The Things I See (continued...even still)

Time again to clean out the old hard drive, and share some of the things that I run across during the year...in no particular order:

This is from the inner sleeve of a random record from the 80's.  Remember when people actually thought this (or more specifically, when record companies actually worried about this)? Now we know that it was never an issue at all; it was streaming that killed music.

Somebody had one job, and failed miserably.

Here is half of a Millennium Falcon from a flea market--where they thought they would get 50 bucks, mind you--with a Hobbit bound to it with plastic and packing tape.  Sigh.

Instead let's look at the comics...oh my, some kid was bored back in the day!

Speaking of comics, here is a random vintage panel that I want a T-shirt of.  I think it was a Charlton comic, and I should have paid better attention.

This probably came from the same comic.  "FUN AT PARTIES...SOLVES RIDDLES...EVEN TELLS FORTUNES." Somehow I think not.  "TRAIN IT TO DO YOUR BIDDING." Just try me.

Ah yes, the "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" era. "WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS"...to our frisbee golf course.

This is one of those covers that you've probably seen somewhere, but I actually found this for a couple of bucks, and it cracks me up.

An ant, and his tiny air hockey table.

Again, somebody had one job.  Just one job...

When you are two years old, and you get called into work, you have to take the Power Wheels...in the rain, even. That, my friends, is dedication!

Okay, we need to talk about this.  This is from some random, generic late 70's magazine trying to cash in on Star Wars mania, and all of the included paintings are direct copies of publicity photos...only, they took the Han Solo in Stormtrooper pose and decided they couldn't get Harrison Ford's likeness right, and, with deadline looming, instead just made it where they BLEW THE STORMTROOPER'S HEAD CLEAN OFF AND MADE IT EXPLODE.  What in the world? Is there a person somewhere right now in therapy because they received this as a child? I am traumatized right now!

THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (2024, complete video documentary)

 

What did you do on your summer vacation? Well, I produced a three-and-a-half hour long, thirteen-part video documentary series, all by myself!

Sample thumbnail!

This documentary brings to life my book (found on this very blog for free download by the way), which covers the ten chapters in thirteen videos.  It's a comprehensive study that collects every scrap of information about the original Mos Eisley Cantina from the first Star Wars film (later called "A New Hope" of course).

Sample Chapter 8 thumbnail!

Every nuance is examined, including the writing of the scene and changes over the various drafts, the teams that created the masks, filming the Cantina, and A to Z encyclopedic looks at every single alien and customer.  After that, there is a chapter on Cantina playsets over the years, the dreaded Star Wars Holiday Special, and a look at the Cantina's appearances in other vintage media.  

And here is what the thumbnail for Chapter 10 looks like!

You are sure to learn something, and if you are remotely interested in the subject, you should check it out! The documentary is available in Chapters (that follow the chapters of the original book), as well as one video altogether, for those with plenty of time!

People ask me what I learned from this months-long endeavor, and the answer is:  this works so much better as a documentary.  Here is a link to the playlist. Enjoy!

LINK: The Cantina Compendium [complete playlist]

THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (5th edition, 2024) - Including Several Updates, now available!

 

I swore up and down I wasn't going to do it, but in the last four years, I'd collected a small handful of items that really needed to be added to the book.  Also, right before Christmas, two important items came out that yielded a few more tidbits.  They are so enjoyable and well-done that I need to mention them here:

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE -  HOW AND WHY THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL HAPPENED (Steve Kozak)

I'm not going to fully review this here, but it's a great read--scholarly, fun, and fair, where you might expect it to simply just be negative (which would be easy to do).  It's simply great.

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE -  HOW AND WHY THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL HAPPENED (Jeremy Coon & Steve Kozak)

And whattayaknow, there is an accompanying documentary! This is also lots of fun.  Some of the same interviews are contained in the documentary, but in longer form.  This movie is also very fair, and spends a lot of the first third setting up the context, for those who missed the insane 1970's. I was afraid it would be some sort of VH-1 "talking heads" compilation of comedians dunking on the Special...maybe even without access to real clips, but I was completely wrong, and it was much, much more than that! Recommended.

These can be found in the usual places of course, and as always, I get nothing from touting them here.

Anyway, if you've enjoyed earlier editions of the CANTINA COMPENDIUM, you're going to want to replace them with this new edition:

LINK: The Cantina Compendium (5th edition, PDF)

Here is the old post explaining all of the details of the book, with plenty of screenshots to show you what you're getting into. Enjoy!

REVENGE OF THE JEDI - On Location (Yuma Daily Sun, May 2, 1982)

 

For 14 days in April, 1982, Lucasfilm and company converged on the Imperial Sand Dunes (no really, that's what they are called, you couldn't make that up!), which lie at the southeast corner of California [17 or 18 miles outside of Yuma, Arizona], to build and utilize one of the largest movie sets ever constructed and film part of the new Star Wars movie there.  The summer before, when dealing with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to secure the necessary permissions, word began to get out, and rumors began to spread.  So Lucasfilm did an interesting thing.  They went straight to the Yuma Daily Sun and offered them a deal.  If they would agree to hold off any coverage of the goings-on in the desert, and not breathe a word until filming was complete and everyone was gone, then the Sun would be allowed to send writers and photographers to the set, and have not just an exclusive, but "the world's exclusive."  It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that the newspaper heartily agreed to.

Soon after this conversation, the enormous set of Jabba's Sail Barge was constructed in the desert, along with smaller skiffs and the Sarlacc pit itself.  The rest of course is history, but what we have here is an interesting eye-witness description of it that appears nowhere else.  This is the Sun's exclusive publication, which they printed as an oversized tabloid-style supplement dated May 2, 1982, a full year before the finished film would be released (I guess the BLUE HARVEST was long over by that time).  As such, it still bears the original REVENGE title, which is pretty cool in itself.  May 2 was a Sunday, which traditionally was the day that newspapers contained the most extras, as well as the day with the biggest circulation.

A rare look at the unfinished back of the set (bottom photo)!

The 20-page publication has lots of great info, as well as behind-the-scenes photos that you won't see in the many making-of books (which is odd in itself because Lucasfilm tended to supply the photos--but, a deal's a deal). There's an interesting article detailing the construction of the sail barge, which used up a million of their $4 million Yuma filming budget.  The 20-foot high platform it sat upon was 150 by 200 feet, with the barge itself being an additional 52 feet high, consisting of "miles" of two-by-fours, "over 1,000 sheets of plywood," and used 10,000 pounds of nails! 

But we will come back to the barge in a moment--continuing on, there is an article describing how the filming was economically helpful to the local community (everyone stayed at the "Stardust Resort Motor Inn," who even took out an ad in the publication).  

The Sun writers also took opportunities to get one-on-one interviews with several of the leads.  An interesting point comes up in both Carrie Fisher's and Mark Hamill's interviews, and that is the sudden mega-stardom of Harrison Ford, specifically because of the recent RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.  I have to admit, I'd never thought seriously about it.  In retrospect, I'd always assumed everyone went right on with their business, but it must've really changed the dynamic when Ford was able to be the first one to break away from the pack, so to speak, and be hugely successful for it.  Hamill even laments not being able to be taken seriously for other roles because of the trilogy.  (Ford, meanwhile, apparently stayed completely away from any of the Sun reporters or photographers, because he's pretty much AWOL here).  Then again, it's easy to forget (from today's perspective) that Ford wasn't even planning to be in the film at all.  In retrospect, of course, we know now that he will be in absolutely anything if you throw enough money at him.

Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, and Anthony Daniels are also interviewed.  These are short and pretty par for the course.  Producer Howard Kazanjian and two local 20-somethings who were hired as stand-ins also get short articles.  

There is an interesting two-page spread that details how extremely boring (tedious is the word used here) film-making really is, and how dreadfully long it takes to get even the minutest of scenes set up and filmed. It's the part of movie magic that fans forget...or don't even know about.

One of the centerpieces (and longest articles) in here, though, is a sit-down with George Lucas, and he is downright depressed about how much the film is costing him to make.  This is one of those frustratingly self-effacing Lucas interviews where you wonder why he got out of bed that morning.  At one point, in attempting to explain why copycat Star Wars films fail, he even refers to his own films as "what I call a dumb movie that's just entertaining."  He does once again tell the interviewer that there will still be nine movies in the saga, though.  (Too bad that never happened...but hey, at least we have six Star Wars films!)

As we mentioned, the publication also allowed ad space, and while some of the ads are mundane, others are interesting and even hilarious.  Let's go ahead and spoil some:

Ah, K-Mart.  Do I miss K-Mart? No.  Well, yes.  I'm torn on that one...hey, Pac-Man was 30 bucks (and also famously terrible)! That was a lot of money in 1982!

You know, by now we have all heard every tired, hackneyed, cliched Star Wars pun in existence, but this cracked me up.  Also, they are flying.  Or are they supposed to be hovering like landspeeders? It just gets funnier.

And, for the grand finale, here is the back cover:

Yeah, we've all run into a CAR WARS or two in our time...this one is just funny for different reasons.

The last article we will discuss is an excellent piece called "What Becomes of the Sail Barge?" that is fascinating reading.  We learn that Lucasfilm actually tried to donate the entire structure to the city of Yuma, Arizona...and they declined (in their defense, it would've required moving it).  Another possibility that was seriously (or semi-seriously) discussed was blowing it up.  You read that right, and the article points out that the script already called for that, anyway...but ultimately the decision was made to do that in miniature, which probably was much, much more feasible in the long run.  

The third possibility mentioned was selling it to scrap and salvage merchants, and writer of the article wonders if that's what would happen...

And, we can tell you from the perspective of history, that's exactly what happened!  To this day there are people in the immediate and surrounding areas who probably have no idea that their homes, sheds, or other structures contain wood from Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge.  What most people don't know though, is that when the demolition was complete, and with the mandate to leave the desert as clean as they found it, Lucasfilm simply pushed all of their leftover trash into the Sarlacc Pit and freaking buried it.  

I was fortunate enough to speak with a guy a few years ago who had made regular expeditions into Buttercup Valley over the years, and he was able to dig up copious amounts of foam, orange sail fabric, and wooden fragments from the barge itself! Can you imagine finding buried treasure like that?

The foam, of course, composed the mouth and tentacles of the Sarlacc.  Here are just a few of the pieces I bought from him:

The orange fabric from the giant barge sails is one of the easiest Star Wars-related relics to obtain.  There was such a surplus of the material, the Lucasfilm crew used it to make sandbags to hold down their cameras during filming, and there is still some of it in the archives today (unless the current Mouse overlords have sold it all in a garage sale or something).  In fact, you can still track down these Topps relic trading cards from several years ago that contained swatches (although the prices have gotten pretty dumb):

Real wood from the sail barge can be pretty hard to come by, but it's out there.  I was lucky enough to get this piece from the same Star Wars archaeologist I mentioned (it even has paint on it):

Finally, you know we aren't going to go on about this document without providing it for you, so here is the entire publication.  It's very hard to capture an oversized document like this without a drum scanner (you have to rig up a photo stand), but it still turned out very well. Enjoy! 

Revenge of the Jedi - On Location - Supplement to the Yuma Daily Sun, May 2, 1982

STAR WORN - Theme Covers Collection (Discs 4 & 5, Leaping Fox)

 

Today we conclude at last this Herculean effort that made me question my very sanity, with discs 4 and 5 of the Star Wars Theme Covers Collection.  

If you are here, then you no doubt remember the iconic Star Wars LP that launched Meco's career:

Meco (here we refer to the artist; the backing band used for live performances was also called Meco), who had seen the film on opening day and several times soon thereafter, can attribute a portion of his success to his expediency and speed.  His idea for a disco project based on John Williams' soundtrack was arranged and recorded in just a few weeks, and was at the head of the pack of Star Wars cover records.  Not only was it a hit, but it cleverly reduced the soundtrack and story of the film into a fun, 15-minute side of an LP (and had a great cover, too--I have one in a frame!).  

What I failed to ever realize was that it had apparently spawned a cottage industry...covers of his cover quickly began to appear all around the world.  We can only assume that this was approved and/or licensed, but as we say in the liner notes to this project, it sounds like some of these records even occasionally utilized Meco's backing tracks!

Some were trying to get a piece of the pie from that sweet, sweet edit version of the Main Theme from Star Wars, which was a #1 single, by the way.  But some opted to cover his entire 15-minute suite, as you will see.  

Results vary, as you would expect.  Somebody called "Galaxy 42" decided that the song needed some words (it didn't work).  James Last, the "Gentleman Conductor" from the UK, gives us a rousing live version (from the Royal Albert Hall), as does the backing orchestra for the Japanese duo, Pink Lady, and both are great.  One rare record from Germany by "The Force," which I actually waited on--in our new habitat of Virus World--for many months, arrived disappointing, and even a little skippy.  An outift called "The Tennessee Guitars" attempted to put some steel guitar swing into the arrangement, and as such it's a standout track for its uniqueness.  Surf-rock legends, The Ventures, sound like they are at a desperate crossroads of their career, however (and the track was only released in Japan), and may have been asleep.  It should also be pointed out that several of the other tracks are merely the same recordings under new names--as stock filler tracks for kids' albums--which we explain in the liner notes.  

Meco, of course, went on to an entire career that was launched by his Star Wars project, and released several other albums of film themes and soundtrack music (another vintage phenomenon which would be impossible in the modern day...how many current film themes can you name that have been hits, even to the point of spawning covers? Right.).  He also was smart enough to continue his Star Wars output with great music from the two sequels...with the innocent but dreaded "Christmas in the Stars" LP coming in between.  We could joke about that album being right behind the Holiday Special in cringe factor, but: 1) we all treasured it as children, and 2) he no doubt made a FORTUNE from it, so more power to him.

We hope you've enjoyed this journey through no less than 53 versions of the Star Wars theme.  Should you ever discover an additional, pre-ESB version that we've missed, send it our way. 

LINK: Disc 4: Attack of the Meco Clones (part 1)

LINK: Disc 5: Attack of the Meco Clones (part 2)

STAR WORN - Theme Covers Collection (Disc 3, Leaping Fox)

Here is the middle of our set of vintage Star Wars Theme Covers, and it's the slowest of the bunch, but not completely without interest.  These tracks fall into the second category of SW covers, namely orchestral re-treadings of John Williams' score.  Now, if we are being fair, we should mention that the soundtrack album was a huge seller, and the idea of some of these cover albums was to entice you (or your penny-pinching parents) to buy the cheaper LP, which no doubt worked very well.

One such album ended up being the only thing I knew existed that couldn't be tracked down for this project:  "Music from Star Wars Performed by The Silver Screen" is actually an album-long, one-disc remake of the film's score, but apparently it's just not anywhere to be found.  Four people claim to own it on Discogs, but it's never been sold there, with zero copies for sale.  Should it ever turn up, there's room on this disc for it to be added.

One item placed here to break up the monotony was the second of two (yes, two) Star Wars LP's starring pipe organs.  The one featured in an earlier volume utilized a large church organ, but this one (entitled SPACE ORGAN, which is living proof that I will not always take the obvious joke) starred a "theatrical pipe organ," which, at the time, was the largest in the world.  It was built into the very walls of a restaurant in Portland, Oregon called "The Organ Grinder," and it must've been more than a little unsettling when your dishes and salt and pepper shakers kept vibrating off of your table.  According to Wikipedia, the restaurant developer's goal was to acquire every type of pipe and voice ever manufactured by the Wurlitzer company--which he did--as well as include some non-traditional effects, including "a dive alarm from a submarine."  Unfortunately, the restaurant closed in 1996, but on this disc, we have a 13-minute medley of more than just the Star Wars theme, in fact including other parts of the Williams score, as well as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  It highlights the organ's many voices and sounds, and is certainly the high point of this volume...yes, because the rest of it is so boring. Work with me, here!

If you are intrepid enough to hang on, AND if you enjoy the Star Wars disco interpretation by Meco, then you are going to love the concluding two volumes of this series, so stay tuned...

LINK:  Star Wars Theme Covers - Disc 3: Boring Orchestral Covers & Suites

STAR WORN - Theme Covers Collection (Discs 1 & 2, Leaping Fox)

 

Do you ever start a project, and wonder why you started it? Do you ever start a project, and wonder if it will ever end? After many, many hours of work, and a four month delay, we are pleased to reveal this new project, at last.  

The question was this:  How many vintage covers of the Star Wars theme exist? The song was everywhere in the late 1970's, and it seems like everybody had a go at it.  The subject is covered in various books and articles, although they all seem to include different material in their lists.  Like our earlier project of Star Wars rip-off songs, I wanted to stay in the original era, and go no further than the first sequel.  As it turns out, the answer was "a whole lot;" in fact, about 268 minutes' worth, and 5 discs!

Thinking back, when I was a young kid, it always irritated me when I obtained a record with a cover version of a song, and the cover didn't sound exactly like the original song (which is what I was after in the first place, no doubt).  I now know this was simply musical immaturity, but it makes me laugh to think about, because I later learned that a well-done cover is one where the artist puts something of themselves into it, and translates it somehow into a new-ish sort of thing.  And, that is the case with the best of the tracks here...why would you want to listen to bands parroting John Williams' original theme note for note, more than 50 times?

This is a good place to explain that covers of the Star Wars theme fall into three categories.  First, we have general interpretations of the theme, which are all over the map in styles (which makes for a fun listen).  These tracks are contained in Discs 1 & 2.  Secondly, we have what I have jokingly referred to as "Boring Orchestral Covers and Suites," because that's what they are (see above comment about listening to copies of the original track 50+ times).  Luckily, these tracks only take up one disc, which is Disc 3.  Lastly, we shouldn't underestimate the phenomenon that was Meco and his disco interpretation of the John Williams score, because he spawned myriads of covers himself...so many, in fact, that they take up the entirety of Discs 4 & 5! And it probably goes without saying, but lots of these tracks were specific to individual countries, and have never been re-released since their original vinyl outings, with no signs of that ever changing.

So is this collection complete? Far as I know.  Are there more, somewhere? Could be.  I'm always amazed at how the amount of vintage media, which should be quite finite, continues to grow...which, is pretty much a paradox.  

Here are the first two discs, which give you thirty tracks displaying the original theme in just about every way it can be done.  It's really not like listening to the same song over and over, and if you agree, then it means this was a successful project...that I barely lived through!

Disc One: Theme Covers

Disc Two: Theme Covers

How to De-Chrome a Vintage Action Figure!

 

Isn't this an interesting image? Last year, I saw an Ebay seller who kept offering these amazing vintage Kenner Star Wars figures (namely, C-3PO and the Death Star Droid) that were "de-chromed" through a supposedly special process.  He kept ending up with interesting examples such as these:

Which were multi-colored, much as the highly-coveted Kenner prototype figures are, meaning they were made of leftover plastic from various (and test) items.  

From my own experience, any such figures I had ever seen where the vac-metalization had rubbed off were beige in color underneath, so I was curious to perform such an experiment myself, to see if I could get so lucky.  I researched it, and there are several chemicals that you could choose from to accomplish this.

From a website about model car parts, I learned that regular household bleach was the easiest to obtain (since I didn't have any brake fluid lying around), so I went with that.  I figure anything too strong would damage the plastic, anyway.  I first stripped a damaged Death Star Droid I'd ended up with.  It took a few days, and even then required some working over with an old toothbrush.  He ended up completely off-white, as I'd suspected.

The hardest part is to keep the figure submerged, because they are incredibly buoyant.  For my second go around, I found a heavy ring that was part of a lanyard (I think) for nametags, which had a clip, so I attached a loop to the clip that would loosely hold the figure's leg, and still keep it completely under.  This time around, for the C-3PO, I left the figure marinating for a few days longer.  As you can see from the photo, the gold flaked off and turned rust-colored in the bleach, and was quite unappealing.  

For those who may try this stunt themselves, I had to add some extra bleach after three or four days, and all I had the second time was a "splash-proof" brand that is formulated to pour easier...I don't know what they do to it, but it foamed quite a bit, and stayed that way.  It could have been a reaction to the action figure or something, but bleach is something that you want to behave when you are working with it, so I'd recommend the normal variety.  

In the end, the C-3PO was completely beige as well.  I would say "go figure," but that would be a bad pun, and that is frowned upon around here. 

Play-Doh Star Wars Action Set (Kenner, 1979)

From 1979, here is the great Play-Doh Star Wars Action Set.  If you are like me, you have many fond memories of this set.  It's complete, apparently unused, and it only took me four different auctions to finish (vintage Play-Doh cans take some time to find, these days)!

I cleaned the box, repaired one tear with acid-free glue, and also ironed some of it.  This is a trick I learned from a board game collector, using a regular steam iron (with no water in it).  You can achieve some pretty amazing results, especially for the thinner cardboard.  I've certainly never tried corrugated or super-heavy cardboard, but I doubt that would be very effective.

The set from my childhood "lived" at my grandparents' house, so I only got to play with it when I was over there.  Along with an X-Wing fighter, three molds are included, allowing the user to make Darth Vader, R2-D2, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker.  There has been some debate over exactly what Darth Vader's weapon is.  It looks like a laser rifle (which Luke also has), but on the box, he is made to hold it like his lightsaber.  I vote for "gun" because, if not, it's the worst lightsaber I've ever seen.

Play-Doh sets usually (and wisely) included a plastic play-mat, and the one for this set is pretty ingenious.  You get a three-quarter, cutaway Death Star to play around in, as well as some space to fly your X-Wing.  Bonus points for including the Dianoga!

The set also includes the famous yellow Play-Doh knife (the other famous tool was the wooden rolling pin, not included in this set).  As I mentioned, the hardest parts to find in completing this set were the vintage cans from the same year.  If you recall, the cans of this era had steel bottoms, and you can hardly find any that aren't rusted to some degree.  I was pretty lucky, but one of the three had a bit of light rust, which I sanded off (NOTE: If you do so, be extremely careful, as the metal is extremely THIN here).  Afterwards, I coated the bottoms of the cans with a rust inhibitor, which is made for treating tools, and which you can buy in any hardware store.  (Another tip, if you go this route, do NOT over-apply, and allow plenty of time to dry, especially if it's cold outside).  After all of this, the cans were ready to be stored safely!

As you can see, I was REALLY excited about this piece, and even had a custom acrylic case made for it! Collectors always make a huge deal about having the original inserts, but the truth is, they can actually do the most damage to your items. When storing old toys like this, the important thing is to make sure that nothing touches the cardboard for long-term storage.  I wrapped each part in acid-free tissue paper (which, if you don't want to order it, can be easily obtained at Container Store).  I didn't mention the original Star Wars booklet, or the small Play-Doh catalog, but these, along with the playmat, were put into comic bags with acid-free boards.  And speaking of the Play-Doh catalog...

If you've never seen this Kenner...product, then you are in for a teat.  (A thousand apologies for that one.  I got carried away.) This was a real thing...somehow...and there was actually a TV commercial for it (see below).  I don't know who thought of this, but it's just weird, no matter how you look at it.  I mean, look at the photo.  The girl is ecstatic, and she's not even getting to do anything.  The boy...is having some sort of moment; I don't even want to know.  

To top it off, it came with powder to make "pretend milk." I have no idea what "pretend milk" is made of, but I assume it was non-toxic, because you know all the little paste-eaters who received this toy were drinking it. Observe in bewilderment: