REMEMBERING THAT FIRST LOOK AT "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK"

Vader in flames! - Ralph McQuarrie's evocative cast and crew logo art for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in 1979 

I think of all the early pre-release trailers for the THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK during 1979 and 1980, the second is pretty much everyone's favourite, with the Harrison Ford narration and lots of tantalizing clips of lost moments or alternate takes, though I have to say I'm very, very fond of the first release trailer, which showed/debuted all of Ralph McQuarrie's stunning production paintings of what was to come on such a grand scale with the first STAR WARS sequel. In the UK, the trailer was shown with a re-release of STAR WARS around Summer 1979 and I remember my mum - fortunately for the world a fellow STAR WARS fan! Primarily due to Harrison Ford!- taking me one mid-evening to see the film for the gazillionth time at the ACE CINEMA in Brixton-our then local run down cinema (now an exotic dance/gig venue), but one which always showed classic children's films during the summer holidays all day (with everything from PETE'S DRAGON, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN, to the two-part TV SPIDERMAN episodes released theatrically here, Ray Harryhausen classics, and PLANET OF THE APES being shown to exhausted mothers with kids whom they were desperate to keep entertained and quiet for a couple of hours). I remember seeing the McQuarrie trailer (if I recall rightly it was actually shown after STAR WARS end credits had come up) and being absolutely blown away by the visions running across my eyes. I knew of McQuarrie from the very beginning of the original films release locally in suburban London from Jan 1978-and my brother had bought me the paintings set as a birthday present from a Brighton sci-fi convention- so seeing all the new movie paintings of his made it doubly exciting, especially on a  pretty large cinema screen, with the camera skillfully going in and out of the rapidly moving montage and generating excitement. I was totally hooked for EMPIRE.

Here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjRyczNO7UY

There are few artists out there that can pull off making you want to see a trailer with no live action footage at all and just a few character stills- McQuarrie didn't just achieve it (and kudos too to whoever it was that hit upon the idea for the trailer), he went beyond it by creating individualistic cinematic magic. And millions of STAR WARS fans around the world are indebted to him.