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yestolerancepro · 8 months ago

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Tolerance Project extra a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away

The final cut

Part 1 The Farmboy The Princess and the Smuggler The Making of Star Wars and an out of this world Toyline

Introduction

Hello there and in honour of Star Wars Day may I present a new and revised edtion of a blog that looks at the Star Wars franchise well the first 6 episodes anyway so nothing on the sequel trilogy or the clone wars animated series.

For ease of reading the blog has been split into 4 chapters each with new material

This first chapter will cover the making of Star Wars and the amazing Toyline that followed it. Chapter 2 will cover the Empire Strikes Back including new material on the lost sequel Splinter of a Minds eye from 1978 Chapter 3 now covers Return of the jedi

The final Chapter will cover the Prequel trilogy and the links with the Tolerance Project

Overview

Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope)* is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. It was the first film released in the Star Wars film series and fourth chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". Set "a long time ago" in a fictional universe where the galaxy is ruled by the tyrannical Galactic Empire, the story focuses on a group of freedom fighters known as the Rebel Alliance, who aim to destroy the Empire's newest weapon, the Death Star. When Rebel leader Princess Leia is apprehended by the Empire, Luke Skywalker acquires stolen architectural plans of the Death Star and sets out to rescue her, while learning the ways of a metaphysical power known as "the Force" from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew.

Lucas had the idea for a science-fiction film in the vein of Flash Gordon around the time he completed his first film, THX 1138 (1971) and began working on a treatment after the release of American Graffiti (1973).

To read about George Lucas’s orignal Star Wars plans as a 12 part film arc click here https://screenrant.com/star-wars-george-lucas-12-movie-plan/

After numerous rewrites, filming took place throughout 1975 and 1976 in locations including Tunisia and Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England.

While Star Wars was still filming Star Wars The novelisation of the film hit the book shelves in 1976

Star Wars From The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker Alan Dean Foster

Though initially credited to George Lucas, this Star Wars novelization was actually ghostwritten by sci-fi icon Alan Dean Foster, who wrote it based off the film’s shooting script and Xerox copies of artist Ralph McQuarrie’s pre-production paintings. Foster also spent a day in an Industrial Light And Magic screening room with Lucas and graphic designer Saul Bass, watching unedited, soundless footage of Tie Fighters zooming around and getting blown up.

From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker was published six months before the movie came out in May 1977, and it was panned by critics—but audiences loved it, and the book sold through its initial 500,000-print run by February, still three months before the film’s premiere. By the time the movie came out, another 3.5 million copies had been sold, making it one of the most successful novelizations of all time. (Foster was paid $7500 for the work—worth about $40,000 today

The novelization hits all the movie’s high points, but there are some fascinating differences (a lightsaber is described as a “gizmo” with “a number of jewel-like components built into both the handle and the disk,” for example) that give it a different type of feel from the film. It all adds more to the Star Wars universe, and some of details about certain planets, languages, history, and technology have since become canon for fans.

The film suffered production difficulties; cast and crew involved believed the film would be a failure. Lucas formed the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic to help create the film's special effects. It also went $3 million over budget due to delays.

To read about a lost version of the Star Wars film click here :https://movieweb.com/star-wars-original-version-lost/

Star Wars was released in a limited number of theatres in the United States on May 25, 1977 It was released in the UK on the 27 December 1977 6 months after US a bit strange as a large chunk of the film was made here it quickly became a huge hit

leading to it being expanded to a much wider release. The film opened to critical acclaim for its acting, direction, story, musical score, action sequences, sound, editing, screenplay, costume design, and production values, but particularly for its ground-breaking visual effects. It grossed $410 million worldwide during its initial run, surpassing Jaws (1975) to become the highest-grossing film until the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); subsequent releases brought its total gross to $775 million. When adjusted for inflation, Star Wars is the second-highest-grossing film in North America (behind Gone with the Wind) and the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. It received numerous awards at the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Saturn Awards, among others.

Star Wars Gets its first TV airing in the UK

I remember watching on its first British TV premeire when the ITV network showed on the 24th of October 1982 as a a 5 year old it left a rather big impression on me . with its massive space battles light saber fights and the souring music by John Williams here is a trailer for that very event. and the TV times magazine cover

Screenrant published an article on their website called 10 moves that redifined their Genres Star wars A New Hope was number 1 in their list so what made Star Wars so groundbreaking ?

Hollywood likely did not expect a new sci-fi movie with a space setting to change the genre yet again less than a decade after 2001: A Space Odyssey came out. Yet Star Wars became the biggest franchise of all time, with Star Wars: A New Hope being the second highest-grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation (via boxofficemojo.com). All blockbuster movies are held up to Star Wars as a comparison.

George Lucas' team notably used miniature models of futuristic ships to capture sequences of them flying through space while further developing the computer-generated effects of the time. Luke's storyline also helped popularize the "Hero's Journey" in cinema, which appears in The Matrix and Lord of the Rings (via IMDB). This demonstrates how genre-defining movies' influence may prove essential to yet another significant moment in cinematic history.

The Music of Star Wars Episode IV The New Hope

For me one of the strongest parts of Star Wars is the music by John Williams. Indeed Speaking as a personal fan of John Williams, I was first introduced to his work when I bought a double CD version of his music for the first star wars film for my birthday. I loved it but it took me a while to get the other soundtracks in the series. I didn’t get round to buying Empire and Return of the Jedi till the special edition Soundtrack releases in 1997.

I loved those as well and I have since bought all of the Star Wars Soundtracks that John Williams worked on.

Williams like John Barry before him had a magical talent for making the music come alive in my head to create scenes and adventures that I never saw on the cinema screen.

It was on the recommendation Spielberg, Lucas hired John Williams, who had worked with Spielberg on the film Jaws, for which he won an Academy Award. Lucas originally hired Williams to consult on music editing choices and to compose the source music for the music, telling Williams that he intended to use extant music.[133][134] Lucas believed that the film would portray visually foreign worlds, but that a grand musical score would give the audience an emotional familiarity. Therefore, Lucas assembled his favourite orchestral pieces for the soundtrack, until Williams convinced him that an original score would be unique and more unified, having viewed Lucas's music choices as a temp track. However, a few of Williams's eventual pieces were influenced by the temp track: the "Main Title Theme" was inspired by the theme from the 1942 film Kings Row, scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold;[135] and the track "Dune Sea of Tatooine" drew from the soundtrack of Bicycle Thieves, scored by Alessandro Cicognini.

Williams' score for Star Wars was recorded over eight sessions at Anvil Studios in Denham, England on March 5, 8–12, 15 and 16, 1977. The score was orchestrated by Williams, Herbert W. Spencer, Alexander Courage, Angela Morley, Arthur Morton and Albert Woodbury. Spencer orchestrated the scores for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The score was recorded by engineer Eric Tomlinson and edited by Kenneth Wannberg, and the scoring sessions were produced by Star Wars director George Lucas and supervised by Lionel Newman, head of 20th Century Fox's music department.

The soundtrack album was released by 20th Century Records as a double-LP record in the United States in June 1977. The album's main title peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with a disco version of the film's theme by Meco becoming a number one single hit in the United States in October 1977. You can learn more about the Meco version of the song by clicking here :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjuvI6sX2U&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=264&t=135s

The soundtrack album itself became the best-selling symphonic album of all time;[1]

To take a look at the original music manuscript for the Star Wars theme click here https://gizmodo.com/john-williams-star-wars-sheet-music-auction-darth-vader-1851265635

The Beginning Of the out of This World Toyline

The toys were made by Kenner in the US and released by Palitoy in the UK which imported the figures and packaged them in the UK on Palitoy branded cardbacks.

Between 1978 and 1985, Kenner produced and sold action figures based on the Star Wars franchise. From a line of over 100 unique toys, a total of more than 300 million units were sold during their original run.

The license for Star Wars action figures was offered in 1976 to the Mego Corporation, which was the leading company in action figures in the 1970s. Mego refused the offer and the license was subsequently picked up by Kenner.

Star Wars was the first film to successfully market toys based on the movie. In fact, they were so successful that George Lucas independently used the funds to finance the next two movie chapters, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).[2]

Although the original Star Wars film had been released in May 1977, Kenner was unprepared for the unprecedented response to the film and the high demand for toys, mainly due to George Lucas's unwillingness to provide character/vehicle designs for fear his creations would be plagiarized by movie/TV competitors. Unable to build sufficient stock in time for the lucrative Christmas market, they instead sold an "Early Bird Certificate Package" which included a certificate which could be mailed to Kenner and redeemed for four Star Wars action figures.[3][4] The first four figures to be distributed were Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and R2-D2.[5] The box also contains a diorama display stand, some stickers, and a Star Wars fan club membership card.[6][7][8]

By the time the action figures were offered for direct sale in shops, the range had been augmented with a further eight figures—C-3PO, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Jawa, Sand People, and Death Squad Commander—bringing the total number of figures in the initial release to twelve. These were supplemented later in 1978 with a number of vehicle and playset accessories, as well as the J.C. Penney exclusive Sonic controlled landspeeder and the Sears exclusive Cantina adventure playset which introduced four new figures.[9][10]

The Original Star Wars Trilogy and Me

Toys

Like most children growing up in the 1980s Star wars was part of the landscape growing up Me and Matthew bought most of the toys and played Star wars at home..

I used to be Han Solo and Matthew my Brother would be Luke Skywalker my bed would be the Millennium Falcon and my Teddy Edward would be Chewbacca. To watch a documentary on the Star Wars toy range click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaJy4GMQrJE&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV3Y85xphI3YrPVq3Q5wI_7&index=34&t=15s

The very first Star wars figure me and Matthew got as presents were a Darth Vader figure for me and Luke Skywalker Jedi knight for Matthew from our Nan from then on we would get figures as treats save up our pocket money or a get the figures or a spaceship/Vehicle for Christmas or a birthday present.

The first big Spaceship I remember getting as a birthday present was the Snow Speeder that Luke Skywalker flew during the Battle of Hoth in Empire a great flyer but very heavy to lift when your little the guns on the speeder would light up when you pressed a button.

Toy advert for the Snow Speeder click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LPd9xlsks

Matthew got Luke’s X wing fighter the wings unfolded when you pressed a button on R2D2s head Toy Advert for the X wing and Tie fighter click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llNRFjvJXus

The best Christmas present I ever got was the Millennium Falcon playset and Matthew was rather pleased when on the same day he got the Ework Village . Toy adverts for the Millennium Falcon playset click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYoaTe8mUho advert for Ework village click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdZ2XsgRohc

Pictures

Star Wars Poster from 1977

Star Wars from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker book cover from 1976

TV Times Magazine cover from October 1982

Early Bird toy promontion

Star Wars Soundtrack album

Notes

Thank you to wikipedia for the background information on the making of Star Wars and its Toyline Thank you to Youtube for the Vairous adverts for the Star war toys also thank you to the vairous websites for their Star Wars articles featured in this first chapter including Movieweb, Screenrant, Gizmondo

Next Week Tolerance Project extra a long time ago in a galaxy far far away part 2 a lost sequel an ice planet and a forest moon

Further Watching

Star Wars The Epic continues a lost toyline from 1985

2 Video shorts on how the toy companies tried to keep the Star Wars Toy Franchise going after Return of the Jedi click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQwsuR96pRk and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UeWGX6It4c&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=333