Star Wars on TV: glimpsing the characters on the small screen in the 1970s

Star Wars meets Donny and Marie, September 1977 

In the days before home video, films disappeared for years between their big-screen release and their appearance on TV.

That meant Star Wars fans lapped up any appearance, however fleeting, of the film's characters on TV.

40 years on: Star Wars at the Oscars – part three

George Lucas (bottom right) breaks into a smile as the winner of the Best Director Oscar is announced

Today, we conclude our look at the Academy Awards of April 3, 1978. It was one of the most controversial, often uncomfortable, Oscar ceremonies ever. 

As the biggest awards of the night loomed, how would Star Wars fare against Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Julia, The Goodbye Girl and Annie Hall? 

40 years on: Star Wars at the Oscars – part one

Mark Hamill, C-3PO and R2-D2 at the Oscars, April 3, 1978

Audiences had spoken. They had crowned Star Wars, not only as the film of 1977, but as the most successful movie of all time. But would the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences agree? 

On April 3, it will be 40 years since Star Wars was up for 10 awards at one of the most surprising and controversial Oscars ceremonies of them all. Episode Nothing looks back.