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^[4]

1977 Topps Star Wars Series 1 was the first trading card set released by The Topps Company, Inc. in^[1] June 1977.^[2] 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 that could be pieced together with other cards like a puzzle. When combined, the cards would make two images. One was a photo of Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Millennium Falcon. The second was Tom Jung's poster for A New Hope, as redone by artist Augie Napoli. A sub-set of sticker cards was included. Four more series of the set followed.^[1]

Card list

Luke Skywalker
See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo
The little droid, Artoo-Detoo
Space pirate Han Solo
Princess Leia Organa
Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi
The villainous Darth Vader
Grand Moff Tarkin
Rebels defend their starship!
Princess Leia - captured!
Artoo is imprisoned by the Jawas
The droids are reunited!
A sale on droids!
Luke checks out his new droid
Artoo-Detoo is left behind!
Jawas of Tatooine
Lord Vader threatens Princess Leia!
Artoo-Detoo is missing!
Searching for the little droid
Hunted by the Sandpeople!
The Tusken Raiders
Rescued by Ben Kenobi
See-Threepio is injured!
Stormtroopers seek the droids!
Luke rushes to his loved ones
A horrified Luke sees his family killed
Some repairs for See-Threepio
Luke agrees to join Ben Kenobi
Stopped by Stormtroopers
Han in the Millennium Falcon
Sighting the Death Star
Lord Vader's guards
The droids in the control room
See-Threepio diverts the guards
Luke and Han as stormtroopers
Blast of the laser rifle!
Cornered in the labyrinth
Luke and Han in the refuse room
Steel walls close in on our heroes!
Droids rescue their masters!
Facing the deadly chasm
Stormtroopers attack!
Luke prepares to swing across the chasm
Han and Chewie shoot it out!
The Light Saber
A desperate moment for Ben
Luke prepares for the Battle
Artoo-Detoo is loaded aboard
The Rebels monitor the raid
Rebels leaders wonder about their fate!
See-Threepio and Princess Leia
Who will win the final Star War?
Battle in outer space!
The victors receive their reward
Han, Chewie and Luke
A day of rejoicing
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Alec Guinness as Ben Kenobi
Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin
Mark Hamill in control room
Lord Vader's stormtroopers
May the Force be with you!
Governor of Imperial Outlands
Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill
Amazing robot See-Threepio

Stickers

Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia Organa
Han Solo
Chewbacca the Wookiee
See-Threepio
Artoo-Detoo
Lord Darth Vader
Grand Moff Tarkin
Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi
Tusken Raider
Battle in outer space

Development

Conception

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

―Gary Gerani, editor for Topps^[1]

Preparing for the release of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, 20th Century Fox executive Marc Pevers came to The Topps Company with the idea to create a set of cards. Employees had originally been skeptical on the pitch but eventually, president Arthur Shorin warmed up to the idea. Thus, 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 backgrounds used on the cards were taken straight from their Star Trek sets, with the only difference being a X-wing starfighter replacing the USS Enterprise. Solomon purposefully colored the background of card 64 green, so that Tarkin's head would stand out.^[1] The cards were shipped to the Topps headquarters in Brooklyn, New York City to be released^[1] in June of 1977.^[2]

The cards of the set depicted stills from the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.^[1] The cards were all showcased 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.^[5]

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 art director 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.^[6] Card 20, titled "Hunted by the Sandpeoples!", incorrectly states that Tusken Raiders hunted humans. In card 64, titled "Governer of the Imperial Outlands," Grand Moff Tarkin is referred to as the "Governor of the Imperial Outlands."^[1] The referenced "Imperial Outlands" would later to on to be known as the Outer Rim Territories.^[7] Multiple cards incorrectly refer to the Lars homestead as a control room.^[1]

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^[8]

The set was a hit for Topps,^[8] bringing in sales like never seen before.^[1] Card grading site beckett.com praised the set, stating that the set is the best to come out of the 1977 Star Wars Series of Topps cards. Beckett compared the cards to the equivalent of a "Rookie" sports card,^[9] which are notoriously some of the hardest and scarcest sport cards to come across.^[10]

The cards are some of the most sought after. Card 1 titled "Luke Skywalker," has the highest demand due to its high susceptibility to damage and thus there is a high rarity for finding one in good condition. The card can sell for thousands of US dollars. Collectors also note that just like card 1, card 53 titled "Battle in outer space!", and card 63 titled "May the force be with you!", are also susceptible to damage. Stickers from the set are also very hard to obtain.^[11]