Vintage Star Wars rumours from Starlog magazine
HuffPost is carrying an amusing story. Mike Ryan visited his local library and gathered together a collection of outlandish rumours about "Star Wars II" from the pages of Starlog magazine:
"Starlog" was a glorious publication. In the mid-1980s, at a small-town newsstand in mid-Missouri, I had my first experience with "Starlog." This particular newsstand often carried back issues of comic books (most often "The Flash," for whatever reason), but one day I discovered a box full of "Starlog" magazines from the late '70s and early '80s that were practically being given away. Darth Vader himself was on one of the covers; I just had to own these.
I plowed through each and every issue. Most of the content was fairly informative -- older interviews with William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry, Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams were still interesting, considering they were discussing movies that I loved --but what really caught my eye was the wild speculation. Sure, by the time I was reading these issues, I had already seen "Return of the Jedi," so I approached what I was reading with an attitude. How could anyone believe THAT would happen? In the days between the original "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back," however, fans were starved for information. Similarly, as "Star Trek" fans eagerly awaited the return of Captain Kirk in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," any update was welcome. This was the heyday of "Starlog." This was why people purchased "Starlog." This was no different than going to your favorite movie rumor website right now and looking for any tidbit of information on what will happen to your favorite characters next.
Follow the link to read the rumours. Here's one nice example:
Near the climax, Han Solo crosses lightsabers with Darth Vader. Although Han doesn't really know how to use the weapon, he's doing fairly well when suddenly the light beams are "fused" together and Han's and Vader's "life forces" are intermingled. Luke has a chance to come to the rescue -- but if he kills Vader, might he not kill his friend too?
Huffington Post: 'Starlog' Magazine: Crazy Movie Rumors Before the Internet
Dark Helmet
For more vintage Star Wars rumours, see John Booth's blog post and Flickr stream about the oddly-named Warren Presents: Empire Encounters Comix. Spoiler alert: it's not a comic.
(And by the way, if you haven't read John Booth's Collect All 21, you have some explaining to do.)