Luke and Han on Hoth
July 23, 2008 | In: Video
I was 5 years old in 1977 when the first Star Wars movie (ANH) came out. By the time Empire Strikes Back was released my younger brother Jason and I were well seated as life-long Star Wars fans. Like most kids we had more than a handful of the toys, but unlike many kids we also had access to video cameras — our father’s video cameras to be exact. It wasn’t long until we enlisted him as camera-man and with our mother’s help in costuming we were ready to begin production on our own spin off films from the series that was so inspiring our imaginations.
Here are a few of the videos I have located thus far. I will add more as I find them, and am especially looking for the “trash compactor” movie we did where we dressed in white long-johns with black electrical tape around our joints to look like stormtrooper armor.
Keep in mind these movies were made after ESB before ROTJ. We knew Vader was Luke’s father, but we didn’t know about Leia being his sister yet.
This was filmed by my father around 1980, just after Empire Strikes Back came out in theaters. It was long enough after my mother had time to make me Luke’s “ESB / Bespin” shirt… so maybe a month or two after.
I play Luke Skywalker, and my brother Jason is Han Solo. We’re on Hoth, taking care of Tauntauns. Han checks to see if “the jewel” is still there… it is. Then Luke goes outside early and get attacked by a “Wampa”. Luckily Han finds Luke and he’s fine. We talk about how cold it is, then get into a fight with the Imperials. Han “never misses” (why we thought that I don’t know), but never the less he doesn’t in this movie.
Notice how we’re sweating after we come in from outdoors. Also, we had instructed my dad NOT to film my brother when he was “the Wampa”… you were only supposed to see his hand. We also, obviously, didn’t have a plan as to what was to happen after that scene… hence the awkward pause.