Tag: The Magic of Willow

Recommended music: James Horner – Willow the Sorcerer

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with the Willow arcade game!

One final Willow post by a Willow fan in his Willow shirt playing the Willow arcade game.

Despite the Willow film underperforming at the crowded summer 1988 box office, video game publisher Capcom was looking to develop games based on established characters from other media and rolled out this game more than a year after the film’s release.

Debuting in June of 1989 in Japan, and September in North America, the game actually beat Capcom’s Willow game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System to market, which didn’t come out until around the Christmas season 1989. While the NES release was more a role-playing game in the style of Legend of Zelda, the arcade game is a fun, but very difficult platform game, more in the vein of Capcom’s even more challenging Ghosts n’ Goblins.

Thankfully, despite the game’s difficulty, I’ve been able to play all the way through this game many times, and replaced the marquee a couple years ago to reflect the actual game I’m playing at the time. Granted, playing in the home arcade, I was also able to make frequent use of a rewind button, a luxury not present for arcade gamers in 1989.😄

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! I figure that’s enough Willow content for this month. Maybe some of the additions to my Willow collection from the past few years will appear here at some point. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!

Recommended music: James Horner – Bavmorda’s Spell Is Cast

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Willow calendar!

As this series wraps, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate piece of Willow memorabilia to finish with than this Willow 1989 wall calendar. It features a dozen stock photos (most of these are pretty common) from the film in a large glossy format to remind you of the magic of Willow all year long. Thankfully, I’ve held on to this one for a few years now, and it was useful in 2023, which repeated the same calendar as 2017, 2006, 1995, 1989, etc. 😁

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Recommended music: James Horner – Tir Asleen

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with this Willow Japanese Movie Program!

Japanese movie programs or souvenir pamphlets are only sold in Japanese theaters during a film’s initial run. They are frequently a good source of thorough information and images, varying in content from the standard publicity materials found in most countries. The programs have come in a few different dimensions over the years, with 8×11 inches being the most common (all of mine are this size). The souvenirs have been made since at least the 1930s (the earliest example I found being All Quiet On The Western Front, which was released in Japan on October 24th 1930) and continue all the way up to this past summer’s major film releases. Update: I also found a 12-page Japanese booklet for Metropolis that was sold at auction a couple of years ago. The film debuted in Japan in April 1929.😲

This Willow Japanese Movie Program features 28 pages of artwork and stock photos, some of which appear to be rarer compared to images used in multiple books, magazines, posters, or sticker cards. The back cover is an ad for a VCR with both Yoda and George Lucas (perhaps I’ll share more of this collection in 2023). Lucas recorded a half dozen Japanese commercials for Panasonic between 1987 and 1988, with the George Lucas Super Live Adventure stage show touring the country about five years later.

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Recommended music: James Horner – Canyon of Mazes

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with The Story of Willow on vinyl!

James Horner’s magnificent score to the Willow film could be heard on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack which was released on cassette, vinyl, and CD in 1988, clocking in around 73 minutes. An expanded soundtrack was finally released in 2022 in a 2-CD set, bringing the available film music up to 107 minutes.

While I hadn’t bothered to pick up a physical copy of the film score in any format when I first posted this (though it was likely the last album I ever burned to a CD-R), this album made into my collection first. “The Story of Willow” features a 16-page photo book as well as about 53 minutes of dialogue, sound effects, and music from the film on 12″ vinyl.

Horner’s nearly 40-year career of memorable scores came to an end in 2015 with the single-fatality crash of his turboprop aircraft. Some of his other notable works as a composer include Star Trek II and III, Aliens, Field of Dreams, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer, Braveheart, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Avatar. His music can also be heard in numerous movie trailers, television shows, and theme parks in projects such as Captain EO and Pandora – The World of Avatar.

James Newton Howard was also brought in to score the new Willow television series and his music is a personal highlight of the show, vastly different from the jarring inclusion of pop music also present throughout each episode. 

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with these Willow placemats!

Just when you thought the food tie-ins were done…

This set of four Willow place mats was available by mail during the summer of 1988 for FREE by sending in five proofs of purchase from any Kraft Cheese products, including Handi-Snacks 8-packs, Casino Natural Cheese, Cracker Barrel, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, or my childhood favorite from the options: Kraft Singles.

These 10.5” by 17” double-sided placemats weren’t just made to keep you from getting cheese all over the table, but feature “memorable characters and exciting scenes from Willow,” according to the advertisement. The large, glossy stock photos make great display backdrops if you ask me.

One final Kraft promotion was additionally featured on boxes of Velveeta Cheese (also a childhood favorite). Each box contained a set of two Willow Movie Stickers, with 10 different stickers making up the set. I’d show you a picture of the box, but my wife said there are better things that I could do with $40 than purchase an empty cheese box.😄

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Recommended music: James Horner – Willow’s Theme

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Quaker Willow Cereal bowl set and magic trick!

Yes, this promotion by Quaker is how I came up with the name for this series. The Willow bowl and spoon set pictured above was available by mail for “free” by sending in $5 for processing as well as proofs of purchase from any two different participating Quaker cereals such as Cap’n Crunch, Life, Oh’s, and something called Quaker 100% Natural Raisin & Date. This cereal existed from 1972 until at least 1989.

There were also three different Willow magic tricks available inside boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal. I’ve re-acquired Willow’s Magic Window (pictured here) but have not yet pulled the trigger on Willow’s Coin Trick, or Willow’s Card Trick. I may have actually had the full set of tricks as a child, as varieties of Cap’n Crunch always seemed to be present in our home.

Somehow, cereal competitor Kellogg’s also featured a Willow film promotion on boxes of Corn Flakes with a set of polystyrene cards featuring 13 characters and nine scenes from the film that snapped together like board game pawns, missing an actual board game. 

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with this Val Kilmer autographed artwork!

This art print of Willow and Madmartigan was available through the Nerd Block mystery box subscription program back in 2016. There were two versions of the print available. Both feature the same main artwork and the logo of Elora Danan’s birthmark. Each contains a unique signature from either Warwick Davis or Val Kilmer.

After receiving the mystery box, I thought I would have preferred the Davis signature version at the time, (after passing up the opportunity for his autograph when seeing him at Star Wars Celebration on multiple occasions), but after seeing the documentary “Val” which serves as a self-portrait and autobiography of Val Kilmer and the struggles throughout his professional career including living with throat cancer for seven years, I am so thankful to have this exact piece in my Willow collection.

If you haven’t had a chance to see the film and have two hours to spare, Val is currently available on Prime Video: https://amzn.to/3hL8qgy

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Recommended music: James Horner – The Sled Ride

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

Just because I already covered all of my Tonka Willow collection, it doesn’t mean I’m done talking about Willow toys. When asked a couple years ago “Which action figure line do you wish would come back out for the adult collector market?”, my first response was… Willow!

The Tonka line is certainly not up to the same standards as modern action figure collecting in terms of paint applications, likenesses, scale, or articulation. While Super 7 Toys has more recently shown off plans for a 4″ line of retro-style figures based on the film and the new television series, it’s still not what I’m personally looking for in an action figure line.

This is my custom 1/12 scale Madmartigan that I put together with parts from Lord of the Rings, Masters of the Universe, and Narnia, amongst other parts I can’t remember the origins of, to make up my ideal vision for a Willow toy line. I even sculpted the figure some giant hair, which I felt represented Val Kilmer’s glorious wig from the film.😁

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with The Willow Game!

Besides publishing the 90-page roleplaying game The Willow Sourcebook, TOR Books also put out this Willow roleplaying game in 1988. Known for its award-winning science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishing program as well as movie, television, and computer game tie-in novels, the company is still around today.

The box features excellent cover art credited to artist Ron Miller, with the card design credited to Janet J. Kramer. With 144 cards in the game, all sorts of bit characters from the film (and several not seen on-screen) are included with some interesting design choices.

An additional Willow board game featuring great artwork was also put out by Parker Brothers later the same year “Based on the Hit Movie.” However, that one is a bit less RPG. It’s more like Candyland or Game of Life.

Despite being sold by the bigger board game manufacturer, that game is rare enough that I have not been able to track down a reasonably priced copy for myself.

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

Recommended music: James Horner – Arrival at Snow Camp

Today from the archives, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with the Tonka Willow Ufgood (Heroic Protector)!

Since I’m not likely to be collecting the Tonka Eborsisk, Sears exclusive vehicles, or any of the unmade prototypes that showed up online from the home of a former Tonka/Kenner executive, this post represents my last piece of the Tonka Willow toy line to share.

This Willow green repaint did NOT come carded, showing up in a small poly bag only. I just wanted to show the cool blister card artwork that regular figures came on. You can still see the shape of the bubble that I cut away. It did have the extra space for the Elora Danan carrier. This exclusive version of the figure was available by mail for free by sending in proofs of purchase from any three different participating Quaker products, such as Aunt Jemima, varieties of Cap’n Crunch, Crunchy Bran, Life, or Oh’s cereals, Rice-A-Roni, etc. There was also a very plain blue cap with the Willow logo available for five UPCs. However, knowing a toy was an option, five or six-year-old me would not have enjoyed that as much.

I’m not sure which combination of barcodes we used to acquire it, but this was the lone figure in my childhood Willow collection, as I was glad to have the wizard crossing over and teaming up with characters from all sorts of different toy properties. 

The Willow film turned 37 years old this month! 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!

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!

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!

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!

Recommended music: James Horner – The Island

Today, we’re celebrating the Magic of Willow from the archives with the Tonka Nockmaar army!

In the Willow RPG Sourcebook, the film novelization, and the sequel novels, the land of Nockmaar is detailed extensively. These sources provide much more detail than the movie does. Noted as a range of mountains, volcanoes, a great fortress, etc. – not quite as descriptive as J.R.R. Tolkien, but still, plenty of rich detail. In the Willow film, Nockmaar was the site of the final battle, Bavmorda’s army, and not much else.

These ‘General Kael & Nockmaar Warrior – Horse and Riders’ figures, along with some ‘Nockmaar Warrior (Evil Soldier)’ and some ‘Nockmaar Lieutenant (Evil Trooper)’ figures, make up my 3-inch Nockmaar army.

Three very rare exclusives were released through Sears stores. They feature these same solider figures but repainted in different color schemes, along with a catapult, a chariot, and a mangonel. The mangonel is really not an accurate name for the toy, which is basically a spring-loaded projectile launcher—nothing like the medieval trebuchet-style weapon it is named after.

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!

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!