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The Year In SW Fandom: It's Not 1984
Dec. 5th, 2006 02:12 amWith ROTS more than a year and a half behind us and the book more or less closed on the cinematic adventures of the Skywalker clan, SW fandom is still here. Certainly things are not as crazy as they were 1997-2005. For a long time this was a fandom driven by spoilers and speculation, and there are no more movies to speculate about. Fans come and go, heading for the next party. It becomes clear which ones are excited by SW and which ones are excited by excitement.
Nevertheless, an old salty like myself can remember the years post-ROTJ and pre-1990s, an era most of us called "The Dark Ages." To be fair, the light didn't suddenly go out on SW. In 1984, there was the round of award shows and in November of that year, there was the first of two made-for-t.v. Ewok movies (they were released theatrically overseas). Two animated series ("Droids" and "Ewoks") went on the air a year later. There was a brief re-release of ROTJ in 1985; theaters in some markets they ran an OT marathon for charity. Kenner still produced toys for its dwindling SW line for another 3 or 4 years after ROTJ. The Marvel comics series lasted until 1986. The original fan club didn't shutter until 1987. Somewhere in the Dark Ages we got Star Tours at the Disney parks and a new roleplaying game.
But it was palpable to me back in '84 that the party was over, and the world was moving on from the GFFA. Sure, there was still hope there would be new movies. In fact, I remember hearing rumors even back in high school that every new Lucasfilm project was a code for a new SW movie (even "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!"). But Lucasfilm's interest in SW was limited in pitching to the kidlets, as demonstrated by its t.v. projects. Otherwise, it no longer seemed to care much. Even the later issues of Bantha Tracks were mostly about other projects. There was no SW Insider, and forget about Hyperspace. The internet as it existed back then was used by relatively few people. Those of you who find tons of SW fan fiction to enjoy will find it shocking that in those days, fan fic was limited to a tiny number of fanzines published yearly.
Things are a little different today. No one would contemplate putting on a massive convention in the mid 1980s; the 1987 10th anniversary con was by all reports a relatively small affair at a hotel near LAX. The internet is in wide use now, bringing with it websites, message boards, and blogs. It makes it easier to keep in touch with other fans. The official fan club is still mostly focused on SW--please keep it that way--and it has two fronts with the bimonthly magazine and a website filled with content. Disney now has its annual popular SW Weekends and a new Jedi training show at Disneyland. SW costumes still sold well this Halloween. We have three different ongoing SW titles from Dark Horse. There are still SW books published on a regular basis; the presses seemed to stop by the end of 1984 and didn't start up again until 1991 brought us "Heir to the Empire." There's still a lot of new SW merchandise out there and collecting SW has become a bona fide hobby. Instead of a slow trickle of VHS releases (ROTJ didn't come out on home video until 1986, three years after its theatrical release), we now have the whole saga available on DVD--in more than one version. Lucasfilm's new forays into SW t.v. will focus on what worked (Clone Wars cartoons) and on reaching an adult audience with its upcoming live action show.
I'm sure many of you experienced a post-ROTS funk. I sure have (but that's a post for another day). But I'll still take this over fandom 22 years ago.
Nevertheless, an old salty like myself can remember the years post-ROTJ and pre-1990s, an era most of us called "The Dark Ages." To be fair, the light didn't suddenly go out on SW. In 1984, there was the round of award shows and in November of that year, there was the first of two made-for-t.v. Ewok movies (they were released theatrically overseas). Two animated series ("Droids" and "Ewoks") went on the air a year later. There was a brief re-release of ROTJ in 1985; theaters in some markets they ran an OT marathon for charity. Kenner still produced toys for its dwindling SW line for another 3 or 4 years after ROTJ. The Marvel comics series lasted until 1986. The original fan club didn't shutter until 1987. Somewhere in the Dark Ages we got Star Tours at the Disney parks and a new roleplaying game.
But it was palpable to me back in '84 that the party was over, and the world was moving on from the GFFA. Sure, there was still hope there would be new movies. In fact, I remember hearing rumors even back in high school that every new Lucasfilm project was a code for a new SW movie (even "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!"). But Lucasfilm's interest in SW was limited in pitching to the kidlets, as demonstrated by its t.v. projects. Otherwise, it no longer seemed to care much. Even the later issues of Bantha Tracks were mostly about other projects. There was no SW Insider, and forget about Hyperspace. The internet as it existed back then was used by relatively few people. Those of you who find tons of SW fan fiction to enjoy will find it shocking that in those days, fan fic was limited to a tiny number of fanzines published yearly.
Things are a little different today. No one would contemplate putting on a massive convention in the mid 1980s; the 1987 10th anniversary con was by all reports a relatively small affair at a hotel near LAX. The internet is in wide use now, bringing with it websites, message boards, and blogs. It makes it easier to keep in touch with other fans. The official fan club is still mostly focused on SW--please keep it that way--and it has two fronts with the bimonthly magazine and a website filled with content. Disney now has its annual popular SW Weekends and a new Jedi training show at Disneyland. SW costumes still sold well this Halloween. We have three different ongoing SW titles from Dark Horse. There are still SW books published on a regular basis; the presses seemed to stop by the end of 1984 and didn't start up again until 1991 brought us "Heir to the Empire." There's still a lot of new SW merchandise out there and collecting SW has become a bona fide hobby. Instead of a slow trickle of VHS releases (ROTJ didn't come out on home video until 1986, three years after its theatrical release), we now have the whole saga available on DVD--in more than one version. Lucasfilm's new forays into SW t.v. will focus on what worked (Clone Wars cartoons) and on reaching an adult audience with its upcoming live action show.
I'm sure many of you experienced a post-ROTS funk. I sure have (but that's a post for another day). But I'll still take this over fandom 22 years ago.
