I was about nine years old when Return of the Jedi came out, so after seeing it, of course, I was completely obsessed (as were many other kids on the playground) with the movies, collecting the cards, discussing the best bits, and trading rumors we’ve heard. Which rumors had you heard (prior to Lucas actually sitting down and writing The Phantom Menance… so pre-1997? Or maybe even pre-General Thrawn?) about the series over the years, and did they end up true or false? Here are some that I remember:
Boba Fett - He was the most often discussed on my playground and tons of rumors surrounded his mysterious past.
A. He was a clone. Status: True
B. Since he was a clone, he couldn’t be killed (i.e. blaster shots would go right through him and his body was riddled with such through-and-through blaster holes under his armor). Status: Probably False… although apparently he survived the Sarlaac pit.
C. There were thousands of other clones of him that fought in the Clone Wars. Status: Semi-true. He was cloned from the person who was used to make all the clones in the Clone War.
Obi-Wan Kenobi - He was a clone (number OB1) made from an original to fight in the Clone Wars. Status: False
Darth Vader - He was in the walking iron-lung due to falling into a lava pit while fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi. Status: True
The Clone Wars
A. Both sides used clones. Status: False
B. When the war began to get out of hand due to both sides using clones, they mutally agreed to stop using clones in the battles. Status: False
The biggest rumor was that there would be nine movies in all. Star Wars (not subtitled A New Hope yet) would be Episode IV, kicking off the middle trilogy. There would be another trilogy of movies set before the events of Episode IV and another trilogy set after events of Episode VI. We got the Episodes I-III, but not Episodes VII-IX. Lucas now denies that he made any claim of planning post-ROTJ episodes.
Yeah, that’s what I heard after the first movie. The rat-bastard. It’s not like there isn’t enough money & talent in Hollywood to make the sequel trilogy.
I have a slight highjack, but it is about rumours; All documentaries and TV programs make out that the “Darth Vader is Luke’s Father” was a huge shock to the audience. Was it, though? Seems to me, in the good tradition of film spoilers, at least some people would have known beforehand.
I’m not old enough to have seen the OT when they came out, but the only rumour I heard about the PT was that Samuel L. Jackson was going to be in it. Which was true. Hell yeah!
I heard the lava pit rumor after the First One. I’m not sure where it originated (i.e. with George or not), but it’s probably one of the oldest ones.
I heard that the Clone Wars involved clones of Palpatine, who had himself repeatedly cloned because the Dark Side destroys the body quickly and one of the clones rebelled. False
I heard that Boba Fett was a lizard warrior. False
I heard that Uncle Owen was Ben’s brother (which I believe was even in the novelization of EMPIRE) False
I heard there was going to be a Holiday Special featuring the Wookie holiday Life Day with some odd guest appearances including Harvey Korman, Jeff Bea Arthur and Art Carney, a plot focusing on Chewbacca’s family and a song by Carrie Fisher. Status:ABSOLUTELY FALSE! IT NEVER EVER HAPPENED!
Generally, no. It was a big surprise, even to fans who had been obsessing over the upcoming sequel and devouring any available news the whole time.
You have to keep in mind that us nerds in 1980 didn’t have Ain’t It Cool News and ten-thousand similar sources of information. If you wanted Star Wars info, you pretty much had Starlog magazine and a few of its lesser imitators – and if you were one of the cool kids (or not) you had a subscription to Bantha Tracks, the official Star Wars fan newsletter.
Any substantial speculation about what was going to be in the new films had its roots in what was released to these mags. We’d see some tantalizing production stills or concept art, or a few very general interview statements about what the film would be like, but the “Vader is Luke’s daddy” thing didn’t slip out until after the release.
That’s not to say there weren’t spoilers – for instance, nobody who was obsessively following the development of The Empire Strikes Back was surprised when the weird little green guy turned out to actually be Yoda.
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Anyway, for me, the single biggest Star Wars rumour that didn’t pan out was that Revenge of the Jedi was going to feature a huge battle between Wookies and Imperial forces. We were pretty much unambiguously told as much. And then, when Return of the Jedi was released, after all that buildup… sigh.
The biggest rumor I remember around Empire was that you get to see Darth Vader without his helmet … which turned out partly true (he took his helmet off, but you only saw the back of him).
Even after the movie came out, we would get into big arguments over whether Darth was really telling Luke the truth or not.
There is a rather lengthy segment on this in the Empire of Dreams documentary that came with the Old Trilogy DVD boxed set. The only people who knew were Lucas, Kershner, and Kasdan. They didn’t even tell Mark Hamill until the day they were filming the scene. All of the scripts said that Vader reveals “No, Obi Wan killed your father.” That’s even what David Prowse said during the filming. Hamill was told what the real line would end up being and reacted to that as opposed to what Prowse was saying on set. So that means only 4 people knew the truth until the movie actually played on opening day.
That’s pretty impressive that James Earl Jones could voice-act lines that he didn’t even know (not just “Luke, I am your father,” but also “Son,” etc.). He*must *be strong in the Force, to be capable of modifying his own memory!
Yep, i’ve got that DVD, and I remember the part. IIRC, they don’t actually mention JEJ as being a person who knew, though presumeably he did remember his own voice work
But yeah, I’d still say it was possible to be leaked. At that time, sure, only those people knew, but what about editors during the…well, editing process? And people who saw preview showings (both cast/crew and public)? And didn’t they have the grand film advertising tradition of today wherein the entire plot is spoilt in the trailers?
Actually, I’d heard that Hamill didn’t know and he was reacting to Prowse’s line - after all, Luek had had this intense connection with Obi Wan, and even in the short time they spent together, came to think of him like a father. After all, it was Obi Wan who guided Luke to victory. and Obi Wan who lead Luke to a spot on the snowy icy plain where Han could easily find him. So to hear such an outrageous claim as this man, for whom he had a great deal of affection and trust, was the one who had actually killed his biological father. Why…why…that would mean Ben had lied to me! My world is in shambles! "Noooooooooooooo!!!"
^^^No, I’ve seen an interview with Hamil (God knows where, but I did) in which he confirms that he was indeed taken aside by Lucas or Kirshner, or whoever and told what the real line was going to be. I seem to remember that they absolutely did not want to let Prowse know as he might leak it.
To the OP: I don’t know how widespread it was, but I and my fellow sixteen-year-old fans in 1980 were sure that “There is another,” by Yoda referred to Han Solo. We just “knew it,” based perhaps on him getting his comeuppance after sneering at Ben’s mumbo-jumbo (or whatever he called the Force) in the first film.
I’m pretty sure I saw somewhere that it was going to turn out that Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side after being seduced by a female Sith. Cite anyone?
I remember a rumour that began somewhere vague that all the Stormtroopers were clones.
In the 90s my friends and I had fairly well decided that this wasn’t true. So had the EU, as many novels and comics had them as regular joes, including Han Solo.
Well, gee, looks like the rumour originated from within Lucasfilm sometime, because it’s turned out to be true.
Stormtroopers, to my knowledge, weren’t clones. I imagine there were clones among them that were leftover from the Clone Wars, but i’m 100% sure that not all Stormtroopers are clones, based on the EU. It seems that after the end of the Clone Wars a recruitment policy was enacted (though I don’t recall it being spelt out as such ever). Stormtroopers are, however, run through a lot of psych testing to make them more loyal.
And to my knowledge, Han Solo’s never been a Stormie. He did go to the Imperial Academy, which trains Imperial Officers, however, and won the Corellian Bloodstripes ( Yep, i’m a geek) for some service he performed in that role, before leaving them.
