Recollections of Darth Vader's visit to Toys R Us, September 1977

Steve Fulton and his twin brother on the way to see Star Wars guysGamasutra's Steve Fulton has a wonderful blog post--complete with photographs--about a visit by Darth Vader, Chewbacca, a stormtrooper and Geoffrey Giraffe (?) to the Torrance, California Toys R Us in September 1977. Here's an excerpt but you really need to follow the link and read the post in full:

In this era news  for kids existed only in the pages of publications like Boy's Life and Dynamite, magazines with lead times of 6 months or more.  Recent news about products for kids or toys was virtually non-existent.  Furthermore, what would they haved talked about anyway? Even video games were still an experimental fad:  in September 1977,  the Atari 2600 was still a couple months from release.

So when my brother and I read in the Daily Breeze that  Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Storm Troopers would be traipsing through the local Toys R Us to announce the new line of toys based on Star Wars, we HAD to go, and our dad decided to take us.

...

We got up really early that morning.  Well, my dad got up.  My brother and I never went to sleep  the night before.  How could we?  We were going to meet the guys from Star Wars!  When we slipped outside at the crack of dawn to get going, my dad snapped this photo of my brother and I (below).  I'm the guy on the left looking glum. I have no idea why I look so upset.   My wife says I was probably trying to put on my best Han Solo face. I think she's right. My twin brother is the moisture farm boy on the right.  Our brand-new '76 Datsun 710 Millenium Falcon is just behind us.

Gamasutra: Steve Fulton's Blog - 35 Years Ago, Star Wars Character In-Person At Toys R Us Set Me On Track To Be A Game Developer

Stormtroopers' gay love story in Spanish film festival

Pink News reports that this year's Notodo Film Festival is featuring a short film depicting a lover's quarrel between two stormtroopers stationed on the Death Star during a rebel assault:

The film, which is subtitled in English, stars two well-known Spanish actors: Jordi Sanchez and Ivan Jara, who provides voices for the Spanish language versions of Dexter, The Big Bang Theory and Six Feet Under.

‘Love Wars’ eavesdrops on a conversation between two gay stormtroopers who are forced to hide their relationship from the rest of the imperial army.

Also designed to comment on current civil unrest, one stormtrooper criticises the “anarchy” of the Rebel Alliance fighting outside their window, drawing a parallel between the fiction fighters and real-life political dissenters in modern Europe.

His companion says that if there were anarchy in the world, their relationship would not have to be played out in secret and suggests they run away from the Death Star and its oppressive regime.

But the first argues he does not need social recognition to know they love each other.

I can't seem to get the embedded video to work, but Pink News did. Follow the link to watch the film.

Pink News: Star Wars soldiers' gay tale in Spanish film festival