30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 23

Thirty years ago, today, the cover story on Time magazine was about George Lucas and Return of the Jedi. Aside from being the first time I saw that jaw dropping picture of Lucas surrounded by all of the miniatures, maquettes, and props from ROTJ, it's most important tidbits did not involve the new movie, but hints about what to expect in the eventual prequel trilogy and sequel trilogy. Reading through this article again now, there isn't much you can glean from it this far afterwards, but that same paragraph pertaining to the six movies beyond the original trilogy remains intriguing now that the prequels have come and gone, and the sequels are apparently going to happen with the original cast now at the actual ages that Lucas envisioned their characters being.

That photo of Lucas surrounded by all of those props is still really cool, too.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 22

Among the various Return of the Jedi stationery and school supplies were a selection of pencils and figural erasers.

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 21

Among the various products spawned by Return of the Jedi, was a line of model kits produced by MPC. MPC had been producing popular Star Wars model kits since the first movie, and reissued a number of them with new ROTJ tie-in art on the boxes. The models came in basic snap-together forms which required no glue, and the traditional, and slightly more complicated, glue together variety. 

Except for the X-Wing Fighter, I owned all of these kits. C-3PO, I recall being the one that was most difficult to build because there were rubber bands to be manipulated, so that the limbs could move, that had to be held in place while gluing his torso together, and I felt like I needed extra arms to pull this off. 

My favorites were the Shuttle Tydirium with it's fording wings, R2-D2, the speeder bike, and the B-wing with it's rotating cockpit and folding wings. Most of mine bit the dust when a shelf broke landing on top of them, then causing that shelf to fall to the floor finishing off what was left. 

Many of the images came from Fantastic Plastic and My Comic Shop. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 20

The speeder bike chase was one of the most exciting scenes in Return of the Jedi. After seeing it, what kid wouldn't want their own speeder bike to tear around the neighborhood on? 

For some lucky kids that fantasy became a reality, sort of. As a 1983 promotional sweepstakes, Kenner created a contest/in store display in order to sell more of their Star Wars action figure line. Approximately 200-300 of these speeder bikes were made for Kenner by Huffy and displayed in stores, where lucky kids could win them. These were not for sale, and now fetch some high prices.  

If you didn't win one of the bikes, you still had a shot of having one of your very own to ride back and forth in your back yard. This speeder bike was a speeder bike shaped swing that had the benefit of actually being up off the ground where it seemed to float through the air if you were an imaginative kid. You'd have to be a superbly imaginative kid to envision the mounted tower playhouse above the swing as the AT-ST scout walker it's meant to be. Maybe it's easier to do sitting on the inside of it. In any case this is still pretty cool. 

There is a modern ride on pedal bike manufactured by an Australian toy company called ToyMonster. I'm not sure what Star Wars movie they were working from, but adding a couple of tiny flaps next to the front wheel, an Imperial style logo to the wheel and the Star Wars logo to the seat does not make this thinly disguised Big Wheel/Green Machine a speeder bike. It's probably safer, and faster than the Huffy version, but it's nowhere near as cool. 

Kids and adults still have a chance to ride a speeder bike by visiting the Disney Studios theme park in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This one doesn't move at all, but looks a lot like the movie version, and has a backdrop of the Endor forest with enemy Imperial biker scout. It makes for a great photo opportunity and can be found across from the fantastically upgraded Star Tours attraction. 

30 Years of RETURN OF THE JEDI - Part 19

Topps, the candy and trading card company, released a batch of candy heads in conjunction with the release of Return of the Jedi. 

There were six heads (of which I have five, showing the popularity of the ewok, Wicket, who was sold out when I purchased the other heads). There were some obvious character choices, such as Darth Vader, two different ewoks, and Jabba the Hutt. Admiral Ackbar also seems like a fairly obvious candidate, but Sy Snootles? Why her over a Gammorian Guard, or the heavily marketed Klaatu, or even R2-D2 or one of the Imperial Guards? 

The candy was obtained by opening a hatch on the bottom. 

The candy itself, which was flavored and textured along the line of Sweet-Tarts, was molded in the shape of two different style of ewok, Jabba, Darth Vader, C-3PO, and R2-D2, but not Sy Snootles or Admiral Ackbar. 

There had previously been a larger series of candy heads marketed for The Empire Strikes Back. These heads also had necks with The Empire Strikes Back logo embossed on them. The necks could be turned to align two holes through which the candy was dispensed, which was not in the shape of any Star Wars characters.