Looking back at Star Wars Weekly – issue 8

The cover of Star Wars Weekly issue 8, March 29 1978

Episode Nothing's guide to the Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars, as reinvented for British readers, continues with a look at issue 8, from March 29 1978.

Star Wars on CD: Which soundtrack releases are the best? Part two.

Composer John Williams and C-3PO,
long before the CD release of Star Wars

This is part two of my look at the history of the Star Wars score on compact disc.  (My blog post on the original double-LP release of the score can be found here.)

Last time, I reviewed the 1986 CD release of the Star Wars Original Soundtrack double album and the four-CD set Star Wars: The Soundtrack Anthology from 1993.  

Today's post covers the 1997 release of the score and the versions that came afterwards.

Star Wars on CD: Which soundtrack releases are the best?

John Williams conducting the score to Star Wars: but which CD version is best?

The Star Wars Original Soundtrack double LP was one of the greatest pieces of film music ever committed to vinyl and certainly the most successful.  I discussed it here, in what remains the most popular post on Episode Nothing. (Its popularity is due mainly to a kind person sharing it on the message boards of Film Score Monthly, for which I'm very grateful.)

But it's been nearly three decades since the John Williams' score came to compact disc, and since then there have been several different releases.  Which is best?  Here's part one of a two-part guide to the various CD releases.  

Elstree Studios: the home of Star Wars turns 100

The Star Wars crew shooting Darth Vader at Elstree Studios

One hundred years have gone by since a film company with the appropriately space-themed name Neptune founded what would become the home of Star Wars.

Star Wars Letraset transfers: The fun that never wore off – part three

The front of the third set of Star Wars Letraset Action Transfers, 'Rebel Air Attack'

The last couple of posts have been about the Star Wars action transfers which were produced by the British company Letraset and which amused many happy children for hours in 1978.

The third of the original trio of Letraset Action Transfers scenes was called 'Rebel Air Attack' and it depicted the rebels preparing for their assault on the Death Star.  For the purposes of this scene, the rebel hangar was presented as having a spectacular view of the first ships taking off for the battle station.

Star Wars Letraset transfers: The fun that never wore off – part two

The front of the second set of Star Wars Letraset
Action Transfers, 'Escape from the Death Star'

My last post looked at Letraset, the British company that invented a massively useful way of getting different fonts onto paper in the 1960s – and which  later found a way to take part in Star Wars mania.

The second of the three original Letraset Action Transfers Star Wars scenes from 1978 was titled 'Escape from the Death Star'.  It showed the action in the Death Star docking bay as Luke and co. battled their way to the Millennium Falcon, while Obi-Wan Kenobi did battle with Darth Vader.

Star Wars Letraset transfers: The fun that never wore off

There's the rub: the front of the first Star Wars set from
Letraset Action Transfers, 'Battle at Mos Eisley'

Letraset.  If you're a first generation Star Wars fan, you might be tempted to say "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time ... a long time."

But it's a brand name that, for British fans in 1977-78, meant Star Wars – as surely as did the names Del Ray or Kenner in the US or Sphere and Palitoy in the UK.