More than 40 years after the release of “Star Wars,” retroactively titled “Star Wars: A New Hope,” it’s easy to dismiss the cultural impact the film had considering the legacy the franchise has spawned over the decades. But it’s important to remember that before ‘A New Hope’ arrived in theaters in 1977, there really hadn’t been anything like that before. And George Lucas clearly was aware of this, as a new piece of “Star Wars” trivia points to the director wanted to warn audiences about the tone of his film with a “Looney Tunes” cartoon.
Last week, Toon In With Me posted a trivia tidbit that claimed George Lucas was hoping to show a specific Daffy Duck cartoon, “Duck Dodgers in the 24th-and-a-half Century,” before each screening of “Star Wars” when the film was in its original theatrical run in 1977. That’s a pretty strange tidbit, to say the least. However, that claim was backed up by Mark Hamill, the star of ‘A New Hope,’ who confirmed the news and explained why Lucas wanted to begin each “Star Wars” showing with a “Looney Tunes” scene.
“George really did want this classic Daffy Duck cartoon shown before every screening of [‘Star Wars’],” Hamill tweeted. “It would’ve been an icebreaker to let the audience know what was coming was less than dead serious. I was disappointed when we couldn’t get the rights to it & it didn’t happen.”
As much as people have grown to enjoy “Star Wars” over the past 40+ years, the fandom has slowly begun to treat the franchise as an adult-themed space fantasy that is steeped in religious mythology and political statements. Of course, there are shades of that in all of Lucas’ entries in the “Star Wars” franchise. But it’s obvious with this news, and Lucas’ Prequel Trilogy that was generally disliked by most when it was released two decades ago, the filmmaker wanted “Star Wars” to be a fun adventure story that was clearly aimed at a younger audience. I mean, the film does have space laser swords and quippy robots, right?
You can see the specific cartoon that Hamill is referencing below: