CT Inconsistencies of Classic Star Wars Posters for the Original Trilogy

I really have a problem with this. If you can see, Darth Vader is holding a lightsaber but doesn't look like the one he used in all of the films. Also look at Han Solo. He's not holding his blaster like he's holding a lightsaber. Help me with this!! I'm so confused. >_<

 

That one's confusing you?

Check out some of these, from Spain, Russia, and everyone's favourite source for brain-damage-inducing movie posters, Poland:

 

Wow these are amazing!!!

 

I am really thinking that George Lucas should've finished everything before starting the Original Trilogy. I can see **** all over it. Or maybe he should redeem the story by rewriting the whole Star Wars Universe in maybe a novel or something then give all the rights to Disney and hope everything goes out well.

Who's that cowboy, the lion with lightsabers as a mane, and that green guy (obviously not Yoda because he doesn't have ears)? And isn't Darth Vader supposed to be a Cyborg not a full on robot. This is so confusing. Maybe this is one those reasons that I can't explain why I prefer the prequel Trilogy.

 

I always liked this poster for the contrast between Obi-Wan and Tarkin: good and evil through lighting. And, yeah, what Vader is holding is odd. I don't believe that I ever noticed this before you pointed it out. The hilt is too short and it appears to have a crossguard. Very interesting.

 

For whatever reason, Vader's saber appeared to be based on the novelization's description of what a Lightsaber looked like.

 

So one of the reasons why you prefer the prequels is because there was no quality control over the foreign posters for the original trilogy because the 70s and 80s were a very different time to late 90s and early 2000s in terms of communication pre-internet? That... makes no sense. These posters have nothing to do with the movies. Like, none. They're advertisements, and in some cases not particularly accurate advertisements, but advertisements nevertheless. They're interesting to look at, especially because of their flagrant inaccuracies and the way they depict the things we're familiar with, but they have no bearing on the films themselves as, y'know, films. Nothing to do with the characters, the story, the world, the designs, the mythology, etc. It really shouldn't be confusing.

 

Looking at other countries posters or book covers are amazing.
Gives the movies character.

 

I especially like one with reptilian-man doing a mind-meld with what looks to be a disco ball....

 

Gotta love the original 1977 ANH poster than shows buffed-up Luke, Leia showing off leg, and 100 ba-zillion x-wings rather than the "thirty rebel ships".

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/StarWarsMoviePoster1977.jpg

Its called 'stylizing'

The entire 2003 clone wars microseries is 'stylized' and people seem to take similar issues with that show, the same way the OP is describing here with the film posters. Personally I like it.

 

Luke has a blue lightsaber on the ROTJ poster

 

Also, the 1997 Special Edition poster for Empire Strikes Back has Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor despite the fact that the character was still played by Clive Revill in this version.

 

This is due to the fact that they originally wanted him to wield a blue lightsaber in the film. One of the trailers reflects this. However, they realized that it would be difficult to see the lightsaber with the blue sky behind it during the assault on Jabba's barge. Thus, they changed it to green.

 

Right, but the change was done a bit late. The poster was finished and rather than change it, since we didn't have photoshop yet, that was the end result.

 

Um... what...what am I even looking at?

 

Older art, I assume

I have that art on a clock in my bedroom, btw. Great thing to wake up to every day

 

I have a sweet lithograph of that very image on my office wall! It lacks the credits panel, and the STAR WARS logo is over Luke's feet, in bold white. It's a fun thing to walk by every couple of hours.

 

I have it on a T-Shirt. Can't wear it in the house though, because Darth Vader scares my little sister.

 

HELP ME!!! I'M SO CONFUSED!!!

 

Check out the 1978 German counterpart, finally Threepio looks on the poster like he actually does in the film.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FItgXKGf6...EG+DER+STERNE+-+German+Poster+by+Tom+Jung.jpg

 

Wow! I've never seen that variation - bit odd that they actually made such a background alteration for accuracy, while the inaccurate 'heroic' Luke & Leia remain. Based on German/European movie posters of other films, I'd have expected either another poster design altogether, or the same one with only the text changed.

Some more Eastern European wackiness:

Poland



Poland



Hungary



Hungary



Russia



Hungary



Poland



Hungary

 

In contrast the German Style A for ESB isn't that great, IMHO (I prefer the original Japanese artwork on which the German variation is apparently based):

http://www.filmposter.net/media/cat...9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/9/1/9199.jpg

 

Yeah, that looks like a cheap variation of the standard ESB poster, done solely to focus on Luke & Yoda. It's still fun that such variations exist - these days they're exactly the same across the world, with maybe the language of the text changed, but little else.
It's a shame that the mind-bending weirdness of Eastern Bloc movie posters has faded away - here's the standard US poster for my favourite film of all time, Chinatown (1974):



And here's what they did to it in Poland:



(John 'Hudson'???)

 

If this minor stuff bothers you so much, I can't imagine your reaction to the inconsistencies within the films after the stupid retcons Lucas inserted to force some sense into the PT.

Luke: Leia, do you remember your mother? Your real mother?
Princess Leia: Just a little bit. She died when I was very young.
Luke: What do you remember?
Princess Leia: Just... images really. Feelings.
Luke: Tell me.
Princess Leia: She was... very beautiful. Kind, but sad.