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Dark Times 11 – 1996 – Part 1

Darkness envelopes capitals worldwide in vacuous black as landmarks ignite in a box office consuming blaze: making plans for August was not a good idea in 1996 – except for Lucasfilm, which was concocting its own significant Shadows…

As heavy drops of Time imbued the parchment of history in omniscient black ink in 1996, they recorded such events as the 30th anniversary of Super Bowl, William Wallace’s victory on the red-carpeted battlefields of the Shrine Auditorium, the cloning of sheep Dolly and Homer’s unwitting killing of Bill Clinton and presidential candidate Bob Dole. Time also skilfully shaped a turning point in the corporate history of Lucasfilm, whose future repercussions were subtly suggested by the tasteful ballet of ink strokes drying into eternity.
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Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 5

“Patience is bitter, but its fruits are sweet ” Edmund Burke once scraped onto a blank sheet of paper and may well have had the year 1995 in mind, the year Star Wars returned in full force.

The fine people of Lucasfilm had miraculously transformed an aged entertainment property into gleaming hot media content that formidably stood its ground in the battle for consumer loyalty. Like a resilient flower poking through dry ground in great defiance of the drought of motion picture history, Star Wars merchandise was gently but decidedly expanding.

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Dark Times 10 – 1995 – Part 4

Turbulent times in 1995: As Springfield was frenetically hunting the person who shot Mr. Burns, George Lucas was still wondering who should direct the next instalment in the Star Wars Saga…

Every mass-marketed product creates demand in other areas worth mining, especially with a franchise as mythically permeated as Star Wars, whose religious shadings form a most complex alliance with boldly designed technology. Countless questions as to the people, places, workings and underpinnings of the Saga would doubtlessly arise in the wake of the 1995 THX video release and Lucasfilm was well prepared to answer them all in most elaborate fashion.
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