Just in case there’s anyone out there who still has any sort of appetite for Star Wars-related crap, a couple of quickie links:

First up, an amazing repository of info about the original release: the exact theaters in which it played, the reasons why there were so few of them, and the variants of the film that existed right from the very beginning, long before G. Lucas ever heard the term “CGI.” Fascinating stuff if you’re at all interested in Star Wars as an artifact instead of a story.

And even though I know that remembrances and tributes to the anniversary have been a dime a dozen in the blogosphere over the past week, this one from The Digital Bits pretty much sums them all up:

Three decades ago, on May 25th, 1977, the first few thousand members of an entire generation of young filmgoers had their minds blown away… and the rest would soon join them in the weeks and months that followed. Like many of them, I’m turning 40 this year and have over time developed something of a love/hate relationship with all things Star Wars. Padawans and midichlorians have soured the Saga a bit for folks like me, but I still can never forget how that initial viewing of the original film in an old dark theater with a couple hundred other people changed my life. It was the first time I was ever so excited by a film that I literally leaped out of my seat cheering. And then came the waiting. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, there was no Internet. There were no fan sites and discussion forums. All you got was Starlog magazine, and they didn’t print spoilers. So you just had to suck it up wait three years for the next film… and incredibly, The Empire Strikes Back was even better! But oh, the humanity! Could Darth Vader REALLY be Luke’s father?! How was a 13-year old mind to deal with that? Simple. You stumbled into the restroom, splashed some water on your face to recover from the shock… and snuck right back into the theater to see the next showing. Then you had to wait three MORE years to find out if it was true! But in the meantime, there was E.T. to see, and Blade Runner and Raiders of the Lost Ark! And the original Star Wars was being released back into theaters, and Alien and Close Encounters and Superman II were all on HBO – cable was such a cool new thing at that point. It wasn’t all roses to be sure. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted a column earlier this week bemoaning how the blockbuster success of Jaws and Star Wars killed the commercial prospects for the kind of more substantial filmmaking that had dominated the 70s to that point. And she’s right. In fact, the dearth of good mainstream dramatic Hollywood filmmaking today can arguably be traced right back to May 25th, 1977. Most every studio head these days would rather chase an epic fantasy franchise instead of nurturing off-beat, thoughtful film fare, and all too many young directors and writers want to make a Star Wars of their own. But that’s now… and this was then. And back then… well, it was a helluva great time to be a kid going to the movies, I’ll tell you.

And that, my friends, is all I’m going to say about Star Wars this week. Promise…