Even as a kid at the time, I always thought the Star Destroyer toy was absolute rubbish. But I didn't know about the escape hatch, tanning booth light, or the hallucinogenic red filter that's supposed to be a hologram. Whoever it was at Kenner who designed this thing must have done it at five to five on a Friday. Maybe on a bank holiday weekend. Of all the many brilliant translations of scenes, vehicles and characters Kenner turned into toy form, this was their first real dud. And the video was hilarious.

I think you successfully packed as much into this Follies as Kenner attempted yet failed to do with the playset. The "48 Hours" nod was especially hilarious to me. Bravo!

I made the mistake of requesting this POS as a birthday present from my parents. It was brand new at the time, and the inclusion of Vader's meditation chamber in the commercial lured me in. The fact that it needed two huge C or D batteries just to power that dinky light was especially strange. What a waste of a birthday present!

This has "Bridge to Nowhere" vibes. Those "entry ports" are suicide jumps.

"And just DON'T do it with the Leia Joke!" Bahaha! I felt so guilty. This video was so worth the wait. Bravo! Thank you for all the quality work you always do. It's so much appreciated.

I remember seeing this displayed in a shop in London when I was about 5 and thinking it looked like the best thing ever.

As I looked at it just now, great video by the way, I realized they needed to make it multiple pieces and sets that can be put together. Star Destroyer Bridge playset hooks to Darth Vader's inner sanctum playset which connects to the... well you could put anything there. There needs to be places for stormtroopers to guard and maybe a landing platform and places for heroes to run around in as they escape Vader's clutches. Two or three combined playsets would have saved this.

My reaction to this… thing… was identical to Luke’s reaction when seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time: “What a piece of junk!”

Ugh I can't wait to see this episodes - saw the tease in the 10 year Anniversary video. I always look forward to these Star Wars Follies - the best series to watch when it comes to Vintage Star Wars!

as an adult collector ihave never even considered it, as an extremely poor child i would have been thrilled to have had it. i had an amazing time as a child using rocks and sticks and boxes to make bases and so on, mt imagination was easy to fire up back then.

About three times bigger with three separate rooms - the Bridge, Vader's Chamber and either a crew quarters, brig or a combination of a few things for the 3rd room. The top would resemble the top of a Super Star Destroyer and rather than just being open, it would have panels you could remove to get inside.

I remember getting it for Christmas from my aunt and it was mostly used as a Cobra control room. The chamber was used as a special throne for either Destro or Cobra Commander.

Fantastic work on this episode. I never had this as a kid and don't even remember seeing it in the stores. I maybe glossed over it as being all open like it is, wouldn't have been appealing as opposed to having removable panels that you could have closed it up with. Masses of effort was clearly put into this production and it's truly appreciated.

This was hilarious! Thank you again, RetroBlasting crew for a job well done.

Funny that you mention the toy could be an Imperial outpost. I had this toy as a child and that is exactly how we used it; it became a fixed defensive position on the ground, like a glorified machinegun nest, and Vader's meditation room was just the commander's station.

"Have you ever tried balancing a cat on your forearm?"

I remember seeing this toy and thinking it was the first part of some Build-a-ship gimmick they were going for. Like each part was supposed to represent a different deck and if you got them all you had a USS Flagg sized playset or something

I thought this set was awesome back in the day, still puts a childish smile on my face at 50yrs old.

I remember getting this for christmas 1980. One night, the moon shone through my window, and for some odd reason, it made me think of the Cygnus from the Black Hole, of all things! From that point, it became my de facto "Cygnus" for playtime scenarios.

Truthfully, I have very fond memories of this playset because ESB was a cool enough movie to overlook it's shortcomings. Also, I was 4yrs old.