Be warned, once you go to this site you won't leave until you've watched every Star Wars toy commercial! This is a real hoot and definitely worth the time. Grab your favorite beverage, kick back, and enjoy those silly (thrilling!) commercials of yesteryear. Go here: http://www.artoosnews.com/vintagetv/
14 comments:
You know what's pathetic? As I look at theese old commercials it makes me want those toys all over again!
Damn, I won't be able to watch these until later. I anticipate a similar reaction, just like looking at those Sears Wish Book pages made me want toys I've had in a box for decades.
The commercials are a hoot! It's so funny to see what excited us (and still does) when we were kids. It's funny to see how adults brainwashed our toy-buying habits.
My favorite, which I totally remember:"I'm a jawa, wanna buy a droid?"
"Sure, whatcha got?"
I saw that commercial so many times, I started to remember the music -- which is NOT the actual SW music, but an awful knockoff.
The cantina commercial is demented! It starts with that kid making Hammerhead say "naga maru!" And Han leaving and saying "what a weird place!"
Again, faux SW music. This time a pale shadow of the beloved cantina music.
Blagh! Same music in the Darth TIE/X-wing spot. Why did they make the TIE fighters make suck horrible noises?
I like the way the Droid Factory makes immediate news of R2's third leg. "I need another leg!"
That Land of the Jawas kind of incenses me, but it shouldn't since I snagged George Bartlett's Life Pod. (This is where I snicker like the Jawa in that commercial -- heeheeheehee.)
I like the Landspeeder's "space hatch."
It's bizarre how these lame kids' udderances of "the Sand People are coming!" echo with such familiarity in my brain. Sigh.
Okay, now that I see they had the tech to make real movie noises for the Troop Transport, why couldn't they do the same for the TIE Fighter? Why keep the horrible shrill squeal?
Okay, I've watched all the SW commercials. I'm going to the video store now before it closes, then I'll move on to ESB.
Wow. Just watched the one where Luke and FX-7 save a Snowtrooper. "You saved me, Rebel. Why?"
Man, what a hoot watching the Ice Planet Hoth playset, with the familiar elevator action and the lever that makes R2...I mean a Snowtrooper fall down. I saw that thing once...it was clearly the same plastic mold b/c it had Sandcrawler tracks and the depression that the Life Pod rested in. But the cool accessory for this set was that weak-ass radar laser cannon. Lame!
I was wondering why they kept using the same gung-ho announcer on these, and then I saw the Jedi mail-away commercials with the annoying guy and the annoying kid. I wanted the announcer back.
I don't remember seeing those TV spots for 4-LOM and Zuckuss (named the way we like 'em). Maybe we had cable by that point and I was spending my time videotaping boob shots.
What's truly amazing is the overall terrible production values. They could've allocated more $ to put a little more zip into these commercials and as you note, what's with the faux Star Wars music? Are you telling me that Lucas wouldn't allow the real music? This how beter the cantina commercial would've been with the actual band music playhing in the background. It's so funny to see how they tried to make some of those playsets "exciting"! That Land of the Jawas/Hoth set is sooooooooo lame. "Look, R2 is going into the cardboard Sandcrawler where he will discover, uh, where he will discover, uh, nothing." It's like that staircase in the Brady Bunch house that actaully doesn't go anywhere because it's a 1-floor home.
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