Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I always wondered how much of the original Trilogy George Lucas really had mapped out.  Did he always plan to have Vader be Anakin Skywalker and Luke's father, or did he conceive it later?  Information from on-line sources is spotty, and I've never seen anything that says he had all 3 movies/scripts wrote out ahead of time. 

One of my earliest memories is going to the theater to see Star Wars. I'm told it was the first movie I ever went to, being born in '75.  I vaguely recall being in the theatre, and vaguely recall certain scenes.  I only learned recently that they re-screened the movie several times so it's possible I was a lot older than 2 when I saw it, possibly as old as 3-5.  Late 70's/80's...what a great childhood. 

Yeah, I'm sure I saw Star Wars in the theater--and I'm sure I didn't see it in 1977, when I would have been three years old. Probably closer to '80 or so, maybe in anticipation of Empire, which I also know I saw in a theater? Taking a look at the Google, I'm guessing I saw both (including Empire) in their 1981 theater re-releases. My brother would have been 13, and I would have been old enough to remember them...'79 is also a possibility.

Yup they re-released them several times.  Original Star Wars was May 1977 and I know I saw it then, but it was also definitely showing in theaters at Christmastime in 1977 because I have pictures of my 6th birthday at the Fox Triplex Theater in Austin, when we went to see Star Wars.  My birthday is Dec 7.

Searching the internet, there's no record of a Christmas re-release, so it either wasn't widespread, or it had just stayed in theaters for all that time.  Which is a possibility, movies used to have a much longer theater run than they do now, for various reasons.

We had it on VHS and played it on our Curtis Mathis VCR (no remote).  On our Curtis Mathis Color TV.  Must've watched it a hundred times in the early 80's.  Had ESB on VHS but it was recorded from Show-Time.  Don't remember if we had RoTJ on VHS but it we did it was also recorded.  

And as this is a tech nerd thread, I'd highlight that tape storage is still alive and kicking today.

I'd trust an LTO tape to transfer something from one location to another more than I'd trust a USB thumb drive or SD card. A higher-quality SSD, maybe, but not a consumer grade "storage card" or anything like that where I don't trust the NAND's quality. And I wouldn't want to use an HDD either as they're really not built for durability in transport when you're getting attacked by Jedi.

As I'm sure you know, LTO tape is still used in the long-term archival storage required in verticals like medical, financial services, and FED/government applications.

What I'm not sure whether or not you know, is that my first job at my current employer was as the Global Supply Chain manager for tape storage solutions.  I was also the Global Product Engineer-- Launch and Sustaining, for those products.  At the time we were still selling something like $500M/year of those products, and I think it's still over $300M/year.  

And as this is a tech nerd thread, I'd highlight that tape storage is still alive and kicking today.

I'd trust an LTO tape to transfer something from one location to another more than I'd trust a USB thumb drive or SD card. A higher-quality SSD, maybe, but not a consumer grade "storage card" or anything like that where I don't trust the NAND's quality. And I wouldn't want to use an HDD either as they're really not built for durability in transport when you're getting attacked by Jedi.

Talk nerdy to me!

Sometimes when I'm trying to look up business records from more than 1 year ago I will have to request the records and then have to wait a few hours/days to get them.  Are they being retrieved via tape?  and if so, is there a robotic arm to pick the tape and put it into the right "player"?  Inquiring minds want to know. 

That sounds like the performance/latency you'd get from a tape library, yes. And yes, a robotic arm retrieves the tape to put it into the "tape drive", which is the term used rather than player. 

In the movie "Rogue One" (A very excellent Star Wars movie) they have a scene where they go into a data vault and get the plans, and have to use a giant robot to retrieve the tapes.  I thought it was an awesome homage to the original movies mention of "stolen data tapes".