Posted on

Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 3

Richard Gere is lancing a lot in 1995. Unimpressed, Vader steps down from the billboards and charges an old best friend: ‘We meet again, film camera. When we last met, I was but a learner. Now I am the master!’.

As ominous as the tag line “The Original – One Last Time” undoubtedly was, it actually promised very good tidings for the Star Wars community. The 1995 video release purposefully asserted that Lucasfilm would employ the new technology created by ILM to enhance the OT in time for the 20th anniversary of ANH.
Continue reading “Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 3”

Posted on

Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 2

As 1995 dawdles on, Sandra Bullock finds the WWW to be a veritable death trap, while mutant Kevin Costner gets ’em with his trusty catamaran. Yet what in the name of Yoda is Vader doing on gargantuan billboards?

Ten years after the beginning of the Dark Times, Lucasfilm had long since vacated its shadows to bathe in the beautifully self-orchestrated market of 1995. On the one hand, there was keen and global interest to immerse oneself in every way imaginable in the world of the original saga. On the other, fantastic ramblings of a new set of Star Wars films pervaded the media – young Obi-Wan was then rumoured to be “created” by mapping the face of young Alec Guinness over an unknown actor according to British Sky One teletext – so that fandom and industry pundits alike were eager to be continuously filled in on the progress made over at the Ranch. Lucasfilm would now stalwartly address the needs of the people and the market they constituted.
Continue reading “Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 2”

Posted on

Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 1

Tom Hanks was having a problem on the far side of the moon, Mel was brave at heart and people threw their DOS right out their Windows, while Vader was at last busy polishing his helmet…

When Star Wars opened in 1977 on only a handful of screens, the merchandise frenzy typical in this time and age of potential blockbusters did not exist. When the film became a sleeper hit and unbelievably never stopped drawing crowds, many millions were lost in sales as retailers had nothing to placate the public’s insatiable hunger with. Kenner famously reacted at the 11th hour with the legendary Early Bird Package and thus launched a multi-billion dollar segment almost single handedly: the motion picture tie-in.
Continue reading “Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 1”