When the original “Star Wars” trilogy was first released in the late 1970s and early ’80s, fans were starving for more things to watch in this world.
With no streaming at the time, the only way to see your favorite film was to catch it in the theater or — if you or someone you knew were lucky enough to own a Vcr — you could rent or buy VHS tapes of the movies, although you still couldn’t rent “Star Wars” until 1982 or purchase your own VHS until 1984.Watching “Star Wars” on television was also a rare occurrence.
Creator George Lucas was against showing the movies on TV and owned the rights to the sequels.
Twentieth Century Fox was only able to negotiate TV rights for “Star Wars: A New Hope.” They finally did so in 1984 when CBS aired the film for the first time as a special presentation, hosted by Mark Hamill.
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