For this Sci-Friday, we take a trip to the dark side of a Star Wars fan’s visit to the Empire Strikes Back set back in 1980. I know, I know – TV shows love to do ‘lucky fan gets to do X’ segments – Jimmy Kimmel does them all the time. But in the case of this video, the sad part about this wasn’t known until many years later. Take this walk down memory lane, and then we’ll cover the dark side of this ‘lucky fan’ video.
All fun and games, right? If I was eight years old, I’d be freaking out just like our friend Daniel. Sorry, but no.
There’s more to the story, and it needs to be heard. Yes, Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile OBE was an English media personality (“Top of the Pops” and “Jim’ll Fix It”). Well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and charitable work. Everyone liked Jimmy Savile, it seemed.
The Dark Side of History
The truth came out after he died – Jimmy Savile was a predatory sex offender with hundreds of victims exploited, ignored, and ultimately discarded by society. One YouTube comment put it best: “That kid looked absolutely terrified of Chewie. Little did he know the real monster was right in front of him.”
This isn’t revisionist history or ‘wokeness.’ Our society has systemized the exploitation of the vulnerable for the benefit of the powerful for centuries and Jimmy Savile was one of the clearest examples. Ursula K. Guin wrote about this phenomenon in ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ in 1974. We’re still waiting for the message to sink in fifty years later – that’s terrifying.
So when it comes to this visit to the set of Empire Strikes Back, we can look with appreciation for the movies, scifi, and the wonder of a small child. But recognize the dark side of these historical mementos. They came at a cost of hundreds of vulnerable children who, in many cases, are still waiting to tell their story.
