When Star Wars was an EVENT a Special occasion. This is why having a vcr was fun! It just feels different watching with the nation even though it was on vhs by this point. This is a birthday present for anyone watching : )

@jamesdavison2927

5 ай бұрын

PERFECTLY STATED

@louiswomble5609

5 ай бұрын

I remember it being simulcast on the radio so you could get the movie “theater” sound. Ah, good ol days!…lol!

@TheLAGopher

4 ай бұрын

That's just it. The shared experience of watching a movie in a theater, or during a national television premire, made blockbuster films a cultural event. Even when edited for TV, it was such a big deal when King Kong,Superman, Close Encounters, Jaws 2, Alien, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Trek The Motion Picture, Apocalypse Now,First Blood, Rocky, or Star Wars, hit national television before the home video VCR revolution really took off in the late 80's.

1984. There was no end to the Cola Wars in sight. So many lost.

@mikerotonda6264

5 ай бұрын

There was nothing we could do....coca cola was a made man,...and Pepsi wasn't!!.... Its was amongst the Cola companies....... Real carbonated shit

@dathorndike4908

5 ай бұрын

Send me back to 1984. I want to re-live it all over again

@texaswunderkind

4 ай бұрын

Pepsi was the choice of a new generation. You didn't want to be old, did you?

This is 40 years ago people! And it feels like yesterday! Incredible!

@bowlerfamily

5 ай бұрын

I feel like I was so much older then...

@reeftheseaforever

5 ай бұрын

@@bowlerfamily I remember this day watching with my parents

@bowlerfamily

5 ай бұрын

@@reeftheseaforever RIP both my parents. Good times!

@volumedealer2716

5 ай бұрын

I dont feel like this was yesterday. Anyway, dont youvwish you didn't dismiss what Alex Jones was saying now?

@bowlerfamily

5 ай бұрын

@@volumedealer2716 what was he saying?

I like seeing the old commercials too

Back when life was so much more simpler and HAPPIER.....I love that you posted this. What a blast. My senior year in high school.

@dathorndike4908

5 ай бұрын

much simpler and definitely happier

@mksolid82

5 ай бұрын

It was a utopia for the middle class and everyone was much more united. It’s absolutely heartbreaking what we are living today.

@TeddScheckler

4 ай бұрын

Of course it seemed simpler - you were in high school and your parents did everything for you. Sheesh… 😆

@thelostone6981

4 ай бұрын

@@TeddSchecklerThat’s the very fact that people can’t seem to acknowledge. When we were young and didn’t have to worry about bills,boring marriages, and all sort of frustrations, life seemed much simpler. But talk to people older than us and the 60s were the best! Or the 50s were the best! Or the 40s were the best!

@ed9492

4 ай бұрын

@@thelostone6981 Heck no, it was the 30s that were the best. It was October 1929 that life finally started to get interesting. They haven't made shantytowns and freight trains that good since. Those homeless tents are all made in China now. Priuses are terrible getaway cars after robbing a bank. Now that was an activity the whole family could enjoy together.

Anytime there is a classic 70's or 80's television show AND the commercials are included, COUNT ME IN! It's always nice to get that blast from the past. So many memories, childhood moments and memories that can come back by watching a 70's or 80's TV show or commercial. Now if you also include Star Wars? I am IN with a CAPITAL IN! Definitely got a subscriber here!

@ntsecrets

5 ай бұрын

And there is more to come! I can’t put Star Wars itself on here but I may provide links to download the recording

@PathfinderHistoryTravel

5 ай бұрын

When commercials weren’t all annoying. I forgot what that was like.

@sexobscura

5 ай бұрын

yeah, that's called nostalgia (a runoff of sentimentality)

@murrieta49

4 ай бұрын

Ignorance is bliss ain’t it

I actually remember watching this when it originally aired. I was 6 years old, and in kindergarten. I first got to see it 3 years earlier when my Mom's friend, who owned a bar that she played pool at, bought a laserdisc player and rented a laserdisc copy of Star Wars to play for everyone in the bar that evening. We didn't get a VCR in our house until 1989, so it was only tv airings when I got to see it. While we did have HBO, and so I did get to see it a multitude of times prior to this showing on broadcast tv, this was indeed a special occasion viewing.

Ah, the 1984 Mercury Topaz. A paragon of engineering and commercial excellence.

@jsizemo

5 ай бұрын

That was the alt brand of the Ford Tempo, both of which would end up on list of cars to AVOID, per consumer reports and other publications!

@kevingray8616

5 ай бұрын

For any of you youngsters watching this. Nobody gave a shit about the Mercury Topaz. Really!? "Topaz"? Waste of commercial money.

@Invalidcookie-bv4cx

5 ай бұрын

i'll take the Mercury Cougar. You can't beat that song 😂

@AdrianInflorida

4 ай бұрын

Yeah, but that Cougar, though....😊

@Hoovie9596

4 ай бұрын

This was the first kind of car I learned to drive on in 1990

40 years ago and I remember it just being yesterday 😢

@Naminski1a

5 ай бұрын

In the original theatrical release, it has the 1953 20th Century-Fox logo.

@TopDownDrumming

5 ай бұрын

Same

@steelahlive

5 ай бұрын

I too remember this event! Crazy, didn’t remember all the car/leggs commercials! 😅

@jamesdiaz5975

5 ай бұрын

I say cherish it and keep those memories alive while you are still kickin👍

Oh my…this actually made my teary-eyed reliving my youth, when times were less hectic and stressful. Thank you.

24:12 That print of Scarecrow and Mrs. King looks like it was run through a dishwasher and run over by a car.

@Hoovie9596

4 ай бұрын

What kind of car ? A Mercury Topaz?

1984 on this day when this was on tv had to be a beautiful moment for starwars fans

Classic TV compilations like this are precious gems that need to be backed up, that they never truly vanish, even if a KZread account gets deleted.

@ChristopherHillman

5 ай бұрын

If you ever want to save youtube vids ...the 4K video downloader works really well.

One thing in 40 years. The network's haven't forgotten to pump a TV special full of advertisements.

I remember pausing and unpausing the VCR to edit out the commercials when I recorded movies, lol. It was a job! I had to actually watch the entire movie, lol 🤣

@Torgo1001

5 ай бұрын

Eventually, there were VHS decks that automatically skipped commercials. i don't remember if they had been released by 1984, however.

@Raysboss302

5 ай бұрын

If you had a couple of drinks you get this. Only commercials and no movie lol.

@benignasiak3465

5 ай бұрын

Dam were old😊

@michaelkrolewski7406

4 ай бұрын

Yep, me too!

@Windrave

2 ай бұрын

@@Torgo1001 I remember hearing about those but I could never understand how that could work. How would it know?

That Mercury Cougar did the Kessel Run in 10 parsecs

@EmitOcean20

5 ай бұрын

Sure did

@scooter39045

4 ай бұрын

And then it broke down

Man they milked the advertising for this premiere- so far I’ve seen about a lifetime’s worth of advertising

Wowwwww..45 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of content…. It was fun to see and reminisce about the commercials (the Grammy’s 2 days away from this airing when Michael Jackson took away how many? He was nominated for 12!). Unheard of, until then. Thanks for the reminisce!!

@RobinDale50

5 ай бұрын

Eight. First time in history too.

1984: Technologically backwards, but socially and emotionally more advanced and mature. 2024: Technologically advanced, but socially and emotionally less advanced and mature. If you could have lived in this time (I did) you would see what an amazing time the 80s was. It was a time of experimentation in music, space science, entertainment, and computer technology. And so many more things!! The minimum wage was $3.35 USD (About $8.35 USD now) per hour. A Big Mac meal was less than 3 dollars, meat was pennies on the pound, and people weren't out to be greedy or rob you at every corner. It wasn't perfect, but if you compare it to now? It was paradise.

Thank you for this!! Watching this 39 years and 364 days later and is jogging my memory like it was yesterday. Double Bonus, I few years later, my first car was that charcoal grey Mercury Cougar

Sigh…please take me back to 1984 :)

@michaelkrolewski7406

4 ай бұрын

Me too. I could persuade my sister not to marry my brother-in-law. Lol 🤣

40th anniversary Monday February 26, 2024.

Awesome! I remember watching this with my dad, who was almost never home due to his job. Lots of nostalgia as I just rewatched the original Shogun TV miniseries to get ready for the bastardized remake.

God, the Grammy Award commercial was a flashback in itself

I was 14 years old when Star Wars came out. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have seen it. I’d seen the movie trailer. It just didn’t interest me enough to go watch it. A family friend was the one who took my sister and I to the movies just about every weekend back then. That weekend, he decided that this was the movie we were going to watch. I remember sitting at the dining room table looking at the movie section in the newspaper. I don’t remember if we had to stand in a long line to get into the theater. What I’ll never forget, was looking up over my right shoulder and back to the projection room. I wanted to to see if the Star Destroyer that was chasing Princess Leia’s in the opening sequence was coming out of there. That ship was bigger than anything that I’d ever seen on screen and it went on and on…. In 1980, when Empire Strikes Back was released, I remember getting really angry at our family friend because we were late and he still stood in line for popcorn. We missed the previews and the first 10 minutes of the movie. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

I Always call StarWars the *BIG BANG Of Creativity* Everybody in tech, film, design, computers, electronics, fashion, music got Energized and Enthused! ...ThAT's why the 80's were sO AMaZinG :)

@TheLAGopher

4 ай бұрын

Kind of funny how Star Wars pretty much killed New Hollywood and the trend of socially relevant movies of the 60's and 70's. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were the nerds of their generation of creatives.They pretty much took the 1940's B movie serials, added cutting edge visual effects,soundtracks, and production values, and changed the course of Hollywood.

Wow! What a flood of memories from this one. The commercials, the soundtracks and effects. An amazing time from the best year of the 80s, 1984.

I just watched almost an hour of commercials and enjoyed it

Love looking back into a great past. Thanks for posting!!!

By this time , Jedi had hit the big screen and I was 7/8 yrs old. Mom was making popcorn on the stove, and I had finished my bath and the family was getting ready to watch. Sure we'd already seen it, but a big time movie coming on television was still exciting back then. "Fix the tracking!" 😂😂

@ntsecrets

5 ай бұрын

yeah unfortunately that was the best I could get the tracking - if the knob went just a little bit in either direction it got worse. Other tapes play fine, seems to be just something about this tape.

@Plan9-3127

5 ай бұрын

@@ntsecrets No worries my friend... I only said it as kind of a throwback to the good ol VCR days... Ours had a counter on it, so I could always rewind right to the exact spot one of my fathers "adult" movies kept in his top drawer with his socks... Lol.. 😅

@ntsecrets

5 ай бұрын

@@Plan9-3127 lololol I’ve found some adultish stuff hidden at the ends of the tapes too!!

@Plan9-3127

5 ай бұрын

@@ntsecrets good times.. good times... Time used to be the only "adult" content available back in those days was the woman's lingerie section of the JCPENNEY catalog... Or if you were really lucky a Fredrick's Of Hollywood would show up in the mail.. 😅😅

@alanashooshan6902

5 ай бұрын

@@ntsecretsWHAT!

Wow! Aired one day before my 18th birthday!

This is a great little time capsule of television. It's interesting to watch the mini documentaries, stingers, news shorts and, of course, the commercials. It's also like a terrible fever dream were you're being constantly promised Star Wars but you never actually get it!

My Dad taped this special for us on Beta, and then had a friend transfer it to VHS so the picture quality that I watched all 3 Star Wars movies in was worse than this until the THX versions came out in 1995😂

I remember watching Star Wars when it aired on TV and was angry when they kept showing these interviews instead of playing the reason my TV was on, Star Wars.

Oh man. I remember watching this when it first aired and haven't seen it anywhere since. Thanks.

Thank you so much for this.

I can't remember if I actually watched when it finally came on TV, but I do remember going to see it in the theater when I was 7. I can't recall how I got interested in it, but my parents got me the book before the movie came out. Mark Hamill was my very first crush. To this day, I still consider Star Wars one of the greatest films of all time.

In the UK, Star Wars received its network TV premiere (on ITV) in October 1982. I had distain for such childish nonsense at the time, but my brother won a bet and I had to watch. At that moment I was hooked. The following week we rented Empire Strikes Back and a year later I queued to see Return of the Jedi. If you’re reading this Tom, you were right: it was fantastic and I did love it… I also loved Han Solo. xxx

This was the first time I saw Star Wars. I had seen Empire and Jedi in the theater but never the original. I was an ecstatic 10 year old!!

@robertconahan187

5 ай бұрын

I didn't see episode 1 until after I saw Empire & RTOJ either

Amazing Thank you so very much for posting this gem

Historic stuff. Did they really have 10 minutes of commercials between 60 Minutes and the movie?!

40 years ago, CBS aired Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) for the first time on network TV. It's from 20th Century-Fox and Lucasfilm Ltd.

@BaseballPlayer0

5 ай бұрын

i tht 1st time ws 83

Oh, the blessed days when the original trilogy was all there was, and the OG fans were happy....

The most fascinating thing to watch in this had nothing to do with Star Wars. Watching the Grammy commercials announce Michael Jackson’s nominations, knowing the world (and Jackson) would never be the same after that award show, is just fascinating to watch.

Thank you for this. 1984 is my favorite childhood year and my opinion the best year of the 80s.

STAR WARS WAS EVERYTHING FOR ME in 77 AND THE TIME OF SEQUELS IVE LOVED IT EVER SINCE IM 52 NOW AND THIS IS SUCH A GIFT THAT HAS BEEN POSTED "TECH " hasnt really overrun us Its taken us back to SO MANY memories Ive been exposed to so many things that were before my time or during my time and i just didnt watch Wow

WOW! It wasn’t on network tv until after Jedi was released theatrically. Really was when network premieres were special. Now a movie is released in theaters and available to watch at home the next day.

Even though I had seen the movie a few times on the big screen, and even when it showed up on HBO, you still couldn't beat the feeling as a kid of seeing one of your favorite films debut on another format, in this case, network television. So seeing all those lead ups (torturous as they were to a kid anticipating this) to the CBS premiere of Star Wars takes me back to when I was that kid. Thanks for sharing this.

@TheLAGopher

4 ай бұрын

I remember that too. Everyone was hyped when Star Wars appeared on HBO even though A New Hope had been rereleased in the summer of 82 ( Empire would be rereleased Thanksgiving 1982) during the lead up to Return of The Jedi. It was hyped again when Star Wars came to CBS and when I could finally own a VHS copy in 1988.

@saintelmo5590

4 ай бұрын

@@TheLAGopher Oh, remember when Star Wars first came to home video on VHS? It was $110. When rental stores became more popular, it was called "Priced for Rental". (We didn't have a VCR when Star Wars first hit VHS, but I wanted that soooo bad. LOL!)

Thank you for this!

Forgot how great it is: life without commercials

@texaswunderkind

4 ай бұрын

Yeah, commercials suck. My kids are still amazed when we watch something like the Superbowl, with so many commercials. They've grown up in a world without them. Where you actually get to watch the show you want without constant interruptions.

I saw Star Wars 33 times a the theater. There is no movie that has come out in the last 10 years that I even considered seeing more than once. Why is that?

@texaswunderkind

4 ай бұрын

George Lucas decided Carrie Fisher was not allowed to wear a bra.

@johnw8578

4 ай бұрын

@@texaswunderkind I was 8 and wasn't thinking that way yet.I saw Empire 8 times at the theater and ROTJ 3 times at the theater.

I remember it was aired against the miniseries Lace which actually beat Star Wars in the ratings and included the memorable line “Incidentally, which one of you bitches is my mother?”.

I was 11 years old when this was broadcast. I am sure I was watching. CBS was the only channel we got where I lived.

This is awesome, it was a good year when everything was simpler. I believe when the Star Wars special came out I was at my local arcade.

Guaranteed I was sitting “too close to the tv” when this came on!

I was 14 in 1984. I'm currently finishing up my time machine.

We are just as close to 2064 as we are far away from 1984. That's makes me feel OLD.

I was right years old,and remember when they played this. Could tell you exactly where I was at to!!

i also recorded it that night! but made sure to exclude commercials... it used to be an art anticipating the movie coming back from commercials. in the same vhs cartridge i had superman and an episode of reading rainbow

I remember watching this when it aired. I still remember the behind the scenes clips as well. Ironically, ‘Star Wars’ was not the highest rated movie that night. “Lace” on ABC had a higher rating. “Urban Cowboy” on NBC came in third

@harley2704

5 ай бұрын

By the time it premiered on CBS, the movie had been re-released in theaters several times since 1977, shown on pay per view in 1982, premiered on HBO in 1983 and released on home video. The ratings were much higher for “The Ewok Adventure” when it aired that fall on ABC because it was new.

@MMAfighter38113

5 ай бұрын

@@harley2704 the same with ‘Supeman II’, which made its network television premiere a week prior on ABC. Despite it featuring never before scenes on ABC, It still came in behind a tv miniseries on CBS but slightly ahead on NBC. It also made its cable premiere in early 1983 & was shown throughout the year. That was the only way I could watch it. A VCR was still pretty expensive in the early 80s.

@stargazerlaurent6780

5 ай бұрын

To be fair, Lace was a good miniseries

@Naminski1a

5 ай бұрын

@@harley2704 Speaking of Star Wars on ABC, who remembers watched Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) on The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC?

@jaredjlinden

4 ай бұрын

It helped cement the networks’ reliance on miniseries and made-for-TV movies in the 80s. It was well-reported on that Lace beat Star Wars.

BRILLIANT WATCH!! LOVED IT

Love the classic vhs tape distortions. Gotta hit the tracking button 😁

This reminds me of Video stores, popcorn you burn on the stove and a bottle of store brand orange soda. I miss the analog days. think about how much work must have went into changing tapes every 15 minutes during breaks. The pressure of changing from National Feed to Local, airing the ads then going back to the national feed during a debut like this?

Incredible. I remember this day well; was a Sunday and was my sister's 10th birthday.

7 years after being released in theaters, this was the network television debut. With most people not owning VCR’s (very expensive), this would be the first time they saw Star Wars in 7 years!

Its crazy to think that there was a time you couldnt push a button, swipe, and watch Star Wars anytime you want. I remember when they did the special edition VHS tapes for 20.99. It was a must buy.

I thought it was weird to use Holst’s “Mars” in the Greystoke trailer at 14:55 but then I realized it’s a great ad for the people watching Star Wars, since it’s very similar to John Williams’ Star Wars music.

This is truly historic. This is when the word "epic" actually meant something.

Edit: (I originally had the wrong time.) Whoever directed that Pepsi commercial at 28:21 should have been hired to make movies! He was trying to be like Steven Spielberg and he succeeded!

@gresstsorell8181

4 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's almost like the commercial's director already had some experience with space or aliens or something!

Thank you.

There is no way my tv could have withstood that much baiting back in 84. Seeing this now I am so glad I was a Star Wars addict in the uk. My god you poor Americans. This explains a lot, I had no idea you had all been enduring extreme psychological abuse since this far back. Free or paid service I wouldn’t endure this level of advertising in 2024. I just won’t watch that level of abuse

The ‘80s were the best!

@kevingray8616

5 ай бұрын

If I only knew how good we had it back then I would have paid more attention. Same with the 70s. Problem is my parents were assholes and all I wanted to do was grow up and get out on my own.

being born in 2002, things from that century look like an entirely different planet. Crazy.

I can testify to being Star Wars crazy! Movies, novels, music, and other collectibles.

Seems like quite a bit of commercials. I imagine that it wasn't cheap for CBS to have this feature.

@kevingray8616

5 ай бұрын

All of the movie scenes have been cut out. This is only the commercials and such.

You deserve more subscribers

When I saw this at the time, I was hoping that cut scenes from the theatrical version would be restored for the TV showing (like other films). They weren't. 😥

@Naminski1a

5 ай бұрын

As of October 2023, FX aired Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) in its original 2.35:1 theatrical widescreen format shot in Panavision.

Feb. 26, 1984 was my 16th birthday and I always considered the world television premiere of Star Wars George Lucas' birthdays present to me. It was a Sunday and that particular weekend we had rented a VCR because Empire had just been released on VHS and I wanted to see it for my Birthday. I think we also rented a James Garner movie called Tank and Ice Pirates. Such great fun back then.

Mark Hamill looked so young. I don't remember ever seeing the introduction part he did.

Reagan telling the space shuttle "May the force be with you" sounds like the most 80s thing ever lol and controversial too, cant find ANY videos of that, probably due to the star wars program at the time they probly scrubbed it and back then, when shit got deleted it was gone hah

I was 4 years old. Life was so simple.

AT&T logo looks a lot like the Death Star LOL

They actually put commercials between "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." and the opening crawl. That's how you know the network was going to milk every possible dollar from the broadcast.

@ntsecrets

4 ай бұрын

Sorry I think that was how I edited out the movie since obviously I can’t include the movie on KZread. I left in a few seconds of the movie when it cut to commercials so you had some idea of where it was.

In glorious VHS quality 4:3 ratio! I remember the version we had was recorded off of TV as well. Good times.

@ntsecrets

5 ай бұрын

It was actually Betamax!

that whole time on set, nobody bothered to adjust Mr. Hamill's bow tie hanging BELOW his shirt collar.

28:20 has to be one of the coolest commercials ever made!

I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♂️ - but these commercials make me miss whatever AMERICA 🇺🇸 was it the 1980’s, we sure as HELL aren’t in the 80’s anymore

@texaswunderkind

4 ай бұрын

Just dying to buy that Mercury Topaz, aren't you?

5:01: Ernie Anderson: "Happy Days, Three's Company, 9 To 5, Shaping Up And Hart To Hart Will Not Be Seen Tonight But Will Return Next Week Starting At 8:00/7:00 Central & Mountain With All New Episodes! Now Tonight... The Star Wars Saga Begins..." (closed captioned for the hearing impaired) (ABC Movie Special Theme Plays) 5:39 "Tonight's ABC Movie Special Is Sponsored By Lincoln/Mercury Offering A Complete Range Of Cars For 1984, Like The Distinctive Mercury Cougar Or The Topaz" (Alternate Universe Opening)

Awesome! Mr Stubens looks THIS close to building a mountain out of those mash potatoes! Be careful !! 👽

Many yrs ago we have lost our way we must refocus trust in the Force We shall do better May the be with you always

Whatever 60 Minutes was running that night looks lit. Where can I watch THAT? 😂

Interesting that the UK premiered Star Wars on television first; 24th October, 1982. But that's what George wanted...

@jC-kc4si

5 ай бұрын

Makes sense to get audiences excited for ROTJ. In the states SW and Empire were re-released almost every year since their original releases. I first saw Empire in 1981 and Stripes was playing in the theater next door.

Jesus, I feel old. 😂

The lead-in ads to the movie were longer than the movie itself.

@kevingray8616

5 ай бұрын

The movie has been cut out. These are only the commercials before, during, and I assume after the movie.

I recorded it onto our new Betamax VCR.

This is cool.

40 years ago, people have seen it 70 times. I have maybe seen it 30 or 40 times? I’m 46. I have probably seen Robocop more.

AT&T and the US Military built the internet. Don’t let Al Gore Gaslight you! 😅

1:01:18 Every kid in America went to bed thinking about blowing up the Death Star and eating Downyflake Waffles for breakfast.

I'm sure I watched this, but I was only 10 and don't really remember it. But they sure didn't skimp on the commercials (although the Ken Anderson coffee ad was a gem).