Misc – Page 15 – Dale's Toys

From the Archives: Willow: Coloring Fun

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with this Willow Coloring Fun coloring book!

Random House Publishing (now known as Penguin Random House) is one of the world’s largest book publishing companies. They picked up the license for Willow, and produced some, but not all, of the North American storybooks and jigsaw puzzles tying into the film. Their subdivision Happy House Group produced many children’s books for entertainment properties in the 1980s including Return of the Jedi, Berenstain Bears, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

They also issued at least a half-dozen children’s activity books tying into the Willow film, including Willow: Coloring Fun (pictured here), Willow: Dot-To-Dot Fun, Willow: Great Battles to Color, Willow: His Friends and Foes: A Coloring Book, Willow: Magical Creatures Coloring Book, and Willow: The Story to Color.

I think it’s interesting that the film had so much tie-in merchandise for kids lined up with the film’s debut, only to completely stop once the movie was outperformed at the summer box office.

The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Madmartigan (Heroic Swordsman)

Recommended music: James Horner – Willow Captured

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with the Tonka Madmartigan!

Actor Val Kilmer received top billing for Willow for his role as Madmartigan. Two years earlier, he had played Navy pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the box-office hit Top Gun. John Cusack also auditioned and even screen-tested for Madmartigan, but was eventually passed over for Kilmer.

In the film, Madmartigan is a disgraced knight who ultimately crosses paths with Willow, redeems himself in the eyes of the military, and wins the heart of Princess Sorsha, who abandons her mother, Bavmorda, to fight at his side.
In the ‘Chronicles of the Shadow War’ book trilogy outlined by George Lucas and written by Chris Claremont, a cataclysmic event erupted a year after the film’s Battle of Nockmaar. This event, known as the Cataclysm, led to the destruction of Tir Asleen. Everyone who occupied it vanished, including Madmartigan.

While the book series does continue the adventures of Willow Ufgood and Elora Danan 15 years after the film, it is now considered ‘non-canonical’, or an alternate history, so the TV series could tell its own new story.

These ‘Madmartigan (Heroic Swordsman)’ and ‘Madmartigan and Horse’ figures show that you can use a sword on its own, or while riding a horse. 😄

The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Starlog Issues #131 & #132

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with Starlog magazine issues #131 & #132!

These issues from summer 1988 feature Willow-related front & back covers. “After getting killed by Indiana Jones, James Bond, Conan and Red Sonja…” actor Pat Roach (General Kael) sat down with Starlog’s British Correspondent Adam Pirani for a lengthy interview on his career and the villains of Willow. To balance things out, Pirani also penned an interview with Gavan O’Herilhy (Airk Thaughbaer) where he details some of his days on set shooting scenes with large amounts of extras and horse related injuries.

The following month Pirani was back with “Ron Howard: Storyteller of Shadow and Magic” where he interviewed the Willow director discussing the new film and aspects of Howard’s career where he was decidedly “not involved in that at all” in projects such as Splash Too, and Cocoon II: The Return.

When asked about a potential Willow II, Howard had this to say at the time: “George and I have joked around a little bit about that, and certainly there are many different ways you could go with Willow. Whether I would want to undertake a project of this size again, I don’t know. I would have to give it some serious thought. But I wouldn’t discount it altogether. I

enjoy working with George Lucas, and I’m really pleased with the progress that Warwick Davis is making as an actor. Eventually, he’ll become an important filmmaker. So, it does intrigue me.”

Despite Willow being mentioned as a TV series as far back as 2005 (17 years after the film), it didn’t premiere for another 17 years (which is also how long after the film, the series story is set). Fortunately, Howard is back with an Executive Producer credit on the show.

The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Lucasfilm Fan Club Issue #6

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with Lucasfilm Fan Club Official Magazine #6!

This issue, from winter 1989, was the last Willow-related cover. There wasn’t actually a lot of Willow-related content in this issue besides an interview from Dan Madsen with Kevin Pollak (Rool in Willow) and a couple of questions in the featured article, Dan Madsen’s interview with GL himself, “George Lucas: The Force Behind Lucasfilm.”

The interview covered many topics from Lucas’s (then) 20+ year career in the film industry, with a balance of franchises covered, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Willow.

One of the more revealing interview responses by Lucas was that there were already plans to do an Indiana Jones-themed ride at a Disney theme park. While this may have seemed like a no-brainer due to the success of Lucas’s partnership with Disney beginning with Captain EO, and the success of Star Tours at Disneyland, which opened two years earlier, the Florida and Tokyo versions had not yet been completed, and Disneyland Paris was still three years away from completion.

When Disney-MGM Studios theme park opened in May 1989 it was pretty light on both attractions and shows, focusing more on show business and being an operating film and television studio, an animation facility, and an operating backlot. Construction was accelerated to have the park open a month ahead of the similarly themed Universal Studios Florida, a few miles away, and by the end of the summer, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular stage show opened and continues today.

An actual Indy-themed ride was not realized until 1993 when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril opened at Disneyland Paris. In 1995, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye opened at Disneyland Park with a very similar attraction Temple of the Crystal Skull debuting at Tokyo DisneySea when that park opened in 2001. Despite the name, the attraction is pretty unrelated to the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, much like this post is pretty unrelated to Willow. 😉

The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Sorsha

Recommended music: James Horner – Escape from the Tavern

We’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow from the archives today with the Tonka Sorsha!

English actress Joanne Whalley portrays Sorsha in both the 1988 Willow film, as well as the short-lived Willow series on Disney+. The significance of her character is known as a “tritagonist”, being the 3rd most important character to the story. In the actual film’s credits, she gets second billing after Val Kilmer, but is ahead of Warwick Davis in the title role.

The daughter of main villain Queen Bavmorda, Sorsha spends most of the film as second-in-command under General Kael leading the Nockmaar army. She ultimately falls in love with Madmartigan while he defends Tir Asleen, and changes to fighting against Nockmaar, with the characters eventually marrying. Life truly imitated art as Kilmer and Whalley met on the set of the film and were married by February 1988, (separating in 1996).

These Sorsha figures show two different looks for the character, but anyone who saw these toys for sale in stores before seeing the film might have noticed a story spoiler, as her character’s base is tan (not black), the base color for the film’s heroes.

The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Lucasfilm Fan Club Issue #4

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with Lucasfilm Fan Club Official Magazine #4!

This issue was released in the summer of 1988, shortly after the film’s theatrical release, but late enough in summer to feature fan mail from readers who had already seen (and enjoyed) the movie in theaters.

The publication contained some first-look photos of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as well as some details of the upcoming film Tucker: The Man and His Dream starring Jeff Bridges.

Besides an article about Industrial Light & Magic “Inside ILM: Creating the Magic of Willow”, the highlight of the issue was a set of interviews by fan club president & publisher, Dan Madsen. These were “Ron Howard: Imagining The Wonders of Willow” and “Warwick Davis: An Unlikely Hero” which had enough good content to carry on with a part two in the next issue.

The Willow film turned 37 years old yesterday! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

From the Archives: Airk Thaughbaer (Heroic Commander)

Recommended music: James Horner – The Enchanted Forest

We’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow from the archives today with the Tonka Airk Thaughbaer (Heroic Commander)!

In the Willow film, both the Daikini (tall folk) and Nelwyn (short folk) use horses (and horse-drawn carts) for transportation. Main actor Warwick Davis had a fear of horses following a childhood incident; however, the role required him to ride a horse. With a few weeks of riding lessons, he became confident enough in his riding ability and looked quite natural in the final film.

This ‘Airk Thaughbaer – Horse and Riders’ figure also looks quite natural along with some ‘Airk Thaughbaer (Heroic commander)’ and some ‘Rebel Trooper (Heroic Soldier)’ figures to make up my 3-inch Galladoorn army.

In real life, Airk was played by Gavan O’Herlihy, who had over 30 screen credits, including roles in Happy Days, The Six Million Dollar Man, Never Say Never Again, and Superman III before relocating to the UK in the 90s, where he focused on roles in the theatre and British television.

The Willow film turned 37 years old yesterday! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!