HBO showed Star Wars for the very first time in 1983, and I taped it! At the time, this was a VERY big deal! Here is the beginning of that recording....I don't have the whole movie anymore, just this beginning.
I was still 7, and was there that very first morning HBO aired Star Wars. It might have been on the night before past my bed time. I don't remember. I just remember in those little magazine guides showing HBO would show Star Wars at least 20 of the 30 coming days, and I rarely missed it. This was a huge deal, and the only thing bigger in my life was seeing Jedi in the theater later that summer.
My memory is almost identical to yours--I was 6 and that was my first "Star Wars year" with the premier of Star Wars on HBO and then the release of ROTJ which I saw that summer--all my birthday/Christmas toys that year were ROTJ. I didn't see ESB until it premeired on HBO in Feb. '86. :)
I was thrilled when I saw "Star Wars" shown on back of the Jan. 1986 guide book and when it aired for first time, I watch it and again and again and again and again on almost every play date since it was my favorite movie and still is today. Right now today, I have seen it almost 70 times.
I wonder why HBO used the short version of the “In Space” intro here. Given that this was a premiere, you’d think they’d run the full version. My guess is that maybe because while it was HBO’s first time showing it, it wasn’t the first time the movie was being shown on television. ON-TV, an over-the-air subscription service was the first station to air it, in 1982.
I remember watching this when it came on and thinking, “ I think this might be the only time where the HBO lead in is surpassed by the opening of the movie.” I loved this HBO promo, but no one tops John Williams.
Originally Star Wars was given a G rating. The studio felt that it would make the film unmarketable due to being thought of as a kiddie movie. They added the bloody arm on the floor in the Cantina scene to get the PG rating.
When Star Wars First Aired on HBO it was a Huge Deal at the time I Remember my Mothers Boyfriend at the time came to watch it with us and I Became a Fan Of Star Wars that Night
I watched Star Wars the first time it aired on HBO. I don't remember specifically, but I think they would have played the extended version of the HBO logo sequence, with the town flyover, the first time Star Wars aired.
