1978 Ralph McQuarrie Article

From issue #17 of Starlog, published October 1978, comes this article on artist/designer Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie passed away recently, so I am posting this article in remembrance of this extraordinary talent.

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Bonus: from the same issue, this back cover ad for the Don Post Star Wars masks. Did you own one of these?

Bonus: From the same issue is this look back at Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose writing influenced so much of modern science fiction, especially on film. Since the first filmed version of his Mars stories, "John Carter," is still in theaters as of this post, I thought it might be interesting to read this. I saw the film in Imax 3D, and it was awesome! Of course, being Disney, we didn't get to see as many naked people as in the Frazetta paintings, but it was still good.

1982 Behind-The-Scenes Article on Return of the Jedi

Back when filming was still going on of "Return of the Jedi," this one-page article with some behind-the-scenes shots was published in the August 1982 edition of Starlog.

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Below, a February 20th, 1994 Sunday strip of Calvin and Hobbes, in a particularly amusing sci-fi themed entry.

1979 article on "The Star Wars Holiday Special"

From issue #19 of Starlog Magazine, published in February of 1979, comes this cover article on one of the darkest chapters in Star Wars history... the legendarily-bad "Star Wars Holiday Special." (See an earlier post on it here from another of my blogs.) Many might want to forget it, but as Master Po said to Grasshopper, "We do not learn by forgetting."

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Bea Arthur is easily the scariest of any of the denizens in the cantina.

"Yes, son, we are your father Chewbacca's dirty little secret. Never forget that."

Whenever the pain of contemplating "The Phantom Menace" threatens to overwhelm you, recall this and you will be comforted.

1978 Mark Hamill interview

From Rona Barrett's Hollywood Super Special: Winter 1978, comes a one-page interview with Mark Hamill, who was about to begin work on "The Empire Strikes Back." I have featured this magazine in an earlier post about "Battlestar Galactica."

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It's interesting to go back and read stuff like this, from before we had ever seen the movie!

1978 Star Wars Poster magazine #10

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This 1978 poster magazine from my collection is especially valuable to me due to the personal autograph I have on it from the man behind the voice of Vader, James Earl Jones! I was working at a radio station in 1987 in West Virginia when he was there filming "Matewan," based on a true story that happened in a mining town in the Mountain State. Filming was taking place in a park that had an exhibition mine open for tours, and word reached us that he was coming to the station the next day for a live interview. I took this issue as well as a SW poster of Vader, and he was kind enough to autograph them both for me.

He was a great guy, very gracious, and it was an honor to meet him. It was made even more memorable because he came in full miner's costume, on a break fron the set! I only regret that I had no picture made of me with him. I guess I didn't want to impose too much on him, considering the little time he had there.

Below are the rest of the pages of this 31 year-old magazine, inside and back. I thought you might enjoy seeing the rest of it, if you don't have it!

Did you have, or do you still have, any of the toys depicted above? I bought my 7 year old little brother the landspeeder and blaster pistol for Christmas.

Below is a snapshot of the inside poster, which was too big to scan without messing up.

And as a bonus, from one of my five other blogs, "Held Over!" here's an earlier post of a full-page ad for the re-release (based on the artwork above), clipped by me from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Friday, July 21, 1978.

Exciting times when I clipped this!

1977 "Time" Star Wars article

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The article posted this time was clipped by me from the May 30, 1977 issue of Time magazine. I had been following the articles in various other magazines with interest, like Starlog and Famous Monsters. But this was the first in a mainstream publication that I had found, and it came out the same week the movie did, before I or most people had seen it. Hope you enjoy this look back to a time when it was possible to read something fresh and new about Star Wars before it became the phenomenon that it did.

Looking at that photo of Kenny Baker made me realise that it was a good thing he wasn't claustrophobic in the least, or he would have been in trouble!

Also, don't forget to visit my other fun genre blogs: "My Star Trek Scrapbook," "My Monster Memories," "Held Over!" newspaper movie ads, and "Sweet Skulls." Between "Fantastic Flashbacks" and the others, the Fred blogging experience is a sensory overload of nostalgic goodness!