These days, information about upcoming movie (and music and game and TV show and …) is so quickly available and so widely disseminated that it is hard to remember a time when you could walk into a record store or theater and get a true surprise. Today marks the 30th anniversary of one such surprise – the theatrical trailer of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. At that time there were no ‘episodes’ and the overall look was quite different.

Narrated by Harrison Ford (yup, that’s Han hamming it up with his best 1930s announcer impression), the trailer contains a few noteworthy gems, such as the famously cut “Threepio ripping the sign off the door” shot. Originally, the invading Imperials were to enter the door, sans warning sign, to be subsequently attacked by a pack of angry wampas. The sequence was ultimately cut from the film, but not before this small hint of its existence was forever immortalized by the trailer (you can read a bit more about this sequence in our wampa databank entry).

The trailer is definitely still worth watching, as it offers the first glimpse of what many consider the best film of the series, but is missing several key elements such lightsaber combat and Yoda. Harrison Ford’s voice-over is amazing to hear, and it definitely sets up a movie in a different tone than what comes to mind in my memory.

Original 1979 Theatrical Trailer for The Empire Strikes Back

Source: StarWars.com