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After seeing a small piece in a newspaper about an exhibition of Star Wars memorabilia nearby, I decided to go into the city today and see it for myself. All in all, it was pretty interesting. It wasn't a large exhibit, focusing mostly on the original Star Wars itself, but there were some artifacts there I had only heard about before, and a thing or two I hadn't heard about at all. Posters included the one with art by Howard Chaykin, the absolute first piece of Star Wars merchandising, and a "coming soon" teaser with the "W" in the logo not quite shaped the way it's been since. There was something else at the exhibit, a press kit or something, with the same early logo on it. I also spotted a copy of the novelisation with preliminary art on the cover and some of the first magazines to run articles on the approaching movie.
We all know, of course, what followed the release, and there's an example of it in one of the (in)famous "Early Bird" kits, the display stand sold to have something on the store shelves for Christmas 1977. (There was a newspaper clipping advertising the kit for about eight dollars. Nowadays, you can't get even one action figure for that...) The exhibit included the plastic tray of four action figures you were buying the certificate for, Luke and the mounting footpegs still in their wrappings. I noticed an X-wing fighter in a lot better shape than the one I had wound up in facing off against a TIE fighter (which I never had), and a "Death Star" playset set up with period figures. One thing I couldn't help but notice was that Han Solo and Chewbacca were facing off against a stormtrooper, but the blaster had fallen out of Han's hand...
One more modern touch was a case set up with an array of figures illustrating the evolution of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. The most surprising ones for me were a child Anakin in full Jedi cloak and hood and a "funeral pyre" Vader, the most gruesome one was a Revenge of the Sith figure that didn't quite reflect what had happened in the movie, and while I did notice that the two "redeemed Anakins" at the back of the case (one normal and one transparent blue plastic) both looked to be Sebastian Shaw versions, what are you going to do?
Other things in the exhibit that caught my attention were a 45-rpm record with radio commercials on it, a big newspaper ad that suggested the movie didn't make it to the local area until late in July of 1977, and a film reel in a can the accompanying card said was a work print. (I had to take the card's word for it.) One of the most interesting things for me, though, was a flash holder set up next to a "your father's lightsabre" model. Very little had to be done to the flash holder, mostly adding ridges at the base and building up the box halfway along the side, to make it into a lightsabre. The experience may have been brief, but it was a fun outing.
We all know, of course, what followed the release, and there's an example of it in one of the (in)famous "Early Bird" kits, the display stand sold to have something on the store shelves for Christmas 1977. (There was a newspaper clipping advertising the kit for about eight dollars. Nowadays, you can't get even one action figure for that...) The exhibit included the plastic tray of four action figures you were buying the certificate for, Luke and the mounting footpegs still in their wrappings. I noticed an X-wing fighter in a lot better shape than the one I had wound up in facing off against a TIE fighter (which I never had), and a "Death Star" playset set up with period figures. One thing I couldn't help but notice was that Han Solo and Chewbacca were facing off against a stormtrooper, but the blaster had fallen out of Han's hand...
One more modern touch was a case set up with an array of figures illustrating the evolution of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. The most surprising ones for me were a child Anakin in full Jedi cloak and hood and a "funeral pyre" Vader, the most gruesome one was a Revenge of the Sith figure that didn't quite reflect what had happened in the movie, and while I did notice that the two "redeemed Anakins" at the back of the case (one normal and one transparent blue plastic) both looked to be Sebastian Shaw versions, what are you going to do?
Other things in the exhibit that caught my attention were a 45-rpm record with radio commercials on it, a big newspaper ad that suggested the movie didn't make it to the local area until late in July of 1977, and a film reel in a can the accompanying card said was a work print. (I had to take the card's word for it.) One of the most interesting things for me, though, was a flash holder set up next to a "your father's lightsabre" model. Very little had to be done to the flash holder, mostly adding ridges at the base and building up the box halfway along the side, to make it into a lightsabre. The experience may have been brief, but it was a fun outing.