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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

CT Your Memories of Waiting for ROTJ

Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by Womp Rats Back Home, Mar 11, 2013.

  1. Womp Rats Back Home

    Womp Rats Back Home Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2013
    I was born after all three of the CT were released. In fact, I don't really even have any memories of when I "first" watched the original trilogy. So here's my question for those of you who lived through those original releases:

    What was it like to wait 3 long years between TESB and ROTJ? Did you ever daydream about what might come next? What did you picture?
     
  2. J_Girl

    J_Girl Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    My friends and I made up stories, placed little bets on who would get the princess. Was Vader really Luke's father or was it a deceptive Dark Side lie. It felt like forever, but it felt awesome because in the days where the idea of sequels was beginning to take hole and were mostly crappy, we had 2 awesome movies and just knew the 3rd one would be something awesome as well. There were more toys available than after ANH and that helped keep the momentum going.

    I for one couldn't wait to see what new planets and ships we would see. The possibilities were endless of what the story might be. Lucas had an established galaxy to play in and had proven to have a worthy imagination. It was a hopeful and exciting time. It is also why I was disappointed there was a 2nd Death Star. Again? Did we just leave this party? With all the possibilities, he chose to repeat?

    Still, the waiting was fun in a strange way.
     
  3. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    I remember those years. I actually had no idea what to expect, though I remember being very skeptical that Vader was Luke's father (despite his admission in ESB). I actually thought Vader was probably lying, but wasn't 100% sure.

    My most vivid pre-ROTJ memory was seeing the teaser?! trailer for the film in front of The Dark Crystal (Fall 1982). Very cool, especially since, IIRC, that teaser revealed very few plot points - the one vivid image I remember was Luke standing on the skiff, with the blue sky as background. You knew from seeing this that it would be different than the other films, but it wasn't clear how different...

    And, in those days before the Internet, the only rumor-mills were word of mouth and/or what you may read in a magazine/newspaper (which wasn't much, IIRC).
     
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  4. J_Girl

    J_Girl Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Feb 18, 2001
    I forgot about the teaser that came with The Dark Crystal! You're right, that was very cool! :cool:
     
  5. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    I was six years old in 1980 when TESB came out, and I remember being shocked at the end that we were being left with that kind of cliff hanger. We thought it would probably be another three years before the next movie, since it had been three years since "Star Wars", and we were right. But I remember believing Vader, so for me it was more just wanting to see how Luke would proceed with that information, and of course wanting to see what happened to Han. It was a topic of much discussion for us, and it was fun even though the wait was pretty rough... haha.
     
  6. Aaronaman

    Aaronaman Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2013
    I remember the very heated discussions I had with my friends about the fate of Han Solo, one of my mates told me he read that Han dies and I just couldn't (or maybe didn't want) to believe it....they were a tough three years hahaha

    I do miss not knowing though because now it seems you know the plot to every movie before it hits the cinema.
     
  7. Placeholder

    Placeholder Jedi Master star 4

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    Jan 30, 2013
    That's a choice. You can choose to not learn details.
     
  8. Aaronaman

    Aaronaman Jedi Knight star 4

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    Mar 12, 2013
    I supose your right there....but it's sort of like trying not to hit water when you fall out of a boat sometimes hahaha
     
  9. Placeholder

    Placeholder Jedi Master star 4

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    Jan 30, 2013
    When we enter the spoiler phase, I'm outta places like this
     
  10. TheProtocol

    TheProtocol Jedi Knight star 2

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    Nov 2, 2012
    I was born the year after ROTJ came out. I imagine it would be something like what we're going through right now waiting for Ep VII.
     
  11. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 13, 2007
    Actually pretty different, because of the internet.
     
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  12. J_Girl

    J_Girl Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    It was different eht13 and TheProtocol . During the OT phase, there was nothing but the evening news or Entertainment Tonight and that was sporadic at best until Lucasfilm specifically put on the media blitz just before the movies came out. The PT phase is sometimes referred to as The Golden Age around here because we had each other to talk to ad nauseum about it. I recall all of use being pretty respectful of those who wanted to remain spoiler-free. We have much better post option for hiding spoilers this time around.

    The internet made it fun and even more exciting because somebody somewhere was always talking SW and you could access that at will instead of waiting for tidbits to dribble out into the media.
     
  13. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    Exactly. I grew up with the OT too. ;)
     
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  14. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I was 8 when ESB came out and I absolutely did not believe that Vader was Luke's father. I thought the ******* had just told a lie well below the belt just to get at Luke, and I looked forward to Luke finally kicking his ass in the third film.

    Needless to say ROTJ was a nice surprise, both the truth and the redemption.

    Han: I assumed he was alive and I rooted for him to be the one to "get" Leia. I thought Luke was whiny and boring.
     
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  15. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Strangely enough, after seeing ESB for the first time on my 6th birthday (my cousin & her boyfriend took me along - Friday night, Hoyts George St, Cinema #7, bizarre how you can remember these things), I wasn't hanging for ROTJ anywhere nearly as much as I was for the next SW trilogy my cousin's boyfriend told me about on the way home - the one that would be all about Ben Kenobi, Darth Vader, Yoda & all the Jedi Knights.

    Apart from that, I honestly don't remember much about the wait until the media bombardment for ROTJ began around 1983. ROTJ iceblocks (with 'Jedi Jelly'!), competitions on the back of packets of Cornflakes & so on. I was still just a kid in Australia, and in those pre-internet days it was very different. Unless you subscribed to Starlog or whatever, you just waited. Full-blown speculation didn't happen until the action figures & merchandise turned up on toystore shelves.
     
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  16. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Yeah, ROTJ was the first film I remember where some of the figures, novel, storybook, and Marvel comic book adaptation were all released several weeks before the movie hit theatres.

    At the time, I remember thinking that it was ironic that the first two Ewok figures (Chief Chirpa & Logray) had their pictures on the back of these initial Kenner cards concealed so you couldn't tell what they were; despite this, the storybook, novel, and comic adatation all had either pictures or drawings (in the case of the comic) of the Ewoks, so everyone knew exactly what they looked like before the film came out anyway....
     
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  17. SHAD0W-JEDI

    SHAD0W-JEDI Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002
    I tried VERY hard to remain "unspoiled" - and no offense to those who assert that this is easy these days (I think it is all but impossible at times!), but it was a LOT easier back in the old days. A LOT easier. Of course, that assumes you don't end up in line with two fans who are TALKING SPOILERS MOMENTS BEFORE YOU WALK IN THE THEATER. Talk about a temptation to go over to the Dark Side. I kid you not. These two guys ... well, lets just say that was VERY uncool. LOL.
     
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  18. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    That reminds me of the scene in "The Simpsons"; in a flashback to 1980, Homer Simpson walks out of the movie theatre where long lines were waiting, and stupidly says something like, "Wow, I can't believe Darth Vader is Luke's Father!", and everyone groans...
     
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  19. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 13, 2007
    Haha, yup... I was going to post this exact same thing.
     
  20. SHAD0W-JEDI

    SHAD0W-JEDI Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002
    ANCIENT NON-STAR WARS SPOILERS --- LIKE REALLY ANCIENT!!!!!!

    On HAPPY DAYS many many moons ago (!) they had an episode where the parents were on the way out the door to see PSYCHO, when one of their son's friends blurts out "It's great! Anthony Perkins is his own mother!". Such an amazingly succinct spoiler!

    Within our family, the "other" spoiler story (not related to ROTJ!) centers around a fairly forgettable cop movie called NIGHTHAWKS, which starred Sylvester Stallone and Lindsay Wagner ("The Bionic Woman").I guess there IS a slight SW tie-in as Billy Dee Williams is also in it! Anyway, the movie features a "SHOCKING TWIST" at the end. The bad guy is creeping up on Stallone's ex-wife, Wagner, and the camera angle gives us a bad-guy point of view as he slowly creeps closer, closer, closer to the unsuspecting woman, who has her back turned in a darkened kitchen. Just as he is ready to strike - she spins around and (GASP) it is Stallone in a wig, and he dispatches the bad guy! WOW! (Even funnier if you know Lindsay Wagner, a petite blonde - the bad guy mistook Stallone in wig for HER, even in the dark, even from behind? RIGHT!). ANYWAY my brother was using the men's room minutes before he was going to see it, and two guys walk in, and PERHAPS not seeing him one says to the other "How about that? Stallone disguised as his wife there at the end!". OOOOOOPS. Spoiled.

    But I don't mean to sidetrack the Thread. I do recall, pre ROTJ, buying a magazine that had a big SW article and setting it aside, so as to learn little of what was going to happen. As observed above, it was just easier to duck spoilers back in those days. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the hype surrounding the Prequels, so its not all bad. I loved walking into, say, Walmart a couple of weeks before AOTC or ROTJ and seeing SW EVERWHERE, getting a lightsaber spoon in my cereal box, etc (Ha!), Burger King having adult kids meals where you could get TWO cool SW toys with your food. SO its not all to the bad side of the ledger!
     
  21. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    Great thread - at the risk of de-railing this:

    Yes, though the hype surrounding ROTJ pre-release was significant for a film released in 1983, it paled in comparison to the hype surrounding TPM back in Spring '99. Whereas for ROTJ you had a handful of figures, the novel, storybook, and comic all coming out several weeks before the film, TPM pre-release probably had more merchandising & related items released than any other movie before or since, period - I remember the books (HC novel, storybook, other picture books, comic adaptation ), as well as the "Midnight Madness" for the figures (I didn't attend, but did go get the figures the next day) - there were literally entire aisles in stores devoted to the figures & other merchandise. Even if you weren't a SW fan, it was impossible to miss all of the hype surrounding the film unless you lived under a rock ;) And, because of the Internet, everyone knew the exact street dates that everything would be released. And, Obviously, Episode 1 was the first new SW film to come out in the Internet age, which added to the hype. Throughout Summer '99, I also remember the Taco Bell/KFC, etc. fast food toys - there were a ton of these, and hard to track down sometimes (there was a much smaller fast food promotion for the SW Special Editions in January - March '97).

    Re: Nighthawks - I do remember seeing this years ago, only really because Lando Calrissian (BDW) was in this. After doing some research, I found out that it came out in 1981, so it was shortly after ESB. I do remember it as a gritty, urban thriller, and will probably check it out again because of this reminder :D
     
  22. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    Yes... the pre-release hype for TPM was INSANE.
     
  23. ObiAlKenobi

    ObiAlKenobi Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2012
    OMG the wait was horrible. My friends and I would read "Bantha Tracks", "Starlog" and anything else that dropped clues, had an interview, etc. I remember getting Starlog with the big three on the cover when it first came out. It blew my mind.
     
  24. ObiAlKenobi

    ObiAlKenobi Jedi Knight star 3

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    Mar 10, 2012
    And, to the posters above, "Nighthawks" was a good movie. Definitely worth another viewing.
     
  25. Ord-Mantell70

    Ord-Mantell70 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2009
    Roughly the same for me.

    Was 9 1/2 when I saw ESB in 1980, and was strongly attracted to the movie, like most of my friends (saw it 2 more times in 1980). I Thought Vader was telling the truth to Luke. And we of course knew the next film was coming, and were curious to know how everything would wrap up. But there was not much anticipation until 1983 actually. All this remained into limbo for some time.

    Then I saw a Sci-Fi movie magazine's cover in summer 1983 (Mad Movies), featuring the upcoming release of ROTJ over there in France (October 1983), and everything just resurfaced. I bought it, read the 4 pages article with lots of pictures, and was deeply fascinated by the story and issues. That's when the real anticipation began for me. And that's when I actually became a big fan of the cinematic saga, with the story shifting more towards Vader/Anakin Skywalker's past and redemption, and the looming backstory/PT to come.

    There was from then on big expectations and word of mouth with friends for 2 month until the movie came out, along with some Media buzz on TV, radios and magazines that really started at the same moment.

    I remember my friends and I were very excited the day the film came out, and the big lines at the theater too. When we got out and some time after, I assure you there was much speculation about the next Star Wars movie to come someday (PT), with my friends ! =P~

    Looking back, there was far more expectation and anticipation for the PT from then on, and of course especially in 1997-1999 for TPM, than there was for ROTJ in 1980-1983.

    But the early 80's were another time, really. Especially for kids (no Internet etc...).