Honestly? Not too different from seeing a movie in the theater today.
The Empire Strikes Back 35th anniversary
- Thread starter HarryCanyon1982
- Start date
Honestly? Not too different from seeing a movie in the theater today.
It was a little different for me because it was in a fairly large (800 seat) single-screen theater, which are very scarce now. Since there was only one picture showing, they went all-out decorating the lobby, windows and even the exterior IIRC. Even at age ten we knew that would be the place to see it, on the bigger screen, and not at a twin or quad theater (quad was the highest "plex" around). The big theater did not survive the decade.
I couldn't go till a weekend matinee because school was still in. I went with a couple of friends and we ran into several more friends there. People applauded when the movie started. I remember that the snowspeeder POV helicopter shots up and down the snowy hills were very effective, you felt your stomach drop. We loved the walkers, I found the Dagobah scenes a bit of a drag. It reminded me of Kung-Fu, a show I always hated. I found the glimpse of Vader's bald head very intriguing, we speculated for years on what he looked like under there. The tauntaun guts were also a big topic of discussion.
I had bought the book as soon as I saw it in a store, but the school librarian (who was also my friend's mom) convinced me to wait to read it till I had seen the movie. I couldn't resist, though, and I was far enough in that I was spoiled about who Yoda was. But the big reveal at the end caught us all by surprise. The consensus among my friends and me was Vader was obviously lying. I mean, he was pure evil, right? That's just what he would do... Couldn't get our heads around it.
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I'm pretty sure I saw it on VHS or Beta before I saw it in theaters, probably in 1983 shortly before Return of the Jedi came out.
The only one I didn't see in theaters until the Special Edition was Star Wars itself. I was born in 1977, so while I was present at the theater when my parents saw it, all I could do was hear in...from the womb (I was born two days later).
The only one I didn't see in theaters until the Special Edition was Star Wars itself. I was born in 1977, so while I was present at the theater when my parents saw it, all I could do was hear in...from the womb (I was born two days later).
Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first film I remember seeing in theaters, followed by Star Trek II and the Dark Crystal. I know I saw the ESB in theaters before Return of the Jedi came out, but not much before.
I know I saw ESB before that on a TV screen. Though it was probably a pirated copy as my uncle use to be able to get those for some reason. Or it was shown on TV at some point before 1982 and he was skilled enough to keep all the commercials out.
I know I saw ESB before that on a TV screen. Though it was probably a pirated copy as my uncle use to be able to get those for some reason. Or it was shown on TV at some point before 1982 and he was skilled enough to keep all the commercials out.
Oh yeah. It's been decades since I was in one of those larger theaters. Even the theater I saw Empire in back in 1980 still exists, but has since been cut up into the smaller ones that are more common now. It's been that way since around 1993 or so.
I'd actually forgotten about those.
It looks like TESB first became legally available on home video in late 1984. I distinctly recall ANH making its debut on one of the cable movie channels in the Spring of 1983, but I'm finding references to it having been available via a pay-per-view service in 1982...not sure when TESB would have been available by that method.
ANH made it to regular network TV with commericals (and lots of hoopla, including celebrity commentaries during the commercial breaks) in 1984.
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My friends and I were on an opening day/opening showing kick back starting in the late 70's, and even though I wasn't a Star Wars fan (it was an okay movie, but I had all but forgotten about it less than a week after it came out) we all had to see ESB on opening day/opening showing.
Wow!
I left the theater and got right back in line. And when I left the theater again, I got right back in line again. I had seen the movie about 30 times in the theaters that summer, it was amazing.
And in the context of ESB, Star Wars was a much more interesting movie to me.
This didn't put a dent in my Trek obsession, but it was the first time I started giving other Science Fiction franchises a serious look.
Sadly, Star Wars has been on a decline for me since ESB, but the years between ESB and RotJ showed me a version of Star Wars with a ton of promise (which maybe someday it'll live up to).
As for the opening day/opening showing, it had been a social thing to wait in these lines with people you'd never met before and was actually a ton of fun. My first disappointment in doing this was actually Blade Runner. For that opening day/opening showing there were maybe a dozen people in the theater... I loved the movie but couldn't figure out why nobody had shown up to see it. Only two weeks earlier I had been in a line around the block for ET and had been expecting the same for Blade Runner.
Wow!
I left the theater and got right back in line. And when I left the theater again, I got right back in line again. I had seen the movie about 30 times in the theaters that summer, it was amazing.
And in the context of ESB, Star Wars was a much more interesting movie to me.
This didn't put a dent in my Trek obsession, but it was the first time I started giving other Science Fiction franchises a serious look.
Sadly, Star Wars has been on a decline for me since ESB, but the years between ESB and RotJ showed me a version of Star Wars with a ton of promise (which maybe someday it'll live up to).
As for the opening day/opening showing, it had been a social thing to wait in these lines with people you'd never met before and was actually a ton of fun. My first disappointment in doing this was actually Blade Runner. For that opening day/opening showing there were maybe a dozen people in the theater... I loved the movie but couldn't figure out why nobody had shown up to see it. Only two weeks earlier I had been in a line around the block for ET and had been expecting the same for Blade Runner.
Hey, my big brother saw Raiders in theaters 4 times when he was 6 and even in the 82 re-issue and he saw Star Trek II and Dark Crystal in my birth year at age 7. And he saw Jedi 3 times at age 8.
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