 May 25, 2017 - 6:23am | May 25 1977 Star Wars released to theaters. The Space battles we're unlike anything we had seen and totally awesome. Everyone wanted to be Han Solo, have a Wookie companion and fly around in the Millennium Falcon. We collected Star Wars trading cards and had action figures and science fiction was changed. It didn't matter that at it's heart Star Wars is a fantasy- it looked like science fiction and it was cool. It ushered in Battle Star Galactica, Star Fleet Battles, Battle Beyond the Stars, Jason of Star Command and Star Frontiers and our imaginations soared on rocket boosters. It forced Paramount to step up it's game with Star Trek and we got the Wrath of Kahn. It was a good time to be 11 years old and a sci Fi fan. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 25, 2017 - 4:28pm | I was 9 and I remember we all played Jedi. For Halloween we made our own Star Wars out fits... One cousin was Luke in a bath robe with a homemade cardboard light saber and then my other cousin and I were paper sack costumes of R2D2 and C3PO... Yep it was good times playing Star Wars. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 May 25, 2017 - 6:20pm | Everyone wanted to be Han Solo, have a Wookie companion and fly around in the Millennium Falcon. Not me, I always wanted to fly around in a TIE Fighter. Six years later I wanted the Interceptor. |
May 25, 2017 - 8:30pm | Dart Vader, I remember everyone trying to do Darth too.... classic bad guy "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
May 25, 2017 - 9:00pm | I got hooked on Boba Fett as the ultimate bad guy. Everywhere you looked he had weapons...rocket darts in his knee guards, a knife in his boot, a flame thrower, the big missile sticking out of his jetpack, etc etc etc and oh yeah his carbine too. Vader was still the most awe inspiring though, more so in Rogue One.  |
May 25, 2017 - 9:38pm | In Landfleet's Martial Arts division, the foot can cut wood. But can it cut a hydromelon? Introducing the Light Saber, from Ronco. It slices, it dices, it hacks, it slashes, it obliterates, it decimates. Watch how its focused energy blade easily passes through this durasteel panel. See how this user melts away a dual set of blast doors. Watch these two trained experts wipe out wave after wave of Federation Battle Droids. The secret is in these rare Iridium Crystals. Light passes through them and is focused through a projector at the far end of the hilt, and you can adjust the blade length to suit your needs. The blade will cut anything it comes in contact with. Observe this grizzled veteran as he effortlessly severs the arm of a dangerous criminal, wanted with the death sentence on twelve systems. See this novice repeat it with a hungry Wampa in its own domain. And observe how a completely untrained individual makes an incision into the carcass of a Tauntaun with surgical precision. Is your neighborhood plagued with rowdy swoop biker types? Look at how easy it is to disable this oncoming Aratech 74-Z Military Speeder Bike, one simple swipe across the directional vanes and that sucker's outa commission for good! Having trouble convincing your offspring to follow in your family business? Lop off his hand and then see how he submits! Scare the kids, amuse your neighbors, tease their Rancor, sleight your opponents, the light saber does it all! What would you pay for such an item? Don't answer yet, there's more! We'll also throw in this handy dandy remote control training device. It darts and dances around the air, firing harmless energy bolts for you to try to dodge or counter swing against. Provides hours of fun or useful training, you decide! With the Light Saber, you can amaze your comrades with the intense skills and prowess under your command. See how this innovative being utilizes two Sabers in a "quarterstaff" set up to ward off two individuals with their own sabers. Observe how this meter-high venerable old timer wields his against a much taller opponent. And notice how this young one manipulates two Sabers against the same opponent. It's easy to use and produces favorable results! The Light Saber even deflects other energy attacks. See how this man deflects the deadly blasts from a bounty hunter with his uniquely purple blade. Now watch the same person counter attack and sever said bounty hunter's head, in one swift stroke! Yes the Light Saber is not only an offensive weapon but it makes a great defensive one too! Watch how this youg lad escapes from the clutches of a vile and sinister gang lord in the Tattooine desert. Not only does he escape, but he frees his captured comrades and droids as well as finishing off the entire gang and their leader! Armed with nothing more than a Light Saber, this brazenly youth is able to topple them all! What would you pay now? But wait, there's more! If you act now we'll also throw in this flight helmet, with retractable blast shield, so you can test your inherent abilities to operate this device. Combined with the training remote, you can really build your skills with this fine device. Vision is overated, prove it to them with the blast shield covering your eyes and easily deflecting the attacks from the remote like this person does! Through this incredible holovision offer, you get it all! You'll recieve the Light Saber, the training remote, and blast shield helmet all for the amazing low price of 299.95 Galactic Credits. You'll even recieve this fine 48 page instruction manual, with tips galore in the efficient use of your Light Saber. Limited supply available, so get yours TODAY! Send your check or money order to Light Saber c/o Aura Sung Jedi collection 1128 Dixon's Expressway Suite 102 Port Dixon, Laco (Dixon's Star) 9012476 ...or credit card users call toll free 10-10-800-55-51-212 rush delivery available through Federation Courier Express to anywhere within the galaxy. Check your local government's arms laws before ordering. Batteries not included. The amazing Light Saber, new from Ronco!" |
 May 25, 2017 - 10:49pm | Good one Shadow. You forgot how easily they are concealed inside asrtomech droids even when the droids are given to people who don't trust you and can search and dismantle them at will. I'd buy a weapon that conceals so well in plane sight. -iggy |
 May 28, 2017 - 9:48am | Am I the weird one? I didn't get into SW until around Empire. My earliest childhood sci-fi memories are watching the animated Star Trek and LA version. |
May 28, 2017 - 11:33am | Am I the weird one? I didn't get into SW until around Empire. My earliest childhood sci-fi memories are watching the animated Star Trek and LA version.
Oh dear! Yes, I will go with Yes.  I Love Star Trek too... Right now I am trying to teach the kids how to do the Spock Hand... I will turn them all into sci-fi and science fans... only Bus that plays the radio so the kids can hear This Week In Science and Planetary News! There was actually a lively debate on Blackholes amongst my teenagers and elementary kids one day. My evil plan to make the kids learn and think is working! "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
May 28, 2017 - 11:47am | I watched a little Trek off and on before Star Wars hit the big screen in 77, but once that happened I lost interest in Trek and became hooked on Wars. On the other hand I am another type of ESB dissenter here...I didn't get hooked on the Millennium Falcon until ESB. Simply put the New Hope portrayal had the Falcon as a hunk of junk that couldn't get out of its own way...it merely travelled in a slow straight line in every shot (Family Guy capitalized on this aspect: "Don't worry, I know a few maneuvers" followed by "lazily listing to the left"). When my friends and I got together we simply placed the Falcon on the middle of the floor and raced around the room with our TIE fighters. After ESB's portrayal of the Falcon that rivals star fighters, the Falcon was never placed on the floor again...it got to race around the room just like the TIEs did --- and we would actually fight over who gets to race around with the Falcon --- suddenly we all wanted a Falcon of our own. A year later I had my own Falcon courtesy of the original purple SF boxed set, some house rules for space ships, and graph paper in conjunction with the pause button on my VCR. ;) |
 May 28, 2017 - 1:51pm | I guess that makes me one of the "young" ones. I was only 5 when the original Star Wars came out and I have no recollection of seeing it in a theater although I must have. I do remember having the action figures though. My earliest "Star Wars" memory related to the movies in the theaters was seeing ESB at age 9 in the base theater in Germany (my dad was in the 104th Artillery at the time) in October '81. It was our last week in Germany before coming back to the states and we were staying in temporary housing on the other base in town having moved out of our regular house to ship all of our stuff home. That was also the week I got to fire an M-16 for the first (and actually only) time. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
May 28, 2017 - 4:58pm | I was only 5 when the original Star Wars came out and I have no recollection of seeing it in a theater although I must have.
You might have seen the ESB pre-release screening with the confusing "Episode IV" in the opening crawl then (which was later clarified with ESB's "Episode V"). The original 77 screening simply started with "A New Hope" and went on with the opening crawl. |
 June 11, 2017 - 7:17am | I was three monthes shy of 10 when Star Wars came out. Yes it was fantastic and my family was one of those who went to see it about 20 times -- several times when they re-released it in '78 after the Oscars. I'm also a big Trekkie. I played Star Fleet Battles rather than Knight Hawks... sorry folks... and had FASA's ST the Role Playing Game with its long list of skills -- kind of like Zebs but without the color/column shifts. And, btw, Star Trek the Motion Picture came out in 1979, so Star Wars prompted Paramont to put out that Creatively Renowned Artistic Picture. Fortunately the success of ESB forced them to do the Wrath of Khan... but then every other Star Trek movie had to be tied to that film in one fashion or another... in fact, most of the ST films are all tied to quasi religious themes: the quest for finding the creator (the Motion Picture), creation of life (the Genesis device of Wrath), resurrection (Search for Spock), the wrath of natures' gods (the save the whales film), searching for God (the disappointing Spock's half-bro film)... The Undiscovered Country could fit the Christian religious theme of seeking redemption, I suppose... On a separate and sad note, Batman (Adam West) died yesterday. Loved that show... saw it in reruns, of course... at least I loved the first two seasons then the quality of the cripts falls off the cliff. Sort of like Babylon 5 has four great seasons and a paltry few good episodes from season five. Joe Cabadas |
June 11, 2017 - 8:11am | @ JCab747 If Star Trek the RPG had had column shifts the bad column would have been red shirt red! Yeah I too played SFB and car wars. KHs had a great simplicity that was great but I liked the robust challenges of car wars and SFB. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 11, 2017 - 8:17am | Creatively Renowned Artistic Picture
Love the acronym! I too was shocked about Adam West. He was slated to appear at Vegas Comic Con in a couple of weeks. |
June 11, 2017 - 6:00pm | Creatively Renowned Artistic Picture
Love the acronym! Yes, the best thing about Star Trek the Motion Picture was the shots of the Enterprise in spacek dock and the second best were the Klingon attack cruisers before they were destroyed... that doesn't say much does it? Joe Cabadas |
June 12, 2017 - 2:43pm | Creatively Renowned Artistic Picture
Love the acronym! Yes, the best thing about Star Trek the Motion Picture was the shots of the Enterprise in spacek dock and the second best were the Klingon attack cruisers before they were destroyed... that doesn't say much does it? A positive minor footnote point is the space suits from this picture were repainted and used in Wrath of Kahn. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 12, 2017 - 7:27pm | Creatively Renowned Artistic Picture
Love the acronym! Yes, the best thing about Star Trek the Motion Picture was the shots of the Enterprise in spacek dock and the second best were the Klingon attack cruisers before they were destroyed... that doesn't say much does it? A positive minor footnote point is the space suits from this picture were repainted and used in Wrath of Kahn. that's true! Oh, I guess the third best thing from Star Wreck the Slow-Motion Picture was the theme music that was later recycled for the Next (Old) Generation. Joe Cabadas |
June 12, 2017 - 8:56pm | I recall MAD magazine's appropriately titled "Star Blech: The Motion Sickness Picture" was a perfect description of the flick. Those opening scenes with teh Klingon cruisers and the space dock had me pretty jazzed about the movie but it quickly went downhill from there, it ended up being special effects for the sheer sake of special effects without the benefit of a story, much like 2001: A Snooze Oddity was. |
 June 13, 2017 - 6:23pm | I was once a fan, but have moved on since then. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
June 13, 2017 - 7:26pm | Back to the original intent of this post, I loved the original Star Wars trilogy... at least the first two films. Return of the Jedi was OK, but the mood and tone seemed a bit off to me, especially with the cutsie killer Ewoks that take out the Emperor's best troops in a matter of minutes. I guess the Force wasn't with them. But, the movies did set a high standard for sci fi fantasy escapism. Joe Cabadas |
June 14, 2017 - 7:28pm | I HATED Ewocs. Untill Jaja Binks then they didn't seem so bad. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 15, 2017 - 7:36pm | I HATED Ewocs. Untill Jaja Binks then they didn't seem so bad. Joe Cabadas |
 June 26, 2017 - 3:52pm | Star Wars - saw it nearly 100 times in the theater the summer and fall it came out. Empire Strikes Back - saw it over 100 times in the theater... Return of the Jedi - saw it twice in the theater, because I fell asleep about halfway through. The opening 5 minutes were everything I wanted... star destroyer, shuttle, death star 2, vader being all imperious... then it went downhill. Jabba? don't care. Ewoks? really wish they had turned the DSII onto the sentry moon and just blasted them all with it as a "test". Ending space battle? sort of pepped up the end. New trilogy? Saw them each once in the theater. Depressing. The Force Awakens? Saw it once in the theater - realized I had seen it almost 100 times back in the 70's. BB-8 is okay... Rogue One? Saw it multiple times in the theater, and have already watched it 5-6 times at home. It's the third best Star Wars movie to date. As Shadow noted, Star Wars started with light sabers as a rarity... then they went crazy with them by the new trilogy and Force Awakens. Magic swords in sci-fi should be rare and sparingly used... that light saber mess on Geonosis was just pointless. What I really enjoyed about Rogue One was getting back to the "almost Jedi-free" era of Star Wars where there was no match for a good blaster at your side. |
June 29, 2017 - 12:31pm | Star Wars - saw it nearly 100 times in the theater the summer and fall it came out. Empire Strikes Back - saw it over 100 times in the theater... Return of the Jedi - saw it twice in the theater, because I fell asleep about halfway through. The opening 5 minutes were everything I wanted... star destroyer, shuttle, death star 2, vader being all imperious... then it went downhill. ... What I really enjoyed about Rogue One was getting back to the "almost Jedi-free" era of Star Wars where there was no match for a good blaster at your side. Well, your SW fanaticism surpasses mine! Yeah, I saw Return of the Jedi once in the theater and was disappointed with it. I may have seen it a total of 10 times since on Beta or VHS. I thought it was tiring to go back to the Death Star idea... do they have to completely blow up a planet to be horrified? If you turned the surface to molten lava it would pretty much accomplish the same thing. Rogue One was much better than the Force Awakens. Joe Cabadas |
June 30, 2017 - 6:27am | I have seen every SW flick (including the animated Clone Wars pilot movie and the remastered trilogy) on opening night. Granted New Hope's opening night in the small town I saw it in wasn't the debut night, but all the others were seen on opening/debut night. That's an experience that can't be replicated a week later or at home. For example, when Phantom Menace opened I water-painted one of my motorcycles into a Darth Maul motif with the facial tattoo pattern replicated on my tank and extending to other bits & parts. The theater manager ended up cutting a deal with me (and my friends) allowing us a comped second viewing plus concessions if they could display the bike for a few days alongside other memorabilia that was on display inside. |
June 30, 2017 - 10:59am | Darth Maul had much potential as a villian, but they (Lucas and crew) wasted him. Many of the prequel villians were also underdeveloped. Joe Cabadas |
June 30, 2017 - 6:20pm | Maul was severely underdeveloped. Even Boba Fett, who had far less screen time over two flicks (in the original trilogy, not counting Boba child in ATOC), had more dialogue than Maul. They did a much better job with Dooku/Tyrannus as far as character development goes. |
July 1, 2017 - 5:51pm | A side thread to this could be: What's worse? A) The Star Wars Holiday Special B) The Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith trilogy? Me... I am honestly struggling here. I use the Star Wars Holiday Special as a threat to keep my kids in line, so I guess I will pick A). And yes... Darth Maul is the single best/most wasted aspect of the prequel trilogy. Disney is sitting on a mint of "Before the Menace" Darth Maul spin off stories. |
July 1, 2017 - 10:03pm | Definitely the Holiday Special... that had an Ewok-kiddy spinoff too right? Joe Cabadas |
July 3, 2017 - 6:51am | There was one saving grace to the Holiday Special: the animated cartoon portion that introduced Boba Fett. My ratings: 1st place: Tied between New Hope & Empire Strikes Back 3rd place: Rogue One 4th place: Force Awakens 5th place: Return of the Jedi 6th place: Revenge of the Sith 7th place: Attack of the Clones 8th place: Phantom Menace Small Screen and other media: 1st place: Marvel Comics 107 issue run of Star Wars 2nd place: tied between the Han Solo and Thrawn trilogies of novels 4rd place: CG animated Rebels series 5th place: X-Wing vs TIE Fighter PC game 6th place: Clone Wars cartoon 7th place: CG animated Clone Wars (the last couple of seasons had a resurrected Maul, and having been aired on Disney XD they are probably considered canon) 8th place: Splinter of the Minds Eye novel, lots of potential but it dragged 9th place: Dark Horse Comics run of Star Wars (there we a handful of excellent mini-series such as Dark Empire, Shadows of the Empire, Chewbacca, & Darth Maul...but overall they were reaching for stories as they oversaturated the market with titles) 10th place, and several laps behind 9th place mind you: Holiday Special I never owned or played the Star Wars RPG but I imagine it would easily rank in the top five. There are also scores of novels and other PC games I never tried that would probably make the list...but yeah, Holiday Special probably wouldn't be supplanted for last place. ;) |
