I have a passion for collecting vintage Star Wars merchandise from the late 70's. Action figures, comics, trading cards etc - anything related to the first Star Wars movie. But why only until 1980? It's not that I don't love The Empire Strikes Back and beyond (I really do), but there is something about that first wave of Star Wars mania that really grips me, back when it was all fresh and exciting...

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Starlog #14 - June 1978



I know I've done a lot of magazines lately, but there's just so damn many of them from this era and they really give a glimpse into the times which is why I love them. Issue #14 of the cracking sci-fi magazine 'Starlog' featured another Star Wars article as its cover story; this time the work of matte painter P. S. Ellenshaw. The issue also included info on upcoming sci-fi flicks like Superman (1978) Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979) as well as TV series like Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and 'Galactica' (Battlestar Galactica).  



Another Star Wars related article was this one calling for readers to vote which sci-fi movie soundtracks they wanted to be released. It's interesting to see how influential the 2-record release of John Williams' score was on the release of film music records. These days just about every film gets a soundtrack release but before Star Wars the availability of sci-fi movies in particular seemed very limited. 








In the days before home video, ads like this one for 'Reel Images' offered an exciting opportunity...


Star Wars items filled the pages of these Starlog magazines which makes them particularly collectible.









4 comments:

Regularjoe said...

Nice scans. I've been working on a similar project myself, scanning entire issues of OOP magazines. I've been working on what few copies of Cinefantastique that I have and have finished up issues that profile Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes and Return of the Living Dead. The double issue with Star Wars is next up and it's a biggie that is going to take a few hours.

Anonymous said...

Our website is hosting a free giveaway of Star Wars gear. We're giving away:

1. A framed photo of Darth Vader, signed by David Prowse
2. A LEGO Millennium Falcon
3. Seven limited-edition Star Wars lithographs (8″ x 10″ each).

It's totally free. Free shipping. No strings attached.

We'd appreciate your help promoting it. The deadline to enter the drawing is Thurs, Dec. 13 at 11:59 pm. Open to US residents 18+. The website is http://www.takeourstuff.com/star-wars-bundle/

Cougar said...

It looks like you are quite the Star War Collector! How much are those worth? Do you mainly collect just for fun? I love the Star War movies and thought they were great, they are some of my favorite, though I don't consider myself a huge fan.

Matt said...

Wow. Great scans. I'm pretty sure I've got at least one or two of those pages floating around my house - my brother loved to collect everything about Star Wars when he was younger, but he was terrible at keeping his collection in one piece. Too big a compulsion to rip magazines apart and put the pictures on his wall. It's a shame.