May 25, 1977: Star Wars -- or, as people born after 1990 know it, Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope -- premieres.
July 16, 1977: My father took me to see it, at the Menlo Park Twin Cinema on U.S. Route 1 in Edison, New Jersey. That theater has since been demolished, as has the old Menlo Park Mall. The new Mall has a multiplex cinema.
You hear that 20th Century Fox fanfare, and then that pause, and then that John Williams score, through Dolby stereo speakers, when you're 7 years old, and your previous science fiction experience has been watching the original
Star Trek TV series, the Tom Baker version of
Doctor Who, and the old
Flash Gordon serials on TV with your father... and you totally get it when, years later, you first hear the expression "the magic of the movies."
And then came that "opening crawl," letting you in on the story, as with the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s and '40s that did so much to inspire this saga.
No title above it. This was simply "Star Wars."
As James Doohan would have said,
"No bloody Episode I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, or IX!"
Lucas envisioned a 9-episode "Skywalker Saga." It's now been done, plus 2 films and a few TV series of "Star Wars Stories," intended to add some background to the 9.
As with Star Trek, without which Star Wars would have been all but impossible, the fandom is deeply passionate, and has made many quotes from the series familiar. "I've got a bad feeling about this!" "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." "I find your lack of faith disturbing." "Let the Wookiee win." "Use The Force, Luke!" "The Force is strong in this one." "You're all clear, kid!" "Never tell me the odds!" "That'll do nicely." "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!" followed by Chewbacca laughing, followed by "Laugh it up, fuzzball!" "Judge me by my size, do you?" "Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'" "I love you!" followed by "I know." "It's a trap!" "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." "I hate sand!" "So, this is how liberty dies: With thunderous applause." And, most of all, "May the Force be with you."
And Darth Vader never said, "Luke, I am your father!" In Episode V -- The Empire Strikes Back, the exchange went like this:
Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Vader: No. I am your father.
Luke: No... no... that's not true! That's impossible!
Vader: Search your feelings: You know it to be true!
Luke: Noooooooo! No...
The effect of Star Wars -- and the subsequent release, on November 16, of Steven Spielberg's UFO film Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- was immediate and irrevocable. It changed the movie industry forever. Science fiction, which had been kind of a joke for a while, became a cash cow. The "Summer blockbuster," "invented" 2 years earlier by Spielberg with Jaws, became a necessity for Hollywood studios, thanks to George Lucas, who wrote and directed this film. He and Spielberg would make some of the biggest films ever made, some of them together.
Paramount Pictures had been planning to bring Star Trek back as a TV series, but shifted instead to making Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The 1930s newspaper comic strip and film serial characters Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were reimagined, the former as an NBC series, the latter as a feature film. TV knockoffs included ABC's Battlestar Galactica; the CBS kids' shows Space Academy and Jason of Star Command, the later including Star Trek actor James Doohan; and the NBC parody Quark -- not to be confused with the later Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character: Unlike the original USS Enterprise, this show's ship actually was hauling garbage in space!
Even the James Bond franchise got into the act. In 1955, Ian Fleming published Moonraker, in which Agent 007 investigated the theft of fighter jets. In the Summer of 1979, EON Productions, producers of the Bond films, put the story in space, with the Moonrakers becoming space shuttles.
With over 40 years of hindsight, Moonraker wasn't all that bad a Bond movie (although, at 51, Roger Moore was starting to look too old to play Bond), or even an especially bad a science fiction movie (only the last half-hour or so takes place in space). But 2 minutes of orbital laser battle between U.S. Marines and Sir Hugo Drax's thugs have rendered the film ridiculous in many people's eyes. The realization that Jaws and his new nerdy but stacked girlfriend do not fit Drax's idea of the ideal population of a rebuilt postapocalyptic masterpiece society, powerfully pulled off by Richard Kiel and French actress Blanche Ravalec without saying a word, makes for one of the best messages of any Bond movie.
Star Wars affected popular culture beyond movies and television. Baseball's New York Yankees frequently use Williams' familiar theme song to introduce their players on special days, like Opening Day and postseason games, and Williams' "Imperial March," a.k.a. "Darth Vader's Theme," to introduce the opposing players.
And some baseball teams, including the Yankees -- more likely to be at home on the day than teams in other sports -- hold "Star Wars Night," featuring people in costumes on the field, and film-themed giveaways, such as bobblehead dolls of a star player holding a lightsaber. This is usually done on May 4, which is "Star Wars Day," as a pun: "May the fourth be with you." If a team is on the road that day, but at home on May 25, the anniversary of the 1st film's release, they can do it that day.
Peter Cushing died in 1994, Alec Guinness in 2000. Kenny Baker died in 2016, although, by Episode VII, R2-D2 could be filmed using an actual robot rather than an actor. Carrie Fisher also died in 2016, after filming Episode VIII but before it could be released, and unused footage of her was used to form her role in Episode IX. Peter Mayhew died in 2019, having played Chewbacca through Episode VII, and then handing the role over to Joonas Suotamo for Episodes VIII and IX. David Prowse and Jeremy Bulloch died in 2020.
As of May 25, 2022, George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, James Earl Jones, Frank Oz and Billy Dee Williams are still alive. (UPDATE: Jones died in 2024.)
In a trilogy of episodes for the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, Darth Vader was played by "Nice" Peter Shukoff, against "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Adolf Hitler. In a 2020 episode, done with LEGO animation, Nice Peter voiced Luke Skywalker -- referencing the Hitler vs. Vader Trilogy by saying, "I am a rhyming Jedi, like my father before me" -- against Harry Potter, voiced by British YouTuber Dave Brown, a.k.a. "Boyinaband."
*
May 25, 1977 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Reggie Jackson, in the midst of the controversy where it was alleged that he insulted Thurman Munson and called himself "straw that stirs the drink," went 0-for-3, but Roy White hit a home run.
It was only the 6th career game, and 4th career start, for Gil Patterson, and it would be his only major league win, as he outpitched Bert Blyleven. His last major league appearance would come on August 27, and he continued to pitch through injuries until 1982. He would last considerably longer in baseball as a pitching coach, including with the Yankees and especially with the Oakland Athletics, helping to build their 2000s "Big Three" of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder.
But it was the 1st game of a twi-night doubleheader, and, in the nightcap, the Rangers won, 1-0, with Gaylord Perry outdueling Mike Torrez. Jackson went 1-for-3 in this game, 1 of only 6 hits that Perry, possibly throwing the spitball, gave up. Still, the Rangers started 2 future Hall-of-Famers, allowed just 3 runs, and still escaped with only a split.
* The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled, each given a travel day.
* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, 13-5 and 9-4. Larry Hisle and Dan Ford hit home runs for the Twins in the 1st game. Carlton Fisk and Dwight Evans hit home runs for the Sox in the 1st game. Nobody homered in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Rod Carew went 7-for-11 with 3 RBIs, while Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-7.
* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Kansas City Royals won the 1st game, 4-1. The Baltimore Orioles won the 2nd game, 7-2. For the O's, Brooks Robinson, in his final season, went 1-for-3; while Eddie Murray, in his 1st season, went 1-for-4; and neither of them played in the 2nd game. For the Royals, George Brett went 3-for-10.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. In a battle between a stripped-bare team (the A's) and an expansion team (the Jays) for the title of worst team in baseball, a Jays error led to a Manny Sanguillen double and a Mitchel Page single driving home 2 runs in the top of the 10th. The Jays scored 1 in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't finish the comeback. The A's would finish with 98 losses; the Jays, 107.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Bruce Bochte, later to be an All-Star for the Mariners, singled home the winning run for the Indians in the bottom of the 12th inning. Dennis Eckersley went all 12 for the Tribe.
* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Frank Tanana pitched a 3-hit shutout, striking out 11, and was supported by home runs from Bobby Grich and Bobby Bonds.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 7-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Steve Carlton won it, and Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-5 at San Diego Stadium. (It was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium in 1980 and Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.) The Braves, who would go on to be the worst team in the National League with 101 losses, thought they had the game won in the top of the 12th, when Barry Bonnell hit a home run. But in the bottom of the 12th, Dave Winfield tied it with a home run, and the Braves never got another out, as 3 Padres singled and 1 walked, Jerry Turner singling in the winning run off Rick Camp.
* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The winning pitcher was Charlie Williams, who, in 1972, had been traded to the Giants, even-up, for Willie Mays.
Football was out of season. The NBA was between Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, which the Portland Trail Blazers would win over the Philadelphia 76ers. It remains the Blazers' only title.
The Stanley Cup had been awarded 9 days earlier, when the Montreal Canadiens completed a Finals sweep of the Boston Bruins. It was the 2nd of 4 straight Cups for the Canadiens, who, over the course of the season, including the Playoffs, played 90 games, and lost only 10 (68 wins, 12 ties).
The World Hockey Association title had not yet been decided. Six games had been played, and the defending Champion Winnipeg Jets and the Quebec Nordiques were tied 3-3. The next night, in Game 7 at Colisée de Québec, the Nordiques unloaded with an 8-2 win, to take the WHA's trophy, the Avco World Trophy, a.k.a. the Avco Cup. (Avco, or Aviation Company, was a defense contractor who had bought the trophy's naming rights. It is now owned by Textron.)
The Jets would take the last 2 WHA titles, in 1978 and 1979. They, the Nordiques, the Edmonton Oilers and the Hartford Whalers were then admitted to the NHL. The original Jets moved to the Phoenix area in 1996, and are now known as the Arizona Coyotes. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers became the new Winnipeg Jets. Neither team has ever won a Stanley Cup. The Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. They won the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001.
And the European Cup Final was held at the Stadio Olimpico, in Rome, Italy. Liverpool Football Club beat Borussia Mönchengladbach, of Germany, 3-1. Through 2022, Liverpool have won more European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles than any other British team, 6. But this has been surpassed by Italy's AC Milan, with 7; and Spain's Real Madrid, with 14.
