Watch Mark Hamill Host the TV Premiere of ‘Star Wars’ in 1984

From slashfilm, Before the advent of home video, if you loved a movie enough, you had to keep going back to the theater to see it. And despite the fact that VHS came to the United States in 1977, fans of Star Wars wouldn’t be able to see the movie on tape until 1985. And that’s what made the TV premiere of the movie so exciting in 1984. It was such a big event that Mark Hamill was rounded up in a tuxedo to host the premiere, complete with a glimpse of the fandom from decades ago.

Nowadays movies hit home video months before they end up playing on TV, and with the advent of DVR, there are few broadcast productions that truly tun out to be event television. But it’s clear that in 1984, a movie like Star Wars coming to TV was a big deal, and the fandom surrounding it was unprecedented. And that tradition has continued as The Force Awakens continues breaking box office records.

What’s even more fascinating is how many times some of the fans featured in the beginning of this video have seen Star Wars. This was back when movie tickets only cost a few dollars, but for these fans to see the movie that many times today would cost some of them hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.