enlists Helen's aid, but Tom tells the authorities of the alien's location. Helen and Klaatu take a taxi to wait at Barnhardt's home until the conference. Klaatu tells Helen that if anything should happen to him, she must go to Gort and say, "Klaatu barada nikto." When they are spotted, Klaatu tries to flee but is shot dead. Gort awakens, killing two guards before Helen gives Klaatu's message to him. Gort gently carries her into the spaceship, retrieves Klaatu's corpse, and temporarily revives him. Klaatu steps out of the spaceship and addresses the assembled scientists, explaining that humanity's penchant for violence and first steps into space have caused concern among the other space faring worlds, who have created a race of robot enforcers like Gort and given them absolute power to deal with any violence. He warns that the people of Earth can either abandon warfare and peacefully join these other nations or be destroyed, adding that "The decision rests with you." He then enters the spaceship and departs.
Reception:
The film was moderately successful when released, grossing $1.85 million. Variety praised the film's documentary style, and the Los Angeles Times praised its seriousness, though it also found "certain subversive elements". The Daily Worker's reviewer was unimpressed and felt it was not inspirational enough. The film earned more plaudits overseas: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave the filmmakers a special Golden Globe Award for "promoting international understanding". The French magazine Cahiers du cinéma were also impressed, with Pierre Kast calling it "almost literally stunning" and praising its "moral relativism".
Note: Actress Patricia Neal (Helen Benson) thought the film's most famous phrase, "Klaatu barada nikto", was the silliest thing she had ever heard. It was all that she could do to get the line out. Immediately after "cut" was yelled, she would burst out into laughter.
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Space Pirate Captain Harlock - Ablaze
$5.49 @ Atomic Robot - Order Here
Written by Jerome Alquie & Leiji Matsumoto. Art and Cover by Jerome Alquie
Preview the forthcoming full color, original 'Space Pirate Captain Harlock' series from ABLAZE, personally overseen by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto! In this brand-new Captain Harlock adventure, planet Earth is threatened by an upcoming invasion by the Sylvidres and despite being banished as a pirate, Captain Harlock won't give up trying to save the world. Will Captain Harlock and his crew manage to solve this mystery and save the Earth from yet another menace? Also includes teasers for 3 highly anticipated upcoming manga/manhwa releases from ABLAZE, including The Breaker Vol 1 omnibus (critically acclaimed martial arts manhwa), Versus Fighting Story Vol 1 (Capcom e-sports shonen manga) and Crueler Than Dead Vol 1 (zombie horror seinen manga).
1st Printing.
This comic book is in used condition and is complete with all pages and cover attached it has flaws that warrant a grade of NM.
Comic will come bagged and boarded.
Preview the forthcoming full color, original 'Space Pirate Captain Harlock' series from ABLAZE, personally overseen by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto! In this brand-new Captain Harlock adventure, planet Earth is threatened by an upcoming invasion by the Sylvidres and despite being banished as a pirate, Captain Harlock won't give up trying to save the world. Will Captain Harlock and his crew manage to solve this mystery and save the Earth from yet another menace? Also includes teasers for 3 highly anticipated upcoming manga/manhwa releases from ABLAZE, including The Breaker Vol 1 omnibus (critically acclaimed martial arts manhwa), Versus Fighting Story Vol 1 (Capcom e-sports shonen manga) and Crueler Than Dead Vol 1 (zombie horror seinen manga).
1st Printing.
This comic book is in used condition and is complete with all pages and cover attached it has flaws that warrant a grade of NM.
Comic will come bagged and boarded.
The Babylon 5 Animated Movie Is Coming Soon - Voice Cast Announced
This is exciting news! I loved Babylon 5 back in the day.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
A week ago, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski revealed that a new animated film from the franchise was in the works, and now more details are coming to the surface.
Babylon 5: The Road Home will continue the story he started in the 1990s, with the logline stating, “Travel across the galaxy with John Sheridan as he unexpectedly finds himself transported through multiple timelines and alternate realities in a quest to find his way back home. Along the way he reunites with some familiar faces, while discovering cosmic new revelations about the history, purpose, and meaning of the Universe.”Returning Babylon 5 cast members include Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan, Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova, Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari, Bill Mumy as Lennier, Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley and Patricia Tallman as Lyta Alexander.
Straczynski wrote the film and executive produces. Matt Peters, known for Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, directs, with Rick Morales serving as supervising producer. Sam Register is the executive producer on the project.
The voice cast also includes Paul Guyet as Zathras and Jeffery Sinclair, Anthony Hansen as Michael Garibaldi, Mara Junot as Reporter and Computer Voice, Phil LaMarr as Dr. Stephen Franklin, Piotr Michael as David Sheridan, Andrew Morgado as G’Kar and Rebecca Riedy as Delenn.
Babylon 5 began life as a film that aired on TV in 1993, and the ratings were strong enough that Warners ordered a series that ran five seasons and 110 episodes. Straczynski has continued expanding the story of Babylon 5, a 5-mile-long space station seen as neutral ground for various alien species to interact amid the backdrop of a threat of war. It spawned multiple feature-length TV films, comics and novels, as well as the spinoff series Crusade.
Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment are plotting a summer release for the new animated feature.
Straczynski has plugged the new film with words such as “raucous,” “heartfelt” and “nonstop,” and called it a “love letter to the fans.”
Tales of the Unexplained - Are Lizard Men Living Among Us?
As most of you already know, I have an incredible fascination with monsters and strange creatures of lore, mythology, cryptozoology, television and of course movies.
Now today I was planning to write an article about one of the lesser known cryptids that have been seen all over the world, Lizard Men. My article was going to focus on the history of sightings here in California, and their possible link to the lost continents of Mu or Lemuria.
Mu and Lemuria are basically the Pacific Oceans' very own versions of Atlantis, to make a long story short.
Now, you may think that this is some sort of coincidence, but while I was skimming through the news on Google this morning I came across a story about a Lizard Man written by J.S. Holland for Louisville Mojo.
That's weird that I came across a story about Lizard Men on the very same day that I was going to write my own.
Some of you may say that this was some sort of fate, a cosmic connection, others will simply dismiss this as randomness. I however believe that all things happen do to plan, whether that be by God's plan or not.
Now to get to the meat of the J.S. Holland piece. It seems that way back on October 28th, 1878, there was an article in the Courier-Journal (Louisville) about a scaly "Wild Man of the Woods" that had been captured and put on display.
When one generally hears the term, "Wild Man", images of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot normally comes to mind, this creature, however, was far different. According to the original article, this strange being was about 6-foot-tall, with large eyes, and covered with scales.
This strange lizard-like humanoid was reportedly displayed in Louisville for some time before, like the "Minnesota Ice Man” and the Bigfoot captured by railroad employees around the turn of the century in Canada, it disappeared never to be seen again.
I should be noted that 'hoaxed' newspaper stories were very popular in the 1800s. Articles concocted to stimulate the public and boost newspaper sales. The more wild and unbelievable the better. However, according to Holland (I didn't read the article myself) the 1878 story in question was treated rather matter-of-factually despite its outlandish subject matter.."
Does that add any credence to the validity of the article? Probably not.
Regardless, this 1878 account of a "Lizard Man" is not unique, not on a worldwide scale, or even for the American south.
In June of 1988, a sixteen-year-old boy named Christopher Davis was attacked by a 7-foot-tall, scaly monster, while changing a flat tire near the Scape Ore Swamp in South Carolina.
The "Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp" (also known as the Lizard Man of Lee County) reportedly tried to attack the youth's car as he tried to escape.
In the following months after the attack other local residents reported sightings and other attacks on vehicles. Seems this "Lizard-Man" wasn't much of a car buff.
Reports of the creature, and sometimes creatures, continue to this day in the area, the latest being reported in 2005 and 2008.
Other areas of the country that seem to be home to lizard-like humanoids include Loveland, Ohio (The Loveland Frog), Thetis Lake, British Columbia, Canada (Thetis Lake Monster) and also here in my home state of California.
Is there really a race of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" like "Gill-Men" living in obscurity in North America?
Good question?
Though these things aren't seen with near the regularity of the Sasquatch or Bigfoot the reports may be worth some investigation.
Local legends of lizard-like races come from various periods of human history. There is the Cecrops, the mythical first King of Athens who was half-man-half-snake, the Dragon Kings of Chinese mythology, the Nāga in India and the Zahhak, a figure from Zoroastrian mythology, just to touch on a few.
One of the predominant theories about these creatures is that they are extraterrestrial in origin ( an aliens race from another world). Indeed there have been numerous reports of lizard-like aliens emerging from UFOs.
Many authors about UFO encounters have postulated that these guys are here to start a colony, but if that's true then they have either been really slow about it or they are already living here.
Food for thought for now though I do promise to write about all the California "Lizard Men" sightings as time permits.
Is there more here than meets to eye?
Super 7 Universal Monsters Frankenstein 3 3/4-inch ReAction Figure
Universal Monsters Frankenstein 3 3/4-inch ReAction Figure:
$19.99 - Order Here
It's alive! Taking inspiration from years gone by, Super7 brings the famous monster to "life" as the Universal Monsters Frankenstein's Monster 3 3/4-inch ReAction Figure - just like the ones you remember. Packaged on a retro 6-inch x 9-inch cardback, classic figure collectors can't miss this awesome figure! Ages 14 and up.
Specifications
Company: Super7
Theme: Universal Monsters
Product Type: Action Figures
Character: Frankenstein
Age: 14 +
Country of Origin: China
Packaging Height: 9 inches (22.86 cm)
Packaging Width: 1 inches (2.54 cm)
Packaging Length: 6 inches (15.24 cm)
Weight: 0.100 lb
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Digging Deep Into My Archives For A Star Wars Mega Post! - My The 4th Be With You
Star Wars: Journal of the Whills
ANOTHER galaxy, another time.
The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that… it was the Republic.
Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, there appear those evil ones who have greed to match.
So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within though the danger was not visible from outside.
Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic.
Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
But a small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves opposed to the New Order they began the great battle to restore the Old Republic.
From the beginning they were vastly outnumbered by the systems held in thrall by the Emperor. In those first dark days it seemed certain the bright flame of resistance would be extinguished before it could cast the light of new truth across a galaxy of oppressed and beaten peoples…
From the First Saga
Journal of the Whills
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally they became heroes.”
Leia Organa of Alderaan, Senator
From the prologue of the Star Wars novelization - 1976/77
Star Wars - The Story of a Boy, a Girl and a Universe
In early 1976 a small blurb appeared in the news section of Science Fiction Illustrated Magazine stating that film maker George Lucas was shooting some kind science fiction out in the valley north of Los Angeles. The project was way over budget and the executives at 20th Century Fox were getting scared and thinking about cutting their loses. It was the opinion of the reporter that the film would never be finished.
The Tosche station deleted scene from Star Wars: A New Hope paints a fascinating picture of early plans to flesh out the galaxy far, far away, even if, in hindsight, it was probably for the best that it remained on the cutting room floor. But as Mark Hamill recently reflected, one sad reason it remains mostly hidden is the insight it gives to Luke’s character.
Sci Fi & Horror Actors / Actresses Talk Star Wars
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca Speaks!)
KH - Your first Hollywood job was playing the Minotaur in Sinbad and the eye of the Tiger. Is it true you got the job because of a photo in a London newspaper?
PM - Yes, actually, the article was about people with big feet. A reporter noticed me and a much smaller mate of mine when he visited his sick mom in the hospital where I was working and photographed us walking together and took some pictures of my feet. I didn't win the big feet contest, but that eventually led to my role in Sinbad.
KH - Back when you were working on Star Wars: A New Hope did you get a sense that you were working on something special or did it just seem like the usual B-movie space opera?
PM - I'm not sure what the usual B-movie space opera would have been. I don't think my thinking went that deep at the time, I really just thought it was a B-movie....period. I really don't think anybody knew what we were about to become a part of.
KH - What was it like to be in the Chewbacca costume? I would imagine it was quite uncomfortable on the set, but I bet you got the last laugh in Norway filming Empire?
PM - Yes, Norway I would have been the warmest one of the lot. Otherwise, it's something that you get used to and hopefully build some tolerance for the heat. I do admit that the new Chewie suit has a water cooling system though, makes it better.
KH - What were some of your favorite moments from filming the original Star Wars trilogy?
PM - Probably the chess match. I really didn't know how to play chess and since there weren't any pieces on the board anyway, I didn't feel very handicapped. I thought the final scene of the chess match as it was composited turned out really well. Well, at the very least, you should always let the wookiee win.
KH - What was it like to work with George Lucas? Many people have had different takes on him. What was your impression of the man?
PM - I really, honestly like George and can tell you from personal experience that he hasn't changed much, if at all, over the years. I'm pretty sure those were the same sneakers and the same flannel shirt that he was wearing during shooting in 1976.
KH - Many fans have wondered why "Chewie" never received a medal at the end of A New Hope? Did you ever want to speak up and say "Hey where's Chewie's medal George?"
PM - I was much too timid for that, but Chewie did finally get a medal at the MTV Awards several years back, it is one of my prized possessions.
Suzi Lorraine (Actress/Model/Writer)
"Star Wars" was of course a cultural phenomenon that changed the world of filmmaking. I remember all the action figures when I was little, and I always thought they were pretty cool. I remember those and my brother's 'Kiss' action figures vividly. The first time I saw Star Wars was on VHS. I was completely blown away with the creativity, concept and characters! I thought the effects were amazing- particularly so for 1978! I loved R2D2 and C3PO. The Star Wars bar rocked, and I make references to it often. If I have to pick my favorite characters- it would have to be the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi- ugly, cute, and whimsical all at the same time. As a "true" Star Wars fan - I'm not as fond of the new 'prequels'...."
Carl Craig (Jim Morgan in Destroy All Planets/US Air Force/US Government)
"The summer of 1977, I was a rising senior in college. I had just signed on for a new job right after finals. I already had a job with UPS and I needed the extra bucks for the new Corvette I was going to buy that summer. That and a serious relationship with a college girlfriend were the two most important topics of the day. However, there was a rumor of an incredible movie due out at the end of May and there was a big buzz about it. Also, there was talk about a new space TV show that fall (Battlestar Galactica). I liked the thought of some space themes as opposed to a big shark eating everyone and the last thing that was "spacey" was Close Encounters but that movie seemed so goofy and distant. The idea of a space theme with the name "Wars" in the title stimulated my thoughts of what a fighter pilot of the future might be like."
"I was learning how to fly that summer as a part of my Air Force R.O.T.C. scholarship. I was due to be commissioned and go to pilot training in 1978 and was really into airplanes, spacecraft, and the likes. I built every flying model known to man as a young boy and still had aspirations of space travel as an astronaut. I had the Battle of Britain hanging from my ceiling despite my folk's concern for me destroying the structural integrity of the ceiling and the house. It is funny how your dreams as a kid can be so exciting but when the realization of them coming true becomes a possibility, new feelings emerge from your already heaving emotions."
"I was really excited about being a pilot and more excited about being a fighter pilot. The futuristic battle in space was looming just weeks ahead. I can remember that I made a special effort to be at the box office some 5 hours ahead of the first showing. My college roommate thought I was crazy when we pulled into the parking lot at about 2 P.M. We had done this numerous times to get good student tickets for college football games. In fact, we had camped out a few times overnight to get them but to go to a movie theater this early? His thought of how crazy I was quickly diminished when he saw that we were going to be somewhere in the middle of the line to see the movie. The hoopla was genuine; the people we were talking with in line were extremely excited."
"We first sprinted to get seats and then I went and got a tub of well lubed corn and Raisinettes. It was unseasonably hot that week of May and the a/c was feeling pretty good while we waited for the lights to dim. I realize that Industrial Light and Magic and the program Lightwave was the basis for all the special effects from Lucas in new films of the era but the miniatures and models of Star Wars were spectacular! As a Japanese Monster Movie veteran, I was thoroughly impressed with the effects of Star Wars as opposed to my experience in Destroy all Planets with piano wires and the "man-in-a-suit" efforts."
"I had not been in a movie theater where people cheered and screamed when a premier was over. I do recall my folks telling me when they went to see Cecil B. DeMille’s 10 Commandments, the people applauded as the curtain closed. Now I was really fired up about being a pilot and an astronaut. Not only was the flying great, the pilot got the good looking chick to kiss him. Ok, it was his sister but how were we supposed to figure George Lucas out that early?"
"Anyway, I rate that movie as one of the most moving movies of my life. It could not have been timed any better and now, (40) years later, I still can sit through the entire movie and feel the same way I did the very first time. Star Wars has a special place in my life and I celebrate the (40th) anniversary with great enthusiasm. Long live the Jedi Knights and I am a firm believer in the "Force." It was with me for a long time and I hope it will stay with me for a long time to come."
Mr. Lobo (Host of the nationally syndicated TV series Cinema Insomnia)
"As a child of divorce in the 70's Star Wars was my mother and father. Star Wars was the Beatles of my generation and next to Creature Features the main inspiration that jumpstarted my career in fantasy."
Christopher Mihm (Writer & Director of The Monster of Phantom Lake)
"Actually, my first brush with Star Wars is my first memory EVER. I was born in 1976. When I was a kid, my parents would take my brothers and I to the local drive-in almost every weekend. I don’t know if it was the summer of ’77 or a repeat showing in ’78 but my dad took my mom, older brother and I to see Star Wars at the drive-in. He’d already seen it a couple times so it was no big deal that he would miss part of the movie to go get some treats from concessions for my mom. I wanted to go with so he took me. I distinctly remember being walked by my dad to the concession stand and turning around to look at the screen. I saw Obi-Wan Kenobi’s flashing lightsaber as he fought Darth Vader. I remember being mesmerized by the color and movement and to this day, it is literally my earliest childhood memory. I grew up with Star Wars and to this day, I am a rabid fan. I own a collection of Star Wars memorabilia that is easily worth $50,000 (or more) and I have introduced my own kids to it. My love of Star Wars and its inspirational effect on my filmmaking is equaled only by my uber-geek love of Star Trek."
Sara Dunn (The Queen of Trash) (Actress and Model)
"Star Wars changed my sex life forever. What better way to get the middle aged fan boys eating out of my hands then to don my Princess Leia slavegirl outfit! It never fails!!"
Norman England (Director)
"Seventeen at the time of its release, I was certain that Star Wars had come custom made for this sci-fi geek who had grown up on a steady diet of 50s and 60s sci-fi films and TV shows. But Star Wars' impact - great as it was - came not so much from the first screening but a week prior its release in the form of a small B/W photo run in the Arts and Leisure section of the Sunday New York Times. A somewhat blurry dot matrix picture, it showed two Storm Troopers with weapons extended. Nothing more. "Holy crap!" I thought as the design of both the outfits and the laser rifles announced that some cool cinematic times were brewing in the genre I loved most.
Being (Forty) years ago and seeing as I saw the film no less than ten times in the theater (topped only by EMPIRE, which I saw sixteen times in the theater) it is hard to weed out the memory of the very first screening. However, one memory that does stand out is a visit to the house of a girlfriend shortly after seeing STAR WARS for the first time. Gathered upon her dresser was the entire set of just-released Kenner Star Wars figures. My first time to see such a thing, I asked what "that" was all about. "I'm not sure," she replied, "but I like the way they look." And now forty years later, it seems that so did the rest of us."
Ellen Dubin (Actress)(Lexx, Napolean Dynamite)
I was a child when STAR WARS came out but I remember my parents taking me to the film and being mesmerized by the whole experience.
I remember loving the whole fairy tale aspect of the movie at the time- the princess being rescued etc.
But as I grew older, I learned to appreciate the multi layered movie that Lucas created it is astounding! it was the first time, I became aware of the difference of good and evil in a movie.
ANOTHER galaxy, another time.
The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that… it was the Republic.
Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, there appear those evil ones who have greed to match.
So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within though the danger was not visible from outside.
Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic.
Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
But a small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves opposed to the New Order they began the great battle to restore the Old Republic.
From the beginning they were vastly outnumbered by the systems held in thrall by the Emperor. In those first dark days it seemed certain the bright flame of resistance would be extinguished before it could cast the light of new truth across a galaxy of oppressed and beaten peoples…
From the First Saga
Journal of the Whills
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally they became heroes.”
Leia Organa of Alderaan, Senator
From the prologue of the Star Wars novelization - 1976/77
In early 1976 a small blurb appeared in the news section of Science Fiction Illustrated Magazine stating that film maker George Lucas was shooting some kind science fiction out in the valley north of Los Angeles. The project was way over budget and the executives at 20th Century Fox were getting scared and thinking about cutting their loses. It was the opinion of the reporter that the film would never be finished.
We all know that the unnamed project that George Lucas was wasting Fox's money on was Star Wars which by a shear miracle would end up becoming the top grossing movie of all-time and a pop culture phenomena the world had never seen.
By the winter of 1976 20th Century Fox had determined that they had sunk such a large amount of money into Star Wars that they literally had no choice but to go all-in on trying to promote the movie in hopes that it may actually break even. The first trailer for Star Wars hit theaters in December of 1976 and featured the best of the completed special effects shots. There were space ships, robots, monsters and lots of explosions.
There was some really interesting stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor.
Speaking recently as a guest on the Russo Brothers’ Instagram Live series, the Pizza Film School Hamill reflected on one of the earliest deleted scenes in Star Wars history. It would’ve seen Luke witness the Tantive IV and Devastator’s brief battle above Tatooine before heading on over to Tosche to get those power converters he loves whining about. There, Luke bumps into a few friends: Camie and Fixer, but also a returned Biggs Darklighter, who’s graduated from the Imperial Academy that Luke so desperately wants to flee to himself... but as Biggs confides to Luke, he’s got no plans of staying part of the Empire’s regime.
Star Wars Carrie Fisher: Lunch With Monsters At A Chinese Restaurant
First published in Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy (Magazine) – Fall /Winter 1977.
In STAR WARS, Carrie Fisher has a film role that measures up to her fantasy life. She portrays the beautiful Princess Leia, a senator from the plant Alderaan and a rebel-leader working secretly for freedom and justice against the oppressive, evil Galactic Empire.
“When I made my first film, SHAMPOO, my scene was shot in Beverly Hills, which is where I grew up. I wore this little tennis outfit, which was something I might wear in real life. It wasn’t at all what I expected making movies would be,” Carrie Fisher said. “I grew up watching movies and they always seemed like adult recess. And that’s exactly what making STAR WARS turned out to be – a kind of adult recess. I got to go to lunch with outerspace monsters at a Chinese restaurant.”
Born October 21, 1956, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher is five foot one with dark hair and large dark eyes. She was brought up in the show-business-oriented world of Beverly Hills and made her professional debut at the age of thirteen in her mother’s nightclub act. After appearing in SHAMPOO she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She had been approached to do several motion picture roles following the stir her brief scene in SHAMPOO had created, but none of them really interested her until she read and was tested for STAR WARS.
“I wanted to do the role of Princess Leia because I wanted to have real conversations with people with bubbles on their heads,” Carrie explained, “I just wanted to be blasé about someone sitting across from me being a ‘small person’ or some strange looking person who was hired through the Ugly Agency. I love that there’s an agency in London called that. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to be casually sitting around with those people as if they didn’t have hair-dryer heads and things like that. I wanted to sit next to Wookies, which are tall, half-man, half-ape creatures, Jawas, which are tiny, shrouded creatures with glowing eyes, and all kinds of robots.
“The people in the restaurant wouldn’t react. I thought that was terrific. And we were in Borehamwood, which is the English version of Crazylady, Wyoming. If I saw someone who was seven foot two, like Peter Mayhew, who plays Chewbacca the Wookiee, with someone like me, who is really small, and all of the rest of the weird looking cast, I certainly would react. We looked like a Fellini congregation entering this little Chinese restaurant.”
“Although I never read much science fiction before I made STAR WARS I had a kind of active space fantasy life all my own.”
When asked about her feelings about making a space fantasy film such as STAR WARS, Carrie admits that she enjoyed doing the stunts. “Especially swinging across the Death Star chasm. I was scared to death. And when I finally did it, I felt like my body was being ventilated from the inside. But it was a different kind of terror. And I knew it wasn’t going to be fun to do. I was really afraid of doing something wrong. I was sort of sorry we got it right on the first take. Once I got over the initial shock of doing it, I wanted to do it again. I still do. And that’s why I hope they do a sequel with lots of swings across chasms in it.”
What Was It Like To See Star Wars In 1977?
A brand new video from Looper that is circulating around that rather accurately depicts just how popular and life changing an experience seeing Star Wars back in 1977 actually was.
Most Star Wars fans know that the evil Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, has been played by multiple actors.
Even though British actor and stunt man David Prowse insists he IS Darth Vader.
Of course Prowse played Vader (Physically) in the original trilogy while James Earl Jones supplied his voice. Veteran theater actor Sebastian Shaw played the Sith Lord when we was unmasked in ‘Return of the Jedi, while Hayden Christensen donned the costume (with help from some shoe lifts) in ‘Revenge of the Sith’.
When Vader returned to the screen in 2016's ‘Rogue One’, James Earl Jones once again provided his iconic voice, while Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous were responsible for the physical performance.
One name you may not know is Bob Anderson an English Olympic fencer and a renowned film fight choreographer who stepped in for Prowse for the lightsaber battles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Anderson subsequently went on to be involved in all three of the original Star Wars films. Anderson did not receive much recognition for his work for years after their initial release. Mark Hamill in 1983 revealed, "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader's fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn't think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man." Anderson in 1994 specified that for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi he staged the lightsaber duels and also wore the Vader costume in fight scenes. David Prowse, who played Vader, said he did his own swordplay in the first Star Wars film but afterward, "having one of the principals do his own stunts made [the filmmakers] very weird from an insurance point of view. - Wiki
Here is a short bio for Bob Anderson:
Robert James Gilbert Anderson (15 September 1922 – 1 January 2012) was an English Olympic fencer and a renowned film fight choreographer, with a cinema career that spanned more than 50 years and included films such as Highlander, The Princess Bride, The Mask of Zorro, The Lord of the Rings, and Die Another Day. He was regarded as the premier choreographer of Hollywood sword-fighting, and during his career he coached many actors in swordsmanship, including Errol Flynn, Sean Connery, Antonio Banderas, Viggo Mortensen, Adrian Paul, and Johnny Depp.
Star Wars: Mark Hamill Press Conference
Mark Hamill Talks About His Experience Making Star Wars
From a press conference of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – By Yani Begakus
Mark Hamill – With all the merchandising that’s going on, I really wish they would publish the original screenplay for STAR WARS. It is so thick with ideas – more descriptions and more of everything than was in the movie. There just wasn’t time to get it all in. Yes, it is very simple, and people say there is no story line – just bad guys chasing you because you have something they want. On one level, that’s true; on another level…you know, even though I am ostensibly the hero, George Lucas has given me a menagerie of supporting creatures – animal, vegetable and mineral – and everybody’s working together. Men working with machines, working with rodents, working with whatever…I think it’s terrific.
There are things that don’t satisfy the audience about Luke – I’m too naïve, too straight forward, too earnest. All those things are complicated by Harrison Ford’s character, who is cynical, or Carrie Fisher’s character, who is very aggressive and sure of herself. Every creature in the story line has such a recognizable human quality. The kids, of course, respond to the Wookie because he’s big and furry and scary, but also he’s more scared than they are. That they love!
They were always fair with us during the filming. They didn’t make us fly blind. I mean, we had all those oil paintings that were done by Ralph McQuarrie, visualizations, beautiful paintings of all the characters. On certain sequences, like say, the rescue of the Princess, they used story-boards just like a Sunday comic strip. Like a Walt Disney animation.
We went to see all the models before filming; and they said: this is the Millenium Falcon, and these are the fighters. I just sort of memorized them all so I knew what they were talking about in the screenplay.
As much as possible, they tried to show us what it was all going to look like. But we were still amazed when we saw it!
One of the most difficult things was the final battle sequence. Everybody, all the pilots, sat in the same cockpit. It was like popping people into a dentist’s chair. Pilot number one, pilot number two, pilot number three….I was pilot number five. Take a number and wait. They had all these guys rocking you on a platform ten feet off the ground, bored. And there was nobody reading off lines to you – no script girl. We went through what must have been fifteen pages of that last battle without stopping! I had to memorize all the different dives and where this guy gets blown up and that he was supposed to be my friend in high school and where to turn off the targeting device and then just fly along for a while. If I forgot, I’d just fake it. That was really hard! I asked George later why he did that sadistic thing to the actors, and he said because it added a sense of urgency.
Tunisia. Ah, that was my favorite part of the movie. It was very easy to imagine you were out in another galaxy if you just turned your back on the film crew and watched the sun going down. It’s so exotic. Plus, when I’d be in the Landspeeder, they’d give me a suite, a robot – all those toys!
George Lucas is very generous with his actors. He’s very open to suggestion. If you have a better idea for a line of dialog, he’ll listen. He’s much more, I think, a technical director. He knows film. He knows camera angles, F-stops, lighting, everything like that, but he’s such an inward person – a private shy man – he is not the kind of director who will say: that was GREAT. He just says: that’s not right, do it again. He doesn’t want to tell an actor how to do it.
When I went in to do the screen test for the part, George didn’t say: Luke is an innocent but shy, earnest young lad. He wanted my version, and I lucked out. I played it straight because I thought the six pages I was reading were so ridiculous it must be like BATMAN or something. I mean, it’s a very fine line you tread when you’re saying things like: Golly, they followed us! You’re just potato chip thin away from being camp.
The new KING KONG (1976) didn’t get that line right. They couldn’t decide whether they were sincere or not. I have to think that one reason it didn’t work was that it was not set in the thirties, when people were naïve and you could do those lines. Why did it work in the original and it didn’t work with the Seventies sensibility?
That’s why setting STAR WARS in another galaxy is a stroke of genius, as far as I’m concerned, because then it not burdened with being scientifically correct for the science-fiction buffs, the ones who say it’s absurd to have sound in outer space. You ask them: is it any more absurd than having a nine-foot apeman wearing headphones flying our spaceship? In STAR WARS, we don’t things the way we would from a Seventies point of view – with all we’ve been through. Then the Princess can give me a kiss on the cheek to show me her confidence. It’s funny to us, because the Stormtroopers are after us and forty-thousand ray guns are pointed at our heads. But it’s not the Seventies, it’s somewhere a long time ago; so why shouldn’t the Princess give me a kiss on the cheek for luck? It’s my favorite part.
STAR WARS is like a good ride at Disneyland. You just put on your seatbelt, relax, and off you go. George really and sincerely made it for children, but it has that magic ingredient you find in the classic Disney movies – it doesn’t pander to children. It tells the story straight. George gave them a thousand things at once without explaining any of them. He hit a chord with adults. It’s a cliché, but it’s true that there is a portion of child in you until you die.
Is Luke really George Lucas? I didn’t think so a t first. I just didn’t make the obvious connection of Lucas and Luke. I started thinking of it when I saw the things that tickle George, or the kind of humorous things I might say to cheer him up (he suffers so when he makes his movies). I discovered that George is such a kid. He built this movie around gadgets and toys because he loves them so much. We gave him a little BUCK ROGERS liquid helium pistol, Carrie and I, as a gift. He loved it; he wouldn’t put it down. He’d spin it – and not let the other children play with it.
I think George just thought: if I’m going to have to write a character who’s going to appeal to children, I’ll have to write all the things I would like to do if I were the hero – whether swinging across the chasm or flying the X-Wing.
From the beginning I thought we were going to be doing sequels, so I chose to play Luke really young, as I could and get away with it. More than the other characters, my character will have to swing into young manhood.
I understand George’s and Gary Kurtz’ intentions; they always wanted to set up their own little JAMES BOND series – taking the environment George has set up but keeping it limitless in terms of what the characters can do. For the sequel, he’s going to add new characters. It won’t be a direct sequel to the first story; it’ll be a series of adventures, you know, in that galaxy. George has such an opportunity to surprise you!
I think the second film will be better than the first one, simply because the vision is so much clearer now. When they were trying to get over nine hundred people to match up with what was in George’s imagination, when they had to have a guy in the art department go and tell this guy to build something and then explain to the studio why it costs so much money…I mean, the fact that it came off at all is amazing. But now that’s it’s clear in people’s minds what we’re trying to do….which, as far as I’m concerned is just escapist entertainment.
I think the only danger with this whole phenomenon of STAR WARS is that people are placing too much importance on it. I think that’s why you’re getting some negative reactions. People say: oh, come on – it’s fun and it’s dazzling, but it’s very simple minded. Well, what’s wrong with that? I mean, I don’t need to have some sort of false intellectual experience every time I go into a movie theater. What for? To make me feel better about the fact that I’m nor home reading a best-seller?
I saw CLOSE ENCOUNTERS yesterday for the second time. I really liked the movie. It’s inevitable, I guess, that it’s being compared to STAR WARS, but as far as I’m concerned, the only thing they have in common is vehicles that go off the ground. It’s like trying to compare PSYCO with SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. The two movies have such different intentions. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS is a realistic account of what would happen if people on Earth in the present day came in contact with extraterrestrials. Even my family is doing it. I took them all to see CLOSE ENCOUNTERS; and of course they’re so loyal; they said: STAR WARS is better. I said: why didn’t you say that TURNUNG POINT is better or GOODBYE GIRL or HIGH ANXIETY? You just can’t make comparisons like that.
Did the Success of STAR WARS help CLOSE ENCOUNTERS? I don’t know. I think CLOSE ENCOUNTERS would have done well regardless of us. Because it’s just a real good movie. It’s funny…I saw it with George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, and as soon as we had finished seeing it, we had dinner with Steven Spielberg. It was great. Both of them really like each other’s films. George doesn’t feel threatened by CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and Spielberg doesn’t feel threatened by STAR WARS. There’s so much rivalry in this business that it’s nice to have two people who are this successful and are both friends.
The future? If the STAR WARS series runs as long as I think they’re going to run. I will be Ben Kenobi’s age when I do the last one.
First published in Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy (Magazine) – Fall /Winter 1977.
In STAR WARS, Carrie Fisher has a film role that measures up to her fantasy life. She portrays the beautiful Princess Leia, a senator from the plant Alderaan and a rebel-leader working secretly for freedom and justice against the oppressive, evil Galactic Empire.
“When I made my first film, SHAMPOO, my scene was shot in Beverly Hills, which is where I grew up. I wore this little tennis outfit, which was something I might wear in real life. It wasn’t at all what I expected making movies would be,” Carrie Fisher said. “I grew up watching movies and they always seemed like adult recess. And that’s exactly what making STAR WARS turned out to be – a kind of adult recess. I got to go to lunch with outerspace monsters at a Chinese restaurant.”
Born October 21, 1956, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher is five foot one with dark hair and large dark eyes. She was brought up in the show-business-oriented world of Beverly Hills and made her professional debut at the age of thirteen in her mother’s nightclub act. After appearing in SHAMPOO she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She had been approached to do several motion picture roles following the stir her brief scene in SHAMPOO had created, but none of them really interested her until she read and was tested for STAR WARS.
“I wanted to do the role of Princess Leia because I wanted to have real conversations with people with bubbles on their heads,” Carrie explained, “I just wanted to be blasé about someone sitting across from me being a ‘small person’ or some strange looking person who was hired through the Ugly Agency. I love that there’s an agency in London called that. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to be casually sitting around with those people as if they didn’t have hair-dryer heads and things like that. I wanted to sit next to Wookies, which are tall, half-man, half-ape creatures, Jawas, which are tiny, shrouded creatures with glowing eyes, and all kinds of robots.
“The people in the restaurant wouldn’t react. I thought that was terrific. And we were in Borehamwood, which is the English version of Crazylady, Wyoming. If I saw someone who was seven foot two, like Peter Mayhew, who plays Chewbacca the Wookiee, with someone like me, who is really small, and all of the rest of the weird looking cast, I certainly would react. We looked like a Fellini congregation entering this little Chinese restaurant.”
“Although I never read much science fiction before I made STAR WARS I had a kind of active space fantasy life all my own.”
When asked about her feelings about making a space fantasy film such as STAR WARS, Carrie admits that she enjoyed doing the stunts. “Especially swinging across the Death Star chasm. I was scared to death. And when I finally did it, I felt like my body was being ventilated from the inside. But it was a different kind of terror. And I knew it wasn’t going to be fun to do. I was really afraid of doing something wrong. I was sort of sorry we got it right on the first take. Once I got over the initial shock of doing it, I wanted to do it again. I still do. And that’s why I hope they do a sequel with lots of swings across chasms in it.”
A brand new video from Looper that is circulating around that rather accurately depicts just how popular and life changing an experience seeing Star Wars back in 1977 actually was.
Before I share that video I want to share my very own experience. The first ever image that I ever saw from Star Wars appeared on a fellow classmates school folder. It was a scene from the film that featured two Imperial Stormtroopers in combat. I didn't known anything about the movie in fact I didn't even know that the characters I were looking at where called Stormtroopers. In fact I'm sure that I thought that they were supposed to be robots. It honestly didn't matter. From that one image I knew that I had to see Star Wars. Those two Imperial Troopers were the coolest thing my ten year old eyes had ever seen!
I actually didn't get to see Star Wars in it's first run, even though I pleaded and pleaded, due solely to the fact that I lived in a small Texas town with a small theater that didn't show it. The closest theater showing Star Wars was an hour away and my parents weren't going to take a four hour round trip to see some space movie.
Had it been a John Wayne movie my dad would have been up for it, but a movie about robots and stuff, not a chance.
As luck would have it, the very next summer Star Wars would return to theaters and my family would be in the process of moving from Texas to New Mexico. My folks had a bunch of boring paperwork to do so they mercifully dropped off this kiddo at a local theater for my first viewing of Star Wars. I have to tell you, my geeky little mind was blown away within the first few minutes of the movie. The film, as you know, starts of with a bang and before I could recover from the opening scrawl spaceships are flying over my head locked in combat. You really have to put that one scene into perspective for someone in the seventies seeing it for the first time. Nothing like that had ever appeared in a movie before. In shows like Star Trek a space battle consisted of two ships pairing off face to face taking two or three shots at each other before someone surrendered. This was an actual space battle!
From that point on I was engrossed in the type of science fiction film that I had always dreamed about and to make a long story short, I have been a die hard Star Wars fan ever since.
Now here is that video I promised:
Bob Anderson The Forgotten Darth Vader
Most Star Wars fans know that the evil Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, has been played by multiple actors.
Even though British actor and stunt man David Prowse insists he IS Darth Vader.
Of course Prowse played Vader (Physically) in the original trilogy while James Earl Jones supplied his voice. Veteran theater actor Sebastian Shaw played the Sith Lord when we was unmasked in ‘Return of the Jedi, while Hayden Christensen donned the costume (with help from some shoe lifts) in ‘Revenge of the Sith’.
When Vader returned to the screen in 2016's ‘Rogue One’, James Earl Jones once again provided his iconic voice, while Spencer Wilding and Daniel Naprous were responsible for the physical performance.
One name you may not know is Bob Anderson an English Olympic fencer and a renowned film fight choreographer who stepped in for Prowse for the lightsaber battles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Anderson subsequently went on to be involved in all three of the original Star Wars films. Anderson did not receive much recognition for his work for years after their initial release. Mark Hamill in 1983 revealed, "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader's fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn't think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man." Anderson in 1994 specified that for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi he staged the lightsaber duels and also wore the Vader costume in fight scenes. David Prowse, who played Vader, said he did his own swordplay in the first Star Wars film but afterward, "having one of the principals do his own stunts made [the filmmakers] very weird from an insurance point of view. - Wiki
Here is a short bio for Bob Anderson:
Robert James Gilbert Anderson (15 September 1922 – 1 January 2012) was an English Olympic fencer and a renowned film fight choreographer, with a cinema career that spanned more than 50 years and included films such as Highlander, The Princess Bride, The Mask of Zorro, The Lord of the Rings, and Die Another Day. He was regarded as the premier choreographer of Hollywood sword-fighting, and during his career he coached many actors in swordsmanship, including Errol Flynn, Sean Connery, Antonio Banderas, Viggo Mortensen, Adrian Paul, and Johnny Depp.
Mark Hamill Talks About His Experience Making Star Wars
From a press conference of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – By Yani Begakus
Mark Hamill – With all the merchandising that’s going on, I really wish they would publish the original screenplay for STAR WARS. It is so thick with ideas – more descriptions and more of everything than was in the movie. There just wasn’t time to get it all in. Yes, it is very simple, and people say there is no story line – just bad guys chasing you because you have something they want. On one level, that’s true; on another level…you know, even though I am ostensibly the hero, George Lucas has given me a menagerie of supporting creatures – animal, vegetable and mineral – and everybody’s working together. Men working with machines, working with rodents, working with whatever…I think it’s terrific.
There are things that don’t satisfy the audience about Luke – I’m too naïve, too straight forward, too earnest. All those things are complicated by Harrison Ford’s character, who is cynical, or Carrie Fisher’s character, who is very aggressive and sure of herself. Every creature in the story line has such a recognizable human quality. The kids, of course, respond to the Wookie because he’s big and furry and scary, but also he’s more scared than they are. That they love!
They were always fair with us during the filming. They didn’t make us fly blind. I mean, we had all those oil paintings that were done by Ralph McQuarrie, visualizations, beautiful paintings of all the characters. On certain sequences, like say, the rescue of the Princess, they used story-boards just like a Sunday comic strip. Like a Walt Disney animation.
We went to see all the models before filming; and they said: this is the Millenium Falcon, and these are the fighters. I just sort of memorized them all so I knew what they were talking about in the screenplay.
As much as possible, they tried to show us what it was all going to look like. But we were still amazed when we saw it!
One of the most difficult things was the final battle sequence. Everybody, all the pilots, sat in the same cockpit. It was like popping people into a dentist’s chair. Pilot number one, pilot number two, pilot number three….I was pilot number five. Take a number and wait. They had all these guys rocking you on a platform ten feet off the ground, bored. And there was nobody reading off lines to you – no script girl. We went through what must have been fifteen pages of that last battle without stopping! I had to memorize all the different dives and where this guy gets blown up and that he was supposed to be my friend in high school and where to turn off the targeting device and then just fly along for a while. If I forgot, I’d just fake it. That was really hard! I asked George later why he did that sadistic thing to the actors, and he said because it added a sense of urgency.
Tunisia. Ah, that was my favorite part of the movie. It was very easy to imagine you were out in another galaxy if you just turned your back on the film crew and watched the sun going down. It’s so exotic. Plus, when I’d be in the Landspeeder, they’d give me a suite, a robot – all those toys!
George Lucas is very generous with his actors. He’s very open to suggestion. If you have a better idea for a line of dialog, he’ll listen. He’s much more, I think, a technical director. He knows film. He knows camera angles, F-stops, lighting, everything like that, but he’s such an inward person – a private shy man – he is not the kind of director who will say: that was GREAT. He just says: that’s not right, do it again. He doesn’t want to tell an actor how to do it.
When I went in to do the screen test for the part, George didn’t say: Luke is an innocent but shy, earnest young lad. He wanted my version, and I lucked out. I played it straight because I thought the six pages I was reading were so ridiculous it must be like BATMAN or something. I mean, it’s a very fine line you tread when you’re saying things like: Golly, they followed us! You’re just potato chip thin away from being camp.
The new KING KONG (1976) didn’t get that line right. They couldn’t decide whether they were sincere or not. I have to think that one reason it didn’t work was that it was not set in the thirties, when people were naïve and you could do those lines. Why did it work in the original and it didn’t work with the Seventies sensibility?
That’s why setting STAR WARS in another galaxy is a stroke of genius, as far as I’m concerned, because then it not burdened with being scientifically correct for the science-fiction buffs, the ones who say it’s absurd to have sound in outer space. You ask them: is it any more absurd than having a nine-foot apeman wearing headphones flying our spaceship? In STAR WARS, we don’t things the way we would from a Seventies point of view – with all we’ve been through. Then the Princess can give me a kiss on the cheek to show me her confidence. It’s funny to us, because the Stormtroopers are after us and forty-thousand ray guns are pointed at our heads. But it’s not the Seventies, it’s somewhere a long time ago; so why shouldn’t the Princess give me a kiss on the cheek for luck? It’s my favorite part.
STAR WARS is like a good ride at Disneyland. You just put on your seatbelt, relax, and off you go. George really and sincerely made it for children, but it has that magic ingredient you find in the classic Disney movies – it doesn’t pander to children. It tells the story straight. George gave them a thousand things at once without explaining any of them. He hit a chord with adults. It’s a cliché, but it’s true that there is a portion of child in you until you die.
Is Luke really George Lucas? I didn’t think so a t first. I just didn’t make the obvious connection of Lucas and Luke. I started thinking of it when I saw the things that tickle George, or the kind of humorous things I might say to cheer him up (he suffers so when he makes his movies). I discovered that George is such a kid. He built this movie around gadgets and toys because he loves them so much. We gave him a little BUCK ROGERS liquid helium pistol, Carrie and I, as a gift. He loved it; he wouldn’t put it down. He’d spin it – and not let the other children play with it.
I think George just thought: if I’m going to have to write a character who’s going to appeal to children, I’ll have to write all the things I would like to do if I were the hero – whether swinging across the chasm or flying the X-Wing.
From the beginning I thought we were going to be doing sequels, so I chose to play Luke really young, as I could and get away with it. More than the other characters, my character will have to swing into young manhood.
I understand George’s and Gary Kurtz’ intentions; they always wanted to set up their own little JAMES BOND series – taking the environment George has set up but keeping it limitless in terms of what the characters can do. For the sequel, he’s going to add new characters. It won’t be a direct sequel to the first story; it’ll be a series of adventures, you know, in that galaxy. George has such an opportunity to surprise you!
I think the second film will be better than the first one, simply because the vision is so much clearer now. When they were trying to get over nine hundred people to match up with what was in George’s imagination, when they had to have a guy in the art department go and tell this guy to build something and then explain to the studio why it costs so much money…I mean, the fact that it came off at all is amazing. But now that’s it’s clear in people’s minds what we’re trying to do….which, as far as I’m concerned is just escapist entertainment.
I think the only danger with this whole phenomenon of STAR WARS is that people are placing too much importance on it. I think that’s why you’re getting some negative reactions. People say: oh, come on – it’s fun and it’s dazzling, but it’s very simple minded. Well, what’s wrong with that? I mean, I don’t need to have some sort of false intellectual experience every time I go into a movie theater. What for? To make me feel better about the fact that I’m nor home reading a best-seller?
I saw CLOSE ENCOUNTERS yesterday for the second time. I really liked the movie. It’s inevitable, I guess, that it’s being compared to STAR WARS, but as far as I’m concerned, the only thing they have in common is vehicles that go off the ground. It’s like trying to compare PSYCO with SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. The two movies have such different intentions. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS is a realistic account of what would happen if people on Earth in the present day came in contact with extraterrestrials. Even my family is doing it. I took them all to see CLOSE ENCOUNTERS; and of course they’re so loyal; they said: STAR WARS is better. I said: why didn’t you say that TURNUNG POINT is better or GOODBYE GIRL or HIGH ANXIETY? You just can’t make comparisons like that.
Did the Success of STAR WARS help CLOSE ENCOUNTERS? I don’t know. I think CLOSE ENCOUNTERS would have done well regardless of us. Because it’s just a real good movie. It’s funny…I saw it with George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, and as soon as we had finished seeing it, we had dinner with Steven Spielberg. It was great. Both of them really like each other’s films. George doesn’t feel threatened by CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and Spielberg doesn’t feel threatened by STAR WARS. There’s so much rivalry in this business that it’s nice to have two people who are this successful and are both friends.
The future? If the STAR WARS series runs as long as I think they’re going to run. I will be Ben Kenobi’s age when I do the last one.
I am not alone with feelings about seeing Star Wars for the first time. Several years ago I asked some of my celebrity friends to share their own stories:
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca Speaks!)
KH - Your first Hollywood job was playing the Minotaur in Sinbad and the eye of the Tiger. Is it true you got the job because of a photo in a London newspaper?
PM - Yes, actually, the article was about people with big feet. A reporter noticed me and a much smaller mate of mine when he visited his sick mom in the hospital where I was working and photographed us walking together and took some pictures of my feet. I didn't win the big feet contest, but that eventually led to my role in Sinbad.
KH - Back when you were working on Star Wars: A New Hope did you get a sense that you were working on something special or did it just seem like the usual B-movie space opera?
PM - I'm not sure what the usual B-movie space opera would have been. I don't think my thinking went that deep at the time, I really just thought it was a B-movie....period. I really don't think anybody knew what we were about to become a part of.
KH - What was it like to be in the Chewbacca costume? I would imagine it was quite uncomfortable on the set, but I bet you got the last laugh in Norway filming Empire?
PM - Yes, Norway I would have been the warmest one of the lot. Otherwise, it's something that you get used to and hopefully build some tolerance for the heat. I do admit that the new Chewie suit has a water cooling system though, makes it better.
KH - What were some of your favorite moments from filming the original Star Wars trilogy?
PM - Probably the chess match. I really didn't know how to play chess and since there weren't any pieces on the board anyway, I didn't feel very handicapped. I thought the final scene of the chess match as it was composited turned out really well. Well, at the very least, you should always let the wookiee win.
KH - What was it like to work with George Lucas? Many people have had different takes on him. What was your impression of the man?
PM - I really, honestly like George and can tell you from personal experience that he hasn't changed much, if at all, over the years. I'm pretty sure those were the same sneakers and the same flannel shirt that he was wearing during shooting in 1976.
KH - Many fans have wondered why "Chewie" never received a medal at the end of A New Hope? Did you ever want to speak up and say "Hey where's Chewie's medal George?"
PM - I was much too timid for that, but Chewie did finally get a medal at the MTV Awards several years back, it is one of my prized possessions.
"Star Wars" was of course a cultural phenomenon that changed the world of filmmaking. I remember all the action figures when I was little, and I always thought they were pretty cool. I remember those and my brother's 'Kiss' action figures vividly. The first time I saw Star Wars was on VHS. I was completely blown away with the creativity, concept and characters! I thought the effects were amazing- particularly so for 1978! I loved R2D2 and C3PO. The Star Wars bar rocked, and I make references to it often. If I have to pick my favorite characters- it would have to be the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi- ugly, cute, and whimsical all at the same time. As a "true" Star Wars fan - I'm not as fond of the new 'prequels'...."
Carl Craig (Jim Morgan in Destroy All Planets/US Air Force/US Government)
"The summer of 1977, I was a rising senior in college. I had just signed on for a new job right after finals. I already had a job with UPS and I needed the extra bucks for the new Corvette I was going to buy that summer. That and a serious relationship with a college girlfriend were the two most important topics of the day. However, there was a rumor of an incredible movie due out at the end of May and there was a big buzz about it. Also, there was talk about a new space TV show that fall (Battlestar Galactica). I liked the thought of some space themes as opposed to a big shark eating everyone and the last thing that was "spacey" was Close Encounters but that movie seemed so goofy and distant. The idea of a space theme with the name "Wars" in the title stimulated my thoughts of what a fighter pilot of the future might be like."
"I was learning how to fly that summer as a part of my Air Force R.O.T.C. scholarship. I was due to be commissioned and go to pilot training in 1978 and was really into airplanes, spacecraft, and the likes. I built every flying model known to man as a young boy and still had aspirations of space travel as an astronaut. I had the Battle of Britain hanging from my ceiling despite my folk's concern for me destroying the structural integrity of the ceiling and the house. It is funny how your dreams as a kid can be so exciting but when the realization of them coming true becomes a possibility, new feelings emerge from your already heaving emotions."
"I was really excited about being a pilot and more excited about being a fighter pilot. The futuristic battle in space was looming just weeks ahead. I can remember that I made a special effort to be at the box office some 5 hours ahead of the first showing. My college roommate thought I was crazy when we pulled into the parking lot at about 2 P.M. We had done this numerous times to get good student tickets for college football games. In fact, we had camped out a few times overnight to get them but to go to a movie theater this early? His thought of how crazy I was quickly diminished when he saw that we were going to be somewhere in the middle of the line to see the movie. The hoopla was genuine; the people we were talking with in line were extremely excited."
"We first sprinted to get seats and then I went and got a tub of well lubed corn and Raisinettes. It was unseasonably hot that week of May and the a/c was feeling pretty good while we waited for the lights to dim. I realize that Industrial Light and Magic and the program Lightwave was the basis for all the special effects from Lucas in new films of the era but the miniatures and models of Star Wars were spectacular! As a Japanese Monster Movie veteran, I was thoroughly impressed with the effects of Star Wars as opposed to my experience in Destroy all Planets with piano wires and the "man-in-a-suit" efforts."
"I had not been in a movie theater where people cheered and screamed when a premier was over. I do recall my folks telling me when they went to see Cecil B. DeMille’s 10 Commandments, the people applauded as the curtain closed. Now I was really fired up about being a pilot and an astronaut. Not only was the flying great, the pilot got the good looking chick to kiss him. Ok, it was his sister but how were we supposed to figure George Lucas out that early?"
"Anyway, I rate that movie as one of the most moving movies of my life. It could not have been timed any better and now, (40) years later, I still can sit through the entire movie and feel the same way I did the very first time. Star Wars has a special place in my life and I celebrate the (40th) anniversary with great enthusiasm. Long live the Jedi Knights and I am a firm believer in the "Force." It was with me for a long time and I hope it will stay with me for a long time to come."
Mr. Lobo (Host of the nationally syndicated TV series Cinema Insomnia)
"As a child of divorce in the 70's Star Wars was my mother and father. Star Wars was the Beatles of my generation and next to Creature Features the main inspiration that jumpstarted my career in fantasy."
Christopher Mihm (Writer & Director of The Monster of Phantom Lake)
"Actually, my first brush with Star Wars is my first memory EVER. I was born in 1976. When I was a kid, my parents would take my brothers and I to the local drive-in almost every weekend. I don’t know if it was the summer of ’77 or a repeat showing in ’78 but my dad took my mom, older brother and I to see Star Wars at the drive-in. He’d already seen it a couple times so it was no big deal that he would miss part of the movie to go get some treats from concessions for my mom. I wanted to go with so he took me. I distinctly remember being walked by my dad to the concession stand and turning around to look at the screen. I saw Obi-Wan Kenobi’s flashing lightsaber as he fought Darth Vader. I remember being mesmerized by the color and movement and to this day, it is literally my earliest childhood memory. I grew up with Star Wars and to this day, I am a rabid fan. I own a collection of Star Wars memorabilia that is easily worth $50,000 (or more) and I have introduced my own kids to it. My love of Star Wars and its inspirational effect on my filmmaking is equaled only by my uber-geek love of Star Trek."
"Star Wars changed my sex life forever. What better way to get the middle aged fan boys eating out of my hands then to don my Princess Leia slavegirl outfit! It never fails!!"
Norman England (Director)
"Seventeen at the time of its release, I was certain that Star Wars had come custom made for this sci-fi geek who had grown up on a steady diet of 50s and 60s sci-fi films and TV shows. But Star Wars' impact - great as it was - came not so much from the first screening but a week prior its release in the form of a small B/W photo run in the Arts and Leisure section of the Sunday New York Times. A somewhat blurry dot matrix picture, it showed two Storm Troopers with weapons extended. Nothing more. "Holy crap!" I thought as the design of both the outfits and the laser rifles announced that some cool cinematic times were brewing in the genre I loved most.
Being (Forty) years ago and seeing as I saw the film no less than ten times in the theater (topped only by EMPIRE, which I saw sixteen times in the theater) it is hard to weed out the memory of the very first screening. However, one memory that does stand out is a visit to the house of a girlfriend shortly after seeing STAR WARS for the first time. Gathered upon her dresser was the entire set of just-released Kenner Star Wars figures. My first time to see such a thing, I asked what "that" was all about. "I'm not sure," she replied, "but I like the way they look." And now forty years later, it seems that so did the rest of us."
I was a child when STAR WARS came out but I remember my parents taking me to the film and being mesmerized by the whole experience.
I remember loving the whole fairy tale aspect of the movie at the time- the princess being rescued etc.
But as I grew older, I learned to appreciate the multi layered movie that Lucas created it is astounding! it was the first time, I became aware of the difference of good and evil in a movie.
May the 4th be with you!
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