Well anyways

[Chip Gelmini]

Lol this made my day

[Osi Osgood]

I and my family are going to a Star Wars party this afternoon! I think that what happened with SW, is that it is the one case of a modern fairy tale, that became far FAR more than merely a beloved film. There are no other entertainments that have ever even come close to the impact that SW has had on the world and it is also, in this modern world, one of the few creations ,
of humanity that has had nothing but a positive impact on society as a whole. Think about it!

[Steve Lee]

If I close my eyes now, I can still remember the smell of the cinema that I first saw Star Wars in on release. A cross between disinfectant and popcorn. And I will never forget it, as long as I live.

[Brian Fretwell]

The first cinema I saw it in, despite being modern (and possible because it was and not suitable for conversion to multi screen use) has now been demolished. The second, where I saw it in 70mm, has reverted to being a theatre for large musicals.

[Osi Osgood]

I first saw it in 77, as a precocious 11 year old, and actually having never even seen an ad for it, but all my friends said, "Dude, you've GOT to see this! I will never forget that first shot of the Star Destroyer, bigger than life, seemingly lasting forever. The whole universe that Lucas created in his mind, even if he was to never make another film, was the greatest gift he ever gave this impressionable boy!

[Kevin Faulkner]

And then came the Super8 400 and 200ft extracts. I couldn't wait to get my hands on those which I did the moment they were released. Those were the days😀

[Osi Osgood]

and the very thought that you could actually run those films in your own home! From what I understand, the 200ft or 400ft was actually available on super 8 in the UK, before people could actually see the full feature film in the UK?

[Steve Lee]

For me it was a bit of a surreal moment, as exactly ten years after seeing Star Wars, I found myself in the very theatre having to sort out a problem for a musical show, which ended up using the DP70 machines that has shown the film ten years earlier.

When I left school I got a job for a projection company in London. The company sent me away to be professionally trained as a projectionist. Soon after my training we were call to the theatre by the producer of the show, to try to find a solution for a holographic projection system that keeps on breaking down every night, as this was costing a fortune in ticket sales.
At this time it was approaching Christmas, and whilst walking down Croydon high street in south London, in a department store window was a Christmas display. This involved a mannequin dress as father Christmas but it had it's face projected by a super 8 film loop. so it looked like he was talking.

The next day at work I made a 16mm mockup of this set up, so we could show the producer this idea, as by this time he was desperate for anything.
After a discussion I suggested that the entire system should be done with 70mm, but with a difference. First to shoot the footage in Todd AO at 30 fps to remove any flicker from the image. And secondly to reverse engineer anamorphic projection.

The image on the film, was only to hold the image of sir Laurence Olivier head, nothing else. So by using an anamorphic lens the other way around, this stretched the image across the entire 70mm frame. When we projected it back, we flipped the lens the other way, so this projected the image compressed and corrected. This gave us the highest definition possible.




A team was bought in from the props department at Pinewood studios to create a large animatronic head. moulded to the profile of sir Laurence Olivier head. This had moving eyebrows, mouth, ears etc.
By using 70mm this gave us six track magnetic, using only two of the tracks for stereo sound, and the other 4 for the control system for the head. This meant that it could never go out of synchronisation.
This system was used right up to the last performance of the show, and never broke down.

All of this would never have happened if it wasn't for seeing Star Wars in 70mm in that theatre/cinema when I was a child, as it changed my life and made my love and understanding for film even greater.

[Brian Fretwell]

Ah the musical "Time". I was due to visit the set with the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians)but on the day couldn't was the lifting mechanism for the small stage that was lifted up onto the main stage from under had boken and it was deemed unsafe for visitos (even theatre technicians). Well the set has jammed and a massive pulley block had been pulled off its mountings cancelling the show for a few nights. When we did visit a few weeks later we were very immpressed by the whole set up.

[Steve Lee]

I totally agree with you Brain. When everything was working, this was the most amazing and impressive set ups that I think has ever been staged, anywhere in the world.
The problem was it was just to technically advanced ( pardon the pun ) for it's "Time".
Obviously if it was staged today, with the advancements in stage lighting and digital projection it would make life a lot more easier. But as we know none of this was available back then. It was years away from development.
Just trying to get our hands on a Mitchell AP65 camera to be able to do this job, is a story in it's self.
The only real lasting memory I have of all of this. Was standing at the back of the stalls with Dave Clark on the first night that the new projection system was run, and watching the look on his face followed by tears of joy.
I still have one souvenir from this job. A reel of the original 70mm test film.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Why did the Star Wars movies come out in the order 4 5 6 1 2 3 7 8 9?

In charge of the sequence, Yoda was.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

What do you call a robot that always takes the longest route?
R2 detour!

[Steve Lee]

Hi Joerg.
I do believe that George Lucas choose to start the film franchise at chapter four, because up to this point the story hadn't got going. It was boring.
We now know that he was right to do so, as it would have never have got the response that it did on it's release.
I knew someone who was working back in the day at Elstree studios. They were desperate for extras to be in the film. The word went around the acting community that some Sci Fi crap was going on at the studio, do you want to be in it ? This was how it was described as.
Little did they know.

[Brian Fretwell]

Also he didn't know if there actually would be any more made. He obviously thought it right to get the best story out first in the hope of success and at least the satisfaction of the one film being good, even if not financially successful.