1977 Topps Star Wars Series 1

"Topps and Lucasfilm have been collaborating on Star Wars trading cards for 40 years, navigating the hyperspace lanes of the collectibles industry like smuggler and Wookiee co-pilot since their first, classic blue-bordered set in 1977."

―Neil Kleid, co-founder of the Topps application divison^[3]

1977 Topps Star Wars Series 1 was the first Star Wars trading card set released by Topps in June 1977. The set was based on Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, and featured stills from the film, promotional photos and behind the scenes photos, all within a blue starfield border. Backs of the cards featured "Story Summary" or "Movie Facts" themes, or included a portion of a larger image which could be pieced together with other cards like a puzzle. When combined, the cards would make two images. One was a photo from the film of Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Millennium Falcon. The second was the Hildebrandt Brother's poster for A New Hope, as redone by artist Augie Napoli. A sub-set of sticker cards was included. The set was followed by 1977 Topps Star Wars Series 2.

Development

Conception

"Before long, Topps representative Dave Friedman finally told 20th Century-Fox that we were indeed interested in licensing The Star Wars."

―Topps editor Gary Gerani^[1]

In preparation for the release of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, 20th Century Fox executive Marc Pevers came to The Topps Company to pitch the idea to create a set of trading cards to promote the film. Employees had originally been skeptical on the pitch but eventually, Topps president Arthur Shorin warmed up to the idea, and company representative Dave Friedman notified Fox that Topps was interested in licensing Star Wars.^[1]

Production

"For the first series of Star Wars cards, images were mostly printed from standard 35 mm slides. These were forwarded to our headquarters in Brooklyn, and there was nothing especially exotic about the content."

―Gary Gerani^[1]

The images for the cards were printed on 35mm slides. The blue starfield backgrounds used for the set were taken straight from their Star Trek sets, the only difference being that an image of an X-wing starfighter replaced an image of the USS Enterprise. The sixty-six cards of the set depicted stills, promotional images, and behind-the-scenes photos from the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Additionally, eleven sticker cards were produced to accompany the main set. Art director Ben Solomon purposefully colored the background of card 64, titled "Governor of Imperial Outlands," green, so that the head of Grand Moff Tarkin would stand out.^[1]

Backs of the cards featured "Story Summary" or "Movie Facts" sections which provided lore and behind-the-scenes information respectively. The back of some cards included a portion of a larger image which could be pieced together with other cards as a puzzle. When combined, the cards would make two separate images. One was a scene from the film of farm boy Luke Skywalker, smugglers Chewbacca and Han Solo, and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the cockpit of Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. The second was the Hildebrandt Brother's poster for A New Hope, as redone by artist Augie Napoli. The cards were shipped to the Topps headquarters in Brooklyn, New York City to be released^[1] in June of 1977.^[2]

Release and reception

"Charlie's Angels was hot that year, too. It was a race to see which set of cards could sustain more sets."

―Gary Gerani^[4]

The set was a hit for Topps,^[4] bringing in sales like never seen before.^[1]

Continuity

"It should really be spelled 'lightsaber,' but this was relatively early on, and even the Star Wars Corporation experts weren't certain about the proper presentation of certain exotic words/terms...though we learned quite quickly that there are two e's in 'Wookiee.'"

―Gary Gerani^[1]

Card 2 titled, "See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo," was originally just supposed to be a card of C-3PO. However, after a disagreement with Ben Solomon, both droids were added. The caption of card 53, titled "Battle in outer space!", is a homage to the 1959 Japanese sci-fi film, Battle in Outer Space.^[1] In story summary 3 on the back of card 17 "Lord Vader threatens Princess Leia!," C-3PO is misspelled as "3-CPO." In card 7, titled "The villainous Darth Vader,"^[1] an image is used from a deleted scene featuring Darth Vader and Moradmin Bast.^[5] Card 20, titled "Hunted by the Sandpeoples!," incorrectly states that Tusken Raiders hunted humans. In card 64, Grand Moff Tarkin is referred to as the "Governor of the Imperial Outlands."^[1] The referenced "Imperial Outlands" would later go on to be known as the Outer Rim Territories.^[6] Multiple cards incorrectly refer to the Lars homestead as a control room.^[1]

Legacy

The set was followed by 1977 Topps Star Wars Series 2, released alongside the first one.^[7] In 2015, Topps released the 1977 Topps Star Wars Series 1 Remastered Edition on their digital application Star Wars: Card Trader. Between June 8 and August 12, the cards were released one per day.^[8] The cards were all showcased and commented on in the collection art book Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One, written by Gary Gerani and published by Abrams Books^[1] on November 17, 2015.^[9]