Star Wars Nostalgia Meltdown!

With Star Wars Episode VII on its way, we're in a Force-fuelled mood of nostalgia here on the forest moon of SFX. Join us as we switch off our targeting computers and strike straight for the heart of the '70s...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, our dreams came wrapped with a plank-stiff stick of inexplicable pink guck. Here's a wrapper for Topps' fabled Star Wars bubblegum card set. Got! Need! Got! Got! Need! Got!

The first issue of Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly, adapting the blockbuster hit of the decade in glorious black and white. "Enter: Luke Skywalker! Will he save the galaxy or destroy it?" Oh, don't be so daft.

Seaside freezer cabinet kings Lyons Maid brought us Star Wars in sticky lickable form. Take that 3D! In yer face, IMAX!

It's a badge. With Star Wars on it. There was a pin on the back. It was shiny. And circular.

This one found its way into every Christmas stocking in the land - the very first Star Wars annual. It's a bit disco, isn't it?

Yes, you too could transform a humble cotton tee into a Force-powered fashion statement. If anyone sniggered down the youth club you could always pretend Jawas was some achingly enigmatic and deeply credible French synth duo.

Star Wars makes the cover of La-la-la-la-la-Look-In, the "Junior TV Times" (not quite so many ads for stairlifts, we suspect). But who cares about that... look! On The Ball: PETER BLOODY SHILTON!

Action transfers! You rubbed them down with the wrong end of a pencil. They materialised on the page like a miracle. Albeit a miracle missing the odd foot or finger. And lo, Industrial Light and Magic was born.

It's another badge. This one's got a walloping great spelling mistake on it. Crazy days.

Everyone's favourite Corellian smuggler wins the first of his own series of spin-off novels. Note that Chewbacca's shaggy ankle is a registered trademark. Do not infringe it with your unauthorised shaggy ankle tea-towels or tootsie warmers.

It's not a lightsaber. It's a Force Beam. It's not a cease-and-desist letter from Lucasfilm. Oh, hold on, it is.

Nick Setchfield
Editor-at-Large, SFX Magazine

Nick Setchfield is the Editor-at-Large for SFX Magazine, writing features, reviews, interviews, and more for the monthly issues. However, he is also a freelance journalist and author with Titan Books. His original novels are called The War in the Dark, and The Spider Dance. He's also written a book on James Bond called Mission Statements.