While this weekend marks an anniversary that will likely pass quietly and without much fanfare, we felt the date warranted a shout-out nonetheless. On August 15, 1979, Star Wars fans got their first real taste of the The Empire Strikes Back when the first live-action trailer premiered with the second re-release of Star Wars that summer. The 90-second preview, which was touted on the blue and red Star Wars posters printed for this release, was actually the second Empire trailer produced, but the first to showcase footage from the film (the first was merely a teaser with concept art and still photos). Click the C-3PO image on the right to view the trailer.
Narrated by Harrison Ford (yup, that's Han hamming it up with his best 1930s announcer impression), the trailer contains a few noteworthy gems, such as the famously cut "Threepio ripping the sign off the door" shot. Originally, the invading Imperials were to enter the door, sans warning sign, to be subsequently attacked by a pack of angry wampas. The sequence was ultimately cut from the film, but not before this small hint of its existence was forever immortalized by the trailer (you can read a bit more about this sequence in our wampa databank entry).
Also noteworthy is the lack of any mention of Yoda (his appearance was still top secret) as well as the stylized Empire logo we're all familiar with. Since the logo had not yet been finalized, an early, somewhat clumsy-looking title closes the trailer, promising Empire's much-anticipated release "next summer."
Just for kicks, we dug through some old 1979 fanzines to gauge fan reaction to the trailer back in the days when memory -- and perhaps a smuggled-in tape recorder -- were the only tools available to fanzine editors. We uncovered this scene breakdown with a bit of commentary, courtesy of the November, 1979 issue of Against the Sith. The commentary concludes:
"The ninety seconds we all shared in the theatres contained in them what we feel is the essence of Star Wars, the feeling of adventuring in a far away galaxy. In seeing the preview all our apprehensions about the long awaited sequel to Star Wars vanished into space. In other words, we think it will be TREMENDOUS!"
UPDATE: Thanks to our friends at theforce.net for reminding us that The Clone Wars just hit it's one-year anniversary on the 15th as well!
